Forum Discussion

smish's avatar
smish
Tuning in
9 months ago

Virgin sales agent skulking on my property

I want to check that a door sales agent which visited my property a few minutes ago is genuine.  I didn't answer the door or speak to him, but have recordings of him on 2 security cameras.  He walked up my drive, hesitated near the front door and then looked down the side of my house and walked down there - did not knock or ring the door bell.  He then walked around to the back door, obviously looking at my garden and shed and those of my neighbours.  He then knocked at the back door quietly- ignoring the doorbell.  He then spent about 20 seconds having more of a look around the back gardens, before returning around the side of my house to the front door to post a card through the front door - still not knocking or ringing the doorbell.  He was wearing a red virgin fleece.  The virgin sales card has a name and mobile number on it.  I want to find out if he's genuine and make a complaint about him.  His weird behaviour makes it obvious that he's sneaking around looking for things to steal, and in any case I have prominent notices on the front door stating that I do not want any door sales people to disturb me and do not want junk mail.

The name on the card is [MOD EDIT: PERSONAL INFORMATION REMOVED] and the phone number on the card is [MOD EDIT: PERSONAL INFORMATION REMOVED] 

[MOD EDIT: Personal and private information has been removed from this post. Please do not post personal or private information in your public posts. Please review the Forum Guidelines]



  • I've had no response at all from virgin advisors here (except to remove his name and phone number from my post) so I will be posting the security footage and his details onto the next door app to warn neighbours of this scammer who doesn't knock on the front door (as a genuine person would) but wanders through gates onto people's private back gardens and also reporting him to the police.  BTW I have found him on Facebook with the name he used on the card, so it's probable he does genuinely work for virgin.

    This is very much the level of support I would expect from virgin - extremely poor.

    • Cardiffman282's avatar
      Cardiffman282
      Trouble shooter

      I tend to agree that this is more likely to be a case of an over enthusiastic field sales rep checking for signs of recent VM / competitor installations and/or possible installation routes with a view to being as informed as possible when it came to the single chance commission-heavy doorstep sales pitch. He may still be a wolf in bright red VM clothing and the scouting around does seem excessive and inappropriate but burglars generally don't post calling cards through the door whilst wearing company uniform and in my experience even my Great Aunt Hetty would look a bit sus when viewed via CCTV. 

    • Ayisha_B's avatar
      Ayisha_B
      Forum Team

      Hi smish 👋

      Welcome to our Community Forums and thanks for your post. 

      If the Sales agent left a card with his details then I would be inclined to say they do work for us. 

      I'll pop you a 📩 PM now to obtain the details and double check for you. 

      Speak soon!

      • smish's avatar
        smish
        Tuning in

        Do you train your sales agents not to knock when they visit a property?  Do you train them to ignore the publicly accessible front door and trespass through gates onto parts of customers property which are obviously private? How about ignoring notices on a customer's front door instructing sales people NOT to trespass and NOT to knock or ring the bell?  So not only has he not followed that request, but he invaded my privacy in a worse way!  No polite person would ever do this unless they had ulterior motives.  He wasn't looking for equipment at the back - what rubbish.  It's all at the front for my entire street.

        I want to make a complaint to virgin directly about his behaviour.  I am not a customer.  How do I make a complaint?

        I haven't had any PM and I included his name and phone number (from the card he left) in the original post.  His name is Glen [MOD EDIT: Personal details].

  • goslow's avatar
    goslow
    Alessandro Volta

    It can take several days before you get a reply from a VM forum team person on here.

  • goslow's avatar
    goslow
    Alessandro Volta

    If you think the agent was acting with some sort of criminal purpose in mind you should report it to your local police.

    You can send a complaint to VM by post

    Virgin Media, Sunderland, SR43 4AA

    but any response you get is likely to be no better than the one you have already had from VM (if you get any reply at all).

    • smish's avatar
      smish
      Tuning in

      Thanks.  I will send the complaint to virgin by post.  The police have the man's information so I suppose the complaint will be recorded against his name.  However he hasn't actually committed a crime - though his actions are obviously not honest, and that's easily discernable by watching the footage. They probably aren't going to approach him, so there's little point unless I do later get burgled or he's done for theft or burglary later.

      Virgin are employing this man, whether directly or through a 3rd party and therefore he is trespassing on their behalf.  If you use the 'next door' app you are able to see how many of these bogus salesman etc are lurking around looking for things to steal or how best to break in at a later date, and are caught on camera.  People share the footage.  My neighbour had one of these lurkers and then a couple of weeks later was burgled, at great financial and emotional burden.

      I would have expected Virgin to at least ask for the security footage, review it and then, at a minimum, reprimand him.  He had no need to enter private property and no reason for not knocking at the front door. 

      Virgin's attitude to this is what I came to expect from Virgin after my time as a Virgin customer - they don't care.  They just want the money.