Engineer damaged my property

[Mary14005]

 

I had the engineers round on saturday to install my wifi but theyve accidently drilled through my toilet pipe that runs on the outside of the house from the upstairs toilet down to the sewers. Can i please get someone to fix this as the toilet is used by

my diabetic parents during the night .

[goslow · Accepted solution]

VM's track record on repairs, caused by damage during installation, is not very good in the topics on here. Lots of effort on behalf of the customer to resolve, very little action from VM as far as any repairing goes.

Here is a typical recent example of a topic on here about a simple repair to a damaged paving slab

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/QuickStart-set-up-and/Unexpected-visit-of-cable-installer-who-d...

Issue raised at the end of July, still going and unresolved in early November.

Your photo looks like a cast iron pipe which is probably not going to be that easy to repair/replace. My guess would be you'll need a temporary fix by way of a patch or bandage repair of some kind to begin with while you work out how to make a long term repair.

If that is the VM cable in the background of the photo, they could also remedy that big brick blow-out at the same time!

[jpeg1]

As goslow said, Virginmedia tend to take little or no responsibity for something like this, and they leave you to do all the work. Legally they are entirely responsible for the damage, but getting them to face up to it is the problem.

The usual response is for one of the forum staff to come here and offer to take your details, but don't expect to hear anything back very soon or at all. 

In the meantime, you'll need to get a suitable adhesive roofing strip from a DIY store, that you can wrap round the pipe to make a temporary repair. Then I'd suggest you get one or more quotations from builders for making a permanent repair, and submit them to VM's head office, saying that a Small Claims action will follow if they don't pay promptly.

Edit to add:  It's likely that parts of the broken pipe may have fallen down inside, which could potentially cause a blockage. It will be necessary to investigate the sewer pipe down below for any parts of the cast iron. 

[WorstISP]

Hi Mary, I think you'd be better calling citizens advice: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/somethings-gone-wrong-with-a-purchase/claim-compensation-...

Bottom line here is that you may choose to take a civil case against Virgin for damaging your property. Absolutely make a formal complaint to Virgin by sending a registered letter to "Virgin Media, Sunderland, SR43 4AA"

A complaint should just state a log of what happened, and how you want them to fix it. Keep it factual and neutral. Remember to keep a record of it yourself, and it has to be a registered letter so you have proof they receiced it.

Their webform is "unreliable" and doesn't send you a copy of the complaint FYI. Hence why I advise the letter.

It's important to get the formal complaint in as early as possible. Forums & web-chats are not complaints, that's why they prefer those to emails and letters that can be titled "Complaint" (complaint has a legal definition and significance).

For a legal dispute like this I wouldn't waste time on the forum where Virgin can claim you didn't follow their complaints procedures so they didn't have to do anything.

[Matthew_ML]

Hey Mary14005, thank you for reaching out and a warm welcome to the community I am so sorry to hear about this.

I am going to send you an PM so we can look into this for you.