Forum Discussion

JomK's avatar
JomK
Joining in
4 days ago

Engineer has missed 3 appointments to install outside cabling in a row. Going for 4 in a row.

I'm not even mad, just completely perplexed.

After missing the appointment window of between 8am-1pm on Monday and Tuesday, both days I was assured they would be there by 7pm... they were not.

Yesterday (Wednesday), 4 separate cs agents confirmed to me they would "definitely" be coming in their words. Even when I inquired at 8pm they said the engineer should be there shortly. They were not.

What an earth is going on? How could they be delayed by 3 days? And why are cs promising things that don't materialize over and over? 

Again, I'm not mad. More perplexed as to how Virgin's support system works.

This morning chat support said they would be here by 1pm, just as they had previously.

Seems like they are going for 4 days in a row as it's now past 1pm. In line with the compensation policy looks like I will be receiving £90+ and counting for these missed appointments. Madness. 

13 Replies

  • JomK's avatar
    JomK
    Joining in
    10 hours ago

    Update: 7 missed appointments later, and countless calls and chats to CS as well PM's to a rep on these forums and I am nowhere closer to having the external cabling work done or even knowing when they will come and do it.

    I'm going to give it until Wednesday, and then will cancel my service if work has still not been done. 

    It's not even about the wait really.

    If I'd been told that they'd take 2 weeks to come and install external cabling and they actually came, I wouldn't mind. The fact that appointment after appointment has been rescheduled and I've been told repeatedly that works will "definitely" completed at this time or that is what's really the issue. Dishonest and incompetent.

    • Glasshouse's avatar
      Glasshouse
      Just joined
      5 hours ago

      Why wait and indeed why cancel?

      Now although it sounds odd, look at if like this, have you been given a date in writing (and legally email counts), when you can expect to be fully connected up? If so then for every day that passes, VM owe you a little less than £10.

      Now consider this, you don’t cancel but instead sign up with another provider, VM stumble on and eventually weeks, possibly, months later finally connect you up. You test the connection, find that it works and promptly cancel under the statutory 14 day period calling off period with no penalty.

      But now here’s the kicker, VM still owe you the compensation of, as mentioned, a little less than £10 per day until the day they connect you up. And if they refuse to pay, you kick the whole sorry mess to the Ombudsman service for adjudication, and request they mandate an extra £100 for you trouble. So you get paid out, VM are penalised for, well, complete incompetence, but you know there is a working connection to you, should you want to give VM another go in the future - assuming they are still in business then!

      Of course there is a cost, VM cables need to be laid to your property and a hole drilled through the wall - but presumably you were happy for this to be done anyway.

      Something to consider anyway.

    • -tony-'s avatar
      -tony-
      Alessandro Volta
      6 hours ago

      as i said in another post dont cancel - just let it run at £10 a day to you - why let them off the hook

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

    Hi JomK 

    Thanks for posting and welcome to the community. Sorry to hear of this and for any confusion over the visits. For a repull, a work order is done on the system as like a 'dummy order' for lack of a better phrase. The work done is dependent on the availability of the team in your area but you'd be contacted when the team are due to attend. This is why you may see the date change but apologies for any confusion.

    I'll send you a PM now to check this for you in full.

    • JomK's avatar
      JomK
      Joining in
      2 days ago

      Several different customer service reps have literally told me on several different days that the engineering team will be there by "6:04pm" time or they will be there within an hour, or they will call you in 30 minutes. The word "definitely" has been used several times.

      Yesterday, one cs rep said that the reason they keep not turning up is that for the 4 prior appointments the wrong team had been put on the job i.e. Virgin's engineers had been assigned when external contractors are required for external cabling job.

      He also confirmed he had booked external contractors and that they would be coming today... that's looking extremely unlikely as it's about 4pm now.

      I appreciate you looking into this, but it's not just me that's confused, but also every single CS rep I've spoken to.

      • -tony-'s avatar
        -tony-
        Alessandro Volta
        2 days ago

        the cs reps are not confused - for that they would have to have some idea whats [actually] happening - they are clueless but in order to flannel their way through things they make up whatever sounds posative and good enough to get rid of you and close the call as solved

        thats all that matter to them - that marks the problem as solved

        staff here have also no idea - the fact its gone to external contractors closes all communications between VM and them until the job is marked as complete - so just like offshore staff here can do nothing - they will apologise and tell you its not as it should be but they have no cnannel to the contractors - its in the lap of the gods - it will happen when it happens and no matter how hard you bang the drum nothing will change that

  • Tudor's avatar
    Tudor
    Very Insightful Person
    4 days ago

    The outside cabling is done by outside contractors and the VM customer service agents do not have their schedule as far as I know. In any case you are not required to be at home when they come, so I’m unsure about compensation. 

  • jpeg1's avatar
    jpeg1
    Alessandro Volta
    4 days ago

    The phone staff just tell you that to get rid of the call, because they have no way of knowing when the visit might happen. 

    Have you been asked to be at home? It's not usually necessary to be there for outside work (although it's in your interests to be there). Compensation is only paid if there is a definite appointment for you to be there for inside work or the connection to start.