4 days of hell - Disconnected and Can't be Reconnected

[RichSutherland]

Hello,

Apologies, advanced warning - this is a long post, but it's been a long story. TLDR: Worst service ever experienced and potentially no end.

I've decided to post just because I've tried everything else - maybe I'll get some continuity or help here. 

On the 21st May I called up to inform Virgin I would be moving home. Unfortunately they did not provide services in the new property and so we would need to cancel our contract for which we would need to pay a whopping £230. I was furious but it is what it is. Our services were due to end on 21st June but we were expecting to move to the new house on 12th June. Two days before we were due to move in the entire thing fell apart, our house was all boxed up and we were very upset. 

12th June I call Virgin to say that we would not be moving home, please do not cancel our services and confirm this £230 disconnection fee would not be taken. I was told by the agent that our services would continue and the charge would be removed. Great. 

21st June, we are disconnected. I call and am told they would need to submit a ticket and we would be reconnected within 24 hours. I explained I really needed internet to work, my phone hotspot was unreliable, she then said it should be done in 3 hours. Several hours later we still have no service so I call again, this time someone says they will send an "urgent" ticket and also reach out to their manager to call me back. No call ever comes and the next day after 24 hours has passed, we are still disconnected. 

22nd June I call again, this time I am told by an agent that we have been "properly" disconnected and that they can't reconnect me because someone else has an installation job on our house. This is obviously the people who were intending to buy our house but which all fell through. Virgin asked me to speak to this person to ask them to cancel their contract with Virgin, I explained this is ludicrous as I don't know that person and I've got nothing to do with the agreement they and Virgin have and so they need to resolve it. All throughout this day I spend about 6 hours on the phone, calling for updates, being passed from customer service to customer retention to the moving team and to technical support. No single agent wants or is able to take responsibility, I am told I cannot be transferred to a manager and that "this team can help you" who tells me "this team can help you" who advise that they will log "a ticket" that seemingly never is actioned. I was also cut off at least 3 or 4 times and had to call back. I was promised a call back by a manager, the call back never comes. I keep calling and eventually am told that the person with the open installation ticket on our house has cancelled and we will definitely be reconnected within 24 hours on our original contract terms.

23rd June, still disconnected. After another several rounds of explaining to various people on online chat and telephone what is happening, again and again, I am transferred between departments again and again, on the online chat without any consent, they literally just push me to another department even when I expressly ask them not to - in a single chat session I am transferred to 4 people. I am cut off another 2 times. I explained that I was told it was all resolved and I'd be reconnected but I wasn't. Over the course of the past 3 days I've been told by various agents that reconnection would take 3 hours, 24 hours, 48 hours and then on the 23rd June I am told it can take up to 72 hours and that tomorrow I may be reconnected as it would be the 72 hour mark. I lodged a complain but am given no complaint number by the agent because they push me through to another department before I can get it. I am promised another call back by another manager but it never comes. 

24th June, still disconnected and I receive an email from Virgin saying they are going to debit £230 for disconnection. I call up and explain yet again what is happening. I state that either I want to be reconnected whilst on the call or I just want my services to remain cancelled and all fees waived because I've been disconnected in error by Virgin. Advised it would not be possible to reconnect me on the call because the people who do connections are on the back end and they cannot call them. I explain I have no faith my services will be reconnected as no one will take ownership, no one has ever come back to me and all the timelines previously communicated have come and gone and we are still not reconnected. Another ticket has been submitted to another manager asking to resolve this and call me back today if possible, but officially they have 3x days to reply. Given no one else has gotten back to me I won't hold my breath. 

All in all I've spent about 4.5 hours on the phone, I've been cut off several times being transferred between departments, I've been on online chat for probably as many hours as I've been on the phone. I've been promised call backs by managers 3 times that never came, bar one call back from a Virgin number which when I answered just put me through to their main menu. All of this is happening at a time when our house purchase fell through with all the associated costs and when my wife is 6 days overdue on giving birth to our 2nd child. I work full time from home, as many do at the moment, and have been using an unstable hotspot connection on my phone which regularly drops and which makes meetings very difficult because the connection isn't good enough. I really don't need this on my plate right now. 

I am waiting for a call back, I've cancelled my direct debit because I don't want the money taken but am in fear that Virgin will put a negative mark on my credit history for it (when we really want to move home and so need a mortgage) and we seem trapped in this purgatory where there is some reason why we can't be reconnected but every team in Virgin thinks it's another team who can help and where no one in Virgin can even put me through to a manager for any continuity of support and call backs never come and seemingly tickets raised never go actioned. Everyone just wants to palm me off to another agent. 

I've given up and accepted that I won't be reconnected so have arranged to have services from BT instead but they won't be installed for another week. 

Open question, what the hell do I do?

Thanks,
Rich

[Gareth_L]

Hello RichSutherland

So sorry to hear this has happened

I can see from here that you have spoken to us this morning 

Any reconnections will take 72 hours from when the form is filled in 

I can also see that you have requested for the Disconnection fees to be waived and a Manager has been asked to call you back 

As a rule on here we are not able to deal with package changed, reconnections, disconnections etc 

But we can keep an eye on things for you to make sures its getting looked into 

Gareth_L

[RichSutherland]

Hello,

It has now been over 72 hours since that request which was originally made at around 10am on 21st June. No one has contacted me and told me why it hasn't happened yet or given me an update. 

I have asked for this fee to be waived because I didn't want to be disconnected in the first place, though this will be the 4th time I've been promised a call back by a manager in 4 days. No one as yet has called me back.

Thanks

[RichSutherland]

Still no call back, this is the 4th time I've been promised one...

[John_GS]

Really sorry about that

I'll PM you now to assist further

Best,