Awful service from VM...messing me around for 2 weeks now!!!

[Maxie]

Hi everyone, just wondering what u lot ake of this, and if any of you have any idea how to further complaint, get something done etc.
To summarise really quickly:

- on 14th feb i ordered upgrade to full VIP package and was given install date of 23rd feb and told movies, sports, B/B and new phone package would go on in 4hrs or so.
- on 15th feb i rang to say sports and movies had not been put on, to be told they dont go on till the install date...which I said "23rd feb", she said no its actually the 22nd feb. I cancelled me day off and the wife took 22nd off.
- on 22nd, by 6pm, they hadnt turned up, so i rang CS and was told it had been put in for 22nd MARCH!!!! I played hell, I've wasted days leave/pay etc.....a CS adviser simply offered me 10th march, so i got onto manager who got me yesterdays date.........a week after it should have been done originally was the best he could do.
- I wrote a letter to 'Customer Concern' on 25th Feb (still no reply yet)
- yesterday technician turns up, puts in V+ box and sports and movies......rings VM....they say due to cock up putting on system its been put down as 'upgrade' rather than '2nd box' and cant be changed....2 seperate jobs cant be done on the same day.
- i ring them again, saying how this is unacceptable and i want it installing asap. A manger promises to ring technicain area manager and get a new date....i demanded today. he said he ring me back, and gave me his name and dept name.
- 6pm yesterday i hadnt heard anything so i rang.....someone said theyd pass a message on and get him to ring me back.
- 8pm last night (when they close) i still hadnt heard anything.
- As of yet this manager has not gotten back to me (i got his name and dept).
- 12.45 today I range back. A normal member of staff tried for an hour to get through to the local install team to arrange something.....he could only arrange for 6th March. Throughout all of that, his manager wouldnt come on the phone saying there was nothing more they could do (i got their name ).
- They offered me 6 months of the 2nd box free (£90 overall). Iv said that isnt good enough, and wont even cover what the days my wife and i have toake off so far, finance wise ( i also have to take another day off for the 6ht march).
- Iv wrote another latter tonight, which explains everything. Ive said 2 months free from my total £85 monthly bill isnt unreasonable.

Ive found them completely unprofessional and incompetent. The complaints procedure is appaling too (iv been told you can only correspond by letter). Im going to post the 2nd complaint letter tomorrow.

Anyone have any suggestions before I do, or any thoughts about the matter....hints/tips etc.

Cheers.

[fireman328]

Seems about par for the course, I am sure that most things go OK but it appears that once something goes a little off course no one will take ownership of the problem and see it through to a satisfactory, for the customer, conclusion. This seems to be endemic in chaotic management systems where people are not willing or not trained enough "to think out of the box" and therefore pass the problem round internally without actually addressing the problem and start to make excuses as to why the problem is not theirs without looking at the problem and attempting to resolve it. This can usually only be cured by the replacement or retraining of the manager concerned.

[NTLVictim]

"I am sure that most things go OK"

Fireman, what forum have you been reading???

[fireman328]

Originally Posted by NTLVictim

"I am sure that most things go OK"

Fireman, what forum have you been reading???

LOL, I am sure that most of the day to day business runs reasonably well but when something out of the ordinary happens, that is when a critcal stage in in the problem can either get resolved or sink deeper in the mire to the point where the problem is not the original problem but has become a seperate problem, it is at this point that the customer is forgotten and the problem becomes an academic discussion point.

[NTLVictim]

I'm afraid with all my experiences of them, I have very little faith..they have a mountain to climb!

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by NTLVictim

"I am sure that most things go OK"

Fireman, what forum have you been reading???

The total membership (active and inactive members) is quite large, but is probably less than 0.01% of the number of virgin users. Combine it with the membership of CableHell (and other forums), and it would still be less than 0.01% of the number of virgin users.

That's without taking into account the number of people who are members, but NOT virgin customers, and those who are, but are happy.

In short, the number of complaints on this, and other forums is NOT an accurate indicator of whether service from Virgin (or any ISP) is good.

---------- Post added at 23:48 ---------- Previous post was at 23:46 ----------

Maxie, if you want I can refer this to our contacts within Virgin Media. If you do want me to, just PM me your Name, Address, Daytime phone number and account number.

[Rik]

Originally Posted by Maxie

Hi everyone, just wondering what u lot ake of this, and if any of you have any idea how to further complaint, get something done etc.
To summarise really quickly:

