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Virgin Media - Crap/Not Crap

NoXion said:
If this thread is any indication, then Virgin are not worth the fucking hassle. I've had precisely zero complaints since getting set up with PlusNet. The connection speed might not be as great as for those with Virgin who manage to get lucky, but frankly I think an internet connection is far too important to leave to the roll of the fucking dice.
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My other half had Plusnet before we moved in together. There connection speeds were shit as were their customer service. I've had mostly solid 100mbs connection speeds and when they havnt they've still been better then what she used to get.

Not apples and oranges as we've moved out of town slightly, but nobody else can actually offer such fast Internet where Iive.
 
skyscraper101 said:
Gavin (complaints) rang me again on Saturday. He spent about 15 minutes running me through the various nonsense that's been happening between the local authority (TFL) and McNicolas the contractors in being able to actually get a start date confirmed.

In a nutshell, there have now been FIVE separate applications for a permit to begin work, which have been rejected. The second was actually approved but TFL didn't send the permit through. When it was applied for again, they have been repeatedly sending it back asking each time for some new detail they did not request the previous time :mad:

The latest ones were: they wanted the works completed within 1 day, rather than 4. When the contractors confirmed the work would be done within 1 day, they sent it back again saying they need confirmation that any equipment left on the site would be removed when personnel were offsite. It has now gone back again, confirming this. I'd lay money on it being rejected again requesting something else. Utter bullshit.
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I'm sure Gavin from complaints has given you a totally balanced account of events, based on someone from the nice contractors giving him a full and balanced account of their interactions with TFL. Certainly I've never observed anything but the highest level of care and workmanship being excercised by Virgin Media contractors, and it's awful that TFL are being so picky.
 
teuchter said:
I'm sure Gavin from complaints has given you a totally balanced account of events, based on someone from the nice contractors giving him a full and balanced account of their interactions with TFL. Certainly I've never observed anything but the highest level of care and workmanship being excercised by Virgin Media contractors, and it's awful that TFL are being so picky.
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Obviously all I have is Virgin Media's word and because of 'data protection' I have no other way to verify any of this. I'm partly documenting it here so I can keep a handle on what I've been told because nobody will actually email me anything. And for the sake of anyone else considering Virgin Media, as I was back in May and already feeling very uneasy about it :facepalm:
 
I guess the moral of the story is check they can supply what they promise, although easily said after the event!
 
I wrote another strongly worded letter to TFL yesterday. Coincidentally today I had a phone call saying that they have 'provisionally' approved a date of August 21st for the works to begin to be finished by August 23rd.

Obviously I have very little faith in it actually happening. But who knows.
 
My Internet went down in the early hours and defied several modem reboots so when I got to work I finally phoned them and after a great deal of filtering, got through to their Indian (?) call centre (the half dozen times I've phoned over the years, the people on the phone have had strong accents).
After applying some pressure, he looked up my modem and determined that my signal levels were low and promptly offered to send out an engineer on Friday - which doesn't suit me when it's quite likely not a problem with my modem.
He refused to tell me how to adjust it myself so I hung up and looked up online and found out what my levels should look like and they appear fine.

There's an attenuator just inside my front door which I could bypass - though my installation was set up to drive a TV box as well - through an attenuating splitter and now it goes direct to my router...

Anyway, running the online test a couple of times while at work, plus rebooting when I got home seems to have woken it up again ...
 
Had my notification of a price increase taking my total up to just under £94/month

Rang retentions last night and got them to reduce it to £61/month without even hinting I might leave. They've also thrown in one of the new V6 boxes for free without activation fee. They are basically banking on people just sucking up the price rise and the few who ring through will get placated with a third off.
 
chandlerp said:
Had my notification of a price increase taking my total up to just under £94/month

Rang retentions last night and got them to reduce it to £61/month without even hinting I might leave. They've also thrown in one of the new V6 boxes for free without activation fee. They are basically banking on people just sucking up the price rise and the few who ring through will get placated with a third off.
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What do you get for all that? :eek:
 
The work to even get a single byte of internet into my place was supposed to have completed yesterday. I have seen not one engineer or evidence of roadworks outside my house (although I'm away during the day so I've mainly been checking at either end of the day).

