Broken Promise
 

I was first informed of the "exciting" news that I was to get a free upgrade to 100Mb speed very early this year (Jan/Feb?) and on checking when I saw that Usain Bolt (was being used for VM adverts at the time) was pointing to July of this year.......

The upgrade of course has not taken place and now I find that I am being informed of an "exciting" free upgrade to 100 or 120MB which will now take place probably in 2013

I'm sure Virginmedia will excuse me for being less than impressed with their over enthusiastic promises. If you tell me something is going to happen, then do so, or at least let me know why not. Don't leave it to me to find out myself that you are still using the same marketing technique and expect me to believe you.

[Mod Edit] poor service I reckon.

Re: Broken Promise
 

Do not use asterisks to avoid the swear filter, please.

I agree with you regarding Marketing, however, my area said 'From July', not 'July' (now changed to January to March 2013).

Re: Broken Promise
 

Call in and ask to be doubled. If they say not possible call in and select "thinking of leaving" and if they won't double ask for a downgrade to 60Mbps - I pay £25 for standalone 60Mbps. You only get 3Mbps up on the 60Mbps deal right now and you will have 5Mbps on 50Mbps so you do sacrifice upload. I think you'll get your doubling anyway though. The marketing is poor and demonstrates just how high a regard VM place on existing customers - all new customers get the doubled products as a matter of course.

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After reading the small print I don;t see how anyone could take the "double speed" schedule as a "promise"??

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Surely you could get a better deal? I'm paying £28 for 100MB

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Don't you also have the phone line so you don't actually pay £28 you pay something over £40. Dropping the phone line only saves £2-3 overall but it's still a saving if you don't want the phone and given VM call charges I don't. New customer price for 60Mbps BB only is £27.50.

New customer price for 100 with phone is £25.50 + £13.90 phone BB only is £34.75. Either you are getting a very good deal or you're paying over the odds.

Re: Broken Promise
 

Hmmm...I'm paying £30.00 for 30/3 with an estimated speed doubling date in about 12months time. :(

Just one of the many reasons why I am seeking to dump VM in the very near future.

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This should probably be the point where I bang on about BT having always been on time with their FTTC speed upgrades and something about paying less for over double that speed etc. etc.

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Refuse the speed upgrade itll destroy your whole network. Seriously.

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I called retention's. Now gone form 10M BB, free evening and weekend calls (£33.75) to 60M BB, UK Talk Unlimited for 'only' £28.40.

I am more than happy.

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Unfortunately, some people don't bother about little thing like 'the truth' and 'facts'.

(For further proof I refer you do the Daily Wail :D)

Re: Broken Promise
 

I think Carl should re-evaluate his position. VM should tell the truth in its promotional material. The web site currently says:

"It’s jam-packed with the latest wireless technology so that you get a really fast, uninterrupted and secure wireless connection."

That's completely untrue. What on earth is "jam packed"? The two postage stamp sized internal antennae pointing the wrong way if you stand that wretched device upgright lights facing you?

Is "jam-packed" the missing technology to allow dual-band wireless?

Is "uninterrupted" consistend with the poor wireless range and the unstable firmware that causes involuntary resets on the SH?

What on earth is "really fast"? How can you judge what speed you get and at what distance from this lame device?

So Carl should be asking VM why they don't care about truth and facts. That SH is the just about worst of the worst wireless devices.

Fianlly, if Carl was aiming his remarks at VM and not its customers, then I withdraw my implied criticism of his remarks.

Re: Broken Promise
 

Well I do! Okay, I haven't got a large house but SH gives me perfectly adequate wifi coverage. Of course, they are generalising about the majority of their service. I suppose they could add all sort of riders (small print) to the effect of "your mileage may vary" but that's the same with any ISP.

It's a bit of "marketing speak", not to be taken as literally as you seem to think.

Re: Broken Promise
 

"literally" and "truth" have a close affinity. Marketing speak needs to be honest. It's not "jam packed" as they state (easy to prove) and the SH is a broken promise.

As a matter of interest, what do you take as the meaning of "jam packed" in their material?

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No, they really don't. They mean completely different things.

True.

Go on then.

How, exactly?

It's got the latest wireless technology in it". How else could it be interpreted? :confused:

Re: Broken Promise
 

Re: Broken Promise
 

So, to the specific of this topic.

On this upgrade thing, I would stop just short of saying it's a broken promise. That's because I know VM well. I know the infrastructure in my area and its surrounds served by the Reading data centre. Not to mention the goings on at the Winnersh data centre. Others like you can reasonably see this as a broken promise, even though it wasn't a promise.

