On-going lag spikes whilst gaming.

[96fauj]

I've been having issues with my hub3 200mb connection recently. I get random lag spikes whilst gaming. I have contacted virgin media and they said they are putting my connection under monitor and would contact me straight away when they observed any issues. 

The hub is in router mode as it's required for them to monitor but I'm still having the random lag spikes and nothing seems to be solved as of yet. I made a post not long ago and we setup a thinkbroadband monitor which didn't really show anything on it. 

I've attached router logs as suggested on other posts.

What are my next steps?

[96fauj]

Few months down now and still having the same issue. No response in regards to the "AFM". Are still over-utilized. Broadband quality monitor still showing the same. 

I'd like to request some form of compensation for the degraded quality I've received from Virgin. I don't have the option of moving to a different provider (yet) and I hope somebody can review my case and at least afford me some form of financial compensation as I believe the local infrastructure I'm part of is not really in the hands of virgin media employees and customer service.

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality/view/5e0ace78fbea32f578b43ca1a4486ea0979...

[Andrew-G]

Raise a formal complaint with VM using the form in My Virgin Media, requesting (say) 40% of your monthly charges for the period that you've been subject to the problem, and an ex gratia payment for all the messing around and poor support, and that the 40% off be set as an ongoing discount until the situation is rectified, failing which that VM issue a "deadlock letter" if they won't agree to your requested resolution. 

Maybe they'll pony up, but VM complaints handling is poor, so don't be surprised if the outcome is inadequate.  If VM don't meet your request, lose it, reject, fob it off, you open a complaint with CISAS using the deadlock letter, and they'll sort it out, as well as billing VM for the arbitration services.  If VM neither pay up, nor issue a deadlock letter you can still use CISAS, but without the deadlock letter you have to allow eight weeks from the date VM received your complaint before escalating the matter.

The grounds of your complaint is the poor connection performance, when the Consumer Rights Act 2015 requires any consumer service to be provided with "reasonable skill and care", and also the Ofcom Fairness Commitments, that state "Customers’ services work as promised, reliably over time. If things go wrong providers give a prompt response to fix problems and take appropriate action to help their customers, which may include providing compensation where relevant. If providers can’t fix problems with core services they have promised to deliver within a reasonable period, customers can walk away from their contract with no penalty."

[96fauj]

Thank you again for helping me out Andrew-G. I have raised a formal complaint as suggested. I think it's the right thing to do as this definitely a problem unlikely to be resolved any time soon. I'm hoping I don't have to go through the CISAS and that my report gets picked up by someone who can see reason but I will if left with no other choice.

[John_GS]

Hi 96fauj

Thanks for coming back to us, apologies you've not heard back and the issue ongoing. 

I've re-raised it with the field manager now, as I've done a system check which has reported no issues. No congestion, no outages and your other levels are in spec.

I will be in touch when heard back.

Best,

[96fauj]

This is such a big problem John. I'm told that there is a problem which is related to the jitter/lag and ping spikes I get during gaming. Then somebody from customer service on the phone tells me they've done all the 'checks' and there isn't. Then somebody says there is a problem and they've reached out to the 'AFP'. What I don't understand is why nobody is looking at the bqm graph? I appreciate you have to work to certain parameters and guidelines but I would hope someone could provide the due diligence and see my issue for what it is. Our area is over-utilized, it requires a large re-work to support the recent (due to pandemic) traffic. This needs acknowledging.

[96fauj]

Just so everything is in one place, first response to my complaint was an absolute 'disregard' no acknowledgement of when I've been having the problems, false information saying I had reported an issue in June. Now I've just received this as a response.

===

Your complaint was:
Cable > Customer Experience > Complaint Handling 

We’ve looked into it and here’s what we found:
I understand how frustrating this must have been for you to wait for the issue to be fixed. We value our customers time, and this should not have happened. I will relay this message to the appropriate department as feedback, our team is actively working to address your concern and appreciate you making us aware of your negative experience.
Upon investigation I see that you were experiencing fault. Just to let you know that there is an outage in your area causing interruptions in your service, not all Virgin Media customers are affected with this. Unfortunately you have been affected please be rest assured, our technical team is working on to fix the issue as early as possible and an estimated date to be fixed is 26/10/2021. We have expect to have this repaired by 3.25 pm.
As per the investigation, there are no outages confirmed in the area. Kindly follow the below steps to improve Wi-Fi connection.
1.Kindly make sure the Hub is out in the open and away from any obstacles and other electrical equipment. You may also download the Virgin Media Connect app to scan your home for Wi-Fi blackspots. We provide consistent speeds on wired connection only.
2. I can advise you switch to Hub's 5GHz frequency. This dual band feature can switch between the two frequencies automatically when required.
3.Reboot the Hub by turning it on and off again. Check each device, if one of your devices is suffering slow speeds whilst the others are working fine, there could be a limitation with it.
4.Get rid of blackspots, if you have a Hub 3 why not download the Virgin Media Connect app to scan your home for WiFi blackspots.
You can get some fantastic Self Help on our website to help diagnose and resolve the problems you are experiencing https://www.virginmedia.com/help/fix-an-issue. Please give that a try, If you are still facing the issues, we request you to call our faults team with the number provided below. Our team will run some diagnostic tests to know the issue and provide you with the solution. Also, if required they may send a technician or replace the equipment accordingly. You can also click on https://www.virginmedia.com/help/virgin-media-no-wifi-connection
In relation to the compensation that you have requested, Virgin Media follows the Automatic Compensation process that assesses and calculates the credits due for you without a manual intervention and is auto applied based on eligibility once the issue is fixed. Compensation will be applied as per Ofcom auto compensation scheme only if there is a total loss of service and after 48hours after the issue being identified. If it is an intermittent issue, the customer will not be eligible for Ofcom auto compensation. To know more about compensation scheme you can head over to https://www.virginmedia.com/help/automatic-compensation.
To keep an eye on the status of your fault, try registering or signing in to your account at virginmedia.com/myvirginmedia. Alternatively, you can view this information on the My Virgin Media app, which you can download onto any compatible iOS or Android device. 

