Not allowed the new Stream service

[shaunvstheworld]

I had an email telling me about the new stream service from virgin media, sounded perfect to me as I only mainly use streaming services, being able to subscribe to them through virgin at a discount sounded great! 

T's and C's make it clear it's at no extra cost, aside from a connection fee, so I tried to sign up through the online chat. 

I am not lying here, they kept me chatting online for SIX HOURS, and 4 different people. Everyone I spoke to echoed the same message

"You dont want stream, it's rubbish, it has hardly any channels, and you cant record live tv. Sign up for this £48 TV service that you dont need instead". 

Eventually I called as I was making no progress through the online chat, they all seemed to be being horrible about the new product. I got through to retentions who told me my 500mb broadband deal I got a few months ago is "too low cost" and I'd need to pay more if I wanted stream, specifically £5 a month more.

My next step was to raise to ombudsman as even the complaints team weren't listening. that was about a month ago, and since then Ombudsman has received a dispute from virgin over the acceptance of my complaint, so they have since closed my complaint with no dialogue or reason. 

I have of course called virgin again, and was given an email address, and told to wait 48 hours. 

vmo2adr AT libertyglobal DOT com

I do of course see this all as a stalling tactic, I think it's a shame they are so desperate for money they try and trick people in to paying more, upselling packages to you that you dont need, or sneaking in an extra charge making you think that they are doing you a favour. I will of course continue to push this. If I don't get a response from this email address and the ombudsman refuse to accept the complaint I'll just have to claim the monetary value of my complaint through the courts. will keep you updated! 

[Joseph_B]

Hey @shaunvstheworld,

Welcome to the Community Forums and thanks for the post.

Sorry to hear of the issues you have faced with our service and trying to add the Stream service, I would like to look into this with you and see if we can resolve the complaint here, I will just note if this is with our ADR team I am limited in what I can discuss but would like to check upon this with you, for me to do so I will be sending you a quick private message.

Joe

[shaunvstheworld]

Worried this might be a public gesture to show they are responding to issues posted on the forums. For transparency, he asked me a few personal questions yesterday which I answered and hasn’t responded since. 

[newapollo]

Hi @shaunvstheworld

Joseph_B  along the rest of the forum team work on a rota basis, the same as the telephone agents, and also often also work on VM's social media sites.  It's very possible that his shift ended before he could get back to you again, or that he is busy working with other colleagues/departments to progress your issue. It's also possible that it's one of his roster days off.  As such this isn't an instant messaging platform but I'm sure Joseph_B will respond when he's next online.

[shaunvstheworld]

Well the last 4 months have been a nightmare! 

Virgin contacted me via email about Stream, it sounded great, so I tried to sign up. They asked me for £5 a month extra, citing that I'm still in contract. When I pointed out that the terms of Stream make it clear there is no additional cost, they fobbed me off very much, and ignored me for two months. 

Took the case to Ombudsman who made Virgin throw me £75 to shut me up, but trying to get my point across was pointless. Ombudsman tells me "it's not like Sky Sports, you can't just add it on!" - meanwhile virgin informed ombudsman that I had a tv service which is why I couldn't have stream. I had to send screenshots, contracts, and evidence of me giving my tivo box back to Virgin from door cam footage years ago to prove to ombudsman that I did not actually have a tv service. 

Yesterday I called virgin, I was just at the point where I was going to use the £75 to pay to leave as it's been so disgusting service, and they told me "sure you can have stream for no charge!" - the prior 15 calls to try and get it always resulted in £5 a month, but after months and months, and an ombudsman escalation (who have been very virgin friendly and wanted to support the poor communication and lies from virgin) I finally have my stream box arriving on Monday. 

My advice? Sky have some great deals, just jump between them and virgin on contract end, there's no point giving either any commitment as they treat you like utter dirt. 

[David_Bn]

Thanks for the update @shaunvstheworld, and we're sorry to hear of the poor experience, and the need to involve the ombudsman to find a resolution for you.

Do please feel free to come back to us if you have any further issues with our services

Thanks,

David

[Cardiffman282]

Interesting (and concerning) feedback about the Ombudsman. Thanks for the update. 

[shaunvstheworld]

I’ve seen many posts of people getting told different things. The terms state clearly that stream is FOC for all bb customers, yet when me and others have attempted to order we’ve been told it would incur an extra monthly charge to the bb contract. 

I followed this up all the way to ombudsman and they supported Virgin in this practice. 

Hoping this thread doesn’t get censored, as there is nothing about it that breaks community guidelines!