V+ still not working
 

Hi,

Kinda new to the forum and it seems a good place to get help and advice. Anyway I'm just after a some thoughts regarding my install of V+. The install was scheduled for Saturday just gone between 12 & 6. I was working so my flatmate was in all day waiting for him. Engineer finally turned up at 18:30 and installed the equipment. He tried ringing through to the service department to activate and was on hold for 30 mins apparently!! He then turned round and said the service department was now closed as it had gone 19:00 so he couldn't get the equipment activated. He said to leave the box connected on Sunday night and it should pick up a signal and be working Monday morning and if not to give VM a call. Monday morning comes and as I expected nothing, it was still sat on a Telewest Broadband screen with Please wait, loading data displayed. I rang VM at 10:30 this morning and was told it would be activated and working within the hour. 2 & 1/2 hours later and still nothing so I rang again and by a stroke of luck was connected to the same guy I spoke to earlier who remembered me calling. He put me on hold to check if it had been done. He came back said it had indeed been done and they had told him it can take a while and should come on at some point throughout the day. It's now 15:30, 5 hours since my initial call this morning and coming up to 2 days since it was installed and I am still looking at a black telewest logo telling me to please wait. Now I'm not the impatient type but this seems a little extreme considering when I first had NTL installed last year I could get all the channels immediately. What do you guys reckon? is this the norm or should I be back on the phone again asking why it isn't working?

Also just another query if you can help. The engineer only had the silver TVDrive boxes on his van. Obviously the only thing I've seen so far is the Telewest logo, does this mean that the box will be Telewest software and not VM, for example the EPG. Correct me if I'm wrong but I've heard the VM EPG is more reliable than the old NTL & Telewest ones.

Thanks for reading

John

Re: V+ still not working
 

Phone and complain that it isn't working, and ask for a replacement. They'll replace it with a black stb - which is more reliable :)

Re: V+ still not working
 

Have you tried pressing the RESET button and allowing the box to re-boot?

Re: V+ still not working
 

Yes I've tried that and the same happens.

Re: V+ still not working
 

What about the "old favourite" pull the plug - wait 30 seconds - then try again??

Got to be worth a go.

I will be able to help better once I get my V+ STB on the 4th April...

Re: V+ still not working
 

You should have the Virgin Media EPG. I have a silver box, and it's all VM EPG.
Sounds like the box hasn't been hit yet...

Re: V+ still not working
 

To do this...

Gently take a hammer and... Only Joking:p:

A quick call to CS should sort that out!:confused:

I Have seen mention of when calling to unplug any other STB's in the house as the opperators seem to get confused... ;)

Re: V+ still not working
 

All the V+HD/TV Drive boxes given out by Virgin Media have the Virgin Media EPG on them. :)

Re: V+ still not working
 

Hahaha you don't know how close I am!!! I've routed the wires for the 2nd box upstairs this morning so the hammer is still dangerously close, maybe I should move it!!!

I've rang VM yet again and was just told ohh it can take 24 hours so leave it and see if it works tomorrow!!! This is really annoying now, it's a shame you can't tell your bank to tell them ohh hang on a few days and then you might be able to take money from his account!!

---------- Post added at 17:19 ---------- Previous post was at 17:18 ----------

Thanks, that's settles one query, just wish I could see it now:confused:

Re: V+ still not working
 

Any of you GODS on here know the phrase that John5452 should use to get what he wants the next time he phones CS?

I know that when talking to the CS people on a computer support helpline they suddenly start listening when you start using "key phrases" at them...

Re: V+ still not working
 

Hi M8,

When we are installing V+ Boxes...

Upon first boot you will get the Telewest Broadband screen with Please wait, loading data displayed, this should display until the download is complete for the new EPG software.

It should take no more than 20 minutes to complete weather it has been activated or not as we do not put the box hit through until the box comes on.

After that he should then set up all three tuners and pin number.

I have replaced boxes for this reason.

Hope this info helps m8.

Re: V+ still not working
 

Thanks for the reply, so from what I can gather from what you said the please wait message should only be there on initial installation and the engineer should not have left it in this status regardless of whether or not the box couldnt be activated?? Does this sound like the box is goosed to you or not?

