Delays with installation?

[Daveytn]

Hi guys. 

So just took out a 350 package, went with vrigin as they are the only ones to offer FTTP whereas everyone else is FTTC so I'm limited to 76Mbps via the phone line. 

They have put my installation on hold now, and won't give me a date. They say it's to do with having a shared drive (fine, but no digging is needed), and they also say they are awaiting permission from the council (for what?)

Its my own house, I have a shared access driveway yes, but the infrastructure is already present as both my neighbors have virgin media installed (see photo - I've marked my neighbors houses and the subsequent virgin media installation(s). 

All they need to do is run a new cable from the box in the ground outside my drive to my house in the existing infrastructure that supplies my neighbors. What are they talking about going on about permission etc?! They are currently saying 6-8 weeks!!

[Daveytn]

So after proving myself to VM that wayleave was not needed, the wayleave team released my property as "buildable" meaning they have authorised a civil construction team to come and do the work needed. 

So I contact VM to make a complaint ofna lifetime, primarily wasting 35 days of my life for no reason, plus the extra delays to date. 

Next day, a guy from VM came to visit me called Nathan, said he was an Auditor and that the regional manager had requested he come down and 'resolve things'. 

He asks for a run down, I tell him, he said he wanted to rod the ducting himself. He pulled out a bit of kit that I can only describe as a drain CCTV kit (but no camera) so essentially a really beefy rodding kit. 

He gets rodding and finds the blockage, and actually manages to push it a few feet further forward but couldn't do it any further.

Anyway, get this: he said he saw the suggestion I emailed to the wayleave team about running a new section of ducting though from my neighbours duct (around 3 feet of new duct) and said it was a brilliant idea. Bear in mind, when I spoke to the construction team they said there's no way that was possible, absolutely denied any possibility of it, and said I would have signal issues (obvious **bleep**). 

So this Auditor said it was a brilliant idea, got some forms form his van and went next door and obtained wayleave there and then to dig into their ducting and run a new section teeing off to my property. Done and dusted. 

He said that now wayleave is obtained, they could even just pull a cable through their ducting and run the cable to where my junction box would be. 

Litterally wondering what is wrong with the people at VM, if I've had to to my own research, prove wayleave wasn't needed (for my drives blockage) and even suggested new routing options etc.

Moving on, they gave me a date of 30th of may - imagine that. I wanted at the construction team saying there is no way I'm waiting that long, and given my recent waste of time, putting me at the top of the list would not be an unreasonable expectation to which they agreed. 

Yesterday I noticed I have two dates, one the 30th of may (installation which I assume they can/will change when construction is done) and one for 'broadband' which is for tomorrow (21/03/22). I'm assuming they are coming to do some construction, but which? Digging up the drive or between me and next door? Again, no communication whatsoever!

So as it stands, since the promised initial 19th of January 2022 installation date I am owed a grand total of £307.44 under the automatic compensation scheme. 

 Imagine after all this, when I made a complaint they had to cheek to say 'we have already issued £50 credit' as if that makes up for 3 months of utter undue stress. 

[Anonymous]

No matter how much rodding Nathan will not be able to clear all of the BS VM have thrown your way to date. Keep us all updated and let's hope tomorrow is the end of it for you ( or, dread I say it, just the beginning). Let's see if you migrate to the Networking and WiFi board next. 

[Daveytn]

So another up date, you might be surprised here....

I still do not have an installation!!!!

According to the construction desk, in early March they "weren't supposed" to push Kier (who VM contracts to carry out construction) as the contract between the two was being ended on 31/03/22 due to, and I'll quote "Kier have not been doing a great job" and when I finally spoke to someone actually helpful, they said they could not understand half of the conflicting information/notes on my account. It took them a good 10 minutes to decipher any actual relevant and factual information regarding what I was waiting for. The girl said she was writing an email to Kier there and then to have my account pushed up as a high priority on Kiers list (supposedly, Kier had a list of x amount of jobs thery had to do before the 31st of March). 

Anyway, it becomes April so im on the phone to the construction desk again and in response to me asking "hey, what's going on now?" they are saying things such as "You're not the only person affected by this" and "This issue does not affect one sole customer".



Me knowing about the change between Kier and The John Henry Group was just because of how helpful the previous agent was trying to be, actually informing me of what and why I am facing delays. Ironically, I never mentioned the change, I just asked what am I waiting for now. This changeover. IF this is an issue, this is an issue for VM and not me - I have been waiting since February, in my mind my construction is happening asap regardless of who does it, I just want an ECD! 

Spoke with the construction team on Friday 1st of April, asking why my driveway has still not been dug up... the guy says nothing will happen until Monday and that it had only been escalated as a priority to JHG on the 31st. This agent assured me I would have a call from one of them in that department regarding an update. Monday comes, no call.

Tuesday I speak to the same agent, and said so you never bothered to call me then, and he says how it takes upto 36 hours for the partner to reply to them - and like i said, at that point it had been something like 96 hours, not my fault if they don't work weekends! 

Anyway, I speak to the construction desk again and I asked to speak to whoever is in charge of them, a manager etc, this guy says how the management have now left (to be fair this was about 5 to 4). He assures me he will leave a note on his managers desk (even name dropped the Manager as June!) and said she would ring me within 48 hours, its now day 3. 

I am sick to the back teeth of this construction desk lying, saying anything to get me to be quiet. I am tired of chasing virgin media to carry out a simple job. I am extremely **bleep**ed off with how I have had to EVERY SINGLE OCCASION RING THEM, they have never once contacted me, ever, in the 4 months I have now been waiting. 

