Forum Discussion

LukeN's avatar
LukeN
Joining in
5 months ago
Solved

Virgin Customer and Technical Support

Has full fibre installed in the last few weeks.  In the room the box is in, the signal is great...leave that room however and connecting is a near impossibility.  I raised this with the engineers before they left my house who said if it didn't settle then it'd be easy to get WiFi pods to boost the signal to the rest of the house later.

I've now been trying for about a week to make contact with virgin support to seek a resolution, in fact I'm currently on hold 

 Virgin are by some margin, the most frustrating company I've had the displeasure of trying to deal with (I say trying because I'm still waiting) in the last few years...

Any tips from anyone else on how I might be able to speak to someone who can actually offer some assistance.

  • jpeg1's avatar
    jpeg1
    5 months ago

    Virginmedia customer support ratings come at the bottom of every list - Ofcom, Trustpilot, Which? - so as a new customer you'll have to get used to this level of support. 

    However if you wait here for a while a VM staff person should pick this up and offer to help. 

  • jpeg1's avatar
    jpeg1
    Alessandro Volta
    5 months ago

    Virginmedia customer support ratings come at the bottom of every list - Ofcom, Trustpilot, Which? - so as a new customer you'll have to get used to this level of support. 

    However if you wait here for a while a VM staff person should pick this up and offer to help. 

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

    The official route is to use the VM Connect App and scan your property. When completed, the app should allow you to order the first Pod. If this is not working, just wait here a day or two for a VM Mod to pick this up and discuss directly with you.

    • LukeN's avatar
      LukeN
      Joining in
      5 months ago

      Yeah I tried the connect app and customer services when I eventually spoke to someone couldn't seem to get their head around it but the issue is down to signal strength, so I have a 3 storey house, bottom floor things are generally fine, middle floor is poor signal in most rooms including the one I work from and the top floor has no signal unless you stand by the door or on the stairs which isn't totally practical ...everywhere else you can't even connect to use the VM connect app to scan 

       

      • I managed to test the speed by the door today and it falls below the speed guarantee but they still want me to pay £8 a month for a WiFi pod (I suspect I need at least 2) and I don't think that's particularly fair.  Is it the norm that there is always a charge for these or should they be free if you need them because of the signal as a result of install location? 
  • jpeg1's avatar
    jpeg1
    Alessandro Volta
    5 months ago

    If your contract includes free pods go for them.  If not buy your own devices that will be yours forever instead of renting them for £8 every month. 

    • LukeN's avatar
      LukeN
      Joining in
      5 months ago

      Yeah I get that but when they came to install they told me the pods were free if signal was inadequate and just wondered whether this was actually the case. As it stands I'm debating having a read through contract to see if there is a provision to terminate early due to speed guarantee because I've found this quite frustrating...contrary to the evidence (my posting here) I really don't tend to complain about anything unless it's really tipping me over the edge 

      • Roger_Gooner's avatar
        Roger_Gooner
        Alessandro Volta
        5 months ago

        No, you cannot terminate as failure to get at least 30Mbps in every room entitles you to get £100 bill credit. But there is a way forward: as wired always trumps wireless, look to run Ethernet cabling upstairs to connect the pods (either by chaining them or directly connecting each to the hub). I think it's the black pods which have two Ethernet ports.

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

    I doubt very much if any ISP can supply a single router to cover three floors.  I can see two choices here. 
    1 -  Get VM to relocate the Hub centrally on the first floor for £25 and see how that works. 
    2 -  Buy a decent three or four unit MESH system and use that.