Need some help please.
 

My Motorola SB4100 modem is playing games with me sometimes it works and othertimes it does not, i have rebooted it and checked all the cables but no joy.

It has been like this for about a month now i rang virginmedia when it first started to go wrong and i was told it was okay it must be my computer.

I rang again on thursday as i could not use it at all i spoke to a chap from tech who said it needs a new modem and he booked an engineer to come on friday between 12 and 4 to change it for me, i waited all day and no engineer came i rang on friday at about 4.30 to see if the engineer was delayed they said they would try and get hold of the engineer and ring me back they never did.

I rang again on saturday morning and was told the job was marked as completed and that i had been given a new modem, i explained no engineer came to me and that i still had my old modem, i was told that the engineers do not lie and that if it was marked as completed the job had been done.

I rang again today sunday and the chap from customer services said it was marked as completed and there was nothing else they could do, i said i was not happy with this and could i speak to his supervisor he said there were no supervisors in at the weekend i said that was crazy, he then told me if i was not happy i could always find another service providor and then hung up on me.

Where do i go from here i do not want to keep ringing up and become a nuisance but i need to get this fixed.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Re: Need some help please.
 

You will need to ring in tomorrow and if you are on a Virgin phone call Customer Services and tell them you want to lodge a complaint and want to talk to someone in Customer Concern and if not Customer Relations and tell them what has happened.

Also ask if your calls have been logged when you called in as you want to lodge a complaint against those members of staff, do not accept anything less.

Plus you want your modem fitted, as the new one will not show on your account.

Re: Need some help please.
 

What is going on at Virgin Media?

Re: Need some help please.
 

Clearly their call centres need re-training. It's why I've asked a couple times here already whether it'd be OK to ask to be put through to a UK call centre. I haven't had an answer yet.

Re: Need some help please.
 

Ok i rang again this morning and asked to be put through to one of these departments, i had to go through the whole thing again with the girl i was talking to who in the end told me the same as before that the job was marked as completed.

She said there was no need to complain and she could help me with it and tried to get me to go through the usual reboot, ipconfig, and tracert tests, i tried to tell her i was not at my computer as it did not work as i had not had my new modem, she told me the same as the others the engineer had marked the job as completed so i must have it, how can engineers do this?.

She did offer to upgrade me to the vip package saying that it would cure all my problems, but i have 20meg now and cannot get the full use out of it, and an upgrade was not what i wanted the engineer to do his job and give me my modem.

After ten mins of trying to explain to her and her not listening i insisted on being put through to one of the above departments she reluctantly agreed, after being on hold for 50 mins i gave up.

I have since sent an e-mail to virgin relating my problem and i have had the customary automated reply saying we will look into it, going by past experience of this i do not hold out much hope.

PS My replies will be delayed as i am having to use my parents connection to post this, and mum does not like to have her bingo interrupted too much.

Re: Need some help please.
 

Ring up Tech Support then and tell the MAC address of your modem and they will see that it is a SB4100 and ask how can it be classed as cpmplete if you do not have a new modem.

If not ring 0845 454 1111 and wait for the thinking of leaving us option and speak to them and tell them how you have been treated.

Re: Need some help please.
 

You can do this. Ring CS and get through to the Indian call centre, then when they are unhelpful tell them you want to cancel your contract. They will then put you though to the cancellation department who are in the UK :-). Then just let them know you don't want to cancell but that you would like to talk to some one English in an English call centre. I did this after having problems and it worked a treat. ;)

Re: Need some help please.
 

Quoted for prosperity and saved locally! I'm keeping that handy for when I next have to rattle off to technical support! :D

Re: Need some help please.
 

Try posting on the support newsgroup.

virginmedia.support.broadband.cable

lots report an excellent response. :)

Re: Need some help please.
 

The SB4100 isn't 20Meg compatible. When I had a SB4100 on XL the best I got was about 14Meg. You need a new modem anyway regardless of any faults with it.

Plus I would also complain about the fact that you're had XL broadband for 'x' months since the 20Meg upgrade without having a fully compatible modem to use the service.

(I could do an impression of Victor Meldrew but I won't, it involves moving a lot of stuff out of the way so I can get my flat cap out :)) I can't believe that people still have the incorrect modem for XL, it been over a year since I got the 20Meg upgrade. It took me about a month before getting mine and that's only because I was getting problems. I wonder how many more people still haven't got the right modem for XL?

Re: Need some help please.
 

Every punter with an obsolete modem means bandwidth and expense saved for VM and they probably love it.

My guess is that there are many subs who are using an obsolete or unsuitable modem for the BB Tier they are on.

They (the then Ntl) even wanted to charge me for the priviledge of upgrading there ancient Tjet so I could get the speed I was being charged for. :td:

Re: Need some help please.
 

You should get The Register to suggest that to Virgin :)

Re: Need some help please.
 

Most CSR's see an old modem and they swap them automatically.

Re: Need some help please.
 

What checks are done when it's ordered online as an upgrade?

Re: Need some help please.
 

We do not deal with that side only faults, and if you require a modem due to an issue with your connection we swap it.

