VM Complaints procedure ... it doesn't work

[JR_666]

Maybe the VM staff that patrol this forum will know the answer. 

I have raised three complaints - all related - and all required that communication was by phone. 

I have had repeated emails claiming to have resolved my complaint(s) - most of the emails contained nothing but technical gibberish designed no doubt to throw off the unwary customer, and contained a series of apologies and inane platitudes about trying harder.

I have had repeated SMS messages claiming that someone has unsuccessfully tried to phone me about my complaints - I have never missed a call, and I have a consistently good 4G signal. So clearly, a repeated lie. In fact, the sales guys have a remarkably good record for reaching me successfully.  

Why is it the complaints team are so wary about talking to a customer? Why must they hide behind emails and texts. Why don't they follow their own procedure?

Shoddy.

Shame on you VM for operating such a hopelessly poor support service. One day soon you will not have a cornered fibre market, and I do sincerely hope you go the way of all companies that put profit over customer service - and go bust. 

[Adri_G]

Hello JR_666, thanks for posting on our forum page and for bringing our attention to this matter.

We're sorry to hear of what happened previously and the lack of communication on our end.
We understand what frustration this can cause to a customer, sorry to see how you feel with how we've handled your cases.

Could you please let us know what was the issue raised with us initially and what the team advised on the emails you received in regard to this?
Also, have all 3 complaint cases been closed now and if so, would you like to raise a new one?

Please, kindly let us know of the above, the more info we get the better we can assist you with this.

[JR_666]

Dear VM forum team,

I'm not inclined to explain the sorry saga again in this forum. At the core of my complaints is that VM seem very reluctant to allow a customer to talk to a human being, and should by chance, the customer stumble upon someone who actually picks up the phone, that human being is poorly equipped to handle anything remotely technical beyond requesting a router reboot (switch it off, switch it on). If you want my humble opinion on how to improve, ditch the bots, ditch the pre-recorded nonsense and the canned music, and allow us to speak to someone. Even if that someone can't help, they should be able to refer the problem to a team of technical staff who should be entrusted to call the customer back ... that would be a 100% better than the current. And not only that, you should elicit customer feedback from every interaction, then you might learn something. 

And, do I want to open another complaint? What on earth for? You couldn't handle the last three correctly, how will adding another make any difference?

If you could send me the name and phone number of the senior executive responsible for Customer Service, then that would be most helpful. 

[Andrew-G]

VM's poor customer service and poor handling of complaints is legendary, and why the company are consistently at the bottom end of Ofcom's complaints league.  Unfortunately, this has been the case for years, and reflects poor processes, poorly quality outsourcing, and poor IT systems.  VM management aren't stupid, they know full well how the company is performing, they will see regular reports on customer service standards, and my point for you JR_666 is simply that as there's been no improvement for years, then evidently the leaders of VM don't see customer service standards as a problem.

Even if you complain directly to a board member, then they will never see it - their PA will intercept the letter, email or call, and direct it to the Executive Complaints Team.  And that team will fob you off more professionally than the routine complaints which get handled by some offshore sweatshop, but it'll still be a fob off.  Why waste your effort?  If you're determined, then its easy enough to find VM's leaders by a web search, and the company's head office address, but if they (a) don't care, and (b) won't even see your letter anyway, why waste a stamp?

In the circumstances what can you do?  Well you can complain to Ofcom but they're ineffectual, you can escalate any formal VM complaint over eight weeks old to CISAS who are effective and might get some token compensation.  What isn't an option for you or I is to force VM to change their processes or their dinosaur 1990's call centre mindset.  The forum staff here can help with many problems, but if you're unhappy with VM's customer service delivery then that's out of their remit, and they'll not even challenge the organisation.  Ultimately, if you remain unhappy, then your best option may be to take your business to a company that puts more emphasis on customer service.  As the Ofcom complaints data shows, there's a big difference between best and worst, and even then there's smaller ISPs who you may not be familiar with but whose main focus is on customer service (Aquiss, CIX, IDNet, or uno).

[JR_666]

Totally agree. I guess the only reason I am even writing anything in this forum is to have on record the level of frustration and anger that this company can generate in their customers. VM of course are lucky enough to be at near monopoly level when it comes to fibre-based high speed broadband. So, like any monopoly, can exploit their customers through poor service and high prices. 

[Martin_N]

We are sorry for your frustration and anger with what has happened JR_666. If you are happy to advise with regards to your complaint and if we are able to assist then we would be happy to do so. 

^Martin

[samv5195]

I have experienced very similar issues with appalling service from the phone service.

I have rung up countless times and explained my issues with the adviser and have been met with much frustration with a number of scenarios, some examples below:

* The adviser placing me on hold, to then hang up 5 minutes later
* An agreement to call back with more info and never to receive such a call
* Made a formal complaint and given a complaint reference number, to then subsequently ring up and be told the complaint does not exist
* Agreement for a manager to personally look into the complaint and contact me, again to hear nothing back

My suspicion is that VM allow such terrible service in the hope that the consumer will give up trying to get their issues solved.  How can they get away with this really baffles me.

[Matthew_ML]

Hey samv5195, thank you for reaching out and a warm welcome to the community I am so sorry to hear about this.

I have checked this out at our side and I can see you've been in contact with the team, did they help resolve this at all? Thanks 

[samv5195]

Hi Matt, thanks for your quick response.  There has been no resolution - again I have been promised a call back with no result.

[Matthew_ML]

Okay thank you for letting me know and I am sorry to hear this.

It can take up to 28 days for a complaint to be resolved, please can you keep us updated with this. Cheers