Virgin Media Customer Service- Your Personal Experience

[neilo]

Back on topic I must say that VM customer service is the worst I have ever experienced. I think I could write a book I've had so many issues with them. I honestly don't know why I stay. Well I do, money, but aside from that I should have left ages ago.

Take the latest episode. Wanted Sky Sports HD put on, so tried online to upgrade but site kept crashing. Eventually did it. Three days later the channels only go on the V+ box (again!). I phone up, 12 minute call for agent to say customer services need to put a code on and they're shut. Can I call back. No offer to do it for me.

I phone in and get it added two days later. I complain by email. A week later I get a call. Agent apologises, says she has never known that before, I say it's happened to me several times before. Agent promises £14 compensation for two lots of £7 for the mess up. Fine I thought. Now I see she's credited me seven pounds and debited me seven pounds on my bill so the fourteen pounds compensation is actually nothing!!!

they are appalling. Just truly awful.

Pretty appalling service - I would suggest your ring CS again, and ask to get put through to a supervisor, and try to get it sorted that way.

[hedgie]

Had pretty good service over the last ten months. Just wish they had a policy of automatically putting you on the best deal.

I had a niggling TiVO problem which went on for about two months. Once they had tried twice to fix it I was passed to the regional service manager, me gave me his mobile number and appointments were made directly with very small time windows which was a big help to me. Once that fault was fixed the only other dealing I had was to do a second box install which went well. The engineer even set the remote to work the volume on my TV without being asked. All in all a good example.

I had one billing query when I realised my current package was more expensive than current ones, this was around summer when the double speed hit my area. In one phone call to what I think was the Scottish Call centre, certainly a Socttish agent, this was recognised and resolved with no hassle at all.

The only issue I had was them not acknowledging I was a long serving loyal customer. Due to a divorce my ex wife kept the "old" account. I couldnt get any credit for this and they wouldn't give the package I used to be on. I have had cable since the Nynex, Analogue Jerrold days,,,

All in all, pretty happy. My 60Mb connection runs two Xbox's a tablet and two laptops, streams HD well for me it just works

[ocav]

All in all, ive been alright with Virgin Customer Services,

When we moved house, they changed our package over saving us over £10 a month (putting us on the Premiere Collection)

However, just a week after the install at the new house, we lost most of the TV Channels as well as our internet connection. I contacted CS and they could see the problem, the agent even said "your upstream signal is too high" and that it was probably only affecting people in your street "which is only about 5/6", he then proceeded to book an engineer but told me that they needed "10 complaints to make it an area problem" though it was quite clearly an area problem if it affected the whole street, but it would never get enough complaints to turn it into an area problem.

It took 5 days to fix, even with multiple calls recieved from them stating the problem had been fixed.

Also experienced problems adding the Sky Movies HD Channels, took 3 calls to get them activated.

My view has remained constant. If you speak to a Brit you get sorted if you end up offshore its a nightmare to get them to understand

[Samkendal]

Dreadful. I have been with company (Cabeltel, NTL, Virginmedia) for 10 years (phone broadband, TV, mobile phones). Recently needed customer service. Discovered customer service was appalling, communication very poor, serious and persistent over charging, failure to keep telephone appointments, slow responses. I'm off

[pabscars]

Originally Posted by tizmeinnit

My view has remained constant. If you speak to a Brit you get sorted if you end up offshore its a nightmare to get them to understand

[neilo]

Jus going through a change of address with Virgin. Everything going ok so far.... Surely something will go wrong???

[Sirius]

Originally Posted by neilo

Jus going through a change of address with Virgin. Everything going ok so far.... Surely something will go wrong???

It will now you have tempted fate

[Dash: CF noob]

just ordered a new remote from offshore, excellent service offered a free replacement immediately "as im a good customer" cant fault service again.

[Dr Gonzo]

Just recently spoke to retentions for the first time and I found it a very easy experience.
Told them about the Sky deal offering a free 2Tb box, free broadband and a discount on the Sports package, and they were more than accommodating.
Managed to upgrade to a 1Tb Tivo box (from a V+Hd box), 60Mb (from 20Mb) BB and Phone XL (from L) all for an extra £7 and reduced the installation from £49.95 to £5.99.