So I didn't believe a word of VM's hint that July 2012 would be approximately when my area would be upgraded to 100 meg.

But the truth is (without the further evidence that Carl Waring might demand) that BT had put VM on the spot with their free Infinity upgrade and had to make VM's whatsit bigger than BT's. So they half lied, IMO - because VM knew exactly at the time which areas could be upgraded by July 2012.

BTW, I also have BT Infinity. I was originally getting 37/8; when the speed doubled, I'm lucky to get 50/10; higher frequency, poorer profile. I'm actually a happy VM customer in terms of the service I receive. But I hate deceit which is how I see some of their claims.

Re: Broken Promise
 

Please show me where they promised that these upgrades would be done to the original time-scale.

---------- Post added at 14:29 ---------- Previous post was at 14:28 ----------

Except, of course, that anyone using the phrase "the truth is..." does not always actually tell "the truth".

Re: Broken Promise
 

Please show me where they promised that these upgrades would be done to the original time-scale.

---------- Post added at 14:29 ---------- Previous post was at 14:28 ----------


Except, of course, that anyone using the phrase "the truth is..." does not always actually tell "the truth".[/QUOTE]
Obtuse again as usual.

When you get a big Usain Bolt thing pointing to July 2012, you'd take VM's word to be reasonably true. In this case it doesn't take much of a brain, even yours, to deduce that when you get told it's May 2013 that VM's original communication was cynically misleading.

VM don't have to say "I promise" for their word to be taken seriously rather than dismissed as weasel words - which they clearly were in the OP's eyes.


BTW, in tyour last remark, are you suggesting that I'm not telling the truth? If you're not saying that what was the point of the remark?

Bottom line is that VM are not being honest when they play around with people's expectations.

Re: Broken Promise
 

Absolutely. But I also realise that things don't always go according to plan and I certainly didn't take it as a 100% cast-iron guarantee.

True, but see above comment.

Then that's the OPs problem and no-one else because, the truth is, that plans sometimes have to change.

Pretty sure I never actually said anything of the sort. Perhaps you should read the comment again.

Re: Broken Promise
 

Another obtuse reply. Back to your old ways.

You know exactly what I'm saying. Looking back on VM's position today on areas now being targetted for May 2013, the gap between July 2012 and May 2013 is so large that this cannot just be a "plans change" case.

VM play the "mine is bigger than yours game" and that is more important to them than being straightforward with their customers.

See the SH claims for analagous details as regards straightforwardness.

Re: Broken Promise
 

There was nothing "obtuse" about it.

I wrote....

Now I do admit that I should have wrote "some people" instead of "anyone" but I clearly was not referring directly to you. If I had meant you I would have said so.

I know what you're saying, but I also know that VM did not promise anything. Which was my one and only point.

Re: Broken Promise
 

I have 100MB only @ £28, my phone line is with BT. At the time of renewal, new customers were being offered in the region of £20 for the first 3 months and £28 thereafter for 50MB so they matched this and I also got bumped up to 100MB. Seems fair as I have been with VM since '02 and have paid over the odds for a few years.

£30 seems a little steep for 30/3. You could be on 100MB for £35 a month or with a phone line, £27 for the first 6 months then £40 thereafter

http://store.virginmedia.com/broadba...and/index.html

Re: Broken Promise
 

Just seen Bolt advertising on TV again ( thought he had finished)
Very apt, Lighting fast in short bursts, but only happens a few times each year.
Now that would be a true advert.

Re: Broken Promise
 

In that case you do have an excellent deal - maybe I should have stuck out for better but as they insisted I needed a superhub which they would regard as a plus I probably wouldn't have got a better deal. As it was I went from 10 to 60 for £2.50.

Unless you have an absolute need for a BT line Vonage VoIP would save you a lot of money.

Re: Broken Promise
 

If that were actually the case, then you might have a point. I refer you to previously-mentioned OFCOM report.

---------- Post added at 20:58 ---------- Previous post was at 20:57 ----------

It would if it wasn't so crap. IMO, of course. You do get a month to try it, so give it go by all means. It may work better for you.

Re: Broken Promise
 

I speak from experience not some half baked report. You speak from your experience, I will from mine. OFCOM.... Chocolate fireguards come to mind.

Re: Broken Promise
 

Guys, cut the bickering please.

