Virgin Media Community

[alexgm101]

Just got off the phone with a wonderful tech support lady who kindly hung up the phone instead of transferring me to the customer retention team...

I really cannot believe how Virgin are getting away with selling people hardware that they know does not function as intended - where is the firmware fix for the Superhub 3? I am experiencing huge jitter values (around 150ms) constantly, and online gaming is impossible (a tad ironic that I opted for the 'gamer' focussed package). It has been acknowledged by everyone that the problem exists - I see there is a class action lawsuit underway in the US - so why hasn't there been a fix yet? In theory, it was in October 2016 that 'beta firmware' was released that resolves the issue - where is this firmware?? Clearly it does not need to pass any quality assurance tests because the Superhub 3 fiasco tells us clearly that such administrative quality assurance procedures simply do not exist at Virgin. 

Virgin will very soon lose another customer if this is not solved - I can only begin to imagine how many have already gone elsewhere - what good is 300mbts download when latency is so terrible? From my point of view (law student) anybody with a contract with Virgin is well within their rights to terminate that contract - simply, Virgin is not living up to their side of the bargain, and what's more they know all about it yet continue to take people's money! 

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality/share/650bbfe0a6dccc60391a76b5b2747a540a33ce6a-26-09-2017

If there is no fix for this issue by the time my next bill comes I shall simply not pay it and will go elsewhere - and a letter before action will follow that to reclaim some of the money I have already wasted on this junk. It's really too bad that the class action system isn't in place in the UK like it is in the US. 

[cje85 · Accepted solution]

In that case, you may as well cancel now. Intel need to fix the bug with their Puma chip and they haven't been able to do that. There is no firmware update which resolves the problem, just one which masks it and makes ping graphs look better.

[horseman]

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alexgm101 wrote:

..... From my point of view (law student) anybody with a contract with Virgin is well within their rights to terminate that contract - simply, Virgin is not living up to their side of the bargain, and what's more they know all about it yet continue to take people's money! .......If there is no fix for this issue by the time my next bill comes I shall simply not pay it and will go elsewhere - and a letter before action will follow that to reclaim some of the money I have already wasted on this junk. It's really too bad that the class action system isn't in place in the UK like it is in the US. 

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Intriguing,  an (alleged)  law student that doesn't quote any Tort & Restitution references yet we're supposed presumably to be impressed with these vague and ambiguous credentials in contract law?  

Time to have a quiet word with your Cilex sponsored tutor perhaps ?  .....    but no worse(time wasting)  than many technical accreditation references we are often spammed with..... on these hallowed fora.

However do please publish the details of any Appellate Court hearing that you manage to plead based on your proscribed non compliance with UK contract Law because with a degree of fortitude and delay you may well engineer an "ex post factor" defence based on "brexit" 2019 perhaps...   ? 

[alexgm101]

Thanks for your constructive reply

You think I'm trying to impress you? Right

Great CILEX joke

I would refer you to the following:

Consumer Rights Act 2015, notably s.11, 9, but you can read the whole thing, you appear to have the time

Shine v GGC [1998] 

LCC v Irwin [1977]; [1976]

And many other authorities, sadly I don't have the time to waste on you at the moment

On a practical note, you really think VM are going to take me to court over a known defect? Unlikely

It's 'ex post facto' 

Have a good day

Alex

[horseman]

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alexgm101 wrote:

.....On a practical note, you really think VM are going to take me to court over a known defect? Unlikely.....

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Clearly not, as otherwise even you wouldn't risk the publicity but that said the somewhat belated disclosure is appreciated....  along with Kudo's!  

[shanematthews]

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alexgm101 wrote:

Thanks for your constructive reply

You think I'm trying to impress you? Right

Great CILEX joke

I would refer you to the following:

Consumer Rights Act 2015, notably s.11, 9, but you can read the whole thing, you appear to have the time

Shine v GGC [1998] 

LCC v Irwin [1977]; [1976]

And many other authorities, sadly I don't have the time to waste on you at the moment

On a practical note, you really think VM are going to take me to court over a known defect? Unlikely

It's 'ex post facto' 

Have a good day

Alex

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Why would VM bother taking you to court, they don't have anything to prove, latency is never guaranteed on a residential service, speed isn't guaranteed either, there is no uptime guarantee nor any SLA regarding fault fixes, you will find that they are not in breech of contract and the likes of ofcom and the ASA have already been contacted and they can't do anything about it, the only claims made are in relation to the 300mbit package, note package not hub, and as the network is performing within spec there isn't a lot they can really do, i mean if you're convinced otherwise, and a law student you could probably manage to pursue the case yourself with minimal cost to prove us entirely wrong, i shall await news of the judgement if you're willing to put your money where your mouth is

[dan21]

what happened in the end? did you cancel? did virgin have a problem with it?

[dan21]

@

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cje85 wrote:

In that case, you may as well cancel now. Intel need to fix the bug with their Puma chip and they haven't been able to do that. There is no firmware update which resolves the problem, just one which masks it and makes ping graphs look better.

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you said that "[intel] haven't been able to [fix the bug]" how do you know they are even trying and that they *haven't been able* to do it? do you know if they are still working on it?

[unluckyWisp]

The faulty intel chip is a gift for VM shareholders as it made it possible to bring down the price so VM can now make more money by handing out these rubbish modems. It's all about short term thinking and Liberty Global will make a huge money out of it on your cost. This is not entirely the company's fault as it's the Ofcom's job to regulate the market.

[alexgm101]

Hi Dan

Sadly, for legal reasons, I cannot comment on my current relationship/previous dealings/ongoing dealings with Virgin.

I know this information is useless so I apologise for that

Alex