Bloody Hell!!

[Angryashell]

I'm on my 9th call to get mums phone switched back on.

The line was cancelled on Tuesday, probably as part of the digital switchover, but without any warning.

We had an engineer visit on Wednesday morning who replaced the router but said we needed to contact Customer Services as the phone line has been cancelled.  Mum is 92 and on their vulnerable list and she has a panic alarm that woroks via the telephone.  We have not had this facility for four nights.

Tuesday night we were promised it would be up and running next day.

Wednesday night we were promised it would be up and running next day.

Thursday night we were promised it would be up and running next day.

Friday were were told to connect thew phone back to the wall socket and they would reinstate that line within two hours.  Travelled up and did that - didn't work.

Friday night I was promised that an  engineer would vivit Saturday morning and it would be fixed.  Cancelled a weekend away so that I cound be here - engineer didn't arrive.

I'm on my third call.  The first two cut me off while I was on hold and despite promising to call back if that happened, they didn't.  It takes at least half an hour to get to a human.  

It's like they are trying to wind me up.

I've offered to sign upo to a 4g alert if they put a credit on the account.  They have refused.  This might save a life!!

Is this the worst company in the world?

I shall be taking this to Ombudsman/ Court but it doesn't help me at the moment.

[Jodi_S]

Hi Angryashell,

A warm welcome and thank for posting on our community forums. We do apologise that your elderly vulnerable mother has been left without a working landline, and that you had had to call our team on 9 occasions to get this matter resolved. This is not the service we want to provide to any customer. 

We do inform all customers at least 6 months in advance with what date the switch over will take affect, so we do apologise your mum was not made aware of this. 

We would like to get this matter investigated further for your mum. So I can do this I will pop you over a private message to take some details. Please click on the envelope at the top of the page to accept the chat.

Kind regards Jodi. 

[Angryashell]

I have composed a letter but cannot find an email address for VM so will post it here instead:

Virgin Media

Complaints Dept.

500 Brook Drive,

Reading,

RG2 6UU

Date:     23rd October 2023

Ref:      [MOD EDIT: Personal info removed]

Sirs,

I write on behalf of my mother who I think has been dreadfully treated by your company.

My mother is 92 years old and registered blind and deaf and is registered as vulnerable on your system.  She lives alone and I and my family are reassured by regular phone calls and the fact that she has a Carelink alarm that allows her to raise an alarm via a telephone-connected bracelet in the event of an emergency.

On Tuesday 17th October I visited and discovered that her phone was not working.  My wife contacted your organisation and an engineer was booked for the next morning.

The engineer visited on Wednesday 18th October and confirmed our suspicions that this was due to the digital switchover, renewed her hub and told me that, unfortunately, the landline had been cancelled and we would need to contact Customer Services.  We did this on Wednesday afternoon and, although the conversation was fraught, we were assured that the telephone would be up and running the following day.

M wife discussed the problem and was told she should agree a new contract so this could be up and running overnight.  This she did.  I note that this is showing on the account as an 18 month minimum contract with a possible early disconnection fee.  I can assure you that, as this service was mis-sold, we will not be paying an early disconnection fee.

On Thursday I was quite cross that there was still no working telephone line and spent 1hr, 48mins on the phone, finally speaking to a manager called Akshay who assured me that the line would be reinstated within 24 hours.

On Friday I phoned again and spoke to Customer Services.  At my insistence she spoke to a technician and advised me the best course of action was for them to reinstate the copper connection and that this would be done within two hours.  I travelled again to my mother’s address and swapped over the equipment into the wall socket to find it was still disconnected.  I called again and spoke to a manager.  (2 calls; 1 of 50mins and one of 44mins).  He promised me that an engineer would visit the next morning (between 8:00 and 10:00) and would have the phone working before he left the property.

I travelled again to my mother’s on Saturday morning to meet the engineer and, when he failed to turn up, phoned your Customer Services number again.  I was constantly on the phone from 10:10 until 15:50 when we finally got an absolute promise from “D” in your “Second Tier Team”  that the line would be reinstated within 24 hours.  We also made him promise to call me on my mobile phone 24 hours later to check with us.

