Who do I speak to about continuous poor customer service?

[mikeh99]

It is quite simple over the past 2 months I have had to make numerous calls due to issues with my broadband predominately to do with 

1) Upgrading of cabling, (5 to 11) very shoddy installation, after calls promised repull promised 4/5/22 did not turned up at all - chased in afternoon was advised still pending and been done by 7pm NOTHING and no contact, message or email to explain (a) why didnt turn up and (b) had been rescheduled to 19/5/22.  I have four inches of unburied fibre cabling at the border of my property currently cover over by a brick so no passer-by sees it and could pull it out / up.  I was not present at property when cable upgrade complete as I was not advised of date or work they just turned up and if it wasn't for checking my ring front door device on returning home I wouldn't even of know they had been.  No note through letter box - text message or email. 

2) Account deal promises not being kept or put through until chased and checked three times

3) Promised engineer to look at Post RS Errors - still don't know if or when this will happen

4) Numerous occasions on calls to VM just summarily CUT OFF - believe due to phone system capacity issues

5) Even after upgrading to 1GB still on average getting only 60% of promised download speed.

6) Promised three free wifi extenders now on 1gb contract - promised would be ordered and one arrive today 6/5/22 - NOPE!  Also told each one had to be ordered separately due to the ordering system and each one in turn could not be ordered until previous one received - REALLY???

To name but SIX

Asked to speak now on at least 4 separate occasions  to a manager to review my account and associated calls only to be told unavailable / busy would call later, NEVER DO!

Latest raised a complaint about no call back and above issues which has been summarily closed by email without any call or contact to discuss and closing email does not refer to what I actually asked to raise as complaint as about call back.

SO WHEN IS SOMEONE AT VIRGIN MEDIA ACTUALLY GOING TO LISTEN AND MORE IMPORTANTLY RESOLVE THESE ISSUES WHICH HAVE BEEN FESTERING ON FOR WEEKS IF NOT MONTHS.

HELP PLEASE

[PeteInChelt]

thanks for update. But it's all about communication.......

[-tony-]

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@PeteInChelt wrote:
thanks for update. But it's all about communication.......

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VM dont do communication - why would you think they do 

[PeteInChelt]

I think maybe my sarcasm was too subtle? That was the point I was making. It's all about communication and there isn't any.

[Molly_T]

Hi All, thank you to Pete and Mike for PMing with Ash and Jodi. 

We aim to respond as quickly as possible however the forum is not an instant support service. If you ever need to speak to us urgently we would recommend contacting us by phone on 0345 454 1111 or 150 from a Virgin Landline. 

If you are ever awaiting a response it may be that the member of staff is not on shift at the time, or is on one of their regular days off. If a member of staff is away from the office for a prolonged period of time another member of the team will pick the message up and continue to support. 

Thank you for your patience whilst we look into your cases and get things resolved. 

Please do let us know if there is anything else you require support with! 

All the best. 

[-tony-]

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@Molly_T wrote:

Hi All, thank you to Pete and Mike for PMing with Ash and Jodi. 

We aim to respond as quickly as possible however the forum is not an instant support service. If you ever need to speak to us urgently we would recommend contacting us by phone on 0345 454 1111 or 150 from a Virgin Landline. 

If you are ever awaiting a response it may be that the member of staff is not on shift at the time, or is on one of their regular days off. If a member of staff is away from the office for a prolonged period of time another member of the team will pick the message up and continue to support. 

Thank you for your patience whilst we look into your cases and get things resolved. 

Please do let us know if there is anything else you require support with! 

All the best. 

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love it - absolutely love it - urgently - hours of waiting to speak to offshore for the line to be dropped when it gets difficult - its not possible to speak to VM urgently - they dont know the meaning of the word other than collecting money!

[PeteInChelt]

Beat me to it!!!

Part of what I am complaining about is the phone option doesn't work. Same as above.

The point I was making about the response on here was it would have been helpful and good communication to have at least said I won't be back until (add date) or pass the task on to someone else.

[mikeh99]

Hi Molly

Realise this forum is not instantaneous.  But at least you get some recognition and contact here.

If you check my account records you will no doubt see the numerous calls I have made in the past 12 months and the many hours spent trying to get things done.

Trying to get through is getting more and more problematic.  Spent over 30mins trying to get through as "busy" and put on hold.  It tells you how long you have been on when you hear the same first song you hear when put on hold a third time of going through the record selection.  By the way not very calming music and is at times screechy to listen to.  Not nice to be wound up even further whilst waiting.

Even if you do get through there has been at least four or more occasions after about a minute or so (just enough time to explain why calling) to then get CUT-OFF and the person you were talking to does NOT call you back.  Sorry to say vast majority of these issues are when connected offshore.

I am an ex IT Manager and had to support over 600 people.  If I had delivered service like this I would have very quickly found myself on report and poor performance management reviews.

Communication is key - lack of confirmation emails on actions agree and completed, lack of contact and communication by cabling team on now at lest three separate occasions, and lack of communication when repeatedly asking to speak to a manager all demonstrate poor customer service.

Molly thank you for commenting.

The above is not aimed at you, it is aimed at the poor processes and procedures which are clearly not up to scratch or not being following by those that should.

All of the above could have been quite simply solved by one person taking ownership of the issues raised and following them through to a successful and permeant resolution.   Isn't it about time VM has case manager's who can be allocated to such situations for customers who raise more than say 5 calls in a month to review and see what could have been done better and if issues still unresolved take ownership until they are.

Your thoughts?

Best regards
Mike H

[PeteInChelt]

Hear, hear!!

[mikeh99]

Andrew

Thank you for your comments and support.

Yes you are absolutely on the money with your following comments.

"Well make sure that the outcome is both prompt very favourable.  If they've been cutting you off, wasting your time, breaking promises, failing to respond to complaints, and there's been technical faults with the service, then the outcome you now need is the service to be delivered with reasonable skill and care (ie working reliably and consistently), plus compensation for the stress, hassle and inconvenience (and on that we're talking several hundred quid)."

The one key thing at present if the four or so inches of unburied cable currently being covered over by a brick at anyone walking by doesnt see it and if had a mind to pull it up or even cut it.

It would be very interesting to work with you and to go back through all my account call records and recordings since 1st April 2021 and see what lessons could be learnt and how to improve customer service.  One of my prime concerns is if I am having to put this much effort into getting my issues resolved then there are no doubt many many others who (a) tried and given up after several attempts, (b) tried, given up and closed their account, (c) are not getting their promised service on a regular basis and just put up with it.   Many of your more senior in age customers and potentially vulnerable customers who rely on the broadband service do not have the technical knowledge or even the will to press to get things corrected.

I would welcome a call with you and with Jodi_S who is yet to get back to me since Saturday to talk through these issues and how they can be resolved not only for me but for all VM customers.

PS Technical item of note - I believe over 8 or so weeks ago a background change might have been made which impacts the download speed for those customers with VPN connections.  Question has there been a noticeable increase of calls relating to slow download speeds recently and do VM check to see if they have a VPN connection.  Please note this may become an increasing issue if so because of hybrid working.

[mikeh99]

Andrew

Please also see my reply to Molly

Best regards

Mike H