Forum Discussion

aswilbourn's avatar
aswilbourn
On our wavelength
2 months ago

6th Installation in 6 months cancelled!

Moved in to our new host June last and arranged for Virgin to be installed soon after. The first appointment got moved, then the second, then the third and then the fourth before getting a very blunt reply from someone in India saying it can not be installed. So after 3 months of waiting for Virgin to be installed and having to tether to our mobile phones during this time to get Internet decided to go with Vodafone.

In October someone from Virgin visited the house personally and said it DEFINETLY can be installed and apologised for the confusion earlier in the year. So we signed up with him there and then....Installation date was moved twice before once again I got a call from India saying my installation was cancelled but with no reason why.

I received yet another visit in December apologising and once again ensuring me all work is complete and it can be installed. Installation date was set for 8th January (today) and still no engineer has arrived. I checked my installation progress and it now states 'It Looks like you don't have any open orders!' However, when I click on Help, Broadband, Manage orders and appointments I can see the installation but it is still stuck at 'Preparing your property'

Can someone please message me and look into this...its getting ridiculous now and I am getting absolutely no feedback from the Support teams in India!

 

  • aswilbourn's avatar
    aswilbourn
    On our wavelength

    Hi all!

    Just been on with live chat and on the phone and I'm afraid as I had experienced earlier this year the customer service is appalling, and they are just not getting the question I am trying to ask.....so I thought I would post it here so someone from Virgin can see it and hopefully help like earlier this year...

    We originally had an account under my partners name [REMOVED] and registered to W*****@hotmail.co.uk.

    We moved house in June of this year and were told by Virgin we could get broadband installed at our new address. A new account of [REMOVED] was set up and was also registered to W*****@hotmail.co.uk . However, after nearly 3 months of the installation date being continually pushed back, we were informed that Virgin Broadband was not actually available in our area.

    As such we reluctantly took out a contract with Vodafone to have our broadband delivered over our existing telephone line.

    A representative from Virgin called at the house yesterday and said Virgin Broadband was now definitely available at our address and apologised for the confusion earlier this year (It would appear the cable wasn’t quite reaching our address earlier in the year). As such we signed up for a NEW account again under [REMOVED].

    So the 2 questions I have are as follows:

    • I have tried accessing the new account details both online and via the app. However, when I try and associate this new account with my email address W*****@hotmail.co.uk  it states the email address is already in use. Can this new account please be associated with my email address?
    • Also, the Virgin representative asked me to enquire about additional compensation/offers. Due to the fact we had multiple failed installations this year by Virgin and in the end had to go with Vodafone we are now tied into a 24 months contract and only 2 months in meaning our early cancellation fee will be £333.04 ☹

    Thanks for your assistance on the 2 above queries.

    [MOD EDIT: Personal and private information has been removed from this post.]

    • Alex_RM's avatar
      Alex_RM
      Forum Team

      Hi aswilbourn,

      Thanks for posting, and sorry to hear of the experience you've had previously.

      We're happy to take a closer look at things to check if the address is serviceable, in regards to the email, I've popped you over a private message to get a few more details. If you are still in contract with Vodafone and decide to leave them early, any disconnection fees would be your responsibility.

      Alex_Rm

    • aswilbourn's avatar
      aswilbourn
      On our wavelength

      Just want to say thanks to Alex for trying to help on this however absolutely terrible experience from Virgin  once again. Received a phone a call from their Call Centre a couple of days ago to say my account was on hold as my address was not serviceable...sigh! Literally less than a week after a Virgin representative came to my front door apologised for the issues earlier in the year and saying it is DEFINETLY now available at my address even after I asked him several times if he was sure....easily the worst experience I have ever had with a company.

  • Thanks for coming back to us aswilbourn. We're sorry to hear of the issues that you're having with your install. I would be happy to take a further look into this for you but first I would need to confirm a few details via private message, please look out for my message and we can get started.
    Kind Regards,
    Steven_L

  • aswilbourn's avatar
    aswilbourn
    On our wavelength

    Hi Steven,

    This is all a bit of a mess at the moment I'm afraid. Some orders are under my name and some are under my partners. I have an official complaint raised at the moment I am currently awaiting feedback on . Complaint reference: C-0901252534

  • aswilbourn's avatar
    aswilbourn
    On our wavelength

    A further update on this absolute mess of a situation! Someone from Customer Support contacted us a few weeks ago saying the reason there have been so many delays is that the council will not approve the cabling and they were now be unable to proceed.....I now know this to be a blatant lie!!! I contacted the council for a FOI request and they responded today with the following:

    Freedom of Information Request, allocated Reference FOI-1061-2425
    Request
    I would like to make a request regarding information for an Application made by 
    Virgin Media to install Cable Broadband at *Address Redacted*. Virgin Media have 
    said this has been declined by my local council so I would like to know details of the 
    application and the reason for it being declined.
    Response
    The Council do not have any records of Virgin Media requesting a permit to work 
    upon the adopted highway to install Cable Broadband at this location or nearby.

    So not only have I had nearly 9 months of promised visits to only be cancelled at the last minute, someone has now rung me up and blatantly lied to me about why there have been delays! I have raised a further complaint under : C-060225489 and if this does not get resolved to my satisfaction very shortly I will be on to the ombudsman!

