[Kushan]

Originally Posted by roughbeast

Kush! Your acceptance that VM staff couldn't give a monkey's about natural justice, preferring instead commercial advantage, is jaw-dropping.

Woah, woah, woah - let's be clear here, there's a huge difference between what the bigwig execs at VM think and feel and what the paid-barely-minimum-wage CS agent thinks and feels. Frankly, they're not paid enough to give a crap about anything other than their phone targets. If it takes a few seconds to change a code on a system, that's one happy customer and a few seconds off their AHT - the only thing they really will care about.

Originally Posted by roughbeast

Your description of VM's 'lack pf[sic] moral compass' , effectively makes my point. I also do wonder at their collective intelligences.

I didn't say anything about Virgin lacking a moral compass?

Originally Posted by roughbeast

Until their 152Mb upgrade debacle over the 152Mb upgrade I did assume that VM had an ethical brain cell between them.

What debacle? Anyone that asked got the upgrade for free, existing customer or not, in contract or not and without having to sign anything. There was no debacle. You're quite simply wrong about this one.

Originally Posted by roughbeast

Couldn't they just have stopped at offering new customers a lower initial prices, say for 6 months? You find this practice all over the commercial world. Instead they offered a whole new superior service solely to new customers.

No. They. Didn't.

They rolled out that service to everyone without anyone having to lift a finger. It took time, some people still haven't got the upgrade, but all customers are getting it and anyone who phones up and asks can get it early and always could.

Originally Posted by roughbeast

How morally dumb is that?

How dumb is it that no matter how many times you're told, you're not getting it!

Originally Posted by roughbeast

They could easily have been upfront about the network considerations.

They were up front! They had an entire are of their site dedicated to the upgrade and when it would be coming.

Originally Posted by roughbeast

Naturally, folk like me would take exception! People, like me, in the know made the phone call and got what they wanted. Those that weren't, didn't. How shambolic is that?

What on earth would you rather they did? Roll out the upgrade network wide and cripple it for everyone? There's only so many ways you can roll out an upgrade. As has been proven repeatedly in this forum, the pace of the rollouts wasn't up to scratch and plenty of areas got congested due to too many people upgrading early. What you call shambolic would have been considerably worse had it been done any other way. The mere fact that the upgrades are still rolling out shows just how big a job it was and it's good that they had something in place to limit the uptake.

Originally Posted by roughbeast

Your accepting attitude, jaw-dropping as it is, is probably right in terms of commercial outcomes. It appears that VM are commercially intelligent, but emotionally and morally retarded. It appears that this culture has infected Virgin's staffs and its other enterprises.

As tempting as it is to make a comment on who or what is retarded, I'll say this - it's not a bloody moral issue we're dealing with here. There's nothing immoral about it, you signed a contract with them some years ago, that contract was for a certain speed at a certain price per month for a certain period. You didn't have to sign it, you weren't obliged to sign it but you decided those terms were fair and you signed it.

Originally Posted by roughbeast

I was once a member of Virgin Active, by default. Our Esporta gym, where we had been members for 15 years, was taken over. Within a year of the re-branding the main gym was upgraded with state of the art equipment and a luxury refurbishment. Many new members were taken on with low initial fees. Meanwhile those of us who used classes like body combat and body pump found classes being whittled down until their wasn't any choice at times people wanted. Trainers over the age of 50 were retired with just one week notice, apparently because older age didn't equate with the healthy, fit and fresh image Virgin required. Many existing members, including my family, departed for other gyms, leaving old friends behind. VM couldn't give a damn about existing members just as long as new members kept pouring in.

Virgin media has got nothing to do with the Virgin parent that owns the name......

Originally Posted by roughbeast

How is it OK to behave like this? People's feelings, preferences and well-being are placed well behind short-term commercial considerations. Just because they are a global corporation VM think they are immune to the need to provide a good service with continuity over time to new and old customers. Sadly, you are right. They are immune.

If you have a problem with it, then leave. Take your money elsewhere. This is how it works - you pay whomever you think can provide you the service you want at the best price you can get. When your contract is up, you can go elsewhere. This applies to all ISPs and, in fact, most businesses. This is why everything is geared towards new customers and you can take complete advantage of that by calling up retentions and demanding a better deal. You can get those same deals the newer customers get once your contract is up.