Re: Broken Promise
 

Yeah. Funny that. If it said VM were the worst ISP ever I'm willing to bet the above would not be your opinion of them then :rolleyes:

Re: Broken Promise
 

Re: Broken Promise
 

It works perfectly for me. Perhaps your VM broadband connection was to blame if it didn't for you? In any event it was pretty much free for me as I saved on the VM line rental and VM's caller id charge which together almost paid the monthly sub. If you added in what VM charge for anytime calls it's well worthwhile saving IMO.

Re: Broken Promise
 

Well. Like I said; ymmv :)

Entirely possible and never said otherwise.

I completely agree. If it had worked (it was my parents that had it, actually, not me) then I would be happy to consider dumping my VM phone-line (or at least dropping to the M service and just not using it!)

Re: Broken Promise
 

hmmm..

Well I suppose an IMO from you will mean all regulars will treat the comment as pure rubbish but others read these threads too so even though VOIP is way off topic I did feel the need to point out that my opinion is at variance with yours and unlike you I shell out £5.99 every month to back up that opinion.

Re: Broken Promise
 

1. Please don't generalise.
2. My opinion is just as valid as anyone else's as it also from my experience of the product.

So two people have two different opinions on a subject based on their own experience. Like that's never happened before :rolleyes:

Re: Broken Promise
 

Strange how many threads you participate in collect comments like this...
All I'll say is for me it's fine and you have never personally tried it.

Re: Broken Promise
 

Yes. But there's more than just me in those threads you know. It takes two, and all that :rolleyes:

I first tried Vonage back in 2007 when I first got then-NTL broadband in at a speed of 2MB. My parents have also recently finished their first (and last) year on the service.

So tell me again how I have "no experience" with Vonage :rolleyes:

So you really think I would make a comment like...

... without having had personal experience of it? Are you in the habit of passing comment/judgement on things you know nothing about? I know I'm not because that would be stupid and pointless.

I now have a PAYG Sipgate account and that seems to be better. Won't be replacing my standard phone line anytime soon though.

Re: Broken Promise
 

I do so love the way you change history with every post.
Thanks for the negative rep comment too. I do so hope you'll get plenty back from others as I've had positives already for taking you to task in several threads including this one.

This is my last comment in this thread on this topic as it is now so far off topic the mods will surely be intervening so well done you've now destroyed another thread.

Re: Broken Promise
 

:confused: I changed nothing so please stop lying.

Re: Broken Promise
 

I know that l shouldn't get involved, but l will.

I think a major problem with VM is that they do make promises that they cannot keep, when l have contacted CS, the amount of promises that l have been given over certain items is unreal.

They claim that they 'only' send quality engineers' to repair faults, well that is a lie in the first place. With all the problems that l have had, The engineers should go back to training school on how to deal with problems on TiVo etc.

I was told by a MANAGER, that some engineers are not fully qualified but are sent out due to the amount of work they have.

And what really makes me laugh is that some engineers in the West London area, actually come from up north, and they don't have any engineers in London to do the work, Also that CS told me that we were due to get Atlantic by Xmas, LAST YEAR,.

And l was told that by a VM engineer that came from BIRMINGHAM. I think if VM told the truth, they would go bust overnight.

As l have said before VM could be a great company to be associated with, but they have to stop giving out promises that they cannot keep.

Re: Broken Promise
 

I think Arthur has conflated a number of issues here.

The word "promise" is at the heart of this topic. There is at least one VM fan on this thread that doesn't equate "marketing speak" to "promise". But a normal person reading what VM says or listening to an authoritative person would take VM at it's word. And that's a promise to most people, isn't it? My word is my bond sort of thing.

I think that there are three main areas where VM hasn't delivered on its promises:

1/
The field engineers as mentioned by Arthur. My experience is that they vary as to whether they are contractors (usually poor) or staff (seniors whom I rate fairly highly).

2/
The Super Hub (say no more).

3/
Their "perfect for gaming" and "download when you want, frequently and quickly". I won't go over this ground again as it's well covered in my contribution to this thread.

But as a general internet service, VM do deliver. Their "up to" guards are reasonable seeing how many mega-downloaders there are who demand all the bandwidth.

In short, they are a great company, their Tivo service is excellent. But with much room to improve.

Re: Broken Promise
 

Quite right. I remember getting an email announcing a price rise but also implying that I would shortly be receiving a double-speed boost. Following the link it was supposed to happen around June/July - now it's showing January/Mar next year. Well of course the price rise was immediate :rolleyes:

Not really good service IMO. I'm planning on moving house soon and when I do, it's unlikely that I'll choose Virgin for the ISP. They just aren't competitive with BTs Infinity service and they've given me no reason to want to retain their business.