Can I report Virgin Media to Trading Standards?

[Julie-Allen]

I feel so let down by Virgin Media ….. I decided to move my Broadband to them when I moved house.  All seemed to go really well, the lady who came to do the inside installation was excellent but then the contractors came to do the outside bit!!  They said they needed to run a cable from the pavement to my house so I agreed and left them to it (Mistake No. 1).  A couple of days later I almost broke my neck tripping over the cable …. They did not run it along the side wall as would be the sensible place but instead laid it in a straight line and just scrapped the gravel over the top to hide it!!  

I rang them to complain and they told me it would cost me £25 to re-lay it …. I said why should I pay for something Virgin have done wrong?  Then they agreed but said if I wasn’t in when the engineer came, they would charge me.  So I stayed in for 5 hours …..no one came …..after 2 hours on the phone to them, getting cut off once, I was told “something had come up so they couldn’t make it”!  Rearranged for another date, waited 5 hours again, no one came so I phoned yet again to be told it was booked for the afternoon not morning!!  The engineer eventually turned up and said “don’t know why they’ve sent me to this job because I only do indoor jobs. He looked at the cable problem outside and he couldn’t believe what a bad job they had done.  He told me it’s the contractors that Virgin use.  Tried for another 2 hours to get through but gave up as I had to go away for a Wedding.  Back now but can’t face another 2 hours on the phone!!  Any advice very welcome please.

[goslow]

VM routinely uses sub-contractors for cable installations. Standards of workmanship are often low in the topics which are presented on here. The installations shown are often carried out in the quickest/cheapest/easiest ways possible.

Usual suggestion on here is to post up some photos of the issue (showing what is wrong and what you want doing about it). This might help the VM forum team refer the issue on when they get to your topic. You should not have to pay anything to fix a bodged cable installation.

If you are still within your 14 day cooling off period, the nuclear option is to phone in and tell VM you are cancelling the service due to the poor workmanship and low quality of installation. That can sometimes focus VM's attention.

You are less likely to get a VM forum team reply here in 'Community Natter'. A moderator or VIP might move your topic to a forum where VM staff do reply, such as 'Quick Start'.

[Matthew_ML]

Hey Julie-Allen, thank you for reaching out and I am so sorry to hear this, also a warm welcome to the community.

We do use sub contractors who deal with the first stage, there wouldn't be a charge for this.

We have to send the tech T&C's out but if this was done wrong we wouldn't charge you to get it re-done.

These are the T&C's;

Most engineers’ visits are free of charge, in the below instances there would be a charge of £25:

•    The customer is not present for the engineers visit (aka a missed appointment).

•    The fault is due to customer's own equipment.

•    The fault is due to damage caused by someone at the customer's premises which we were not aware of.

•    The fault is due to theft, loss, or removal of equipment. 

I will send you a DM to see what is happeing.