Waiting for pre installation work - can I check with council?
Long story short, delayed installation due to preinstallation work needed, it's been an absolute faff of people constantly telling me it's "today" or being cut off while being transferred to somebody that can help. At one point they told me they needed to contact the landlord when I own my house so I've come to the conclusion nobody there can see the information I need.
Appreciate it might vary by region but has anybody had any luck going straight to the council to find out the status of the permit? It's the not knowing that's killing me
Edit - also can't check any of this online as I've moved house and can't set up a new account with the same e-mail until it's been installed, ridiculous.
Cheers for that, checked One and nothing showing on there so got in touch with the council who've given me a number to ring. Going to do it in the morning as I've been on the phone for hours already today!
Quick update, didn't manage to speak to the council over the weekend but rang Virgin again this morning for an update. When I rang last week they mentioned this "Wayleave" which was required and said they'd sent me an e-mail requesting the landlords contact details; I told them I didn't receive an e-mail and I own the house so not sure what they're doing.
Spoke to them today, I'm told they're still waiting on a response to this e-mail.. WHY!? I've told you I own the house, what other information do you need? Why when I told you last week that I own the house did you not update that on the system? Honestly it's infuriating, every time I ring up I have to go through 15 different "pre installation teams" before I get to anyone that can see anything useful and even then what they can see just doesn't match up at all with reality. I'm only going with Virgin because you're the only ones who apparently offer gigabit speeds in my area so you've got me by the balls.
Can any of the forum team see anything useful with regards to pre-install work and permits? I'm sick of sitting on hold and then the call being disconnected so would be nice if I could contact you over PM
"Why when I told you last week that I own the house did you not update that on the system?"
That's the problem - they don't have the sort of system that a company of this size would normally have. Every contact just gets lost down a black hole.
If you're needing a reliable fast connection, go to the Openreach website, put in your postcode and it will tell you when to expect FTTP at your address. Then look at the several new fibre providers to see if any are planning to cover your area.
Yeah pretty much, luckily I rang back this afternoon and confirmed that everything I spoke about this morning had been noted and it had. It's been escalated which from experience means nothing but basically somebody was convinced I rented and they've now been made aware I don't so hopefully there'll be some movement.
Unfortunately I'm stuck waiting for Cityfibre, until then I've got no other option. At this point I'm genuinely considering just getting by on copper until somebody else can sort FTTP
Another update for anybody in a similar situation; rang up 4 times this morning due to various disconnections while being transferred, they still think they need permission from this non-existent landlord. Finally got them to resend the request for their details as I never received it originally, they sent that and I replied telling them for the 4th or 5th time that I'm the owner.
Rang back and after 20 minutes on hold while the agent read the notes they came back and said my preinstall was now booked in for the 23rd of this month. I didn't quite believe that I'd finally been told a date so I'm going to call back this afternoon just to confirm but at least something has happened. Although while writing this I've just had a text saying a technician is due on the 29th but that I need to be at home so I'm hoping this is the actual install scheduled.
Thanks for your post on our Community Forums @Chez96, and I'm sorry to hear of the delayed installation and the difficulty you've faced thus far.
Do please keep us updated via the thread on how the appointments go on both the 23rd and 29th, and if anything further is required, we'll be on hand to assist you.
Just to update the thread, the preinstall team have just arrived to start the digging! I'm going to ring the call centre once they're finished to see if my install date of the 19th can be brought forward but just happy to see some actual physical progress
If the spray paint is on the pavement, they will now be applying to the council for permission to dig. If all goes well you should see that appear on one.network in due course.
Hey it's me back with another flaming hot update for anybody who's interested
I got an e-mail last night saying my installation was now "on hold", then received another at about 4am saying it was scheduled for the 19th of Jan again. I then got a phonecall this morning telling me it was on hold again, asked why and they said they needed permission from my neighbour.
I decided to call back because I often get told something different, this time I was told it's permission from the council that they need; I asked to be transferred to somebody who could tell me exactly which permission they needed, they put me through to someone who told me the team didn't bring the correct tools. I kept at it and they finally transferred me to the Construction team - the best team at Virgin and the one I've been wanting to speak to for so long!
The Construction team explained that they need to dig 7 metres and that this goes across the access to two of my neighbours drives. They then told me they are in the process of finding out who owns this bit of land, I've had a quick look at the title plan online and it doesn't look like it's my neighbours so I'm praying it's council owned; if so in theory things should move forward quite quickly, if it's owned by a 3rd party (all of the houses on this estate are leasehold which obviously is concerning) then it could take longer or even just be denied wayleave.
Just as a bit of feedback my issue isn't so much with how long this is taking, it's the fact that every time I ring up I'm told something different by somebody who evidently doesn't have everything there in front of them so they might tell me it's all looking fine then next time I ring up it's all gone wrong again - I get my hopes up and then have them dashed and that's the worst bit.
In your position I'd phone the council and ask if they own the pavement. If it's still owned by the estate developer you might find it quicker to approach them yourself, as Virgin are not exactly proactive in these things.
You could also keep an eye on one.network which shows most plans to dig roads and pavements
I know the road is adopted so I'd assume that includes the pavements as well, is this correct?
The land is still owned by the original developer so I got in touch with them this afternoon, they've asked me to send photos and they're going to have a look tomorrow and let me know what they think.
