The Forum Moderators at Virgin need to take this complaint very seriously and escalate it to the UK customer services team immediately.
I have been a Virgin TV and BB customer for 6 years during which I have moved house once already. I have a rolling monthly contract.
I am due to complete on a house purchase on 19 February and arranged an new installation for that afternoon, by telephone at the beginning of January. This was a change from the original booking / completion date of 29 January. On that call I made it very very clear that the engineers must not do any work at the house or cross the boundary of the property until the afternoon of 19 February when I would actually own the house. I explained that the lady who currently lives there is not a virgin media customer and Virgin do not have permission to cross the boundary. I was assured by the agent (at an international call centre) that all the pre-install external work would be done at street / public highway level and therefore would not mean disturbing anyone at the property. I was assured that a note of that was made on my file.
On 24 January I received a text from Virgin asking if I was ready for the big move. I telephone Virgin home move dept again and was told that the original booking had not been cancelled! They were going to cut off my current connection on the 29th Jan. This was cancelled and a note made that the install could not go ahead and my current connection must not be cut until 19 Feb.
I have just been told by the estate agent that the lady who currently lives at the new address has been systematically harrassed by the engineers this last week, who cut off her internet one day (meaning she couldn't work and access online classes for her children) and tried to gain entry to her home yesterday (a Sunday!). This is harassment that completely ignores my original instructions that Virgin do not have permission from the current homeowner to cross her boundary.
Today I contacted the Virgin home move dept again and raised a formal complaint and demanded that I speak to the engineers. Whilst on the phone, I received an email from the agent saying my complaint had been resolved by them giving me an apology and that it was closed! I then insisted that she retract that email and escalate my complaint as per your Complaints Policy Procedure.
I have been on hold / on the phone for just under 2 hours already today. I am told someone will call me back from the Field Engineers Dept. However, I am absolutely furious that my clear instructions have been ignored and I am not convinced that the staff at the international call centre have any intention of properly dealing with my complaint.
My Complaint Ref number is: 83858576. The following issues must now be dealt with immediately.
1. the arrangements for the external works / engineers visit at the new property must be clarified and confirmed and the internal install appointment aligned with that. This must be done today.
2. I have never had any written confirmation of my installation arrangements or the new contract being set up for my new address. I require that contractual confirmation today.
3. my online account states that it is a "secondary account" and I cannot see any information about my imminent house move or the new contract / set up or installation arrangements. I require someone at a higher level of customer services to reconcile my accounts / contracts and resolve the online anomalies so that I can see all the information in one place.
I am extremely concerned that engineers will quite happily ignore my instructions and harrass and inconvenience the existing homeowner which falls back onto me. This could become a legal issue and I will not hesitate to hold Virgin to account.
I require my complaint to be escalated today and I must insist that someone in charge of the UK engineers contacts me today to explain what is happening with the installation and what work needs to be done and when.
Yesterday, I referred the buyer of my current address to a new Virgin account. But I will be explaining why he might want to hold off on that arrangement given the quite astonishingly poor customer service Virgin offers in the UK for the more than £850 pa fees they charge me.
If I do not have this serious issue resolved today, I will report Virgin to OFCOM (complaints procedure is not fit for purpose) and copy this complaint and the failed response to the directors at Reading head office.