- on 14th feb i ordered upgrade to full VIP package and was given install date of 23rd feb and told movies, sports, B/B and new phone package would go on in 4hrs or so.
- on 15th feb i rang to say sports and movies had not been put on, to be told they dont go on till the install date...which I said "23rd feb", she said no its actually the 22nd feb. I cancelled me day off and the wife took 22nd off.
- on 22nd, by 6pm, they hadnt turned up, so i rang CS and was told it had been put in for 22nd MARCH!!!! I played hell, I've wasted days leave/pay etc.....a CS adviser simply offered me 10th march, so i got onto manager who got me yesterdays date.........a week after it should have been done originally was the best he could do.
- I wrote a letter to 'Customer Concern' on 25th Feb (still no reply yet)
- yesterday technician turns up, puts in V+ box and sports and movies......rings VM....they say due to cock up putting on system its been put down as 'upgrade' rather than '2nd box' and cant be changed....2 seperate jobs cant be done on the same day.
- i ring them again, saying how this is unacceptable and i want it installing asap. A manger promises to ring technicain area manager and get a new date....i demanded today. he said he ring me back, and gave me his name and dept name.
- 6pm yesterday i hadnt heard anything so i rang.....someone said theyd pass a message on and get him to ring me back.
- 8pm last night (when they close) i still hadnt heard anything.
- As of yet this manager has not gotten back to me (i got his name and dept).
- 12.45 today I range back. A normal member of staff tried for an hour to get through to the local install team to arrange something.....he could only arrange for 6th March. Throughout all of that, his manager wouldnt come on the phone saying there was nothing more they could do (i got their name ).
- They offered me 6 months of the 2nd box free (£90 overall). Iv said that isnt good enough, and wont even cover what the days my wife and i have toake off so far, finance wise ( i also have to take another day off for the 6ht march).
- Iv wrote another latter tonight, which explains everything. Ive said 2 months free from my total £85 monthly bill isnt unreasonable.

Ive found them completely unprofessional and incompetent. The complaints procedure is appaling too (iv been told you can only correspond by letter). Im going to post the 2nd complaint letter tomorrow.

Anyone have any suggestions before I do, or any thoughts about the matter....hints/tips etc.

Cheers.

I would personally leave and look for another company to supply the services if I had received such poor service.

BUT i have had many many years (4) of excellent service from NTL/VM, and would recommend them to anyone, ONCE it is all set up

If you can get past this stage, and hopefully a member of staff can help, then they are a fabulous company to be with.

[Maxie]

Rik, Ive never had a prob before this, and being honest, VM are the only company we can use anyway.
But this situation is appalling and id not being doing myself justice if i just let it go.

Stuart C, cheers. Im not sure what to do at the minute. Ive got this 2nd letter ready to go, but its been suggested I ring retentions, who allegedly have greater powers etc. Im not sure. I might do both (post letter and ring).

Whats for certain is though (and im normally not like this at all) I want some form of compensation. The days off alone will have cost me and my wife approx £130 financially wise.
Theyve offered £90 over 6 months.
I suggest either give me 2 months totally free (2 X £85 = £170) or give me the 2nd box as a V+ box free for 12 months (12 X £10 + £120).

But im still not sure which would be the best (and quickest) way to go.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by Maxie

Stuart C, cheers. Im not sure what to do at the minute. Ive got this 2nd letter ready to go, but its been suggested I ring retentions, who allegedly have greater powers etc. Im not sure. I might do both (post letter and ring).

I personally would recommend going through the site's contacts. They are very high up in Virgin, and have a good record at sorting out problems like this.

Whats for certain is though (and im normally not like this at all) I want some form of compensation. The days off alone will have cost me and my wife approx £130 financially wise.
Theyve offered £90 over 6 months.
I suggest either give me 2 months totally free (2 X £85 = £170) or give me the 2nd box as a V+ box free for 12 months (12 X £10 + £120).

But im still not sure which would be the best (and quickest) way to go.

As I said earlier, I would recommend the site contacts. Not sure what they might offer, so I cannot comment on compensation.

[Maxie]

Originally Posted by Stuart C

I personally would recommend going through the site's contacts. They are very high up in Virgin, and have a good record at sorting out problems like this.


As I said earlier, I would recommend the site contacts. Not sure what they might offer, so I cannot comment on compensation.

Cheers Stuart.

The actual install is getting done on Tuesday now (hopefully!!!!) and thats only 2 days away. I will have to take that since there were no others.
As I say, normally I'd feel a little bit crap about demanding compensation or something but i feel in this case its deserved. I mentioned to them on the phone I thought 2 months free of my bill wouldnt be out of the question (they offered the 2nd box free for 6), or 2 V+'s for the VIP price of £85 for 12 months (thats less than the 2 months free would cost them in reality and it would make up to the kid for the fact theyve been waiting 2 weeks for a box in their room).......problem is the installs on Tues now.....so surely its too late for that to happen.

How'd I go about 'contacting' someone as you'd recommend mate??

Cheers.

[Fingy]

Originally Posted by Stuart C

Maxie, if you want I can refer this to our contacts within Virgin Media. If you do want me to, just PM me your Name, Address, Daytime phone number and account number.

[Maxie]

Well I gave ringing retentions a try (maybes ive cocked it up myself and done myself out of a deal, i dunno) but, (in total of 1hr 20mins on phone to them - hold and speaking) and long story short they offered me £35 discount a month for the next 3 months.....they tried to say really it wasnt their dept, to which i answered "if i'd been whinging about Sky One I'd get some form of compo though!"

Thats £135 off in 3 months in total....and it was all they were gonna offer me. (big no no on the extra V+ box, she said theres not many about!! ).

Any thoughts? have I gotten a good deal or been done over??

I was told my complaint letter of last week has been logged today. Im waiting 2-3 days for them to contact me. If they do ill explain whats happened since (install cock up, no manager call backs).....if they dont the 2nd letter is going.



And as the wife said 5 mins ago after walking through the door, "£135 still doesnt cover the leave we've wasted on them!!!!"