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Paypeanuts's avatar
Paypeanuts
Tuning in
12 months ago

Something dodgy going on at VM

Any help from a Mod would be appreciated very much.

Just had a five day outage (started 27-04-24’ at 09:00am) and after many, many phone calls around the world, Bangalore, Philippines & Scotland and South Africa I think. I was assured that after two days an automatic compensation system happens once the outage is fixed. The chap in Scotland said a cable was damaged and the fix would be by 1-5-24’ at 8pm. The reps’ in Bangalore (Anuup being one of them)just lied by saying “trust me it will be in one hours time”. This was on the third day. On that same day one rep said “I hear you and I am so sorry for your inconvenience” and “It will be fixed in a few hours”.

The green light on my hub has been flashing the full five days. The auto VM phone message “we are working hard to get you up and running” had replaced the “we have identified the problem and our engineers are working hard and the estimate is “1.45pm” then “17.45pm” then “tomorrow at 09:00am” then “today at 18:00pm” This went on for the first three days. Add in to that my trips around the world, I must have phoned well over a dozen times.

Now Anne in Scotland has told me that I do not qualify for compensation because it wasn’t a continuous outage! Yes it was because the reps confirmed this in all the call. Something fishy going on here. Could it be VM trying to get out of paying compensation because of this damaged cable?

The chap who told me there would not be a charge when I move address because it is a simple plug-n-play, also lied to get his 10/10 feedback text score. The fifth day after the outage, my bill was generated with no compensation and it was more than doubled because of me moving home.

The chap above also said he has run a test and it is “indeed a plug-n-play” when I move. Two days later, I get a text saying “we have found an issue and an engineer will come on 12-4-24’ to turn on equipment”

I couldn’t be there because my move date was 13-04-24’ so arranged it for then.

Long story I know, and I would prefer to do this over the phone, but it is a lottery on where in the world your phone call ends up. Most of the time it is like pulling teeth trying to understand the reps’. Even then, they just make it up as they go along. 

The woeful customer support could be the downfall of VM in the future.

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  • goslow's avatar
    goslow
    Alessandro Volta
    12 months ago

    From this topic and your multi-post from yesterday, have you experienced a delayed 'Quick Start' activation after a home move around 13/4/24 and then a fault later on in your new home from 27/4/24?

    As regards compensation see

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

    and

    https://www.virginmedia.com/legal/fibre-optic-services-terms-conditions/automatic-compensation

    If your 5 day fault is one separate issue, then VM gets two full working days to fix the fault before any compo applies. You have to phone in the fault or get confirmation of an issue via one of the online tests to start the compo clock ticking.

    If you phoned in the fault on 27/4 then VM would have up to and including the end of 30/4 to fix the fault (the 'payment trigger time'). If your service was restored some time on 1 May then you would be entitled to £9.76 for the first few days of the outage (the payment trigger time) to the end of 30/4. VM should credit your account within 30 days of the service being restored.

    Your topics suggest that you might have other home move/activation and package change issues to resolve as well.

    • Paypeanuts's avatar
      Paypeanuts
      Tuning in
      12 months ago

      Thanks for the reply, I appreciate it.

      It was supposed to be a “plug & play” according to the rep on the phone & he had run some tests & it is all good to go (and no charge for moving). I insta got the feedback text to reply to and gave him top marks.

      I got a text from VM saying they need to attend on 12-4-24’ because they had run some tests and they need to sort it and activate my equipment. 
      On 28-4-24’ a chap in Bangalore said “your account will auto-flag that the outage started 27-4-24” and any compensation is worked out once a fix has been found.

      Another rep in Bangalore said that you are “flagged as priority and will receive regular text messages about the issue”.

      I received not one text message other than the initial text on 27-4-24 early morning to say that VM were working hard to fix a issue in the area.

  • jpeg1's avatar
    jpeg1
    Alessandro Volta
    12 months ago

    Hi @Paypeanuts.  I'm afraid you must ignore anything promised by those agents. They aren't directly employed by VM and can only deal with the simplest basic matters. If your query isn't listed on their screen then they can't answer it and they will just say anything they can to finish the call.

    Hopefully the staff here will be more helpful, but even they only have limited authority. 

    • Paypeanuts's avatar
      Paypeanuts
      Tuning in
      12 months ago

      Thank you and agree with you.

      The noise in the background in Bangalore sounded like they were playing some sort of game. They were laughing/shouting and clapping. It sounded bizarre!

      • jpeg1's avatar
        jpeg1
        Alessandro Volta
        12 months ago

        Very likely they had a TV in the background playing a football match.  Anything to relieve the boredom.