Home phone cut off, number lost, talk to the hand

[MLJ1]

We have been with VM since 2010.

I recontracted with VM last week for TV, broadband and home phone. Services were supposed to just to continue.

However, today the phone has been cut off! I phoned Virgin Media and they told me that they could put through a new contract but that our phone number would be lost!

I asked if I could discuss it with a manager but they refused to discuss if further...said I would have to submit a complaint form and wait two weeks.

Not sure what we are supposed to do in the meantime...

[Ashleigh_C]

Hi there @MLJ1

Thank you so much for your first post to our community forums and welcome to the team. 

I'm so sorry to hear that you have faced this issue with your landline and this is not at all what we would want for a customer.

I'm going to pop you a PM so we can take a closer look into this, please keep an eye out for the purple envelope in the top right corner of your screen alerting you to a new message. 

Thank you. 

[MLJ1]

Brief flurry of activity, now silent again.

Ash said that he could 'request' to re-instate the number. But then he said he would need to do a new package. What was wrong with the old package, which was supposed to have home phone on it?

I think he's simply starting from scratch and trying to start a new contract, not fixing the one that was already agreed. But I don't know as it's gone quiet again.

The system is hopeless. The customer is simply passed from one operator to another, none of whom is empowered to resolve the issue or pass you to a manager who can.

I need the phone line re-instated asap. Apart from needing to make and receive calls, there is also equipment on the line that needs access.

[MLJ1]

Now Ash has come back to say that we can't, after all, have the landline back. Great.

[MLJ1]

Meanwhile, I spoke to the outbound call team who agreed the contract with me. They weren't impressed that the contract was cancelled. I wonder if it does them out of commission?

[MLJ1]

There's no sense of urgency with any of this. I would invite Virgin Media staff to reflect on how they would feel if their phone (home or mobile) was suddenly cut off, particularly if they had important equipment attached.

I have raised a complaint 1011221307. Will this help? The suggested response times are not optimistic.

Still there's no explanation about WHY the phone was cut off. The service was extended only last week until 12th pending the new contract; I never dreamt that anything would happen before then.

Surely we need this escalated to a level where swift remedial action can take place?

[MLJ1]

Still no explanation of why the phone has been cut off, or any sense of urgency to reconnect it.

I invite Virgin Media staff to think about how they would like it if their phones were unexpectedly cut off.

Surely it needs to be escalated to a manager to get resolved?

[MLJ1]

Hours of back and forth with Virgin Media, and not much further forward.

There might be area manager involvement. They might now need to send an engineer round. Of course no timing for any of this to happen.

Another manager might contact me in 2 working days, which is obviously possibly not until Monday. It's just outrageous customer 'service'. 

'Talk to the hand' continues. All of this could be resolved very quickly if you were permitted to speak to a manager, but call centre staff now seem to be briefed to refuse to allow that. Instead you must escalate with a complaint and everything must be laboriously typed via a variety of web forms, chat bots and forum private messages, and a conversation that would take a couple of minutes takes several hours. Is this really the best we can do in a developed country in the 21st century?

Still no explanation whatsoever for cutting off the phone, disabling alarm equipment in the process. Phone lines often form part of critical safely infrastructure, but nobody seems to care about that.

[MLJ1]

Another extraordinary update.

I have unexpectedly received yet another 'Virgin Media Contract Information Sheet', the FOURTH since agreeing the new contract last week. Each one is different, and none except the first has the correct services and price (though they do all contain a phone service).

What on earth are they doing? Who keeps fiddling with the account? To what end?

Why is something so common, renewing a customers contract, made so extraordinarily complicated? Surely they have done this once or twice before?

[Natalie_L]

Hi MLJ1, 

We apologise for any delays in getting this issue resolved. 

As my colleague is away from the office, I will now be assisting you with this matter and have replied to your private message.

We can continue to discuss the next steps to getting this matter resolved from there. 

Speak soon,