Delayed installation - Provisional Installation Date clause beware!

[spine]

My installation was delayed 83 days from the initial install date (was moved 4 times).

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Managing-Your-Account-Cable/Installation-Delay-Nightmare/td-p/5...

However, I was given 8 days credit (based on the last date it was moved to) based on automatic compensation scheme.

I put my case forward to the Communication Ombudsman and they ruled in favour of Virgin media as at the time I took the order I had signed up the "install date was provisional" as indicated in the contract summary sheet which they presented.

So I'm pretty sure anyone who signs up will initially get a provisional install date (which is fair enough) but one which can be moved endlessly for whatever reason seems a bit unfair if you are tied down to contract and probably subject to cancellation admin charges - which is seems so unfair.

I do have a question though regarding the 14 day cooling off period - which I did query with the case handler - given that in the terms and conditions:

"If you wish to cancel your Virgin Media services you have FOURTEEN days from the later of:
(i) the day after the delivery of the equipment;
(ii) the service start date; or
(iii) the day you receive your contract.
By approving your order, you are also agreeing to your services starting as soon as possible"

The case handler said that the 14 day cooling off period would only begin on the day the service starts regardless.

As I received the contract on day of the order would somebody be able to clarify (for future reference - it would help to decide how to proceed if fallen foul again to ongoing delayed installations):

Would additional charges be incurred (e.g.. admin charges etc. like you get with insurance companies if you cancel within the so called 14 day cooling off period).

1. If I cancel the order before the first provisional install date if it was was more than 14 days ahead of the order date?

2. If I were to cancel the order any time if the provisional dates are moved forward?. Bearing in mind you'll get first get notified that there is a delay, then be given a install another install date each time (how will the cooling off period apply here?).

Hopefully my case may be able help others how to proceed if they are unfortunate to face the same situation I did.

Perhaps its the luck of the draw on the case handler I got - but nevertheless I am aware that the communications ombudsman are funded by the providers who'd join the scheme - I can't help but notice the similarity of the appeal process for private parking tickets ie. after disputing with the parking operator - the appeal process goes to an organisation which is funded by the same parking companies (and success rate are not too good for the motorist!) but I let you draw your own conclusions.

[gue3]

Hi Daniel_Et, Thanks for answering my post, I do appreciate this, as any help I can get on this problem is very welcome.

Is it as simple as you say, that you can just ring up a pre-installation team and they will cancel the installation before it begins?

The reason I ask is because surely in the 3 letters that I have now written to the CEO Mr Lutz Shuler, two of which remain unanswered, he would have come up with this as a suggestion. The last letter was claiming Breach of Contract, and in that I said `why don’t we just agree this has gone wrong and both learn from the experience and agree to part ways, without me having to start any court proceedings and claiming consequential losses and other damages`, and that letter remains unanswered after the period I gave for a reply, as suggested by Trading Standards, passed this last week?

Also I have had two conversations with a man from VM`s Executive Office since 1/7 and he didn’t mention that I could just ring up a number and cancel the whole thing.

BTW a team came and ran a conduit under my garden on 7/6 and said “we’ve found a problem around here and further down the road that needs us to get a dig team back. They blamed the original installation team and said something needed `fixing`. That’s surely is a `technical problem` to do with cabling and not a `permissions problem` as various people from VM are now saying? Can I just mention here I worked in the electrical industry for 40 + years and understand these terms. On many occasions since then there have been dig teams in our road especially on 3/7 when they dug up outside numbers 33 and 45, (following a call the day previously with a gentleman from the Executive Office) did some work, filled in the holes and left. This is where you are saying the problem is. But on several occasions now in talking to VM people I’m being told you need `permissions` from someone to do work. First I was told by a visiting engineer on 18/6 that “we need permission from BT to enter their ducting” and then later in phone calls with VM staff “we need permission from the local authority”. It’s either one or the other; at least they could get their story straight. That’s a different problem a `permissions` problem and not what the pre-installation guys reported underground on 7/6. They were saying the “original dig team hadn’t done the work properly”.  I am just sick and tired of all of the lies I’ve been told now since 1st June when you sent me an email boldly proclaiming `Were all moved in Steve, Our Lightning-fast broadband is now available on your street`, when it actually wasn’t then, and still isn’t to this day?

Is it definitely as simple as you say Daniel_Et that I just ring up this pre-installation number and they agree to part ways without any costs being incurred by either party?

I have made it clear in all my correspondence to VM`s CEO and to the Executive Office that I need my internet as my medical helpline, I can not now afford to wait for the 3rd installation date of 2/9, which I’m sure will again get cancelled the night before anyway. What VM have signed me up to is a `sometime-never` contract!!!!

Thank you once again Daniel_Et for your help on this, its very much appreciated. Cheers. Steve

[Steven_L]

Thanks for coming back to us gue3 and yes if you were to call our pre-install team as Daniel_Et suggested on the previous post, they would be able to cancel your installation with us. I'm not sure, why you haven't been told that by any of the other teams or agents that you have spoken to. Did you mention to them at all that you would like to cancel your installation? 

You can reach the pre-installation team on 0800 052 1734 or have you tried to reach the team since you last posted?

Kind Regards,

Steven_L

[gue3]

Good afternoon Daniel_Et

Can I ask respectfully, is this number that you gave out for cancelling with a pre-installation team genuine or something else? On 3/6 I fell for your salesman’s `spiel` and signed up for a `sometime-never` contract that you can’t get connected and I can’t get out of?

I did as you suggested in your post on this thread and on 14/8, I rang 0800 052 1734 which you said was the `pre-installation team`. whom you rang to cancel, before the equipment was installed. From the 4 options given on your phone system I selected option 2 for the pre-installation team. The guy I spoke to said “can you hold on a moment while I check something” and of course I said “yes”. He eventually came back checked my email address and then said “he’d have to send an email through to his boss” (?) and that “he’d come back to me in the next 24 – 48 hours”. I then told him that I wouldn’t be available “from Friday 16/8 for 8 days”, so he then said “OK I’ll ring you back tomorrow what time are you available”. I said that I “was in all day” but he said “OK I will ring you back at 12.15pm tomorrow”, (that’s the 15/8).

15/8, 12.15pm came and went with no call back of course! I left it until 15.57pm today (15/8) and then rang 0800 052 1734 back for a second time, and chose option 2 again. This time I spoke to a different gentleman, I explained I’d called in the day before and that the agent I spoke to was “going to ring me back today 12 12.15pm”, but now at nearly 16.00pm I had not received any call. This man apologised for this and asked “could you hold on while I check something please”, I of course said “yes”. When he came back he said “you were told yesterday that someone would ring you back within 24 – 48 hours”, but I explained again that “when I had spoken to the other agent on 14/8 I had explained I wouldn’t be available from 16/8 for 8 days and he had then “promised to ring me back today (15/8) at 12.15pm”, but hadn’t! This guy then said “I would just have to wait 24 – 48 hours for a call back!

Since 1st June, in all the VM agents and engineers I have spoken to since then, in total, 6 of them have `promised` to ring me back, and then haven’t.

Just how do you leave Virgin Media?

Kind regards

Steve

[jpeg1]

This 'provisional' business needs to go before OFCOM, because it entirely invalidates the compensation agreement for delayed installations. 

No doubt someone within VM has been congratulated on this nasty trick to avoid paying what they should to customers who have been severely inconvenienced. 

It tells you all you need to know about VM's attitude to their customers.