Registering a land line fault

[u9026a]

My vulnerable 89 year old mother has a phone that won't take incoming calls. I live o/s and manage her account online. I have searched everywhere to register a fault, but there is no facility to do so. I have therefore tried to log a complaint online, but each time I am given a reference number of **** (yes, just 4 stars), and no complaint is logged. If I call, they won't talk to me because I am not the account holder. I have sent PoA documents that have been lost, and therefore I am still unable to deal with this account.

Why does VM make itself so very difficult to deal with and how do I get this fixed in a timely manner? 

[Matthew_ML]

Hey u9026a, thank you for reaching out and a warm welcome to the community, I am sorry to hear you are having some issues with your landline.

I want to look into this and get to the bottom of it, I am going to send you a PM.

Please look out for the PM. Thanks 

[u9026a]

Thanks Mathew, I replied to your PM.

To Craig who also posted me a PM, when I attempt to reply I just get "Correct the highlighted errors and try again.", so you probably haven't received my reply.

[u9026a]

So to update this thread, Mathew arranged a tech who at least fixed the phone line, but not the call alert.

But if this is the way Virgin runs it's technical assistance, why not make that widely known? Otherwise people will spend hours trying to call overseas operators who haven't a clue what is going on and things get lost in translation. "We've run some tests and everything is OK", when it is not.

[Paul_DN]

Hi 

Glad to hear your Mums phoneline is now fixed, apologies for any inconvenience caused, please can you expand a little what you mean by call alert?

Regards

Paul.

[u9026a]

She has a necklace with a button on it. When she is in trouble she presses the button which automatically calls an operator so assistance can be sent. It won't work with a fibre line without an additional box being fitted.

Virgin knew about this before the line was swapped from copper to fibre, but went ahead anyway and has said that we need to sort the call alert out ourselves, which I am. I don't have a problem with that but when I originally tried to make an appointment for the job to be done I was told I couldn't because I wasn't the account holder. My mother is now totally unable to manage this, or any other, account.

I need to be listed on this account as an admin or this will undoubtedly happen again sometime in the future, but I have been told only one person can be listed as the account holder. What makes this worse is that I am overseas, so I already have one hand tied. It is extremely frustrating.

[Akua_A]

We truly apologise for this experience @u9026a.

The change to fiber is a change being made by a large number of internet service providers. This is because the cooper network is coming out of use in the coming years Future of Voice – Homepage. We can however understand how this may have affected your mother's call alert.

When speaking to the team, did they indicate what this additional box would be? Did they also suggest an emergency backup line as seen here https://www.virginmedia.com/help/landline/fibre-phone-faqs Is this something your mother would be interested in?

Also typically we would only be able to make changes to the account if you are the account holder. We do however understand your frustration. In this case, it may be better to get Power of attorney on the account so you can make the relevant changes to assist her. You can find out more here https://www.virginmedia.com/help/accessibility

Please let us know if you are interested in an emergency backup line and we would be happy to help.

Thanks,

[u9026a]

I need to be listed as an admin of this account. To that end, what email address do I send PoA documents?

Virgin know that my mother is a vulnerable person so I assume the emergency backup line is already installed.

[Akua_A]

Thank you for letting us know @u9026a.

As seen in this link https://www.virginmedia.com/help/accessibility:

If you need to tell us about a court appointed third party including Power of Attorney, Court of Protection and Appointeeship, you can let us know by sending a copy of the official document to us via email or post. Alternatively, you can contact us by phone, Text Relay or Video Relay as depending on the type of document you have been granted we may be able to validate your status immediately.

Our email address is please make sure that the document is attached as a PDF file. We will also require your full name, the account number you’re taking over, account details and a covering note.

Our postal* address is:
Virgin Media Concord House

Executive Team

Concord Business Park

Threapwood Road

Wythenshawe

Manchester

M22 0EY

*Please do not send the original documents as we are unable to guarantee their safe return

Thanks,

[u9026a]

Yep, that's the same email I sent the last documents to. Let's hope that they are acted upon this time.

Thanks for your help.