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Construction Delays

dancingshoes_04
Tuning in

Hi,

I've messaged on here before. Hopefully someone can assist from here.

We ordered 1GB Fibre before Xmas and we were given an installation date of 21st January. I received a Text advising of the additional external work that was required.

The engineers arrived to perform the external works and advised me that when they tried to run the cable, that the trunking was blocked and the cable could not be run, They advised that the construction team would need to come out. 

I heard nothing until the 20th January (The Day before the equipment install) where the Keir van arrived again. Looked at the front of the drive, and then 5 minutes later, drove away.

I phoned Various numbers and eventually got through to the "pre install team" who advised that our install would still be happening the next day and then they would tell me what was needed next. I then took a phone call from Virgin Media about an hour later (around 19:00) advising that my local council were not permitting the works to take place outside the house until the 3rd Feb and that our install would be rescheduled to the 9th Feb. 

On the 27th Jan a flat back truck arrived outside the house, my Husband went and spoke to them and they advised they were there to dig up the problem area of pavement and pull the cable (YAY!) We thought we were getting somewhere. 

I then returned home from walking my dog and spoke to the workmen who advised me that there seemed to be a bigger problem that was likely caused by BT. They informed me that a trench would need to be dug to resolve this and they would flag this to their manager. I did ask about a time frame for this and was advised that they have known it as quickly as 2 weeks but sometimes up to 6 Months!!

I sent an email to Virginmedia.construction@virginmedia.co.uk asking for some information about when this may occur. I received a reply suggesting that there was a blockage outside the house and a permit was required to dig up the pavement. It also said that this could take 6-8 weeks.

I emailed again to make sure that this process was underway and was advised that the contract partners were now speaking with the Council to get a permit in place.

I then, a couple of weeks later took a phone call from Virgin Media Construction telling me that this was all booked in for the 3rd March (HOORAY).

My Husband has been checking the one.network site regularly for updates and saw nothing on there for works at our address. On the Friday before the date I was given, I called the construction team again and was advised that according to our account, we were booked in from the 1st - 3rd March. I finally thought I was winning. I did advise that there was nothing on the One.Network site showing any works at our address but was ensured that this was booked in.

The 1st,2nd and 3rd of March all passed without any contact or sign of any workmen so another call was placed to the Construction team at around 15:00 on the Wednesday. I was told then that the (Construction) had been informed at 14:30 (!) that they were delayed on a job and had to postpone our works. As you can imagine, I was annoyed and upset at that as surely, being the customer and having to wait so long, a call should have been made as a courtesy. I was then informed that this would have to be re-applied for which will cause another delay. I have to say, that for a Communications company, the Communications are awful.

My husband has kept checking the one.network site and amazingly, a phone Icon appeared outside our address and clicking on it, suggested that some works were planned from 9th-11th March. I decided to call them on Monday this week (8th) to confirm this and was told that we were booked in for the next day. We had been given a 3 day window in case of any delays. Nobody arrived on Tuesday (Yesterday), which we thought was OK. I've since looked at the One.network again and the status on the works is now cancelled!!. The icon for the works to be done has gone which is a bit of a shock.

I again phoned the Construction Team today who advised me that as far as they were concerned we were still booked in and this work can still happen up until Thursday 11th @ 18:00. I was getting a bit frustrated at this point and the person on the phone said that they would contact the contractor and get back to me. I'm still waiting.

It seems to me that a permit for the 3rd March was never requested and for some reason either the contractor has cancelled the work or the council has rejected it.

All I want to know is when this work is likely to take place and why it keeps being delayed. 

I wanted to go for the quickest broadband I could as I have 2 Gaming, You Tube mad Children and a husband working from home who is constantly on Video Conferences. The reason I am sticking with this is that the previous internet here (It is my late Grandfathers house) only seemed to get to about 20MB maximum and really struggled.

Apologies for the long post but as you can imagine, being without good, stable internet for getting of for 3 months and not being able to find out much info is getting frustrating. It is even more frustrating that I have to keep doing the chasing and do not seem to be getting any contact from VM at all.

Thanks

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions

Steven_L
Forum Team
Forum Team

Thanks for confirming your details and joining me in a private message.

 

I have raised your complaint to the installs team who will be in touch soon. You can find all the information that you need about your complaint on your online account and clicking My Account and Track your complaint.

