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sthen14's avatar
sthen14
Tuning in
3 months ago
Solved

Neighbours are able to get Virgin Media but I cannot

Hi, any help would be appreciated. I bought a property in December and since then have been trying to get Virgin Media installed. On the postcode checker it says it is unavailable despite both my neighbours having it be available. The coffee shop below can also receive a business account. The street across and behind both also can get Virgin.

I have viewed the cableing found here: https://labs.thinkbroadband.com/local/scotland (Not linked my address but can provide in PM) and it clear shows that it would run in a serviceable area to my property.

I have went down all the usual routes of phoning sales, phoning customer service, web chat and in a local 02 store. The response is the same each time, escalated to an engineer team and you’ll hear back in 10 days. I was originally told the first time I phoned that the issue was due to a previous owner not allowing the installation of the cables.

I would just appreciate a clear answer to can it be installed or not and a reason why. Thanks.

  • sthen14's avatar
    sthen14
    5 days ago

    Just wanted to come back and provide an update and ultimately a conclusion.

    As of Tuesday I am fully up and running with Virgin Media. A big thanks to @Robert_p for passing on my details to start the process.

    I really need to hightlight Chris and Callum also. Chris called me a day after I had my PM to let me know my regions manager would go out and have a look and this should take 48 hours. 2 days later another call to let me know it is serviceable. He walked me through all the next steps and personal managed the install to ensure it went ahead and even helped me pick a deal that suited me. Then on the day of the install my engineer Callum came out. Again a credit to Virgin Media. As my house is old I know it could of been a tricky install but Callum was happy to try anything I wanted to get me set up in the best way for me. Instead of the easy install into the living room he ran the cable into a spare cupboard and even went over his 2 hour slot to ensure it was done correctly, neatly and got tidied up after. Can’t speak highly enough of both these guys.

    For anyone in the same situation as myself that comes across this looking for a solution I would highly recommend post a new thread on the forum. Although you might not be as lucky as me it seems the best way to escalate your case to the point you will get a resolution.

    Again, just want to thank Robert, Chris and Callum.

13 Replies

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  • jpeg1's avatar
    jpeg1
    Alessandro Volta
    3 months ago

    VM won't spend a lot of time researching this if they already hsve a record that installation has been refused. 

    Your best course is to check who owns your property and get written permission from them for an installation. Then forward that to VM Sales. 

    But be warned that if the local VM network is already running at full capacity they may not be able to add another user. 

    • sthen14's avatar
      sthen14
      Tuning in
      3 months ago

      Hi, thanks for the response. From my various contacts with them already I can tell this is that case.

      However, I am now the property owner and am happy for them to install whatever is needed.

      In terms of users, viewing the same map I can only see maybe 5 houses with active virgin subscriptions. My 2 neighbours who can receive service are currently not with virgin so it shouldn’t be at capacity if they are still offering to others in the area.

  • sthen14's avatar
    sthen14
    Tuning in
    3 months ago

    Phoned up sales again to ask for a spotter. I was told that spotters are no longer sent out and was told the issue was that my number had previously applied and it was deemed unserviceable and this would also apply to my neighbours if they were to apply for Virgin Media even though it shows as available. Although, not sure I would be happy if I was in there shoes and it shows as available when it’s not.

    Although not the outcome I wanted atleast I finally have confirmation as to why this is.

    My area is being serviced by Openreach so hopefully I see that become live and can go with one of there companies.

  • Adduxi's avatar
    Adduxi
    Very Insightful Person
    3 months ago

    You mention “the coffee shop below” , are you an upstairs flat?  If so it could be access problems e.g. traversing a flat roof etc.  However if Openreach are installing in your area you should then have access to several different ISP’s

    • sthen14's avatar
      sthen14
      Tuning in
      3 months ago

      Hi, it is a bit of a confusing layout. Ground floor is the coffee shop with my front door beside it. My ground floor is essentially a hall that leads to the middle floor which runs parallel with the coffee shop and a shared area which is my backdoor. The middle floor is where then living room and a spare room are and the top floor is 2 bedrooms and a bathroom.

      This is also the same as the neighbours except there front entrance is at the back door of the my property.

      I can share an image of the property via PM to show exactly what I mean.

      Ideally, I would get an engineer out to see if it is possible but I know how difficult that is especially with not already being a customer. Like previous mentioned it probably isn’t worth Virgins time

      Yes, best I can hope for is Openreach installation is available soon as best I can get just now is 72mbps. Although, looking into that it seems my postcode is not one of priority in the area for them. Very frustrating.

      • Carley_S's avatar
        Carley_S
        Icon for Forum Team rankForum Team
        3 months ago

        Hi sthen14 

        Welcome to the Community Forums. 

        Great to hear of your interest in joining Virgin Media. 

        Have you been able to speak with the sales team on 0800 183 1234? They'll be able to confirm if a spotter has been recently to assess if the property is serviceable and if not, one may be able to be arranged. It might be a little trickier as it will depend who owes the freehold/land your flat sits on, this would require wayleave permissions to be granted to allow an installation to go ahead, which may have previously been denied. 

         

  • sthen14's avatar
    sthen14
    Tuning in
    5 days ago

    Just wanted to come back and provide an update and ultimately a conclusion.

    As of Tuesday I am fully up and running with Virgin Media. A big thanks to @Robert_p for passing on my details to start the process.

    I really need to hightlight Chris and Callum also. Chris called me a day after I had my PM to let me know my regions manager would go out and have a look and this should take 48 hours. 2 days later another call to let me know it is serviceable. He walked me through all the next steps and personal managed the install to ensure it went ahead and even helped me pick a deal that suited me. Then on the day of the install my engineer Callum came out. Again a credit to Virgin Media. As my house is old I know it could of been a tricky install but Callum was happy to try anything I wanted to get me set up in the best way for me. Instead of the easy install into the living room he ran the cable into a spare cupboard and even went over his 2 hour slot to ensure it was done correctly, neatly and got tidied up after. Can’t speak highly enough of both these guys.

    For anyone in the same situation as myself that comes across this looking for a solution I would highly recommend post a new thread on the forum. Although you might not be as lucky as me it seems the best way to escalate your case to the point you will get a resolution.

    Again, just want to thank Robert, Chris and Callum.