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Jack878's avatar
Jack878
Tuning in
2 months ago

Install issues

Hello,

I had a virgin engineer visit my property today for install. My house sits on the end/corner of the street so my front drive garden swings around (if that makes sense) to the next house. 

Next to the front of my drive on the right hand side(opposite to my house) is a neighbours front garden that contains two man-holes. One is virgins which when the tech opened it contained.. nothing. Opened the BT duct and it contained what was needed.

weirdly, the entry point for the BT line is at the back of the property not at the front. It contains the tunnel for BT line and next to it a yellow pipe that is intended for the virgin media manhole but that’s the one that has nothing.

the engineer claimed he was here for a telegraph install and doesn’t have the equipment to do the job I need. The cable when he phoned someone to provide the map would require going from my property all the way down to the end of the road, across the road, and all the way back down just to reach the install.

now my front drive and garden meets the neighbours grass / where the manholes are. My garden always goes from there all the way to the side of the home and to the back.

why couldn’t they just simply run the cable from where I want it installed down onto my path(front of property) and then into the ground of my drive or grass to reach the duct in a shorter, easer path?

I was told by the engineer that he couldn’t do anything and left and told me I didn’t need to do anything and needs an underground team (is this true?)

I’ve  just moved to this property and I need the internet by 2nd January for my job as I wfh and the office is all the way in London (I like in north west).

I am also glad I trusted my intuition with these things and rang Virgin a moment ago and now have a new visit on the 26th. I expressed would they be able to? And said it needs to be underground team but I’m thinking this was something he didn’t understand? 

since the install failed today, do I start getting compensation also? 

any thoughts? 

18 Replies

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  • jpeg1's avatar
    jpeg1
    Alessandro Volta
    2 months ago

    Any underground work is done by a third party company and they don't keep to fixed times. If you have a visit on 26th it will very likely be another VM person who may or may not have the same opinion as the first. 

    If you were given a definite date for start of the service then you will be due for compensation. But you might have to fight for it. 

    Compensation https://www.virginmedia.com/help/automatic-compensation

  • goslow's avatar
    goslow
    Alessandro Volta
    2 months ago

    Unfortunately, no one will be able to make too much sense of your written description. Posting some pic's and/or a plan may help with your explanation but before deciding whether to bother to do that ...

    The above has to be considered alongside VM's track record on here for cable installations. Read some of the many (hundreds of) similar past topics about delayed cable installations and you will get a general sense of VM's (dis)organisation in this regard.

    A visit from VM on 26th Boxing Day bank holiday seems to be more than a bit ... unlikely! We have seen many past examples on here where the VM agents see nothing more than a rolling date on their screens and those dates seem not to consider public holidays. Post back if anyone does show up though, just for the record, for anyone else reading in the future in similar circumstances.

    If VM sent a tech to install from a telephone pole, do you actually have telephone poles in your area? If you do, this may not be impossible. VM has been doing some installations via shared Openreach infrastructure access so an installation via Openreach poles or ducts may not be impossible depending on what type of service you are getting.

    If today was your 'activation' date (when you expected the equipment to be installed and start using your services) then your compensation starts from today.

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

    You might want to start thinking of a backup plan in case you end up in a VM installation doom loop such as using a mobile hot spot, extra phone data etc. etc.

    Keep detailed notes of everything that happens, along with evidence such as texts, screenshots, emails etc. to ensure you are paid the correct compo.

  • Jack878's avatar
    Jack878
    Tuning in
    2 months ago

    So the engineer said today that since November they’ve changed it to one-visit installs.

    The blue line represents the path the engineer was told on the phone how to go from duct to duct to reach the red circle where it BT and Virgin manholes exist. 

    my property is the top left one with the blue circle noting where the bt line and pipes come to the property.

    theres no power lines/telepgraph. 

    the green line: this is me thinking why cant they just take this route to the manholes? It’s my property and grass. 

    well if it’s true they won’t turn up at this time then what do I do?  

    • goslow's avatar
      goslow
      Alessandro Volta
      2 months ago

      VM will aim to avoid any digging as much as possible in order to keep costs down for an individual installation. 

      You may possibly get a more sensible answer/explanation when the next installers turn up and investigate the underground infrastructure more thoroughly.

      The pre-installation and delivery team number is 0800 052 1734. Take whatever they say though with a very large pinch of salt.

      They seem to have no direct contact with third party installers and the dates they see on their screens seem to be generated by the sub-contractors. Often they are simply a rolling date, one day at a time. We have seen countless time on here people complaining that the VM agent 'guarantees' the installation will take place on the next given date but nothing actually happens. You can only feel 100% confident of the installers starting work when they actually show up at your home (and actually begin installing!).

  • Roger_Gooner's avatar
    Roger_Gooner
    Alessandro Volta
    2 months ago

    VM occasionally uses Openreach's ducts and poles to run its fibre, but can't break out of a duct it doesn't own to run fibre as you suggest. In any case this solves no problem as fibre does not cause attenuation as coaxial cable might over this distance.

