How do customers contact Virgin Media? online chat not working

[Maccaman]

I've been trying to contact Virgin Media for about 3 weeks now. The online chat button does not work! I have tried on two home computers, my work computer and three different mobile devices. I've been on hold for about 3 hours total now.

Has anyone else been able to contact them via online chat? This is ridiculous! 

Can anyone recommend another provider that you can actually talk to?

Thank you.

[joff_arris]

@ newappollo.  Fair call re the upload speeds, but still feels like a diversion given all of the information I have supplied to date.

There was a very good reason not to bother with the SamKnows website.  But... sigh... we'll do it your way. <Starts unplugging everything and physically moving hardware so we can get the VM router talking to the SamKnows website>

Some time later....

I have completely reconfigured my home network so that the VM router is now in router mode as opposed to modem mode. Previously it was connected to a Netgear R7000 router running DDWRT. This router is now not in the mix. Just the VM box and my PC connected to it with CAT6, no switch anywhere in between.

• The VM box has been factory reset and the setup steps completed.
• The default firewall running in my OS (OpenSuse Tumbleweed) is disabled.
• Every single browser add-on is disabled.
• The VPN (which has not been running during any of the previous speed tests) is disabled.
• Every other machine on the network has been physically switched off.

I go to the SamKnows website and....

For the sake of completeness I have repeated everything above from a fully up to date Windows laptop connected to the Hub via Wifi (wouldn't want my ethernet cables being implicated).  The outcome when attempting to access SamKnows was the same.

So what next?

The light on the front of the router is showing solid yellow.  According to VM this means everything is working normally.

The Hub 3.0 diagnostic tool reports the following:

"Your home network has a few problems.

...

1 Gateway IPv4 address is valid.
2 Your broadband connection is working.
3 Your broadband connection is ready.
4 The temperature of your Hub 3.0 is normal.
5 The status of telephone line 1 is not ready.
6 The status of telephone line 2 is not ready."

Nothing surprising there.  I have not plugged the telephone into the hub as the adapter has not arrived.

So there goes another two hours of my life and we are no further forward.

But that yellow light is very interesting isn't it?  I've done a bit more digging and it seems that another VIP has indicated to a user that "Yellow light syndrome" is indicative of failing components within the Hub, going as far as to indicated to their correspondent that VM probably sent them a refurbished (i.e. second hand) hub, see:
https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Networking-and-WiFi/Yellow-light-on-hub/td-p/5304658

VM, you seriously need to step up.  Stop relying on kind people like newappollo.  They can't do anything.  This is your problem to fix.  How about sending me a new Hub to go with my new contract? 

Number of days left in cooling off period: 9

[joff_arris]

With the VM router in modem mode I have a solid red light on the front (has always been the case as far as I recall), which according to VM is an indication that the router is too hot.  I have just confirmed the maximum surface temperature of the router (it varies, this was the highest reading I could find anywhere on the body of the unit) to be 37deg C using a Fluke 62 Max IR thermometer.   This cannot realistically be too hot.

[joff_arris]

Apologies for the oversight.  Final bit of detail as requested by newappollo:

Cable Modem Status

Item	Status	Comments
Acquired Downstream Channel (Hz)	331000000	Locked
Ranged Upstream Channel (Hz)	49600024	Locked
Provisioning State	Online

Primary Downstream Service Flow > Max Traffic Rate: 575000085
Primary Upstream Service Flow > Max Traffic Rate: 55000085

[newapollo]

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@joff_arris wrote:

With the VM router in modem mode I have a solid red light on the front (has always been the case as far as I recall), which according to VM is an indication that the router is too hot.  I have just confirmed the maximum surface temperature of the router (it varies, this was the highest reading I could find anywhere on the body of the unit) to be 37deg C using a Fluke 62 Max IR thermometer.   This cannot realistically be too hot.

<------->

Primary Downstream Service Flow > Max Traffic Rate: 575000085
Primary Upstream Service Flow > Max Traffic Rate: 55000085

---

Hi again joff_arris 

The hub3 light is always a reddish (magenta) colour when in modem mode.   It's only considered a possible fire risk when it's that colour and operating in router mode.

Your rates of Primary Downstream Service Flow > Max Traffic Rate: 575000085 and Primary Upstream Service Flow > Max Traffic Rate: 55000085 confirm that you are correctly provisioned on the M500 tier.