 

Regards

Steven_L

 

See where this Helpful Answer was posted

17 REPLIES 17

ikeyani
Tuning in

Sorry to hear what your are going through, but im in the same boat.

so I’ve given up and my advice will be to go with someone else. virgin media at the moment has hardly any staff and struggling to cope with their workload . Most of them have been furloughed. They keep comping up with excuses and full of lies! 

Steven_L
Forum Team
Forum Team

Hey @dancingshoes_04,

 

Thanks for posting on our forums and I'm really sorry to hear of the issues and experience that you've had with the entire install process. That is far from the service any of our customers should be having from us and I apologise for that.

 

I have been able to locate your account and can see that you have spoken to the team since you last posted and they have informed you that your install will take place in April.

 

Would you like to raise a complaint about this whole process and experience?

 

Regards

Steven_L 

Hi @Steven_L,

Thanks for getting in touch.

It has been very frustrating as you can imagine.

The main issue here seems to be a lack of communication. Every step of the way, I have had to be making phone calls. I understand that Virgin Media can only give information once they receive it from the Contractor, but it seems that even then it's not forthcoming.

I do have an issue with the Contractors that Virgin Media use however. When I spoke with someone last week they advised that this was now going to happen in April, they explained the situation to me.

Apparently the Road we live in is covered under a Section 58 of the Highways Act as the pavement was recently re-laid.

My main issue is that I was informed that a permit had been issued for works to take place on the 3rd March. It is now obvious to me that this was a Lie, and this application was never made. If a permit had been applied for, it would have been rejected and there would not have been plans for this to take place last week. The 30 Days notice that is required for a section 58 would have been set in motion earlier and we would be another week into the process. It looks as if the contractor did not apply for that original permit. When I spoke with VM and was advised that they were "stuck on another job", it seems to me that this is either the Contractor lying to Virgin Media or Virgin Media lying to me. Either way I don't think that this is a very good advert for VM or for the Contractors the company has decided to do business with.

If you feel that a complaint would possibly stop this from happening to others, then yes I would like to.

Regards

dancingshoes_04

Thanks for your reply @dancingshoes_04.

 

I'm going to send over a private message to you now, so that we can pass account security and get the complaint raised for you.

 

Please look out for my private message and we can get started.

 

Regards

Steven_L

Steven_L
Forum Team
Forum Team

Thanks for confirming your details and joining me in a private message.

 

I have raised your complaint to the installs team who will be in touch soon. You can find all the information that you need about your complaint on your online account and clicking My Account and Track your complaint.

 

Regards

Steven_L

 

DontUseVurgin
Tuning in
What happened in the end here?

Hi DontUseVurgin,

 

 

It would have been taken into a private chat ro be resolved. Do you need help with anything?

 

Cheers,

Corey C

Yes Corey . U can help me please .I have been calling virgin everyday but I’m getting no answers. it is really frustrating.

I was suppose  to be having virgin installed on the 6th of March only to be called a day before and told that it has been rescheduled to the 30th of March.

I had to cancel sky and Adt alarm systems which was booked for the following day and because of this I haven’t even moved in to my new property

I was told that due to the property not being ready they couldn’t install and needed to do some prepulling or something. 

I called on Monday 16th of March and they said they were carrying out work outside my property. As I haven’t moved in I’m not sure if they are telling the truth. But they said call the next day and we will let u know if the work has been completed and will be able to move your installation date forward

i didn’t call the following day coz by now I know how bad the service is and that I should give them at least a day to gather all the information. Called them today and as always they had no idea what’s going on , they were asking me if they had visited my property!!


my main concern at this stage is they will call on the 29th of March and say sorry we have to cancel as they property is not ready externally and reschedule in another months time ! 

can someone please tell me if i will get broadband on the 30th of March. As I’ve spent at least several hours of  the phone and been writing emails with no joy.

I must say it has been the most horrendous experience I’ve ever with any company.

 

 

Hi ikeyani,

 

Sorry to hear this. It does look like my colleague Paulina has already replied to your other post. But I have looked at your works orders and the dates are confirmed for the 30th as you have stated. You can also track your appointments online if you need, right here: https://www.virginmedia.com/help/virgin-media-manage-engineer-appointment

 

Hope this helped,

Corey C