The situation in full.
As the first page only talks in bullet points....
Ive been a customer with Virgin media since December 2000 (Almost 8 years)
commenced working for the company back in 2003 until january 2007, to which I handed in my notice and commenced working for another company with a higher salary to Virgin Media doing similar work.
I recently have encoured problems, now based on the responses I have seen so far there is a lot of VM backing up and some to which I believe is from staff trying to tell me otherwise Im wrong.
So I have decided to type out the whole situation so you can see for your selves....
First off....
Working for Virgin Media (Telewest Broadband / NTL:Telewest)
Great staff members and people to work with, friendly and some great incentives, including free services, was a Broadband Licence holder and also was part of the Employee Forum for a year dealing with other areas of business not just customer services, including how CCCS are handled and from time to time would take escalated calls on behalf of managers who might have been busy due to the extensive knowledge I had.
For those who dont know what a CCCS is it is a web application used via Internet Explorer that manages feedback, complaints and customer enquiries. At the end of each month a report is pulled showing what customers are calling about and what is being done about it.
having left in Janurary 2007 just befor the company annouced to the public the new name on the 8th February 2008, I think its fair to say its almost 2yrs later, so clearly no issued with the company.
Now bac in April 2008 I started to report probelms with the Internet service, nothing major just occasionally dropping every day between 6-7 until 10-11 at night, this was a sign that there is starting to become over subscribed or too much demand int he network / capacity box since this is when most people return from work and children from school and college and use the internet.
Going into the months of June/July I was having to restart the modem almost every day including during the day time hours, (PEAK TIMES), I made Virgin Media aware, as if you dont call them they wont be able to do anything about it as it depends on customer feedback to resolve the situation.
I then found my self where I couldnt even play a youtube video without it pausing every 10 seconds waiting to download the next part of the video, MSN cutting off (which doesnt require high bandwidth) and google not even loading on numerous occasions, I would restart the modem and it would work for about 10 more mins.
So I called tech support to log it, they did all their checks and I actioned them and it would start again for about 1hr or so sometiems it would last until the next day and start failing again.
I asked Tech support to send a balancing hit from the BA screen in ICOMS to refresh the signal.
This sound temporarely solve it but as long as it worked i was ok, Each time it went down I would report it, until it was arranged by technical support to have a second line team call me, who confirmed there had been an over subscription on the broadband as part of a miscalculation between network capacity with NTL customers and Telewest customers and will be doing network upgrades in my area on the end of June.
I was reassured I will not continue to get any more problems after this date (27th June) as that is when the network issues are due to be resolved in my area.
I then found that 3 weeks on the problems was still happening, so I called back throught to VM asking them to solve it as its coming on 3 months now and its starting to get on my nerves and flustrating, specially when its dropping the connection that often MSN is cutting out and other services and having to restart the modem, wait for a connection, and use my browser again.
I dont download illegal software, music or videos etc or peer to peer software so no high bradband usage is logged against me.
So when i called back to complain another agent confirmed the over subscription part and apologised, I explained that doesnt do anything for me, and that I did not want any credits as that just prolongs the problem, i just want the problem resolved.
I was asked to call tech support again, after several calls to tech support and 1 agent even saying in tech support "Oh I see you only restarted your modem 29 times today" added to insult since ive not restarted it that many times in 3 yrs before all these issues so why should it be daily now.
Now even thought I spoke to customer relations in the past to log the CCCS threatening to disconnect, By this point im wanting to disconnect or get some one once and for all out here ot check the signals to report it back to networking. They asked me to give them the chance just this last time and they will and they will upgrade my broadband to 10MB for free.
I was like your missing the point its not a slow connection, its NO connection, the agent asked me to do a broadband speed test on a blueyonder link, and it failes 10 times, it wouldnt complete the 2 boxes (1 for upload and 1 for download) if anything it wouldnt go past 1/10th of the box
They admitted there was a problem and it required an engeneer, Im like finally its only took you guys almost 3 months (AKA 1/4 of a year to realise this)
They send an engeneer out who did tests during the daytime about 11am, found some signal loss in one of the sockets, corrected this and also suspected noise levels in the cables as a result of some one using old equipment in the block of flats, stated its a common problem in Birmingham but would have to pass it back to his manager, because it mainly happened between 6-11 at night I was told unless others complain also networking will not be coming out as they only work until 5pm, they can come out but only in emergencys (Aka were others report the same issue)
Now unless there is XYZ of customers who have broadband in this block of flats (which I dought it), bare in mind not every one is on VM some are with BT and other service providers, makes it difficult to have my problem rectified.
Though I must admit it has been a lot bettersince his visit.
DUring the same week I made higher call usage than usual. My call usage is normally £60 a month, but last month it was £290.00 as I was calling abroad to friends and family and a lot of mobile usage, mainly because my broadband wasnt working at the time.
Virgin Medias high usage team restricted mobile phone calls and international calls, so more than likely set a level 4 call baring on.
