4 months of pre pull delays

[Mandinz]

I have been waiting to have my services installed since December 2020!

Every time I get given an 'installation date' it gets cancelled on the day with a reason of 'the pre pull of the cable hasn't happened' or 'there is a problem in the road that needs fixing'.

Pre-installation team say they can't help me, Construction team say they can't help me.

tempted to start calling the 3rd party contractors directly and see if I can get answers because Customer Services is like getting blood from a stone.

I've raised an official complaint, probably pointless, but I feel out of options.

[holliehuntriss]

No there has been no reasoning whatsoever other than “it’s a third party doing it” they don’t have a clue I just keep going round and round and they keep saying they’ll be coming the next day and then it gets moved up again…

[Megan_L]

Hi Holliehuntriss, 

Thanks for your post, I am sorry about this delay in getting you installed. 

This situation does happen unfortunately and it can be very frustrating for both you and us as most of the time our installation teams are relying on getting the authorisation for the work from the local authorities. Which means if these 3rd party bodies do not get back to us, we need to delay it further. 

As this is out of our hands we would not be able to help quicken the process unfortunately. 

I can see that there is a billing issue that is connected to this which I would be more than happy to take a look at within a PM, which I'll send now. 

However, I would not be able to help with the installation itself.

Speak soon, 

Megan_L

[Lee_R]

Hi @TwentyTwenty-1

Can you please let us know how things go with this one?

Regards

Lee_R

[Andrew-G]

You may also want to let Ofcom's complaints team know how the whole thing has gone?  And check what compensation VM will be paying you, at Edit:£8 £5 a day.  Whilst VM aren't responsible for the (probably tiny or non-existent) delays beyond their control, such as some problem with the council, they are accountable for everything else, including the performance of their subcontractors.  And even if VM blame the council, check directly with the council when any permissions were asked for, and when they were issued - despite their mixed reputation, most councils are competent and quick to approve streetworks permits.

[TwentyTwenty-1]

After having been given my 9th install date (3/6, 15/6, 29/6, 12/7, 27/7, 17/8, 2/9, 4/9) which is tomorrow I am very hopeful that Virgin Media will be able to install my broadband. After just short of 4 months of delay, the 3rd party contractor Kier were unable to pull the cable (that's another story in itself - involving me chasing the team down the road!), so Virgin got out their own team and showed up on Friday early morning. Took them probably 30 mins to pull the cable and place a box on my wall ready for the Virgin Engineer tomorrow.  I spoke with the Virgin guys and they said when Kier claim they can't do the work then Virgin have to come out as a last resort - well it only took 4 months! After logging an official complaint - Virgin have acknowledged my troubles and I can now take it up with the Alternative Dispute Resolution, CISAS. Stay tuned for (hopefully) a successful installation tomorrow.

[Natalie_L]

Hi TwentyTwenty-1

Thank you for you posts. 

I have taken a look from our side and can see that things did not go as planned on the day and we are very sorry about this. 

I can see you have spoken to the team since then and they have updated you on the situation. 

Once again, our apologies for this. 

[TwentyTwenty-1]

Installation didn't happen. Bad communication between Virgin's departments caused someone to think that no cable had been pulled thus, cancelling the engineer visit. No amount of persuasion, time or effort on my behalf would someone at Virgin reverse the mistake - hence I have been given the earliest date possible of the 6th October. Again I cannot fathom the time scale of 2 weeks for everything at Virgin when it is Virgin's mistake. There's something very amiss with the processes at Virgin and I hope someone in Operations is reviewing their SLAs! Disappointed once again.

[Ashleigh_C]

I am so sorry again @TwentyTwenty1 that this has happened! I understand how incredibly frustrating this must be. 

Please do update us after the install is able to completed. 

Thank you.

[TwentyTwenty-1]

Just a quick update - after 4 and a half months delay, I finally had my broadband installed yesterday evening. So I've been waiting since June 3rd and on the 6th October, broadband is finally in. I'm now waiting for my compensation from Virgin Media.

[Vsab]

I have been in the same boat. They were happy to knock on the door and offer me high speed broadband but when it cans to installation no one is taking any reponsibitly to sort things out. Talk to this department, speak with that department, the vicious circle. I have been waiting for nearly two months but haven't got a clue what is happening. Prepull team came to my street two days ago, got excited, only to find out that they came for the next door neighbour's installation. I'm not sure where to go from here, I'm on mobile Internet and not sure how long I can go on for.