Delayed broadband installation

[wtfisgoingon]

I just had to sign up to the forums and ask wth is going on with these delayed installation and activations? We booked it in June for August installation as we were moving house and they keep moving the installation date. Is there any way of cancelling without having to pay?

We like virgin as our broadband provider but this has been absolutely poor.

[goslow]

Try reading through this topic which is fairly representative of the many non-installation topics on here.

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/QuickStart-set-up-and/Delayed-installation/td-p/5279059

or

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/QuickStart-set-up-and/Waiting-2-months-for-installation/td-p/53...

There are plenty of others to choose from which will give you an idea of how things are likely to play out.

You should be eligible for compensation for the delayed activation of your new connection.

[QE2]

Of course, yes you can cancel at any time before installation, the contract doesn’t start until you are connected up, so certainly you won’t be paying out if you cancel now.

As ‘goslow’ says below, even if you do cancel, you are still entitled to compensation from VM for the inconvenience, you may well have a slight fight to get it, but technically….

Your first step is to check out alternative suppliers, what can they offer, do their deals sound reasonable, what lead-times are they offering?

[goslow]

Is the 'without having to pay' bit because the OP is in a minimum term and has transferred their VM service when moving house? They shouldn't be paying anything for a new install until the service is activated.

More info needed.

[wtfisgoingon]

So CS opted to close our old account on the old house and created a new account for the new house we've moved in.

The last update we had was that some external work had been done and the person who did the job confirmed that it was finished. The engineer was due to come on 08/09 this coming Friday but I had just received a text saying it had been pushed back again on the 23rd!

What is odd is that the house previously already had VM as a provider (on the front of the house there's a vm plastic brown cover for the wire/module). We've not had broadband for 2 months now and all I need is VM to get their act together and get this sorted.

[QE2]

---

@goslow wrote:

Is the 'without having to pay' bit because the OP is in a minimum term and has transferred their VM service when moving house? They shouldn't be paying anything for a new install until the service is activated.

More info needed.

---

That’s true, it’s not clear if they are an existing customer moving their connection or a new customer. Of course, if the former, then theoretically, they now have a ‘complete loss of service’ and the compensation for that is a little under £10 per day, say, £260 a month. Now I believe that if an outage extends past 30 days, the customer has the right to terminate without penalty (yes I know, VM will deny this, claim back is white and it’ll end up at the Ombudsman Service, which VM will absolutely lose and fork out even more money in compensation, but still)!

[goslow]

Could be a lot of different explanations for the delay, one of which is a non-communication issue with those doing the outside work and those installing the equipment inside (even more likely if the external installation is via an external contractor).

Wait for the VM forum team to advise when they reply here. They may offer to try to help or may 'signpost' you to try elsewhere or offer to make a complaint for you.

The number for installations is 0800 052 1734 but most reports on here suggest those answering the phones have no knowledge/understanding of any particular installation and are doing nothing more than reading the next date/time for work that pops up on their screen

In the meantime keep detailed notes as you go along, in a timeline, of all comm's with VM (dates, times, visits, missed visits etc.) to ensure you get the correct compensation when you are connected.

https://www.virginmedia.com/help/billing-and-payments/automatic-compensation

[wtfisgoingon]

Thank you for the advice goslow. Much appreciated.

The external work of the connection from the phone box to the front of the house is done. The next external work is from the front of the house going inside. You are correct on the non-communication as VM don't seem to be communicating updates with their external contractors to the customer.

[wtfisgoingon]

Here's a quick timeline so far:

Booked the installation on Aug. 3

They missed the first internal appointment and moved it on Aug 19.

Missed again on the 19th and moved to 24th.

Missed again on the 24th and moved to Sept 8.

Missed again on the Sept. 8 and moved to Sept 20.

My question is how much is the compensation going to cost in terms of credit in case we decide to stay with them and the installation actually is completed?

[goslow]

Not sure what you are asking when you say 'how much is the compensation going to cost in terms of credit'.

Do you mean how much credit will you receive because of the delay?