    • goslow's avatar
      goslow
      Alessandro Volta

      aswilbourn wrote: A further update on this absolute mess of a situation! <snip>

      Sadly this is yet another case of a bungled VM (non-)installation that has made its way onto here. Similar topics have been posted on here for years. They must run into the hundreds by now.

      'Council permits' is VM's go-to excuse for any delay or cancellation. There have been previous topics where the customer has also done as you have done and contacted the council for info. Often the council has reported no permit was ever requested or that the permit was issued but VM did not start the work in the permit time window and had to reapply, causing a delay.

      If you get nowhere with VM regarding compensation (very likely) your route forward is via the ombudsman. You are aware of the compensation scheme

      https://www.virginmedia.com/help/billing-and-payments/automatic-compensation

      but make particular noted of the 'cease notice' which is described (Limits on payments 32. below)

      https://www.virginmedia.com/legal/fibre-optic-services-terms-conditions/automatic-compensation

      If VM is going to stop paying you compensation, the cease notice must warn you of this and VM must continue to pay you for 30 days beyond the cease notice. I cannot recall any topics on here where VM has ever provided the customer with a cease notice following the correct procedure. If you have had multiple cancellations from VM you should look into how/when/if any cease notices should have been applied when working out what is due to you and whether VM followed the correct procedures each time it cancelled your installation (answer to this is almost certainly they will not have done so).

      Also, VM has invented the idea of the 'provisional' installation date (along with other excuses) as a means to avoid/reduce payouts. This does not exist in the original OFCOM scheme

      https://www.ofcom.org.uk/siteassets/resources/documents/consultations/uncategorised/98684---automatic-compensation/associated-documents/industry-code-of-practice-for-automatic-compensation.pdf?v=326264

      and it is worth referring to this OFCOM document to understand what the original intention of the scheme was. Mostly the ombudsman ignores these dodges but sometimes adjudication judgements have reduced pay-outs depending on exactly what information VM provided to the customer along the way.

      It is worth following up with the ombudsman and it sounds like you are up for the fight to do that. A previous customer posted some useful advice on here following a successful ombudsman claim of £901

      https://community.virginmedia.com/discussions/Setup/compensation-for-delay-in-broadband-installation/5529046/replies/5540183#M248553

      Good luck!

  • Do please ensure that you secure the full automatic compensation due to you for the missed appointments (where there is no advance cancellation received) and various installation delays.

    If you get excuses or are fobbed off (likely) then please update the thread accordingly. 

    https://www.virginmedia.com/help/billing-and-payments/automatic-compensation

  • aswilbourn's avatar
    aswilbourn
    On our wavelength

    Thanks both for your helpful updates on this...just to add to their appalling customer service I have just gone to track my compliant and been greeted with the following message:

    Sorry, there's nothing to see here

    Your account's been disconnected. This means you're unable to access this area of your online account, so you won't be able to manage on-going issues or raise new ones.

    I have never been treated so poorly by a company in my life! I will not give up on this until I get a satisfactory conclusion or significant compensation. 

     

    • aswilbourn's avatar
      aswilbourn
      On our wavelength

      I swear I'm not making this up...I have received a text message saying....

      Great news! We've finished the external work, so you're all set for your installation on Wed 19 Feb

      Words fail me at this point...If this 7th ....might be 8th...I've lost track...installation goes ahead I will eat my hat.

       

      • goslow's avatar
        goslow
        Alessandro Volta

        As you have probably worked out already, once you have got into such a long delay, the dates VM churns out have no meaning whatsoever.

        Regular contributors will have read dozens and dozens of similar topics, sorry to say. Patterns across similar topics seem to be that once a delay begins it is common for VM to jump the installation date into the future (3 weeks ahead seems to be the default to begin with). As time moves on, the original installation date is passed and another future date is reset. This may be another 3 week jump or, if it is apparent to VM or the contractor that a bigger issue is involved, the delay may be about 6 to 8 weeks into the future.

        These dates have been described as just a 'placeholder' by VM on here before but, as I am sure you may well have experienced, when you phone in for an update the agent will frequently 'guarantee' you that your installation is happening that day. It is a word we have seen customers repeat over and over again on here but it is not 'guaranteed' at all.

        As you have probably guessed, something might happen on 19 Feb or, just as likely, nothing at all will happen. You can only wait and see.

        In the meantime, spend the time preparing your case for the ombudsman. You will be due compensation whether VM eventually installs or not.

        Those who have had success with a compensation claim have stated that preparing the evidence in an easy timeline format, with accompanying pieces of evidence (such as texts, screenshots, emails etc.) is sufficient to paint a clear picture to allow the adjudicator to understand everything that has happened. We have seen past reports on here that VM's evidence, in some cases, has been presented as a jumbled collection of pastes from VM systems alongside a garbled written commentary of VM's side of the story (often in dispute with the customer's version, as you have already evidenced in regard to council permits). Assuming you do a better job than VM in presenting your evidence (very likely) you should get something from the claim.

        Keep the topic updated. Outcomes are useful for others in the same situation to know in the future. Feedback on here about successful claims offer encouragement to others, who have been messed about in the same way, that it is worth going to the ombudsman.