Installation Delay Nightmare

[spine]

It seems that I have fallen victim of Virgin Media long drawn out broadband installation saga.

My broadband order was placed 24/08/23 - provisional installation date: 19/09/23
A team came along a week before this date to discover they could not pull the cable due to blockage along the street.
I was informed that another team/contractor would be dispatched to unblock. Install date was moved to 30/09/23

A week later some diggers came and dug a small patch outside my neighbour pavement refilled and left - didn't check my cable outlet hole whether is was ok or not.
Another week later another prepull team arrived to find they still could not pull the cable through. Install date moved to 12/10/23.

Again, a week later, diggers came along and dug further along the next neighbour, refilled and left and again did not check outlet cable outlet hole was clear to pull or not.
A week later a prepull team came along came to inspect and left again. This time I as notified installation date moved to 05/12/23.

I did raise a complaint this time on phone and was told I will be compensated (however, from information gathered from the forum that would be wishful thinking!) and the would be put on priority.

I decided to formalise the complaint via their website - as I have no broadband access (my teenage child needs access for school work) and cannot wait that long until December 2023 (even then it's likely to be delayed further because of how Virgin's installation procedures operate).

The reply I got was that there is now a 4m missing track and could not bring forward the installation as construction work was required.

I really do not understand what the problem is - my next door neighbour and other down the same street have subscription to Virgin Broadband.

Looking through the forum just makes me even more depressed - seeing what others have had to go through.

I am really at a loss in what to do - I would not have signed up for this if I knew this would happen.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[goslow · Accepted solution]

Consider what temporary measures you can put in place while you wait for VM and its sub-contractors to argue amongst themselves and decide what to do.

Some on here, who have had a long wait, have looked into getting an Openreach connection put in on a rolling monthly contract

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/QuickStart-set-up-and/Waiting-for-pre-installation-work-can-I-c...

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/QuickStart-set-up-and/Virgin-Media-Delay-6-to-8-Weeks-for-now/m...

Others have bought an unlimited data SIM on a rolling monthly contract and used it in conjunction with a mobile hotspot device or smartphone.

The above are not suggestions for you to follow, just a description of what others have tried to deal with VM’s bungling installation processes. Much will depend on the area you live in and what services are available and what speeds/coverage you can get. You will need to do your own research to find something suitable for your own requirements.

You should start keeping a detailed record of events (dates, times of all calls, messages, texts etc. along with any missed appointments and failed appointments where someone turns up but no work was carried out). Keep the record in a timeline format with links from the timeline to each piece of recorded evidence. This will make it easy for you in the future to put forward a case to arbitration for the correct compensation, should that be necessary.

https://www.virginmedia.com/help/billing-and-payments/automatic-compensation

[Alex_RM]

Hi spine,

Thanks for posting and welcome to our community 🙂

we're sorry to hear there have been some delays with your install, to ensure a complaint has been raised and assigned to the correct team, I've popped you over a private message to get a few more details from you.

Alex_Rm

[Tonbridge77]

I have faced the same problem with Virgin Media. I signed a contract in October, expecting the service to be ready by the end of October. However, they have repeatedly delayed and changed the pre-installation dates, with my next installation date now set for 3rd Feb. Dealing with the call centre has been a nightmare. I've called every day for updates, but no one knows when they'll install the roadside cables. It's been 4 months without internet, and the compensation provided, an O2 WiFi Dongle, is slow and insufficient for my wife and me working from home. I requested to cancel the contract, but they said I'd face cancellation charges and the full contract length. We're stuck and unsure of what to do. Should I escalate this to Ofcom?

[Arissa_H]

Hi Tonbridge77 👋🏼.

Thank you for posting and welcoming you onto our community forum 😊.

Sorry to see your installation has been delayed you are looking to cancel ☹.

Have our team advised what the reason of the delayed install?

In order to cancel and have our team look into the early disconnection fees, you can text our WhatsApp team 👉🏼 +447305 327 112 or give us a call on 👉🏼 0345 454 1111.

You can also find out more by clicking this link about our early disconnection fee. 

Our team can look into this for you.