View Full Version : Poor Technical Support and PID issues
Hi
I dont normally post to forums for tech advice (being a bit tech savvy myself normally I can fix the problem) but I have had a weekend of hell with Virgin Media broadband
Saturday and Sunday 12+13 June 2010 I have had not broadband internet whatsoever and have spent a total of 6 hours on the phone (151) to a call center in a god forsaken place which simply repeated a script and made no attempt to fix the problem.
The problem being is that my PID account is locked! Tech support asked to disconnected my router - attach my PC to the STB, disconnect the co-ax, re-connect the co-ax, down the STB, up the STB re-boot the PC etc. and finally connect to the STB using the STB ip address and behold! "Your PID is locked" Despite me connecting no new equipment to the STB (router, PCs) since the last 2.5 years
OK - this took about 2 hours on the phone to discover. The tech support guy said "he would get his supervisor to call back in the next 2 hours" 3 hours came and went. I called them back (26 minutes music on hold before they answered). They asked my details and - surprise, surprise I went thru the entire upping and downing, disconnecting ,reconnect farce that I had done before.
"Sorry your PID is locked" was the reply finally and having spent 1.5 hours on the phone. (I could have told them that) "I will need to put you thru to customer relations" Great! Now we are getting somewhere. However the idiot on the phone put me thru to the tech support service again so I ended up waiting 30 minutes on hold until I get a tech support AGAIN!
I know Virgin Media peeps monitor these forums so please PM me with an answer. Alternatively what is a good number to call for a decent customer relations department in VM?
I am THAT close to signing up with SKY (and I will get a free HD+ plus box from them as a new customer - Virgin don't even want to that)
Thanks
Confusious says "Those who not ring just after 08:00am on a week day get actors reading scripts"
Sorry to hear that you;ve had this problem but I think these days you'd get the same with 90% of ISP call centres (BTW, Sky is deemed to be worse).. It's one of the reasons as to why I like VM Business in that I always get a UK based person who has never yet failed to sort me out within 30 minutes of me calling and leaving it with them.
I'm sure Masque can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think once you have problems with your PID you will have to be issued with a modem to get your service back up and running.
For that you'll need to speak to customer services.
I have it on good autority that SKY are worse, yes. But, why couldn't the VM tech support just reset my PID account? He can "see" my STB, access some brief account details etc. Seems crazy that I will have to call them again from home tonight (72 hours later) to possibly go thru the whole thing again!!!
A modem - does that mean goodbye STB? Hello new STB? or just another piece of kit to be installed?
See Ben's post just above your last..
@Ben....Are STB's still covered by support or do they now just send out a modem anyway due to the speed limitations of the STB??
A modem - does that mean goodbye STB? Hello new STB? or just another piece of kit to be installed?
You'll keep the STB but be issues with another bit of kit that has an ethernet port on the back of it.
On the upside you'll probably get a much faster broadband connection
---------- Post added at 10:53 ---------- Previous post was at 10:52 ----------
@Ben....Are STB's still covered by support or do they now just send out a modem anyway due to the speed limitations of the STB??They generally swap them out for a modem wherever possible.
pip08456
14-06-2010, 10:56
Masque has posted elsewhere that there is no longer support fot STB's
So I guess that plan is to get hold of Customer Relations - tell them whats going on - and they will arrange a replacement STB and/or modem?
It will be normal Customer Services you'll need to speak to - they arrange for a Modem install
You won't get your STB replaced as it still works for TV
I'm sure Masque can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think once you have problems with your PID you will have to be issued with a modem to get your service back up and running.
For that you'll need to speak to customer services.
Quite right Ben, once a STB fails on the broadband side we have to install a modem as we no longer have the facility to provision inbuilt modems on STB's.
I would advise an installation rather than getting a modem sent as you will not receive all the kit that you need to install the modem, we can send out that kit but most people are unaware of the code for it.
I had a similar call to this last week and we got an installation booked and also you will probably be upgraded to 10Mb and get a new router as part of your package.
Sweet! Thanks all, I will let you know how I get on!
:clap: Cool, wish you all the best with it
Sweet! Thanks all, I will let you know how I get on!
Ring up now if you have not got it sorted and let us know the outcome, remember to ask for the free router if you are upgraded to 10Mb.;)
Ring up now if you have not got it sorted and let us know the outcome, remember to ask for the free router if you are upgraded to 10Mb.;)I would point out that officially existing customers now only qualify for a inclusive router if they upgrade their service to either XL or XXL
Upgrading to BB L 10Mbit doesn't normally qualify as theorectically everyone is should either already be on 10Mbit (M) or are on BB S (which means people have chose to not go on BB L or M 10Mbit)
Although being on STB broadband probably means they aren't on the best price anyway, so I'm guessing they will likely be able to upgrade to XL 20Mbit anyway for the same cost or slightly cheaper
I would point out that officially existing customers now only qualify for a inclusive router if they upgrade their service to either XL or XXL
If they are going up from 1Mb on a STB then I always call Customer Services for them and get the Upgrade to 10Mb/20Mb and the router which is what I did last week.
