BROADBAND INSTALLATION DELAYS & FRUSTRATING CUSTOMER SERVICE

[tiffcch]

I signed up for Virgin Media over a month ago with the expectation that they would offer one of the best broadband experiences in London. 

I am however, becoming increasingly frustrated with my installation experience so far and with the dead ends that customer service offer. It has been over a month since my initial installation date. Looking at these forums has only reaffirmed this frustration and led me to wonder if ANYONE has had a positive experience so far and had the installation go as planned?

• Firstly, the site visit date by the engineer was pushed every day. This resulted in a delayed engineer visit - during which I was told that additional groundworks would be required, which required involving the council. 
• My installation date thus was cancelled - with less than 24 hours notice. My opinion is that if the engineer visit had taken place when it was supposed to, on its initial date, then we would have realised the issues with the groundwork and sought for permission from council and carried out the necessary works so that installation could have still gone ahead on its intended date. 
• It has been two weeks now and the council has been given permission, yet the groundworks still have not taken place. In fact, when I sign onto my Virgin Media portal, the date for the groundworks is pushed back daily. 
• I have called Virgin Media customer service numerous times and been transferred back and forth between departments. When speaking to the pre-installation team, I have spoken to the same lady on each occasion and starting to think that only one person leads this team. She is incredibly vague about the nature of the work and only promises that the installation will take place "very soon". Effective customer service involves managing expectations and I'm not sure what I am meant to do with the vagueness of a "very soon installation date". 
• On top of that, my flatmate and I have been unable to work from home and due to office closures we are also unable to go into the office. We have been hotspotting off our phone but this has resulted in a large phone bill which is several times greater than what we would be paying if the Virgin Media contract started on its intended date. It seems unfair that the customer is expected to incur further costs of inconvenience in finding alternatives as a result of delays from Virgin Media. 

We have concluded as a household that if there are any further delays from Virgin Media that it would be simpler to move networks and we strongly believe any installation date from other providers will still get us connected in a shorter time period than Virgin Media. The customer service has been appalling - with no resolutions to our issues - and unable to provide reassurance in its service. 

[Tom_F]

Hi tiffcch, thanks for getting in touch.

I am sorry to hear about the issues and delay with your installation. I've taken a look into this from here and can see that when the site survey was completed on the 2nd of August it was confirmed that further work was needed before the installation, and this is scheduled to take place on the 19th.

Once that work is completed the installation can go ahead, and you may be eligible for compensation based on these guidelines: (https://www.virginmedia.com/help/automatic-compensation)

Please get back to us if things don't proceed as expected on the 19th and we'll do all we can to help from there - that shouldn't be necessary but please keep us posted.

Tom 

[tiffcch]

Hi Tom,

Thank you for your reply. I do not believe any works took place today (19th). 

Can you confirm if it did - or if my date will have to be pushed again? 

Many thanks. 

[Molly_G]

Hey @tiffcch,

Thanks for your response. I am really sorry that this work did not go ahead as scheduled this week. 

I can see that the engineering team have noted that there is a 'blocked pit' that has prevented the work - I have got in touch directly with the Area Field Manager to provide a realistic time and date for this to be carried out. 

I will let you know once I have any updates from them.

Kind regards,

[tiffcch]

Hi Molly, 

Please can you get the Area Field Manager to get in touch with me? 

I signed up to Virgin Media over a month ago with my original installation date being delayed four times. 

I have an exam taking place for my job at the end of this week, which is dependent on the broadband being installed in time. Due to the exam regulations and confidentiality rules, I am unable to do this exam in a public space (coffee shop) which was my only alternative option during these Virgin Media delays.

[jem101]

@tiffcch to be honest, the chances of you being connected this week are vanishingly small, about the same of getting any contact from the area field manager.

You really need to start considering alternative suppliers, although it's very unlikely that anyone else would be able to guarantee setup in a very short time - you might get a 5G connection (assuming you get good coverage), although I'm not sure how reliable that would be for the proctored exam.

As for the exam itself, can this not be done at a local testing centre, generally a lot less hassle than trying to set up webcams etc and taking it at home?

[Z92]

I wouldn't guarantee that your installation will be done by then, as even they fix the blockage, you then need to wait for an cable install and the internal installation engineer.

I would instead acquire data package for your phone and tether your laptop to it. It should cost about £20 and you'll be up and running same day.

Some exams require that you can be "seen" doing the work however, so a local testing facility might be better.

[tiffcch]

Thanks everyone for their advice. 

I find it so frustrating that this is the Virgin Media experience, and from what I have observed from these forums is that this is the norm for the company.

I find it incredibly baffling that paying customers are meant to accommodate the operational delays from Virgin Media by incuring additional costs (time and money) instead of the other way around in which the company at least tries to make an effort in maintaining good customer relations? 

[Z92]

To be fair, other service providers are exactly the same - just try and get BT to install a new cable to your property for example. They wanted to charge me £125 for an engineer to 'assess/fix' the current cable and said installing a new cable was not a valid financial option for them, which is why I came to VM - because they offered to install a cable at their own expense (which was delayed by 2 months due to a blocked duct, but at least they did it)

[jem101]

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@tiffcch wrote:

Thanks everyone for their advice. 

I find it so frustrating that this is the Virgin Media experience, and from what I have observed from these forums is that this is the norm for the company.

I find it incredibly baffling that paying customers are meant to accommodate the operational delays from Virgin Media by incuring additional costs (time and money) instead of the other way around in which the company at least tries to make an effort in maintaining good customer relations? 

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No worries, hope the exam goes OK.

One thing I would like to say though, in VM's defence (yes, I really did say that), what you have experienced probably isn't the norm for the company. yes it'll seem like it though reading forum posts but there is a massive degree of selection bias - people tend only to post when something does go wrong.

When it all works, then it seems to be fine, but as you have discovered, when something doesn't go according to plan, then it seems like all four wheels immediately fall off of the VM wagon and there appears to be little ability for them to recover in a timely manner. It's almost as if the company consists of a set of siloed departments, none of which can talk to each other except via a series of 'Chinese whispers' conveyed by carrier pigeon, and much of the actual work is done by external contractors who have their own timescales and priorities and also can't be contacted except when the spring equinox coincides with a full moon and you can arrange for no fewer than seven psychics researchers all practised in telepathy to meet at the local stone circle. And I'm only partially exaggerating!

Currently it would seem that if you need to be connected, it either happens quite quickly, or takes months with no indication as to progress, timescale, or even, indeed, if it will ever happen at all!