Re: V+ still not working
 

Re: V+ still not working
 

Well I've just rang them back and got through to somebody else. She went away to speak to a colleague and has now promised that it will be up and running by 22:00!! She said that the activation hasn't been processed yet and she is going to make sure it's done tonight. I've got to reboot it after 22:00 if it's not done anything by then. I'll believe it when I see it but fingers & toes crossed!!! I can see me being back in the phone in the morning in a less than understanding mood to be honest. I bet Branson's didn't take this long to get up and running :mad:

Re: V+ still not working
 

They said that to me when i had it installed. it should not take that long. I would give them a call in about half hour to an hour. Otherwise they will be shut.... Maybe thats what they want;)

Re: V+ still not working
 

Well it like I said the box hit does not get put through until the box is up and running..... So how will you box get programmed.......
I done an install and the said the same thing so I swapped it and ALL WAS FINE
I think the problem is no one in customer services know how there own boxes work

Re: V+ still not working
 

TBH that was my first thought when she said it. but I'll see what happens and then in the morning give them hell if it isn't resolved. You'd think after the Sky episode they would be doing all they can to prove to customers who stay with them that they can run an efficient ship. I was really disappointed to be losing Sky One & Sky Sports News but still went ahead and upgraded services to include V+ because I liked how NTL had been for the past 12 months I've been with them. Prior to then I had been with Sky since 1991. If this isn't sorted out soon I'll be very tempted to tell them to stuff it if this is going to be the level of service under Virgin.:mad:

Re: V+ still not working
 

I'd say your box is stuffed!!!!:Yikes:

Re: V+ still not working
 

Well no surprise it's still not working!!! :mad:

Got up this morning at 08:30 still nothing so rang up again, this time I managed to get put through to faults, spoke to a guy there and he said he would speak to somebody who could help as soon as he got off the phone. On hold for 10 minutes then he said he'd ring back. With some intrepidation I agreed, 20 minutes later the phone rings and he says he's sorry he's not forgotten he's still waiting. I thought maybe we're getting somewhere here as he's took the time to ring back!! an hour & half later still no ring back and I was having to leave for work so I rang up again and asked to be put back through to faults. The woman refused as she looked at the account and said, you guessed it - It hadn;t been activated but has now so it should work soon. She wouldn't put me through even after me insisting that it wouldn't solve the problem and I'd been advised that the box was faulty and needing replacing by somebody who installs the things!!! Anyway I had to go so ended up hanging up. 18:30 my flatmate arrived home and as expected no change, so straight back on the phone and spoke to spomebody else, explained the situation and how annoyed I was and he said right I want you to run some diagnostics for me. I thought woohoo something different to try, I explained I was in work but my flatmate was home and to ring him and he would do it. 19:30 he phones my flatmate and does no more than askied him to unplug and plug back in and if it wasn't working in 2 hours to ring back. I came home at 21:15 and rang straight back only to be told by the recorded message that they shut at 20:00!!!! I'm starting to feeling I'm being messed around a bit now lol.

Anyway it looks like another day of being treated like a yoyo tomorrow, if it isn't sorted or an engineer booked by 11am tomorrow I'm telling them to stuff it where the sun don't shine and going to Murdoch's darkside :Yikes: . Does anybody have a direct number to second line I can ring or any more advice???

Thanks for all your help guys

Re: V+ still not working
 

Woohoo finally sorted!!! :D :D :D

Got up this morning and rang up again ended up with him crediting my account by £10 to compensate for lack of service and got told he would get a field supervisor or something to ring me today to arrange to come out to have a look. 18:30 came still no phonecall so I rang back. Spoke to a woman who said she would look into it, on hold for 5 minutes she came back and asked for the box number and card number. Explained I was in work but could get flatmate to get it if she would stay on the line which she happily did. Gave her the numbers and back on hold I went, 5 minutes later she came back and told me the box had now been activated and should work and to reboot if not. Of course I was very sceptical after the last 3 days of hell and told her so. She agreed to again stay on the line while I phoned my flatmate to check. Eureka it booted up!!! I asked why somebody couldn't have done this on Monday instead of stringing me on for 3 days and she was very apologetic about how I was treated and she had credited my account with a further £25 as way of apology. Anyway the upside is I'm finally up and running and I think VM need to find out who this wonder woman was and clone her then sack everyone else lol. I also told her VM need to change their on hold music, she asked if it was boring so I said after 3 days of hearing it all day it was, she laughed and said she would pass on my feedback! Anyway I'm kind of sorry I didn't take her name as she deserves a mention after the muppets I've spoken to all week.

Thanks again for all your help and for any future members having problems there are some staff at VM who know what they are doing you just gotta find them hopefully in less time than it took me ;-)

John

Re: V+ still not working
 

Her ID will be logged on your account on the system so they will be able to find her if they want to. :-)