Cable Forum - View Single Post - New name ~ same service (note: I'm being polite here)

K Man · 11-03-2007, 09:58

I understand and appreciate the difficulties that you techie fellas have - honest I do. There needs to be a Telephone version of you guys who can identify who needs a call out and who doesn't.

Many years ago I used to pull '715' fibre-optic cable for distances of up to 2 miles with a gang in the Woking area then I would go and wire up the nodes. I remeber even then (1996/7) there was the same kind of trouble with the cable companies. In effect the would give you inadequate tools and unrealistic time scales to do the job AND only pay you by the job too - so if one job took you all day or the same amount of time to 3 other jobs you'd only get paid for that one job. I understand that many of the incentives to do a good job have been removed and in order to make a living from what you do corners DO get cut. I empathise completely.

Saying that, out of the multitude of Engineers that have visited me I'd say 5 of them new what they were doing, the rest didn't seem to either have a clue or give a damn. That goes back to my ealier point " any company is only as good as it's employees.

I work in an environment where I get calls from users all day. I try to identify the problem first and see if it can be supported by phone first. I see this also of a way of educating my clients/customers to think about why they're ringing me first. I will ask them various questions to help me eliminate simple issues which could be causing a problem and ove out from there. If it's more technical than I can handle I'll get an engineer on the phone to my clients, failing that and only if it's a last resort I'll send an engineer out on site to resolve. My engineers are a valuable resource and I can't have them all running around chasing their tails all day for things that can be solved over the phone or indeed by clients themselves.

Perhaps a more detailed user guide from VirginMedia containing a basic
on-screen maintenance guide would be a good idea. Maybe even write a script into the software so the usrs can download the latest firmware themselves - a simple "software update" option.

I now know this from personal experience but apparantly the boxes do update themselves in the early hours of the morning if switched to standby, but where does it say that or has this been advised to all customers?? Before I was told this I never knew and left my V+ box on all night which can create some issues. There should be a section for the user to do basic maitenance themselves just like with computers. Like a disc optimisation, defrag, software update and other aspects that would save the resources of VM's engineers. We all do it with our own computers why not with these boxes, afterall it's just another computer isn't it ??

The responsibility ultimately lies with the employers to provide adequate tools and realistic working conditions. If they don't we end up with one of two things (or a mixture of both):

1. All the skilled engineers leave for work elsewhere or change careers and those that do stay feel trapped by family/financial commitments and resent their work
2. We get left with engineers whose skills are sub-standard and don't really give a hoot

I'm not sugesting that there aren't any conscientious engineers out there because there are, I've had a couple at my place. On the whole VM have to recognise that they are perpetrating the issues that many of it's customers experience both in CS and with it's engineers by not providing the right ethos, attitude and environment for it's staff to in turn provide a satisfactory front end to it's customers - who pay the money.

This is my opinion built on experience from the last 10 years as a customer. Apologies if I upset anybody who feels they are an exception to this but be honest with me and tell me if I'm wrong. I can accept that my area might be an anomaly to the rest of the country - but I get the feeling it's not.

I am prepared to bear with VM while they do some housekeeping and give them the opportunity to provide me with the best home entertainment and customer satisfaction in the UK - let's see how it pans out.

11-03-2007, 09:58	#8
K Man Inactive Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Carshalton, Surrey Services: V+ VIP & Vmobile - in for a penny.......and all that Posts: 79	Re: New name ~ same service (note: I'm being polite here) I understand and appreciate the difficulties that you techie fellas have - honest I do. There needs to be a Telephone version of you guys who can identify who needs a call out and who doesn't. Many years ago I used to pull '715' fibre-optic cable for distances of up to 2 miles with a gang in the Woking area then I would go and wire up the nodes. I remeber even then (1996/7) there was the same kind of trouble with the cable companies. In effect the would give you inadequate tools and unrealistic time scales to do the job AND only pay you by the job too - so if one job took you all day or the same amount of time to 3 other jobs you'd only get paid for that one job. I understand that many of the incentives to do a good job have been removed and in order to make a living from what you do corners DO get cut. I empathise completely. Saying that, out of the multitude of Engineers that have visited me I'd say 5 of them new what they were doing, the rest didn't seem to either have a clue or give a damn. That goes back to my ealier point " any company is only as good as it's employees. I work in an environment where I get calls from users all day. I try to identify the problem first and see if it can be supported by phone first. I see this also of a way of educating my clients/customers to think about why they're ringing me first. I will ask them various questions to help me eliminate simple issues which could be causing a problem and ove out from there. If it's more technical than I can handle I'll get an engineer on the phone to my clients, failing that and only if it's a last resort I'll send an engineer out on site to resolve. My engineers are a valuable resource and I can't have them all running around chasing their tails all day for things that can be solved over the phone or indeed by clients themselves. Perhaps a more detailed user guide from VirginMedia containing a basic on-screen maintenance guide would be a good idea. Maybe even write a script into the software so the usrs can download the latest firmware themselves - a simple "software update" option. I now know this from personal experience but apparantly the boxes do update themselves in the early hours of the morning if switched to standby, but where does it say that or has this been advised to all customers?? Before I was told this I never knew and left my V+ box on all night which can create some issues. There should be a section for the user to do basic maitenance themselves just like with computers. Like a disc optimisation, defrag, software update and other aspects that would save the resources of VM's engineers. We all do it with our own computers why not with these boxes, afterall it's just another computer isn't it ?? The responsibility ultimately lies with the employers to provide adequate tools and realistic working conditions. If they don't we end up with one of two things (or a mixture of both): 1. All the skilled engineers leave for work elsewhere or change careers and those that do stay feel trapped by family/financial commitments and resent their work 2. We get left with engineers whose skills are sub-standard and don't really give a hoot I'm not sugesting that there aren't any conscientious engineers out there because there are, I've had a couple at my place. On the whole VM have to recognise that they are perpetrating the issues that many of it's customers experience both in CS and with it's engineers by not providing the right ethos, attitude and environment for it's staff to in turn provide a satisfactory front end to it's customers - who pay the money. This is my opinion built on experience from the last 10 years as a customer. Apologies if I upset anybody who feels they are an exception to this but be honest with me and tell me if I'm wrong. I can accept that my area might be an anomaly to the rest of the country - but I get the feeling it's not. I am prepared to bear with VM while they do some housekeeping and give them the opportunity to provide me with the best home entertainment and customer satisfaction in the UK - let's see how it pans out.