Needless to say – no phoneline and no callback.

I made a decision yesterday to purchase a 4G emergency call system which should be delivered to me today so that I can get some sleep tonight.  It is not a simple matter to move my mother into my house so she has spent six nights without an emergency panic system and I have had to visit every day to ensure that she is alive and well.  Luck, so far, has been on my side.  I am ashamed that I did not take this action sooner but have been assured each day that we are only 24 hours from a restoration of the line.  I cannot leave this another day.  If your staff had told me on day 1 that a prompt fix was not possible, I would have taken this action much sooner.

It is now obvious to me that your staff are prepared to lie to me just to get me off the phone!

I have calculated that I and my wife have spent over nine hours and thirty minutes on the phone to your company since last Tuesday.  I am quite busy at the moment and could have done without this.

Much of the time spent on the phone is due to immediately being placed on hold when the call starts – usually for more than thirty minutes – and due to your system having a propensity for terminating the call when I am on hold.  I have – several times – insisted that your staff book me a call back for ten minutes time in case I find myself cut off again.  Despite their agreement, not a single person has called me back.

One of your staff filed a complaint – No. C-2010231020 – but I find it impossible to access the complaint from your online system, hence this letter.

One of your staff informed me that the cancellation of the phone line was due to the digital switchover and that we would have been contacted several times in the preceding moths to prompt us to agree or the phone would be cut off.

We are only aware of one communication, an email on 14th June 2023.  It begins “ Hello Nora” and states in the text that if we “do nothing” the consequences would be:  “After 30th April 2030 your home phone services – including any connected devices – will stop working.”   As my mother would be approaching her 100th Birthday at that time, I didn’t feel that would be likely to be a problem.

I find it hard to put into words how disgusted I am that you would not only initially remove the telephone service of a vulnerable person but also be so inept and unwilling to reinstate the service promptly.  My mother is fortunate to have family able to check on her and to advocate on her behalf.  If it is found that this poor practice is widespread, I am very concerned that there is someone somewhere lying dead due to your incompetence even as I type this letter.

Although my mother is distressed that she is unable to speak to further flung family members at present I have (I hope) at least managed to arrange a care alarm system.  I will not call your Customer Services number again (Ever!) so I will await the service reconnection while I look at other options.

Resolution:

It is hard to see what might compensate for the danger and the loneliness inflicted on my mother, let alone the stress and inconvenience my wife and I have suffered.  I am sure that this cannot be agreed in any case while there is still no phone service at my mother’s home.

Going forward, I am sure that you will cover the cost for the 4g device we have been forced to purchase and I will be looking for a substantial compensation package on top of that.  If not in recompense for our own inconvenience then to prevent you being so unhelpful to others going forward.

I would urge whoever is tasked to deal with this matter to look at transcripts or listen to recordings of the calls we have made to your staff.  I am sure that it will be obvious that not only is a systemic change required, but also a huge amount of staff re-training.

My details are below and I would be grateful for a prompt response to reassure me that you are dealing with the matter but, needless to say, I will not be holding my breath.

Yours faithfully,

Chris Stimson

[MOD EDIT: Personal info removed]

[Angryashell]

It appears someone doesn't like my last message so it hasn't been posted on here.

VM are totally inept.

See if this one sneaks through.

[Cardiffman282]

I think it's here but it would be better to remove personal details from it. 

[japitts]

There is no email address for VM-CS, but complaints can be logged at https://www.virginmedia.com/help/complaints 

If your previous post contained any personal or identifiable details, that would have been cause for it to be removed pending an admin edit.

[Daniel_Et]

Hi @Angryashell, thank you for your post.

A response was sent to your latest private message on Sunday (22nd October) at 12:40pm. 

Did you receive it? If so, can you please respond and we'll get this matter looked into as soon as possible.

Regards,
Daniel