Recurring internet signal loss

[Meezursrule]

I am not happy with the way complaint ID   C-150323185 has been handled, or with the original issue.

ORIGINAL ISSUE:

Since starting with Virgin Media, there have been phases of poor WIFI reception, where calls on my WIFI connected mobile drop, internet drops on my laptop etc.  
Previously, I have had my hub upgraded to a Superhub 4 and have had a WIFI plug in booster issued, and neither of these have made a difference.

Virgin is still by far the most unreliable internet provider I have ever used, but unfortunately you are the only provider of fast broadband for my street.

Currently there is an outage.  My complaint relates to the unreliability of your service as a whole, not just the current outage.

ISSUE FOR COMPLAINT: 

ONGOING (SINCE THE SERVICE STARTED) PROBLEMS WITH WIFI CALLS DROPPING AND INTERNET CONNECTION DROPPING.  OFTEN THIS IS FOR A FEW MINUTES, BUT SOMETIMES IT CAN BE FOR HALF AN HOUR OR MORE.  

THIS IS UNSATISFACTORY.  I WORK PART TIME FROM HOME ON AN NHS HELPLINE WITH SOME VERY VULNERABLE PATIENTS INCLUDING PATIENTS WHO ARE IN A VERY FRAGILE MENTAL STATE.  IT ADVERSELY AFFECTS THEIR CARE IF I HAVE TO TELL THEM THAT I CANNOT ACCESS THEIR RECORD AND THEREFORE NEED THEM TO RING BACK LATER.  

IT ALSO COMES ACROSS AS UNPROFESSIONAL IF I AM IN A MS TEAMS MEETING AND THE INTERNET DROPS - THIS HAS HAPPENED SEVERAL TIMES.  

FINALLY, I AM ALSO A DISTANCE LEARNING STUDENT.  I HAVE HAD THE INTERNET DROP DURING ONLINE TUTORIALS.  I AM ALREADY WORRIED ABOUT THE INTERNET DROPPING DURING THE REMOTE EXAMS I WILL BE TAKING IN MAY AND JUNE.

I received the vague email below stating "Technical Help Provided" as your solution to my problem described above.  When I rang your customer services department this evening to ask what this means and what help will be provided to deal with the ongoing issue, all the operator could tell me is that I would be compensated for the current outage.

This response does not address the issue and is insufficient.

ADDITIONAL ISSUE:

Today, the operator who took my complaint was Yamkela Milifie in your Cape Town call centre.  I had to ask her several times to explain to me what she had written down, and each time what she read out bore no resemblance to the information I gave. her.

This was unsatisfactory.  I very much hope training on call handling will be provided to her.

Desired outcome:

1.  Please advise what you are going to do to ensure that I have a reliable signal.

2.  Please consider providing a Superhub 5 or other hardware to improve my signal.

[goslow]

---

@Meezursrule wrote:

I am not happy with the way complaint ID   C-150323185 has been handled, or with the original issue.

<snip>

Desired outcome:

1.  Please advise what you are going to do to ensure that I have a reliable signal.

2.  Please consider providing a Superhub 5 or other hardware to improve my signal.

---

On the issue of your connection problems, are the issues confined just to connections over wi-fi or are wired connections affected as well? This is a key question in determining what kind of a fix VM might have to implement.

On the issue of your complaint to VM, VM is regularly towards the bottom of OFCOM customer surveys and a key driver for this is VM's poor handling of complaints!

Your next route for escalation is via Ombudsman Services

https://www.ombudsman-services.org/

which you can use after 8 weeks from complaining to VM or when VM issues you with a deadlock letter. You may be able to get some kind of compensation for the poor service but Ombudsman Services cannot 'make' VM fix your connection.

You have stated what your desired outcomes are but, if you have already had a Hub 4 replacement and boosters from VM, then replacing with a Hub 5 may not be a fix (in fact a Hub 5 may have compatibility issues with legacy devices and IoT devices as evidenced by the many topics on the forums about this).

If your problem is exclusively wifi-related, VM's wifi guarantee, such as it is, is here

https://www.virginmedia.com/wifi-max

and is not that impressive really.

[Client62]

Ladies and Gentlemen I'm giving the OP 1 Kudos for delivering the quite finest tirade of this a wet and dark evening.

[David_Bn]

Thanks for your post on our Community Forums @Meezursrule!

Sorry to hear of the issues you've been experiencing with the connection.

I've looked into the local area and an outage has been present since 02/02/23 and is estimated to be resolved on 17/03/23 at 15:00.

We're sorry for any inconvenience and frustration this may be causing you and other effected users in your local area.

Sadly I wouldn't be able to ensure that faults wont occur in your local area moving forward, but as with all outages, our do all they can to fix this issue in the shortest possible time frame and attempt to make the fix a long term one.

Kindest regards,

David_Bn