Can't wait until the 13th for it all to be plumbed in.

A lot better than speaking to offshore customer services 3 years ago when I was on M+ wanting to take advantage of a half price upgrade to XL, but was informed that it was only on one jump of package (M+ > L or L > XL) that was after I was told I could have the deal, then was put on hold for 10 minutes and then someone hung up on me.
To say I was miffed was an understatement. I got a pretty good 12 month deal after I complained.

Hence why I vote 50/50

[Sigma]

To me, over the years it went from pretty poor, to very good (back when the support newsgroups were still available and the call centres were all UK-based), to utter crap.

A few months ago VM had routing issues. I phoned them up and allowed a support guy to remotely access my PC, as he was insistent that it was my settings that were to blame. He tinkered about with IE, resetting the browser and tinkering with plug-ins, despite me telling him that I use Opera as my default browser. When he realised that he was getting nowhere, he told me that "Google is having server issues and they host the sites that you currently can't access. It will be fixed in 24 hours, but call back if it's not". This was obviously a lie in order to just get me off the phone. I phoned back the next day and got through to someone in the UK and they actually knew what I was talking about when I said "routing issues" and the issue was reported and fixed a couple of days later.

A couple of weeks ago, my broadband went down. It wasn't back on after a couple of hours so I dialled 150. I was on hold for 70 minutes, nobody answered, so I gave up.

The other day I noticed that a couple of channels were missing on my TV and were throwing up 3202 error pages. Today I phoned VM to try and get this sorted and I was on hold for 32 minutes before I gave up waiting.

Since June 25th I've had intermittent issues with receiving email. There is a long thread that I started on the official VM forums about this and lots of other customers are affected, but for a couple of weeks they tried to fob everyone off saying it was their settings, then they opened a ticket but didn't reply to the thread for 2-3 weeks, despite people asking for updates and getting very frustrated. Then the ticket was closed and we were all told that no issues had been found, despite people continuing to post about them. People started complaining to the CEO and another ticket was opened, but the issue still hasn't been resolved and it's been 10 weeks since it was originally reported.

When the VM support newsgroup was available, you could get a fast response from someone who clearly knew what they were talking about. When the call centres were UK-based, I would rarely get through to someone that was clueless. VM have not only cut costs by using call centres based outside the UK, but they have cut costs even further by not training the staff that man them properly. Also, it appears that in recent weeks, either the number of support calls being made to VM has shot up massively, or they have made a lot of staff redundant, because I have never waited on hold so long for someone to answer the phone with any other company.

I need a fast broadband connection and unfortunately, Virgin are currently the only company in my area that can offer one. If that wasn't the case, I'd have left ages ago.

[clappy1967]

Please enjoy this chat with Virgin customer service... I have just had it:

Jenna: Hi, welcome to Virgin Media. How can I help?
Jenna: Just type your question below…
You: I was checking the starter collection
Jenna: i would be happy to assist you with Starter Collection.
Jenna: May I ask if you're already a Virgin Media customer?
You: I noticed that in ur website I cannot add caller dispay
You: not now
Jenna: Thank you for the information.
You: I was, I left to go to BT and now I was checking f it was better virgin or talk talk
You: as bt contract is over in 2 months
You: so in your webisite
Jenna: With our Starter Collection, you will get Broadband 30Mb, TV M (60+ Channels) and Phone M along with TiVo Box - HD activated and a Virgin phone line. Stater Collection costs £23.99 a month for the first 6 months and £32.99 a month thereafter. You have to pay £49.95 for its installation.
You: if I choose the starter collection
You: ok
Jenna: There is no limit on the total volume of data that you can download or upload during a month with Broadband 60Mb.
You: but in the website
You: I cannot add the caller display orr the call divert why?
You: I need to choose a more expensive collection even if I don't need it
Jenna: You can add caller ID you for that you need to call customer care once you place your order.
You: ok so essential collection 60 Mb, call divert, and other calling feature, which is the price monthly?
You: and the contact lenght
Jenna: With our Essential Collection you will get Broadband 30Mb, TV M+ and Phone M along with TiVo 500GB box and a Virgin phone line.
Essential Collection costs £27.99 a month for the first 6 months and £40.99 a month thereafter. You will get free installation worth £49.95.
Jenna: It would be 18 month contract.
You: and which is thew price for the other add on I quoted
You: so I refer to to starter collection in my question
You: essential is of no interest to me
Jenna: Alright.
You: starter collection 60MB+call divert+ 3 or more calling features= ??
Jenna: Starter Collection comes with Broadband 30Mb.
You: your website give the option of 60mb too for the starter collection
You: so?
Jenna: I am sorry, we can't make any change in predefined Collection.
Jenna: You can have Standalone Broadband 60Mb.
You: so you state that the starter collection is only 30MB and your website states 9 quids for states that it is available at 30 and 60MB
You: when was the last time you checked your website?
You: presvently I arrived to 60MB=tv M plus phone M=24 in your website
Jenna: Please can you send me the link?
You: http://store.virginmedia.com/quick-c...ER_BUNDLE_BB60
You: what would you think if you call me to buy a product I support and I have no clue
You: would you still buy that product from me?
Jenna: Unfortunately, we are not authorise to call you. I will be glad to assist you in selecting your packages online.
You: lol
You: never mind
You: I fear you have no clue about the package you have online
You: as I see you have something
Jenna: http://store.virginmedia.com/bundles...ollection.html
Jenna: Please simply copy that link and paste it on your web browser's address bar to open it.
You: ok good
Jenna: How are things coming along?
You: I ask it to you
Jenna: £9.00+ line rental £14.99
You: did you read the page you sent to me
Jenna: I am sorry, there is no Broadband 60mb.
You: Get everything in the Starter Collection, but with a mega up to 60Mb broadband speed and the UK's fastest wireless hub¬.£14.00 a month for 6 months
then £23 a month

+ Virgin Phone line
(£14.99 a month)

18 month contract

£49.95 installation charge applies

Buy now
You: that is from your webiste
You: and also this
You: Get everything in the Starter Collection, but with a whopping up to 100Mb broadband speed and the UK's fastest wireless hub¬. £21.50 a month for 6 months
then £30.50 a month

+ Virgin Phone line
(£14.99 a month)

18 month contract

£49.95 installation charge applies

Buy now
Jenna: Ok.
You: so the starter option is sold in 3 flavours
You: 30, 60 or 100
Jenna: My apologies.
You: really
Jenna: GO ahead.
Jenna: With your order.
You: you wasted 10 minutes
You: proving me you have no clue
You: I will post that chat in a blog
You: if you don't mind
You: it is a prove of non support
You: bye
Jenna: As you you wish.
Jenna: Is there anything else I can help you with?
You: lol
You: I asked you something above
You: and you gave me no reply apart telling me that a product virgin sells doesn't exist
Jenna: It is newly lunched offer so I wan not updated, My apologies.
You: well... I saw it two weeks ago in the website
You: and perhaps was there for longer
Jenna: We got starter collection yesterday.
You: ok se the question was:
You: starter collection 60M+call display+3 or more calling feature: how much does it cost?
You: I ask you this as the webiste is not letting me add calling feature and caller display to check the price of what I want.
Jenna: Caller display cost £2.25.
Jenna: However you can add it once you place your order by calling customer care team.
You: fine but I usually check a price before and n ot after placing an order
Jenna: I am sorry, you will get it from customer care once you place your order online order for starter Collection.
You: ok.... thank you
Jenna: You are most welcome.
Jenna: I am sorry for the inconvenience caused to you.
You: no problem





Thank you for chatting with us today!

[gregbrighton]

I have never had a bad experience dealing with VM CS. They are courteous and helpful. This is both at the Scottish call centre and overseas centre. If you're nice, pleasant and address them by their first name (they do like that!) they will bend over backwards to accommodate your needs and give you good deals.

I have no idea why other people are having bad experiences with them. Believe it or not, VM CS is a big reason why I have stayed with them for the last seven or so years and won't be going anywhere else soon.

[alanbjames]

They r generally ok until something goes wrong and the support is awful.