New customer Failure !

[heavyd888]

Hi

I wonder if people could offer any advice re a complaint I have with virgin media which seems to be stuck.

As a brand new customer it has really made me regret my decision to move to Virgin Media for broadband. Furthermore the complaints procedure has gone round in circles.

Background

I am a new customer. The installation was delayed a number of times as the external contractors had to lay a new cable from street to the house. They came out at least 3 times and led to a delay for over 6 weeks. Eventually got sorted and broadband is working

Issue #1

VM first billn included compensation for delayed install but for only a fraction of the days it was delayed - almost half.

I have emailed several times asking for an explanation of how they have calculated their days and what the actual delay was. No specific response.

I believe I am entitled for compensation for the full delay as the delay incurred additional costs for me.

How do I get VM to rectify this ?

They just ignore the questions in my email

Issue #2

On the first bill, I have been charged £30 for a ‘Manned installation charge’. I have disputed this as it is not mentioned in any contracts, order emails or other documents when I signed up.

I have the following letters and screenshots of everything - no mention of a charge:

- My initial order email - screenshots can be provided. It states "One-off costs only on your first bill - Setup fee £0"

- VM Contract Info sheet 

- VM Contract Summary sheet

- VM Contract letter (dated 2 Aug 23)

====

The most recent response from VM complaints dept was :

“you have started your journey with us and we really like to appreciate your business with us . Also, I would like to apologize for all the hassle and stress this has caused.

Further, I have documented your dissatisfaction and forwarded to the back-end team so that we can work towards creating a positive experience to our customers. Request you to give us a chance to improve our services. Take care and stay safe!

Here's what we offer as a resolution:
Billing ->Extra guidance on billing

We hope this works for you.”

====

No, it does not work for me !

What else can I do ?

Any advice would be appreciated

Thanks

[Paul22379]

I hope to god this is not what I've signed up for. Connected my equipment Thurs on the activation date, nothing is working, I've had to book an engineer to attend next Tues, so left without any WiFi or TV until then, can't get through to anyone to speak to about it. 

I'm already regretting my decision to move to Virgin and they want me to pay for a service in advance that I'm not receiving. Awful start. Good luck to you. 

[heavyd888]

I hope you have a better experience and don't get charged additional hidden costs !

[goslow]

Put issues 1 and 2 into a complaint to the ombudsman.

You have gone through the VM complaints process and it has churned out a typical gobbledegook non-resolution.

You reject the resolution and VM should provide you with a deadlock letter (although their track record in doing this in the topics on here is a bit unreliable)

With the deadlock leter, or 8 weeks after you complained in any event, you can go to arbitration

https://www.commsombudsman.org/our-process

VM regularly tries to dodge paying compensation, or reduce the payout, with a range of dubious excuses including 'provisional' installation dates and 'council permits' being the most common ones. These are assessed at arbitration and usually dismissed but details are everything in putting together a case for arbitration.

Map out a detailed record of events (dates, times of all calls, messages, texts etc. along with any missed appointments and failed appointments where someone turns up but no work was carried out). Keep the record in a timeline format with links from the timeline to each piece of recorded evidence. This will make it easy for you in the future to put forward a case to arbitration for the correct compensation.

You can share your unhappy complaint experience with OFCOM.

They launched an investigation into VM on 13 July 2023 specifically into VM's cancellation and complaints processes.

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/bulletins/enforcement-bulletin/open-cases/cw_01275

Case ref. no. and an email at the bottom of the above page or submit with same info via the contact form

https://ofcomforms.secure.force.com/formentry/SitesFormCCTMonitoring

Submitting information won't help your individual complaint but it will contribute to the OFCOM investigation and it sounds like your experience is directly relevant to the terms of reference of the investigation.

[heavyd888]

Thanks for such a detailed answer @goslow. 

How do I get the deadlock letter ?

Their last response assumes if you don’t do anything for 28 days then you are happy to close the complaint. 

“We’ll keep your complaint open for 28 days from now just in case you still want to talk through your options. Please ring us on 0345 454 1111 if you’re not completely happy with the resolution.

If we don’t hear back after 28 days, we’ll assume you’re satisfied with everything and close your complaint.“

[goslow]

Phone them up and reject the 'resolution'. VM then has the choice of looking at the complaint again or issuing the deadlock letter. The deadlock letter means VM is not going to do any more beyond what was offered in the resolution.

https://partners.ombudsman-services.org/resources/guidance-notes/eight-week-and-deadlock-letters-com...

[jpeg1]

heavyd888 just to confirm that everything goslow has advised you is correct and based on experience that we have all had with Virginmedia. 

You may get a staff member contacting you here and offering to help. By all means accept their help, but they can do no more than pass messages within VM. They can't change anything, so do not allow this to delay the actions you need to take.  Good luck! 

[heavyd888]

Thank you

[heavyd888]

Thank you - really helpful

[Alex_RM]

Hi heavyd888,

Thanks for posting and welcome to our community 🙂

Sorry to hear your installation was delayed, so I can take a closer look at your complaint I've popped you over a private message.

Alex_Rm