Partner engineer visit

Thanks for letting me know. It seems a bit pointless for Virgin saying that you don't have to be home when the 3rd party installer comes, but you can if you want if you are not told when this engineer will turn up.

It's easier for the installer if you're not there, for the very same reason why you do want to be there. 

Because he won't be bothered by you saying how you want it. 

It all boils down to the Contractor on the day.  Some are good, some not so.  There are threads here where cables have been nailed along fences, left lying with no conduit, but also some good reports.  The guys that did my cable repull did what I requested, but IMHO they could have buried it a bit deeper.

If you really want a good job, then if you know where the cable will be exiting the pavement, you can put the conduit where you want it.  Mains water plastic pipe is a great conduit, about 50mm and very tough.  Put a pull rope in place and you should be good to go.

By the way, you haven't said whether you are changing from a previous supplier. If you are, the standard advice here is not to cancel it until VM is installed and working to your satisfaction, because the installation dates are notional and are frequently delayed if a new connection is required. 

Also unless you are in one of a very few areas, the connection from the road will be coaxial cable, not fibre.

You are taking a risk then. Delays of weeks or months can occur. Hopefully you have reliable mobile coverage to fill in the gap. 

I have just had a text giving me a date for an engineer visit. As it was not acceptable I texted CHANGE and received another text telling me to go to virginmedia.com/changeappointment. When I enter this in my browser I am taken to a Help and Support page and when I log in I am taken to a page headed 'Preparing your property for installation'.

Scrolling down to the FAQs I try the option to change or cancel my order and click the link and after another page or two I get to a page saying that my services aren't installed yet, but not giving me any option to amend the date of the engineer's visit. This is utterly useless. Why don't Virgin make it easy to change my appointment.

This is getting to be really annoying as Virgin seem to have no idea how to structure their website to make things easy for customers.

Success. The last time I tried Virgin's 0345 number I chose an option where I needed to send a text. The reply I got was that Virgin no longer used this system. Useless.

Today I tried the 0345 number and used a different option. After being told that there was a long wait time I was put through to a very helpful man who rearranged the appointment for me to a time when I will be at home, and it took less than 12 minutes. Many thanks to that efficient chap.

Be careful to avoid any confusion over the 'engineer visit'. This is usually for the internal installation, and not the outside cable work that you said you were hoping to be notified about. That work will have had to be done before the 'engineer visit'.