Technician never showed up

[alexstillx]

So this has turned into a nightmare.

We had arranged a technician to set up our Virgin Broadband about a month prior to our move, which was on saturday the 19th June between 1-6pm. While we were unpacking, it became clear that nobody was going to be coming. We called Virgin and managed to get through to someone who informed us that the installation had actually been delayed until mid july, even though we had no correspondence informing us of this.

There was something said about the need for the road to be closed and permits to be granted, and that is why nobody had turned up that day. I can't  really explain this in the proper detail because we were shocked that this was the case, and we had requested the information to be sent over text or email so we could assess the situation, which Virgin still have not done. We had even received an email before we had left our old apartment telling us to ensure we kept the Virgin box and all its wires for the move the following day to ensure a quick installation. 

The person on the phone did say that we were entitled to £25 credit due to the missed installation, and then £5 every day until the router could be installed under "OFCOM". I didn't really think this was sufficient compensation at the time, considering the fact we will now have to use sub par mobile internet and increase our data usage which this credit will barely help with. Upon calling Virgin today and speaking to multiple different departments, it seems this was in fact a lie in order to get us off the phone, as they only have a record of crediting £5 to the account, which nobody has emailed me about either.

On top of this, every time we log in to Virgin now it says the account is closed, something we never requested. We can no longer see our past bills or any other information. I am at a loss for what to do next, as it certainly seems like someone will arrive in July, and STILL be unable to set up the internet.  We spoke to our neighbors who have lived in the building for over a year now, who stated that they also had problems setting up a virgin router, being told that it would cost them £16000 to have virgin sorted in our building, which has obviously made us even more nervous about this up in the air date of july. 

Please get in contact about this. I want to have some sort of email explaining the situation on our street, and if you can tell us with certainty that the internet shall be ready for the date in July. I honestly can say that this is the worst customer service I have ever had to deal with, and am sure Virgin doesn't want to be seen in this sort of light.

Alex

[jbrennand]

A VM person should get here in a day or two (just how this forum works).... so in the meantime.

Has the property had a VM service previously? Are there connections on the internal walls from an omnibox (usually brown) on the exterior wall or from somewhere central if its an apartment block? Do any other neighbours near you have a VM connection? The fact one of them was saying it would cost £16,000 is ominous.

[jpeg1]

The reason your account was closed is that it was tied to your old address.  A new account will be opened for the new address, assuming a connection can be installed. 

[alexstillx]

Thank you for your responses. Really at this point we just want to know if the permits/planning permission has been granted, and everything is due to go ahead. Nobody i've spoken to at Virgin can confirm this or email me this information, and  there is a general attitude towards the whole thing that would suggest they don't know/aren't willing to work too hard to figure it out either.  I can envisage them turning up on the date then finding it impossible to install anything.

[alexstillx]

In response to jbrennand - 

1 - It doesn't seem like it.
2 - We've already had to leave and find other ways of getting online so i'm not sure at the moment. 
3 - One person seems to have virgin, but it would be difficult to determine who. Not in the building at least.
4 - Yeah.. it was an odd story, and is causing a lot of concern.

[jbrennand]

If they are needing to dig the street/road they will have to have applied for permission from the local council. These applications are usually shown on the council website. If there are no objections and its granted then the start/end dates will be published on there too (to inform the local residents).

That's where I would start looking. But TBH you dont know if they have initiated that process for your property - they may still be deciding whether it is cost effective to connect you.

You really need to wait here and see what VM have to say about it. They should ask for your details and see what the situation is but i am suspecting an alternative supplier is the most likely.

[Zach_R · Accepted solution]

Hi @alexstill,

Thank you for your posts and welcome to our community forums. We're here to help.

I am so sorry to hear that you're having these complications with getting services installed at your new home. This is something that we're certainly keen to take a closer look at.

In the first instance, I'd advise referring to our Service Checker tool where you can enter your address details. This will then confirm if the address is currently serviceable, and if it isn't you can submit your information to receive updates when that begins to change. I appreciate that you've mentioned that this has been discussed and agreed upon with the team before your move, but I would advise doing this for peace of mind.

If we have advised that we require permits then this will typically be because we need to perform construction works on public property such as the path or road, for which we obtain the permits from the local council to do so. It may also mean that we need to obtain wayleave from the property owner if we need to perform any work on the home itself.

In regards to your online account, this will say that it's closed as it'll be linked to your services at your previous address. When you take your services to a new property, it is assigned to a new account.

In regards to the credit that you mentioned, please refer to our credit policy for further information.

Let me know how you get on with the above and we can proceed from there with this.

Thanks,
 

[alexstillx]

Hey Zach, thanks for the response.

Our flat actually does pop up on the service checker tool, but strangely only our flat in the whole building. Is there a reason you could put this down to? Why would our flat be able to have Virgin and not the others? It gives me some confidence that we appear on the listing, but I wonder if it's only because we asked to transfer here a month ago and it has been assigned automatically. I would assume everything will be going ahead on July 8th if the service checker is to be trusted, but how likely will it be that they will turn around and say it's impossible and we're back to square one? What sort of things can go wrong? Will Virgin offer compensation for their failings? 

Thank you

[Lee_R]

Thanks for getting back to us.  If you have an installation date for 8th July do you have any direct written confirmation of this appointment?

Regards

Lee_R

[alexstillx]

We have a contract that begins from July 8th, that weirdly was sent to my upstairs neighbor's email account in my name. When I questioned Virgin on this, they said they had no idea and the neighbor's email was not connected to my account.... But in any case, does a contract count as confirmation of the installation? 

Even weirder as a side note, we kept getting our security password wrong and would have to discuss bank details instead to gain access, but still we requested a letter with the password. We received that letter today after about 8 working days, and we have never seen/certainly didn't make up this word (and it's not the usual automatically generated type of password either with numbers,letters and characters. It's very specific and strange, something that we'd remember making had we done it ourselves)