Rang the construction department this morning who said it was supposed to complete tonight but they wouldn't get an update until at least Friday as to whether the work was completed. So I have to wait until Monday now.

Feel my pain.
 
Just had to call virgin because my change of mobile phone package as previously requested hadn't been actioned resulting in an incorrect bill.
Total call time - 63 minutes
I was transferred at least five times, each time I had to repeat who I was, give my security info, and tell them what the problem was.

I have come to expect this experience whenever calling virgin media which I find rather frustrating. As I'm on a rolling contract I can now change company. Is customer service much the same at all the other companies, or are there differences?
 
squirrelp said:
I was transferred at least five times, each time I had to repeat who I was, give my security info, and tell them what the problem was.
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When I worked for orange you would get disciplined if you passed a call across without introducing the customer. Well on paper at least, in practice they didn't have a way of tracing who was in the call (yes, really) so we used to get calls dumped on us occasionally.
 
When it comes to mobile phone companies, just go straight to retentions, they usually sort you out. Seems to be the only department that has god like powers.
 
:facepalm: :facepalm::facepalm:

Jesus H, the work that was supposed to be completed by Tuesday evening, which has taken an age to even get a permit for, didn't even happen.

The complaints guy 'Gavin' called me to say they didn't do the work because of some unspecified reason and then gave me the name of a guy called 'Kevin' who is from the contractor who had been in touch and apparently said he'd be in touch with me directly, and he didn't state a reason why the work couldn't be completed.

Could this be more farcical?
 
Why do I keep getting strung along like this? Nobody should have to put up with this amount of bullshit. It's going to be 4 months since I moved in a week or so.
 
Kevin from McNicolls the contractor just called me from his mobile. He sounded genuinely sorry but said he is at the behest of the local authority and third parties they are mandated to work with.

Apparently the work was supposed to begin in collaboration with some other utility company. They (the other company) didn't turn up so the job didn't begin :facepalm::mad:

Obviously that could all be bullshit. I have no way of verifying it. Anyway, I now have a new install date of 5th September.

Feel my first world problems.
 
Sadly one of the things that is now true is that those digging up roads/pavements now have to consult each other in case they can collaborate and do all the work at once without having to upset the area twice. Another contractor not being available sounds feasible unfortunately
 
chandlerp said:
Sadly one of the things that is now true is that those digging up roads/pavements now have to consult each other in case they can collaborate and do all the work at once without having to upset the area twice. Another contractor not being available sounds feasible unfortunately
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I completely get that. But when the other contractor just doesn't show up then I think it's fair enough if the one that did can just go ahead and not be penalised for it.
 
This is why it takes us to almost 12 months to fill in a small sink hole, yet in Japan they repair a massive one in 2 weeks.
 
Apparently they are on site and fixing the problem today. Woop etc.

I personally called 'Kevin' from McNicols on his mobile this morning to check that it was happening. He rang back later in the afternoon which filled me with dread, saying that the plans they were given indicated the cable should go around the left of the house, but thats problematic so could it go round the right (my flat is around the back of the buliding). I was like FFS Yes, just fix the bastard already.
 
Confirmed the work has been completed!

NOW, I have to wait until Tuesday 26th Sept until they will install the service.

20 more days then. :facepalm: :D
 
Had an email saying my monthly bill is going up £3.50 a month, which is a fair hike. Gives an option to leave the contract, but not much help as nobody else can deliver 100 mbs in my area. :mad:
 
UnderAnOpenSky said:
Had an email saying my monthly bill is going up £3.50 a month, which is a fair hike. Gives an option to leave the contract, but not much help as nobody else can deliver 100 mbs in my area. :mad:
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Get onto retentions and threaten to leave anyway. You have a fair chance of them offering you a discount and cancelling the hike.
 
Had the same mail, mine is going up £2.74 (I only have internet) but it does state I will be getting a 'free' upgrade to 200Mbps later in the year

I don't need 100Mbps (i actually don't but it's nice to have) let alone 200Mbps, I live on my own, so tbf will be giving them a call at some point and throwing that line at them, need to figure out what else is in my area first thou so i have the facts/figures/prices so they can do me a better deal.
 
Think I mentioned upthread that I didn't even threaten to leave they just immediately reduced my bill by a third without me asking
 
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