on 27-08-2022 09:20
I have been trying to raise a complaint on the VM complaint page, but everytime I register the complaint I get this....
Your complaint reference : ****
Your complaint will be acknowledged within 48 hours of receipt and we aim to resolve all complaints within 28 days of receipts.
And when I click on track complaint, there is none registered. I did this 3 times already and nothing.
Also VM promised to apply credit for 3 weekends of consecutive cable broadband downtime and so far I don't see this on my account. Can anyone from VM please respond on this? It should be £8 and a total of 6 days of no internet....
Thank you.
27-08-2022 10:49 - edited 27-08-2022 10:53
Complaint tracking on My Virgin Media is unreliable - many people (including me) have found that they see nothing on there, even though a complaint has been submitted and is being handled. I suspect the complaint has been accepted and you'll get a response in due course.
However, don't get your hopes up - VM will point you to their interpretation of the relevant "automatic compensation" arrangements, and under these nothing is payable if there was planned work notified in advance, and even if that doesn't apply, there's what Ofcom call a "Payment Trigger Time", and this means VM are obliged to pay nothing unless the fault remains unfixed at 11.59pm on the day two working days after the fault is reported by a customer. With VM's telephony often serving up a recording "we're aware of a fault in your area and working as fast as we can to fix it, estimated fix time XX:XX on day/date, thank you for calling" before automatically disconnecting you, then in those cases there's a good chance they'll insist they had not been notified.
All of which means that the likely outcome is that your complaint will be fobbed off. If you've had three weekends without service, that needn't be the end of the matter, because repeated minor faults or loss of service can be a valid basis for complaint. If you get fobbed off and aren't happy, you can reject the resolution when it arrives, asking for a deadlock letter and you then escalate to the industry complaints adjudicator, CISAS. CISAS will look at your complaint, ask VM for their version of events, and if they uphold your complaint, will offer you a resolution which in most circumstances will be as good an offer as you'll get. Don't forget the onus at CISAS is on your to explain the problem and present a case, and to set out the outcomes that you want - compensation, fault investigation or whatever. The process is an "adjudication", and that's a quasi-legal dispute resolution process that's intended to ensure that customer complaints in regulated industries can be dealt with professionally without the consumer having to take the matter to court.
If you do feel the need to involve CISAS, I would have guessed the most appropriate basis of your claim is that a residential service that is repeatedly unavailable across weekends is not fit for purpose, and does not meet the requirements of the Consumer Rights Act 2015, which requires all services to be provided with "reasonable skill and care". If your situation were a single two-three day outage, or even the odd day on a couple of weekends, then you'd have a very poor case, and CISAS would likely say that VM had not acted unreasonably and no compensation was payable.
And finally, don't forget the importance for you of keeping things in proportion - it's hugely irritating when you have an unreliable connection - but if it's now working, how much effort and time do you want to put in to complaining, and the formalities of escalating? There's times when it is best to accept that the experience has been poor, leave things as they are, but to remember this when your fixed term contract is at an end.
27-08-2022 11:35 - edited 27-08-2022 11:44
Thank you so much for this very insightful message. It really paints the picture. For the sake of a few quid compensation its amazing how **bleep** Virgin can be about this. Its funny because clearly there has been multiple continuous disconnection each weekend for the past 3 weeks...
I have Sky coming over on Thursday, I hope with any luck, I can wash my hands of Virgin, experience of late has just getting worse.
on 27-08-2022 13:59
Hi Cavallino,
Thank you for your post.
I really apologise for the experience you've had with the team - and whilst trying to put things right. I can appreciate that it must be frustrating. With that, I am going to send you over a private message so I can take a look and help sort this out.
Cheers,
Ryan.
on 10-10-2022 16:14
This issue is still open. I also was calling up today to cancel my VM... twice I tried to cancel and twice Ive had the VM member on the other line hang up on me.
What I found amusing, "please can you give me your phone number so I can call you back incase we get cut off".
Any call back? Like hell.
on 10-10-2022 16:40
You're wasting your time trying to deal with VM by phone - I think they've contracted out their call centres to the North Korean Ministry of Information & Human Rights.
on 10-10-2022 18:58
Thanks for the responses Cavallino,
Apologies for the issues faced, can I ask did you receive the PM as proposed beforehand?
If so what was advised?
Regards,
on 10-10-2022 19:54
on 10-10-2022 19:57
Actually why you are it, can you please make sure that my account has been cancelled.
I did manage to get through to someone finally, but with greatest respect, my trustworthiness towards VM has plumetted that I do not want to take any chances.
Please PM the response, thank you.
(I already provided the responses to security questions so no need to ask again).
Thanks.
on 11-10-2022 08:16
Hi Cavallino,
I am sorry to hear this, it would be best to keep to PM to resolve this. Kath was not in over the weekend and will reply if you have sent anything over.
Zoie