Re: VM Community board replies now a week in arrears
 

IMO VM will still need a UK based 2nd level of TS. If they don't retain that then I predict that churn will become huge. As Infinity rolls out VM will no longer be able to keep BT phoneline based broadband on the back foot. At least one regular here has ditched cable for Infinity already.

They also still need to keep the community forum going. I've seen scores of posts where people say phoning support is pretty much pointless. I wouldn't know as I've only needed support when the connection itself has gone wrong and I've always used the forum for that as the alternative doesn't sound an attractive proposition.

---------- Post added at 13:58 ---------- Previous post was at 13:52 ----------

I think most of the techs responding to issues on the forum only do so part time. If you look at the responses they come in batches. I reckon 2nd level draw lots and the loser has to spend an hour or so on the community board.

Re: VM Community board replies now a week in arrears
 

Agreed, I said this a while back, it looks clear the staff arent full time on the forums, they probably do 7 hours or so on the phones then an hour each day on the forum. Then as you said maybe the time on the forum got cut or the number of staff did.

What masque said is scary, about the closure of that call centre and where these staff are based. Dont we all wish they close one in india instead. I guess closing the forum for VM if it does happen wouldnt be too surprising as its hardly a selling point for VM, the forum is flooded with overutilisation complaints with the majority of them been told they within VM specs and the remaining have to wait for 6 months for a fix.

Re: VM Community board replies now a week in arrears
 

The thing that everyone seems to have forgotten is the Community forums were *supposed* to be a replacement for the newsgroups, where you could get a response from a NTL/VM staffer in a couple of hours - usually a day max. Quite a few people suggested that the quality and speed of responses would go downhill and it was suggested that we 'give VM a chance'. Well, we have done.

I'm not grumbling too much. I very rarely post in there and at least it got me on the R30 trial.

Re: VM Community board replies now a week in arrears
 

The newsgroups were mostly visited by quite a small regular set of customers. The forums have significantly more traffic from a much wider set of Virgin's customer base so it was never going to be exactly the same

Re: VM Community board replies now a week in arrears
 

I thought a 3 day turnaround was fine as if anything is truly urgent the phone option is still there. If the current 7 days continues though the forum is starting to look more just like a place to have a moan than somewhere to get some useful support.

Re: VM Community board replies now a week in arrears
 

The NG's responded to genuine problems in minutes usually. They were very impressive, and in the past, identified problems and arranged for fixes that the telephone support denied existed.

I personally discovered them during the period when Virgin decided to run a chargable premium rate phoneline for technical support.

Re: VM Community board replies now a week in arrears
 

The newsgroups had a dedicated E-Contact team in Albert Dock, Liverpool, but were made redundant a few years ago now. When the forums came about it was later decided to have some support from 2nd line teams, again in Albert Dock. These jobs are now at risk of redundancy at the moment due to the office closing, so what will happen after they go we don't currently know, but I'm sure they will be manned by another team somewhere.... Swansea?

Re: VM Community board replies now a week in arrears
 

Current responses are to posts from 10/10 so it's actually 8 days in arrears :shocked:

Re: VM Community board replies now a week in arrears
 

There is no SLA on the forum, so they are not technically in "arrears" ;)

Re: VM Community board replies now a week in arrears
 

Why do VM deprioritise the best support?

The newsgroup team had a very good reputation so making them redundent clearly a sign that cost becomes quality, and if they do the same with the forum although it isnt perfect it beats phone support.

Re: VM Community board replies now a week in arrears
 

Thank you for that extremely useful contribution. I shall bear it in mind. Have you ever considered going into manufacturing? Chocolate fire-guards should suit your talents perfectly.

Re: VM Community board replies now a week in arrears
 

It's the truth though, whether you like it or not. :shrug:

Re: VM Community board replies now a week in arrears
 

I'd like to see where I ever suggested otherwise. You VM guys seem very keen to jump on the customer if they have the temerity to say anything remotely negative about VM.

Forum turn-around used to be 3-4 days now it looks like it's over a week. That is a simple fact even if you don't like it. I suspect it may well be because it was all hands to the phones over the weekend when VM had yet another major routing problem. Alternately it may just be that those who can get jobs elsewhere are jumping ship before the doubtless mass layoffs. It could be any one of dozens of reasons none of which reflect well on VM and speculation is pointless but it's still a fact and it does impact some customers so it's worthy of sensible discussion rather than pedantic twaddle based on my choice of words.

Re: VM Community board replies now a week in arrears
 

I wasn't jumping on you at all, I simply made a comment. I'm actually one of the staff under threat of redundancy, helping customers on here and other forums still.

Re: VM Community board replies now a week in arrears
 

I'm sorry to hear that. Redundancy with the economy in the state it is can't be a very pleasant prospect. I wish you and any other VM folks in the same position all the best for your futures.

Redundancy isn't the end of the world. I was made redundant from a well paid support role in 1995 and things looked bleak. I decided to take the contracting route instead of working as an employee. I haven't been out of work since.