(Mobiles, International calls, Premium rate numbers)
I received a letter to state there may be some restrictions taking effect and that they was concerned about my unusual usage, As I knew this was a standard letter I ignored it and knew the reasons behind this...
Now High interviene for the following 3 reasons....
1) Child or logger at the property running up the phone bill without the bill payers concent
2) Neighbour tapping into your phone line and running up a bill without your knowledge
3) Running up a high bill and doing a runner or doing it without knowledge and not being able to afford it.
So i was ok with this and thought its probably over £200.00 if they have got involved as I was familiar with the process.
VM then call about 1 1/2 week later to ask if I could pay £100.00 off the amounts due, I stated yes on friday which was about 5 days away at the time, as I would be getting paid then AND the services was not in arrears bare in mind.
The agent said yeah ok, thats fine.
2 days later I find im unlable to dial land lines, bare in mind I had talk unlimited, now I accept that after the hr it charges
(Which before with Telewest that wasnt the case it only started to charge after the our when Telewest was merging with NTL as NTLs systems was programmed to be able to deal with unlimited calls, therefore they was trying to aling all the products to supply an equal service across the board)
Now the the merger has completed a few months back and all customers are on ICOMS there is no excuse why they dont revert back to unlimited talk time and unlimited calls on Talk Unlimited.
thats by the by, the main point is I never is not barely ever go over the 1hr so I couldnt see why they had to restrict the phone line, further more they shut off the broadband and and TV, even though these cannot cause any charges and the account wasnt in arrears.
an agent stated but you could run up PPV movies and you could run up charges after the hr.
I said no.
You can change my pin number on the CS screen and send a hit on the BA screen.
In english, they can access the customer screen and change the Pin number then go to the balancing screen which is responsible for sending signals to your smartcard and modem and contains all the serial numbers to your tv and modem which is also reflected on the Equipment screen (EQ)
I also told them they could have noted the account to state not to give the pin number out until the high usage had been cleared if they was concerned i was going to do a runner,
I spoke to credit services and told them they needed to cancel the work order that cancelled off the services and just restrict premium, mobiles, international calls and change the pins
They said as high usage was behind this it would have to go via high usage and that there is notes strickliy advising not to remove it.
I asked to have him speak with High usage advising there is no reason why it should remain, specially since I once worked at Mc Donalds £8K a year job during 2002 and had bills inexcess of £500 and managed to pay them as well as all my utility bills and rent so why am I going to find it difficult on a £16K wage, the person stated he cannot do it so I asked for a TM (Team Manager)
He said his TM is in a meeting, so I asked him to get another one, his in a call centre there is going to be others who can take the call, this was asked patiently as having worked for them I dont feel the need to be irate and understand there only following the procesees.
Bare in mind I have also worked for the likes of British Gas, Homeserve, Rentokil Initial, so where call centres come in I know his not going to pull the wool over my eyes saying its the only TM on the floor at 5pm in the after noon.
He dragged his TM out of a meeting who then started to tell me he is no way going to remove the restricted services and that they will stay on, after telling him my situation of being long term on time payer etc he went thought to high usage.
Who stated there was 2 problems with payments in the past
February and April/June time.
I stated yes, my billing cycle is at the begging of themonth and the direct debits came out at the end of the month along side when I got paid.
Because with my bank they wanted to charge me £120.00 for an £8.50 overdraft during xmas I had to move banks at last minute, having a kock on effect with you guys, but other than that they got paid.
Now with the billing cycle generating bills about the 4th of each month and the direct debits coming out about the 27th, it meant I had only about 1 week to get a direct debit up and running again at my new bank, which by then a new bill would have been generated on the followintg 4th of the month. causing an amount to go into the 2nd bucket
(in english for those not familiar with the system)
Virgin Media use an account management system called ICOMS or Gateway, on the 57 screen (Customer Ledger) you have what is knows as debt aging,
Current
0-30
31-60
60-90
90+
Being current amount (normally PPV movies that arent yet billed)
0-30 what has been billed in the last 30 days (1st Bucket)
31-60 what has been billed within 31-60 days (2nd Bucket)
60-90 days (3rd bucket)
So 0-30 would have been printed on the 4th Jan 2008 the direct debit failed on the 27th/28th on January because of having to change banks and have my employer pay my new account, bill was generated again on the 4th Feb 2008 causing an amount to appear in the 31-60 day bucket
This doesnt cause your services to be restricted until the 6th week its been oweing but a late payment charge will be added £10.00
The second time in May/June time was because of changing jobs and with being paid on different dates resulted on every one having to wait an extra week but all was paid and up to date
Because the manager saw it as me telling him how to do his job even though I wasnt I was making him aware that I understand the system he insisted its to stay on.
So I said fine you got a 1/4 of a year complaint going on with the broadband, im a Virgin Mobile, TV, Broadband, Phone Line and been with you for almost 8yrs and this is how you treat me when i havent really had problems with my billing and have been known to have bills in excess of £500.00 in the past and paid them yet a £280.00 bill causes more issues.