Then I get a nice NPS for it.;)
Just Called Customer Services - explained the problem - engineer to call out in two days! Yay!
Already on 10mb service so no free router....
Just Called Customer Services - explained the problem - engineer to call out in two days! Yay!
Already on 10mb service so no free router....
You might have been on 10Mb but what speed were you actually getting?? :rolleyes: You should see this PID as a blessing in disguise as now you should be getting what you pay for when they install a modem
Just Called Customer Services - explained the problem - engineer to call out in two days! Yay!
Already on 10mb service so no free router....
That is a good result only a 2 day wait.;)
You might have been on 10Mb but what speed were you actually getting?? :rolleyes:
Not very fast IIRC - just ask the kids! Maybe the new cable modem will improve it!
Ben or Masque, what's the highest speed available through an STB?
If you've got a Pace box? 2Mbit for some and 1Mbit for others I think. If it's a Samsung I think you could push 6Mbit if you were lucky
Of course when Virgin say 'you are on 10Mbit' when you've got STB BB, it's shorthand for BB M or L, not you are actually getting 10Mbit ;)
So, <he asks cheekily> I may expect faster u/l and d/l service with a cable modem compared with my old Silver Sammy STB?
k.e.jones
14-06-2010, 15:25
Hi,
Sorry for hijacking the thread slightly but if Masque and Ben are still around reading it some of the things they've mentioned here would be useful to know about in context of my own thread ("Samsung STB, 10Mb service, 8021 and DMX errors").
@Masque & BenMcr et al, I'd be really appreciative if you can give my thread a once over. Specifically from this thread I wanted to know;
a) Do "cable modem upgrades" get charged for even if a fault leads to the replacement?
b) What bit is likely to be missing when the cable modem arrives ?
Regards,
Keith
pip08456
14-06-2010, 15:27
You also need to ring up for a modem as your case is exactly the same in as much as there is no longer support for STB BB.
So, <he asks cheekily> I may expect faster u/l and d/l service with a cable modem compared with my old Silver Sammy STB?
You will have a faster and more stable connection with a modem.
pip08456
14-06-2010, 15:29
a)-Free
b) a splitter and connection lead.
The fitting of these may require further works eg attenuator fitting or moving to a different output in the cab.
Hi,
Sorry for hijacking the thread slightly but if Masque and Ben are still around reading it some of the things they've mentioned here would be useful to know about in context of my own thread ("Samsung STB, 10Mb service, 8021 and DMX errors").
@Masque & BenMcr et al, I'd be really appreciative if you can give my thread a once over. Specifically from this thread I wanted to know;
a) Do "cable modem upgrades" get charged for even if a fault leads to the replacement?
b) What bit is likely to be missing when the cable modem arrives ?
Regards,
Keith
If you have been sent a modem out instead of getting an engineer install then you will not have the correct fittings to have both the STB and the modem working at the same time, so you will need to callback and ask for a Quickstart kit to go with the modem.
Or you can wait until you get the modem and then get an engineer called out to fit it correctly.
This happens all to often, and this then causes further calls into the centres by disgruntled customers.
If you have been sent a modem out instead of getting an engineer install then you will not have the correct fittings to have both the STB and the modem working at the same time, so you will need to callback and ask for a Quickstart kit to go with the modem..
Of course it depends who sent the kit out. If Customer Services have done it as Quickstart in the first place then everything should be included.
If they (or TSC) have done it as faulty modem swap then it will be missing the extra bits
Of course it depends who sent the kit out. If Customer Services have done it as Quickstart in the first place then everything should be included.
If they (or TSC) have done it as faulty modem swap then it will be missing the extra bits
That is how it should work, but in practice many just get a modem and no kit.:erm:;)
k.e.jones
14-06-2010, 16:46
Hi Pip08456, Masque and BenMcr :-)
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I think I'd better ring back tomorrow am (on the 0800 line) and hope I can get that all confirmed by someone not reading a script.
I'm going to try and just do the home install if I can (Junior and Wifey are already giving me grief after 1 day!). I was given two weeks as a best guess for when an installer could turn up so 3-4 working days postal delivery looked very good in comparison. Hopefully my tech head won't let me down and hopefully the signal strength will be workable without attenuation or different feeds.
The most annoying thing (apart from the phone line issues, script reading etc etc). Why couldn't someone just turn round and say, "Yes, your STB is broken" or "Your STB has a problem but we can't fix it because we don't have replacements". I just felt like I was being dumped from one person to another without knowing why and then charged for it. Double ouch!
As for being "sold" the modem upgrade, I'll sound out whether that was just rogue selling as well. I'm just feeling guilty that I actually did want to upgrade at some point, just not quite in this way :-(
Thank you very much for your help! Thank you for your time, patience and understanding.
Regards,
Keith
PS: Congrats on the resolution JeffH!
Update on post:
Engineer arrived as promised - 16 June 2010. Installed new cable modem which now sits on top of the STB blinking away. I had to reconfigure/reboot both my routers as VM engineer didnt connect back to router, but, WE NOW HAVE THE INTERNETS! YAY!
Cheers all...
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