    • Jack878's avatar
      Jack878
      Tuning in
      2 months ago

      So it’s a case of then having to run the cable up the street and back down again as that is what the guy on the phone informed the engineer.

      what bothers me is, I know he could have done it. His van was fully equipped. He said it needed the “underground” team as he was “overhead” 

      • goslow's avatar
        goslow
        Alessandro Volta
        2 months ago

        Pushing and pulling cables etc. through ducts is a job best done by two people. Very often telecoms tech's are on timed visits for each job. A time allocation of around 40 min for each job seems to be quite common when I have met tech's on different projects. One guy on his own may simply have not been able to complete that amount of work on his own in whatever time he was allocated. Cables strung from poles are normally much quicker/easier to install for a single worker.

  • Roger_Gooner's avatar
    Roger_Gooner
    Alessandro Volta
    2 months ago

    I've seen between 1-2 men do fibre installs. If it's a straighforward task of running fibre from CBT to property then one man can do it, but two are common for more difficult jobs like pulling/rodding a fibre microduct through ducts.

  • Jack878's avatar
    Jack878
    Tuning in
    2 months ago

    I’m absolutely fuming.

    I was due to be installed and running on the 24th December.

    an engineer visited my property, found the duct containing the connection. 

    he explained that he was an ‘overhead’ engineer and not an underground installer. 
    I then had a new date of 26th, this got cancelled with no warning or mention to today (27th December). I wait in all day to receive a phone call telling me it’s now the 17th January?!?! The hell is this??

    I need this connection for work by the 2nd Jam. This is absolutely unacceptable!!!!

    four doors down has Virgin Media and required the same (cable under ducts up the road, across and back down). Why are they all fine but mine needs some “contractor 3rd party” crap again?

    it doesn’t! It just needs two virgin engineers to visit and install in one go.. why is this so complicated? Why can’t they just organise this asap as I have no install or internet at all!!!!

    what am I meant to do? I’m livid. I have a huge dislike for stupidity and this reeks of incompetence. 

     

     

    • Tudor's avatar
      Tudor
      Very Insightful Person
      2 months ago

      External wiring is not done by VM, but by contractors. Unfortunately VM do not seem to have a close relationship with their contractors and there is little liaison between them. You will be lucky is you even get the quoted date.

      • Jack878's avatar
        Jack878
        Tuning in
        2 months ago

        It’s frustrating - the VM engineer said they changed it to being 1-visit installs since November ? 

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

       reeks of incompetence. 

      well true but thats how VM work - you can jump up and down and poke sticks in your eyes [or similar] nothing will happen - it will get installed when it does - that might be this week - next month or sometime in 2026

      in the mean time you are earning compensation of about £10 a day from the original install date - keep records to make sure you get it

      and if you need something by the 2nd only you can guarantee that by looking for some sort of backup - a 5g sim or a n other installer

      but dont cancel the VM install take the £10 a day until they get it sorted - it could be a tidy sum

      • Jack878's avatar
        Jack878
        Tuning in
        2 months ago

        Thank you for the advice - will document everything so far.

        its mad to me as the VM engineer told me on the 24th that since November they now do 1-install visits? No need for pre-install or so he said - he seemed to have all the necessary equipment and cabling - just said the issue was lifting two ducts at once. 

  • Jack878's avatar
    Jack878
    Tuning in
    2 months ago

    See my previous posts.

    VM staff are continually lying to me, falsely representing UK consumer rights and denying my ability to have a deadlock letter issued and just randomly closing down my complaint that was previously active.

    the story constantly changes. Has anyone raised any law action against Virgin Media? I feel a lot of customer misrepresentation and shady borderline illegal behaviour and procedural practices are going on. It deserves  dispatches or like documentary to expose this disgraceful company. 

    See how in this reply from a VM team tries to make me believe that it’s either a deadlock letter or continuation of installation. It’s procedurally incorrect and violating my rights. They are clearly refusing to give me the deadlock letter because I will easily expose all of their inadequacies and the terrible customer support procedures.

    Read this:

     

    • goslow's avatar
      goslow
      Alessandro Volta
      2 months ago

      The VM reply does not make too much sense. VM 'resolutions' often do not. From the screenshot though, I do not read that a deadlock letter prevents installation nor that installation prevents a deadlock letter. The meaning is not clear IMO.

      What are you hoping to do with the deadlock letter?

      AFAIK the ombudsman cannot compel VM to install for you nor speed up the installation process. The ombudsman can check that the auto comp has been correctly applied but that can't be done until the installation process ends (one way or another). The ombudsman can make a 'time and trouble' award but that is unlikely to be that much from the info published online.

      You would probably do best IMO to leave the ombudsman until the end of the process. You are likely to have a lot more to put before the ombudsman regarding VM's installation processes before you reach the end of your 'customer journey'.

      • Jack878's avatar
        Jack878
        Tuning in
        2 months ago

        How can they get away with such blatant poor customer service and procedural behaviour. It’s just as simple as two engineers turning up to cable pull. Fml I could do it myself if I had the cable. 

        any suggestions or email addresses that help with these issues?