On friday 22nd August as promised to High Usage when they phoned me I paid £250.00 even though they only wanted at the time £100.00, leaving out of the whole bill £30.00 which was in the CURRENT bucket (So not even billed yet)
No my customer ledger screen would have looked like this
Current 0.00 (as it would have been service charges of £30.00)
0-30 days = £0.00
31-60 days = £0.00
61 -90 days = £0.00
90+ days = £0.00
Yet a week on I found my self with a family emergency and had to call them abroard and also others on a mobile. High usage failed to remove the call baring, so I called credit services to call high usage have it cancelled,
The agent apologised for failing to have it removed and said it will take 24hrs
Now I said I appreciate thats normal procedures but I informed the agent of the situations and pleaded with him to call the National Telephony centre to have pushed forward the removal of the call baring, specially since i was not in arears and the high usage was more than cleared.
I was told he wasnt trained to do that
So I asked for a manager as they will be familiar with this and its not fair to ask some one who isnt trained to do that.
Now for those asking why dont they always do it this way...
The national Telephony centre dont just deal with restricted lines but a load of other things, so thay have an automated system which tends to take 2-24hrs to take effect on restoring customer lines. However the NTC will push forward the reconnection if it is a VM fault (as it was in this instance or is an emergecy) and in this case it was.
For some one to say on here call 999 who I believe works for VM is attrotious why shoudl I even have to contemplate that when the high usage was cleanered 5-7 days before hand.
This is where VM should have been bending over backwards to show they value their customers.
I did it for customers and no you dont get in to trouble its understanding the customers situation.
So I get a manager who said no its atandard procedure and I will have to wait the 24hrs like other customers.
At this point im thinking....
1) Broadband Fault
2) High usage inconsideration
3) Manager with attitude (Highusage0
4) Inconsideration for me at a time of a family emergency even though its not my fault
and thinking there really pushing the boat out.
I then look at other service providers as defenatly want out now
02 offer me UNLIMITED CALLS to other 02 numbers and free texts for £15.00 a month + £3 land line calls a month
Virgin Mobile offered me nothing
02 broadband was cheaper and yet slitly slower broadband but with a rating of 9/10 on Moneysupermarket.com compared to Virgin Media stugling at 5/10 with the same number of reviews
http://www.moneysupermarket.com/broadband
With agents also telling me after when I complained it might be the websites your visiting and kept interrupting me when I tried to explain it wasnt, just added to insult specially since every one else had identified it was a problem with Virgin Media.
But I required a BT phoneline, now when checking out BTs website I found to reinstall the line it would cost £125.00 because the line had been cut, which was done by Telewest back in 2001 to feed it throught the same hole
So now I feel im stuck with Virgin Media.
I then found skype offering UNLIMITED CALLS to landlines for £2.20 inc vat and £2.27 for incoming calls
Why should I pay Virgin Media £18.95 a month when I could be paying £4.47 inc vat for the same thing
Saving £185.76 a year
So the Broadband is being ok now only failing once a week, so scrap thew phone line and go with Skype and use the broadband for calls,
They then tell me my phone will go to the equivelent to the SUpreme Solus, as i expected it would but since im on the basic TV package as I no longer have time to watch TV I advised they can come and disconnect that too.
So now you see Virgin Media going from a happy customer with 4 services
TV
Phone
Mobile
House Phone
To just simply Broadband within a space of 6 weeks from the high usage issue.
People who worked with me at Dudley have agreed with what I have said and what could have been done, I have friends who still work there and understand what I was going through and how the company could have done more, and how they too would be discusted and not pushing it throught the Switchboard at a time of family emergency.
The fact I could have complained to Ofcom by now but have given them able chance to correct the issues, how Ive been a long standing customer for almost 8yrs, and how i didnt complain at the slightest thing and stuck by the services unlike customers switching every 3 minutes to companies offering cheaper deals etc.
The calls was recording to not only prove inside knowledge but also so you can hear that the things im complaining about are valid and them admitting they have messed up yet NCLC have still failed to get in touch.
A new complaint was opened on the 2nd September, they have until the 30th September or shall be forwarding all the calls to Ofcom.
Ive started ot make them public so that people can judge for their selves the service and make their own choice as to what they want to do, but also see is as an ex long term staff member being dissapointed at how the company has changed from when it was Telewest Broadband and the fact im not asking for free services, or fancy offers, just as service that works and pay for it, and that im valued as a customer.
I know i gave that service to people when I worked there, so why is it so different now?
The thing is also, I have been patient with them, as I know its not nice to be shouted at and been in their shoes (Until they refused to remove the baring at a family emergency). I know that if this had happened to any other customer they would have radged VM to hell and back
Join CF
You are here: 
It isn't going to further your case one little bit. Presumably this is more an act of revenge on your part? Does it make you feel better?
