Repeated loss of service due to faulty street cabinet

[jones55]

Since April 2021 there have been at least eight outages due to a faulty Virgin street cabinet on my road. The door of the cabinet is not properly attached - this leaves the equipment inside prone to vandalism and water ingress. Each time the engineer comes to fix the outage the cabinet door is either taped up with gaffer tape or tied up with a piece of string.

I have reported the damaged cabinet door directly to Virgin on at least seven occasions to Virgin: on no occasion has anyone actually attended to fix the broken door. These regular service outages affect a significant number of Virgin subscribers in the street that I live. On the street WhatsApp group one can see that a number of people have changed providers and many of those who remain under contract will not be renewing once they come to the end of their agreement.

The latest outage occurred yesterday afternoon and the current estimated time that service will be restored is July 20 at 10 a.m.

I imagine the cabinet door will be taped up again and we will suffer yet another outage in due course.

In the six years prior to the cabinet door becoming faulty we experienced only one loss of service; in the 13 months since the cabinet has been damaged we have experienced at least eight outages. Why are Virgin Media unable to fix the faulty cabinet?

The cabinet ID is D065L on Birnam Road N4 3LJ

[jones55]

Somebody taped came and taped the cabinet with tape: the tape has already come apart. Then it rained. And later that day we experienced another loss of service. 

So, 18 months in, we are no further along in achieving a solution that is acceptable for Virgin subscribers dependent on this particular service box. The door to the cabinet is currently propped up against the cabinet itself. It's only a matter of hours/days before it's found lying facedown on the pavement again.

Speaking to people on the street WhatsApp during the latest outage confirms that Virgin will loose almost all current customers who are affected by this box, especially now that our street is served by G.Network. 

I first warned Virgin of ensuing problems in February 2021 with this particular faulty cabinet: since April 2021 there have been at least 10 outages. 

Virgin's response has been wholly inadequate. All that was needed was to ensure that the cabinet was fixed properly, not tied up with string or gaffer tape.

Current state of cabinet:

 

[Ilyas_Y]

Hi there @jones55, thanks for reaching out to us.

I'm sorry to hear the issue has still not been resolved.
I have looked in to this and have reached out to the area engineers regarding this issue as to see when a fix date may be in place.
I will save this interaction so that once they reply to me, I will be able to follow up with yourself.

Kind regards.

[Ilyas_Y]

Hi there, just giving a little update.

This has been reported to the network team and it has been logged.
I am just awaiting a response as to when the issue will be rectified.
Once I have that, I will forward this on to yourself.

Kind regards.

[Ilyas_Y]

Hi there, engineers are asking for one piece of details.

The nearest property number, if possible. They have not mentioned why, all they have requested is that.

Kind regards.

[jones55]

We've just had another outage because it has been raining.

[jones55]

The cabinet number is D065L.

The cabinet is opposite 4 Birnam Road N4 3LQ.

[Molly_T]

Hi Jones55, thank you for responding with the additional detail requested!

This has now been raised with the team who will get this resolved as soon as possible. 
Thank you for bringing it to our attention so we could help!

Please let us know if there is anything outstanding you need our support with. 
Wishing you all the best! 

[jones55]

No internet since 6 p.m. last night: I've lost count of the number of outages since I first logged the problem with the faulty cabinet in early 2021,

Unable to check service status online or through the app because neither work. Unable to run diagnostic test. Spoke to customer services: they are unable to run a diagnostic test as they can't access their own systems so can't report a fault. Unable to submit a complaint because nothing on the Virgin website or app is functional.

Our service box still hasn't been fixed. I have this morning chosen Vodafone as my new internet provider.

This is beyond abysmal; I will becancelling my contract early and lodging an official complaint with ofcom. I will not be paying any fees for leaving early since I have acquired a sufficient volume of evidence to prove that my service is simply too unreliable.

Broken diagnostic page on website

Broken app

[Andrew-G]

If you want to leave a fixed term contract without penalty, you need to know that VM are usually reluctant to agree that, but that you do have relevant rights.

There is no automatic right to cancel without penalty, regardless of the unreliable service.  However, Ofcom's Fairness Commitments state under commitment 4, "Customers’ services work as promised, reliably over time. If things go wrong providers give a prompt response to fix problems and take appropriate action to help their customers, which may include providing compensation where relevant.If providers can’t fix problems with core services they have promised to deliver within a reasonable period, customers can walk away from their contract with no penalty". There's also the Consumer Rights Act 2015, which requires that services must be provided with reasonable skill and care (section 49), and the right to treat the contract as terminated (s54, 7f) if the trader does not deliver the service (ie fix the fault) within a reasonable time (s52).  You also have a good claim for compensation for the unreliable service since you first drew this to VM's attention, and the poor customer service in their repeated failure to competently investigate and fix the fault.  A guide to the compensation you might expect is here.  If there's been any rudeness, undue delay, broken promises et, those are "aggravating circumstances" that normally increase the compensation awarded.

Do not simply stop the direct debit - VM's systems will simply mark you as in default of a credit agreement, and that'll spoil your credit history for years to come, and crop in ways you may not even imagine.

See what the forum staff have to offer - sounds like you want release from contract without penalty, a partial refund of the charges since you first made VM aware of the problem (your call, I'd start off at 30% of your monthly bill), plus compensation for the inconvenience and distress as per the link above.  As it's been going on for months I'd be asking for £200, or more if there's been any aggravating circumstances.  If staff can't get a resolution here that is totally acceptable for you, then you'll need to engage CISAS.  You can always involve them at no cost to you, but:

1) You must have formally complained to VM (if you have not already), and then

2) Either a) you have been offered a resolution that doesn't satisfy you, you have rejected this and asked for a deadlock letter, alternatively...

               b) the complaint was raised eight weeks or more ago and remains unresolved.

If staff can resolve the matter that'll be quicker (as well as saving VM hundreds of pounds in case fees) but make sure the company don't try and get away with an inadequate settlement on the basis that you'll settle for less because it is easier.

[jones55]

Thanks for the advice.

I will be sending my formal letter via post since - quelle surprise - the complaints option on the website does not work:

 https://youtu.be/nkl6r5Gu_Zs