Upgrades are either through the website ( you have got to be daft to do it that way ) or through Customer Services, we have no dealings with you upgrading till you call in to report a fault.

Re: Need some help please.
 

So if you upgrade online the daft way. you'll only know that your modem will need changing for a capable one if you phone up because you think it might be too slow?

isn't there any checks at all to see what modem is already issued to your account and to flag up that the person might need to be sent a new modem to go with the upgrade?

Re: Need some help please.
 

I say daft because you may get a discount if you phone that is not available online.

All that shows on the account is a MAC address which means nothing to you or the CSR dealing with the upgrade.

Re: Need some help please.
 

Would you hazard a guess of how many people might not have a suitable modem?

Re: Need some help please.
 

I know he's a techie and works for VM, but how could he possibly know that kind of information? Any response would be speculative at best.

Re: Need some help please.
 

He couldn't possibly know I suppose. that's why I asked him to guess :)

If there's no checks when you upgrade online, and he gets an average of so many upgrading by phone then I just wondered how many might upgrade online.

Re: Need some help please.
 

Absolutely no idea, impossible to know.;)

---------- Post added at 07:58 ---------- Previous post was at 07:57 ----------

As above no idea.

Re: Need some help please.
 

Stop wasting your time with useless customer support, complain here:
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/complain/internet/
I have used the procedure several times and believe me, the providers become quite supportive once they get the complaint from ofcom!

Re: Need some help please.
 

The OP may be better to contact them as he appears to be having no joy with call up.

Re: Need some help please.
 

By ofcoms own rules they should not get involved with any complaint until the customer has a deadlock letter from the company that the complaint is about.

It is then dealt with by Alternative Dispute Resolution an independent resoloution procedure.

I am not saying that is the case in every complaint but by ofcoms own procedure that is what the case should be.

Ofcom do not deal with individual complaints

Re: Need some help please.
 

Hi,

I have removed my last post because it no longer applies.

After posting that reply to you all and cancelling all my services i got back home, not long after an engineer turned up with someone else from virginmedia i now have a new scientific atlanta 2100 modem and i am back online, it has not done much for the speed, but the engineer and paul from virgin both said that once all the upgrades were finished and 50meg was rolled out the speeds would be better and it has proved that there is nothing wrong with my computer.

He has read my posts on here and i have given him copies of it, he is going to find out who the engineer was and why he said he called and fitted a new modem when obviously he did not.

He has also arranged for me to have a credit put on my account for the time i have been offline and for my troubles.

So i felt it only wise to delete my last post so it did not give the wrong message.

I can now use my computer again and enjoy cable forum once more i have agreed to see what difference it makes when the 50meg does start, i will not be upgrading to it as there is no need to but if it helps the speeds then that has to be good.

Thank you all for your help and advice it was so much appreciated.

Re: Need some help please.
 

Great to see that a little perseverance does pay off in the long run.;)

Re: Need some help please.
 

Agreed :cool:

But why Oh why does it have to be such a palaver in so many cases just to get a simple thing put right. :(

Re: Need some help please.
 

It should not be like that at all and it really is annoying that a customer can be treated like that, he should not have to resort to nearly cancelling his account because someone failed to check his modem remotely which would show the MAC address and confirm what model he had, takes a couple of minutes to run these checks.

Beyond me why they seemed not to have been done.

Re: Need some help please.
 

Hi,

I did ring tech support and got through to india, i had a hard time understanding them and she could not understand what i wanted she kept telling me to do all these different things that had no bearing on the issue and was talking over me all the time but they are exceedingly polite, in the end she suggested i ring customer support they in turn said it was a tech issue and i had to ring them, after my second trip to india i had had enough and i rang to cancel my services.

I spoke to a really nice lady from scotland who was appalled at what had happened and she passed me to tech support who confirmed i still had the motorolla 4100, but he said it showed it had been replaced on friday which it was not as it was the engineer not turning up that started all this, i then said i could not go through this anymore and i was going to be leaving virgin i the rang disconnections and cancelled all my services and i gave this problem as the reason i was leaving.

The rest you know i was not expecting the tech or the other chap from virginmedia that came with him, they set it all up activated my modem and checked my comp out speeds are still bad but that seems to be inline with everyone else

Many thanks to you all especially whydoIneedtoteach your invaluable help has now got me sorted and i am now free to enjoy my comp and cable forum again.

Re: Need some help please.
 

Glad you got it sorted and someone actually took the time to remotely check what modem you had, if the previous CSR's had done their job properly as she did then all these calls to Virgin could have been avoided.;)

Re: Need some help please.
 

Mt SB4100 connection failed down a couple of weeks back and after several failed attempts by VM (Virgin Media) to re-establish contact with the modem, it would not have it. So VM said the modem has had it and they will send new.

They sent two on the same day, both with my name on but next doors house number on the address label. That minor issue aside, I plugged the new modem in and rang up the support team to go through the process of connecting the new modem and in fact the connection was quickly re-established.

Now I have only two other problems left.

No write access to my Web Space and half my Email address's reject password changes and access. - But thats another story.

Virtually no problems when ntl ran the service but now frequent hassle with VM. Is it the same everwhere?