Guess who's back, back again, Chez is back, tell a friend
Another update, an auditor came round today just checking on what the contractors had suggested and basically told me they've got it completely wrong. There's a service tee under a flag right outside my house and all they need to do is connect to that and stick an omnibox on. Apparently the contractors were going to try and dig 7 metres and connect to a BT duct which VM don't use so that's fun. My next door neighbour and 4 or 5 other houses all have it so I did find it odd that they were going to have to dig so much.
He's going to fail the job and let whoever needs to know know then I'll hopefully get a new install date at some point in the future.
Quick update, I managed to create an account for my new address after logging in to my old account and changing it to an old e-mail address. This means I can now see my appointments and orders:
The top one just changes to whatever day it currently is (which I'm guessing is the same thing the agents in the call centre see!), I've got screenshots of it saying the 24th yesterday evening and now updating to the 25th - my question is where on here does it say I don't need to be in, and how much am I going to get in compensation for every day that nobody turns up?
As a consumer, I see that and think ok they're coming today, and then when they don't they've missed the appointment which means I get paid.
I feel the VM is quite shameless to their long waiting customer, how can they run a business liked this ?! No one can tell what are the contractor doing and the real schedule. Just said the external work will be done on any date before the installation otherwise the installation will be delayed, very ridiculous.
Quick update, I managed to create an account for my new address after logging in to my old account and changing it to an old e-mail address. This means I can now see my appointments and orders:
The top one just changes to whatever day it currently is (which I'm guessing is the same thing the agents in the call centre see!), I've got screenshots of it saying the 24th yesterday evening and now updating to the 25th - my question is where on here does it say I don't need to be in, and how much am I going to get in compensation for every day that nobody turns up?
As a consumer, I see that and think ok they're coming today, and then when they don't they've missed the appointment which means I get paid.
I feel the VM is quite shameless to their long waiting customer, how can they run a business liked this ?! No one can tell what are the contractor doing and the real schedule. Just said the external work will be done on any date before the installation otherwise the installation will be delayed, very ridiculous.
Quick update, I managed to create an account for my new address after logging in to my old account and changing it to an old e-mail address. This means I can now see my appointments and orders:
The top one just changes to whatever day it currently is (which I'm guessing is the same thing the agents in the call centre see!), I've got screenshots of it saying the 24th yesterday evening and now updating to the 25th - my question is where on here does it say I don't need to be in, and how much am I going to get in compensation for every day that nobody turns up?
As a consumer, I see that and think ok they're coming today, and then when they don't they've missed the appointment which means I get paid.
You are absolutely correct about the dates, the first one is the, supposed cable pull date, which is about as reliable as wishing upon a star, as you have noticed, it simply increments every day that it isn’t done, or more specifically, every day that VM’s contractors can’t be bothered to get around to you. So just forget that one.
Now the second date, the 3rd Feb, is the important one, unlike the earlier ones, you do need to be in for this one and this is the date that the compensation timer kicks in. So imagine that the external works are all done sometime between now and 3rd, and on 3rd a tech turns up and connects you up, well happy days.
Probably won’t be happy days though, one of three things is likely to happen a) 3rd Feb rolls round, you wait in and nobody arrives - fine you are now entitled to £5.25 for the missed installation date plus an additional £26 compensation for the missed appointment. b) you get a message more than 24 hours before 3rd saying that the installation is delayed and the tech will be there on xxx. Well as long as the notice period is more than 24 hours the £26 doesn’t count although the £5.25 per day compensation timer still runs. And finally c) a tech does turn up and declares that they can’t do anything as no cables have been run. In this case refer to option a), VM will deny and challenge it, legally they are in the wrong.
Incidentally, VM will fight tooth and claw to deny you any compensation, usual BS excuses are waiting for council permissions, waiting for <unspecified> permissions, dog ate the contractors job sheet, shovel has been stolen, too cold to dig, simply can’t be asked, too hot to dig………
Still, no worries, post back on here and one or two of us are more than happy to map out the escalation procedure to the industry arbitrators.
Quick post for anybody who's interested regarding compensation; I've just had a chat with the person handling my case with the ombudsman and Virgin have offered £383.25 for a delay of 73 days - while this is nice, it's not the full £525 I'm owed for the actual 100 day delay, so they're going to go back to Virgin and make them pay the difference!
Just wanted to post this in case anybody was in a similar situation and didn't think it was worth going through the process, the ombudsman makes it so easy and I've now got my internet paid for by Virgin for a full 14 months 😄
Excellent work @Chez92. Well done for sticking with it and also for posting back the outcome. It definitely does provide some encouragement for others on here who find themselves at the start of the same compensation 'journey' with VM.
I, myself is currently going through all of this, almost 1 month down and if it honestly takes this long to sort, I don’t know what I am going to do. Considering giving up already
I, myself is currently going through all of this, almost 1 month down and if it honestly takes this long to sort, I don’t know what I am going to do. Considering giving up already
If you are unlucky enough to be in this for the long-haul, a good tip would be to stick to your own/original topic rather than posting on additional similar past topics.
If you multi-post, any answers you get on the forum (inc. from VM) end up in multiple places.
If you (inevitably?) end up having to go to the ombudsman to claim compensation, a single topic allows you to keep all of your evidence, comm's and advice in one place and in chronological order.