I made an initial complaint in January as they kept putting my installation on hold, which I found out from their generic email. No info other than "on hold". 16/01/22 I made a complaint, they have never contacted me about it. Speaking to someone at the construction desk, they mentioned the area manager was being CC'd in all these emails and whatever, well, they've never once **bleep** bothered to actually talk to me. 

As a whole, at this time, I have to say my experience of Virgin Media has made me think the company as a whole could not care less. I have never had to fight so hard to be heard about something they should be dealing with anyway. Never have I been contacted and offered any apology or information at all, no effort to keep my happy what so ever. 

There's a local company fairly new doing fibre installations called YouFibre and they are relentlessly fighting for my custom. I spoke to a guy from there, gave him the low down and he was shocked I am even still letting Virgin Media keep me waiting. At this point, given all the discounts they are offering me, if VM doesn't make me a reasonable offer to keep my happy ill be letting them do the construction and telling them to **bleep** off. 

I literally cannot cope with the **bleep** they reel me every time I ask for an update. Its sad really, in the construction desk there is two individuals who have bent over backwards to find out whats going on... but still nothing has actually happened. 

Anyone from VM reading this actually want to help me out here? 

[Anonymous]

It doesn't sound like the installation is going to happen does it? There is not much the VM forum team can do except apologise and email the area manager but they seem to be even more subterranean than everyone mentioned above. I'd begin to seriously look elsewhere. Perhaps consider 4/5 G modem services too. 

[Kath_F]

Hi Daveytn, 

Thanks for coming back to us and providing an update on things. 

I am sorry to hear that things still aren't progressing very much. Other than raising the complaint and assigning over to the relevant team, there isn't much else we can do from here. Having a complaint raised doesn't expedite things either, it just allows us to track things. 

As hard as it is to believe, the teams will be doing all they can to get things moving but there are timescales we have to allow the contractors too so sometimes this drags things out too. 

Hopefully things will be sorted for you soon. 

As always please keep us posted on how things go. 

Thanks, 

[Daveytn]

So im back with another update. 

Still no actual help or contact from Virgin Media, but lets be fair this is not news.

Guy on the phone at the construction desk said last week that the 20th of April was the day "the partner has given us" - the "partner" being the chosen/contracted contractor for the area. 

Did not really believe a word he said, since this particular guy has lied to me before, so I gave the actual construction company a ring and you wouldn't believe how helpful they were. Passed me immediately to someone who dealt with the virgin media planning, was able to confirm that actually they had not given a date and that the 20th of April was very unlikely. 

Had a good chat with this bloke, and mentioned how long Virgin Media had kept me waiting, and now i find myself amongst a list of other Virgin Media customers waiting for installations due to construction (not as long as me, of course) and I said to the guy how obviously i appreciate that to him I am just one drop in the ocean of Virgin Media customers who have been left by Kier and thrown over to this new company, but after explaining he was more than willing to do anything he could for me and pushed me right up the list and making sure that he would contact me by the next day since ive been left so much in the dark. 

Had an email that evening from his receptionist saying a permit has been approved for the work to happen on the 20th, and that normally they (the civil contractors) do not communicate with Virgin Media customers as Virgin Media is the client in this situation, but said on this very unusual occasion they are more than happy to keep me in the loop. 

It's amazing what happens when a company gets it right, shame Virgin Media can't learn from this. 

So to recap, can't even remember when I posted this threat initially but its now April 18th 2022 and my installation was originally booked for January 19th 2022. 

I literally can't understand why they have never ever contacted me about any of this at any point? 

My original complaint broke 8 weeks so I got another generic email from Virgin Media saying I can refer it to CISAS for an independent review. It's been so long, CISAS have got back to me saying Virgin Media has 10 days to respond (this was 5 days ago). Be interesting to see what happens when they dont bother to respond!! 

[Anonymous]

According to CISAS data VM will often seek to settle. 

[EPicLURcher]

Do you have a number for the construction desk? Ive been waiting 3 months and need to call them!

[Andrew-G]

@Daveytn CISAS have got back to me saying Virgin Media has 10 days to respond (this was 5 days ago). Be interesting to see what happens when they dont bother to respond!! 

CISAS operate a quasi-judicial process, so nominally they should find in your favour if VM don't reply.  @Anonymous is quite correct that VM may admit fault and settle before a full adjudication because that reduces the amount they have to pay CISAS if you accept VM's last ditch resolution offer, but then the question is what outcome you get.  If you were only ever after compensation, that can be sorted - and you don't have to accept VM's offer if you think the facts will persuade the adjudicator that you should get more than VM are offering.  I'd hazard a guess that VM rarely offer more than the adjudicator would award, so perhaps worth rejecting.  If you get something you're not happy with after the adjudication, then that's more a case of hard luck - you could take VM to court, but in all honesty most people are better off accepting the CISAS outcome and chalking any unmet demands up to experience.

Of course, if you're still unconnected and want that sorted, it's more difficult, because CISAS can't really intervene at an operational level to force VM to connect you.  Sometimes CISAS may provoke action on new connections, but it seems VM are so disorganised that even when they need and want to they can't get such a result themselves. 

[Daveytn]

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@EPicLURcher wrote:

Do you have a number for the construction desk? Ive been waiting 3 months and need to call them!

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Phone number for the construction desk is: 03330005925 (assuming its driveway/property related, you want option 2 when it asks)

You can chat to them through live chat, from this page: Cable digging and Construction | Virgin Media