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SSJB______4's avatar
SSJB______4
Tuning in
2 days ago

Vulnerable customers.

Hi All

Apparently Virgin Media as no special approach to vulnerable customers and some kind of priority engineer visits.

I have just spent the last hour and a half on the phone to VM and managed to get an engineer around in 6 days time.

This is not for me, but my 90 yr old mother who lives 200 miles from me and cannot get her newly installed (yesterday morning), Tivo box replacement working.  Neighbours have tried to help, I have tried to help.

She would not know where to start in communicating through the VM system and she is pretty hard of hearing too.

The guys on the phones are perfectly nice and helpful but stuck in an imperfect system.

I am also a Virgin customer and between us we contribute over £2.5k / yr to Virgin Media........

Frustrated is an understatement........

5 Replies

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  • Matthew_ML's avatar
    Matthew_ML
    Icon for Forum Team rankForum Team
    2 days ago

    Hey SSJB____4, thank you for reaching out and a warm welcome to the community, we are sorry to hear about this TIVO issue. 

    We do have priority evisit however this only covers life line service such as the broadband or the phone line, a TV box doesn't cover this sorry. 

    Have you managed to get an appointment booked for this?

  • SSJB______4's avatar
    SSJB______4
    Tuning in
    2 days ago

    Hi Matthew

    Yes, like I said in my msg, I got an appointment in 6 days time. 

    To speak to a human being you have to say you are planning on cancelling (and incidentally I was then told she would have to pay £6/700 to cancel).  

    When you are 90 everything can be a worry and tv is a lifeline.  So I think if you are vulnerable then it shouldn't be restricted. 

    I am pretty cheesed off to be honest and I will probably cancel mine once I find time to sign up somewhere else.

    As far as I can see a defective product has been installed..........I would like to disconnect it and at least that way she could just use the internet TV over wi-fi, but doing that over the phone is probably a step too far.

    Anyhow, back to work, spent too much time on this and I need to get my blood pressure down.....

    Thanks for your interest.

     

    • Matthew_ML's avatar
      Matthew_ML
      Icon for Forum Team rankForum Team
      2 days ago

      We understand this is frustrating however broadband is now connected to medical equipment, so for some people its now a major thing in there life. Again with the phone to make any calls needed etc.

      Whereas a TV set not working will not cause any threat to life we understand this may come across frustrating and we are sorry for this.

      We will take your feedback on board, unless you hold a power of attorney we can only remove stuff and cancel with the account holder.

      If you do know her memorable word we are happy to raise a complaint on the account if needed just let us know.

      Please keep us updated on how the visit goes. 

       

      • SSJB______4's avatar
        SSJB______4
        Tuning in
        2 days ago

        Hi Matthew

        She has been a customer for 10yrs 11 months (obviously loyal), is there any reciprocity being shown to her by Virgin Media  - I don't think so.

        She is paying for something she is not receiving either.

        She is a helpless elderly person that worries about these things and whose sleep is affected and I think that she is being treated poorly.

        Sad state of affairs.