[96fauj]

22/10/2021 - Email sent by Virgin Media explaining how they have found no fault with the connection and are solving my problem by offering technical support.

Here’s a quick recap

Your complaint was:
Cable > Customer Experience > Complaint Handling 

We’ve looked into it and here’s what we found:
I understand how frustrating this must have been for you to wait for the issue to be fixed. We value our customers time, and this should not have happened. I will relay this message to the appropriate department as feedback, our team is actively working to address your concern and appreciate you making us aware of your negative experience.
Upon investigation I see that you were experiencing fault. Just to let you know that there is an outage in your area causing interruptions in your service, not all Virgin Media customers are affected with this. Unfortunately you have been affected please be rest assured, our technical team is working on to fix the issue as early as possible and an estimated date to be fixed is 22/10/2021. We have expect to have this repaired by 15:00.

In relation to the compensation that you have requested, Virgin Media follows the Automatic Compensation process that assesses and calculates the credits due for you without a manual intervention and is auto applied based on eligibility once the issue is fixed. Compensation will be applied as per Ofcom auto compensation scheme only if there is a total loss of service and after 48hours after the issue being identified. If it is an intermittent issue, the customer will not be eligible for Ofcom auto compensation. To know more about compensation scheme you can head over to https://www.virginmedia.com/help/automatic-compensation.
To keep an eye on the status of your fault, try registering or signing in to your account at virginmedia.com/myvirginmedia. Alternatively, you can view this information on the My Virgin Media app, which you can download onto any compatible iOS or Android device. 

Here’s what we offer as resolution:
Technical > Technical help provided

We hope this works for you.

We’ll keep your complaint open for 28 days from now just in case you still want to talk through your options. Please ring us on 0345 454 1111* if you’re not completely happy with the resolution.

If we don’t hear back after 28 days, we’ll assume you’re satisfied with everything and close your complaint.

[96fauj]

Okay,

What I want now is the following
- A 40% compensation from May to November and acknowledgement of what action is being taken to resolve the network issues in my area

or

- I have now gathered my correspondence with yourselves.

- I have gathered screenshots of this forum post. I have now ordered them in a time frame.

- Thanks to the independent broadband quality monitoring site, I have also gathered screenshots of the connection spiking observable during the day.

- I have given Virgin media the opportunity to help me out and get a result for a stable connection on multiple occasions. 

- I want to put my case, information gathered in front of the relevant authorities. I may not get anywhere any time soon but I plan on starting this process Tuesday morning. I will also be presenting the BQM charts from other virgin media customers in different areas and those of people with different providers. 

- The date of my original correspondence in the form of a complaint is Monday 18th October. That makes the 8 weeks period from when I can escalate 14th December 2021. Complaint reference: C-181021265

- You are more than welcome to offer any technical support during that time. It would ideal if you provide me a deadlock letter so that I can escalate this sooner. Again as a reminder, I am willing to accept compensation which I see reasonable as 40% of my broadband bill from when I first reached out to yourselves in May till now and acknowledgement that there is indeed an issue with the infrastructure in my area and that the correct measures are going to be put in to place to improve the network. 

- Should you wish to come to an informal agreement / compensation please feel free to call me. 

I know this isn't what you want to be dealing with as a customer service representative. I've been there as a customer service/sales rep but I don't think we're going to get anywhere through the usual company process anymore and I'm simply not willing to accept the obvious refusal to accept responsibility of the quality of the connection, the jitters, the lags, the random disconnect spikes and the copy/paste replies from people at virgin media. 

[Steven_L]

Thanks for coming back to us @96fauj.

I have been able to look into your account and can see that the complaints team have tried to get in touch with you this afternoon. Have you got any missed calls from the team today?

Regards,

Steven_L

[96fauj]

Hi @Steven_L, I've checked my mobile and have not had any missed calls or voicemail left. Please mention or note down you could try the house phone too (virgin media line) as I'm working from home. 
Many thanks