External Work to new property

[reecejones100]

Hi, I have been with virgin at my previous property and was told I can take my virgin with me to my new property. On 18th September I was expecting virgin to be up and running when the engineer came. However there needed to be digging done outside the property and wayleave form needed to be signed by my neighbour which had been done relatively quickly. Unfortunately there was still a problem and seemed to be a blockage in the way and was told further digging would need to be done in order to connect us up. Frustratingly another wayleave form had to be signed by my neighbour again and have had another team from Avonline networks (contractor) come out to look at the problem but couldn’t do anything as they weren’t there to do any digging. So since the 18th September I have been left without any tv, internet or landline and I had to fight with virgin to get an internet dongle. Whenever I call virgin they don’t seem to know anything and the lack of communication is awful! Has anybody experienced anything like this, I just don’t know what else I can do.. giving up hope to say the least! 

[goslow]

Sadly, your story is repeated regularly on here.

VM will happily keep you waiting until it gets around to finally installing or it decides to cancel your installation.

You should be eligible for compensation for the delay

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

You should start keeping a detailed record of events (dates, times of all calls, messages, texts etc. along with any missed appointments and failed appointments where someone turns up but no work was carried out). Keep the record in a timeline format with links from the timeline to each piece of recorded evidence. This will make it easy for you in the future to put forward a case to arbitration for the correct compensation, should that be necessary.

You may be in for an even longer wait or your installation may happen very soon. Unfortunately you won't get any sensible answers you can rely on from VM due to the way their outsourcing and sub-contracting of the installation work has been set up.

[reecejones100]

Hi thank you so much for your reply. I have been told I can receive compensation each day until this is sorted. Believe it or not Avonline came out again today which is the third time and unfortunately wasn’t there to do any digging! So how many times do I keep telling them what needs to be done?! Now virgin today have cancelled my engineer appointment for Saturday and have now said they expect my services to be up and running on the 27th December! This was meant to be installed on the 18th September… we as a family just can’t wait any longer and I don’t prepare to allow my family with no proper internet or tv over Christmas. I am actually appalled by the level of poor customer service everytime I ring to find out what’s going on… I’m thinking they don’t want to do the digging maybe it’s too much? Having such a stressful and bad experience 

[goslow]

Read this topic from yesterday which may help with further information

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/QuickStart-set-up-and/Making-a-complaint/m-p/5428878#M238770

If VM is actually telling you now that you are unlikely to be installed until December then you should probably start making some backup plans. Normally they just keep bumping dates into the future in 3 week increments ad infinitum.

In so many of these topics, the issue is likely to revolve around cost, depending on the nature of the work that needs to be done and how much digging is involved.

VM and its sub-contractor will quite happily just keep you waiting until they decide what to do and how to proceed. In some past cases on here (with many months of waiting and even some work in progress) VM has just given up on the job and cancelled the customer's installation.

Nothing to say that will happen in your case nor how long you will actually have to wait but you won't get any sensible or truly reliable answers from VM or its sub-contractors, so keep that in mind while planning any next-steps.

[David_Bn]

Thanks for your post on our Community Forums @reecejones100, and a very warm welcome to you!

I'm terribly sorry to hear of the issues encountered when trying to have our services installed at your new property.

I'd be happy to look into this for you, to see if I can provide any updates and/or potentially have the services installed on a sooner date.

Check out the envelope in the top right hand corner for a private message from me.

Thanks,

David_Bn

[reecejones100]

Hi David,

Thank you, I have just replied to your message. 

[reecejones100]

Thank you for your reply. So I’ve had a few responses from David from virgin media who got in contact with me from this forum which was appreciated. However it did really feel like I was back on the phone to virgin media at the beginning trying to answer all the security questions messaging back and forth numerous times. However once that was done he did try and look into the root cause and I am very disappointed to be told by him it could be even longer than December and that maybe my best option would be to cancel my virgin media account. After reading all of this I really now don’t think they want to do the install and have my service. On the good side of all this I was told that permits could be the issue holding everything up. That being I got onto my local council and asked what’s happening and the lovely bloke told me he hadn’t heard anything and they are taking a very long time to contact so he will contact Avonline and virgin himself. And guess what Avonline got back to him and said they will be doing the digging to clear the blockage on Wednesday 8th next week so fingers crossed! Could be done a lot sooner if all goes smoothly! I will update all once is completed and if it does. Thank you again 

[goslow]

The 'council permits' excuse is the go-to line VM uses as a catch-all explanation whenever there is a delay.

If you track back through similar topics on here, you will find many savvy customers, such as yourself, make contact with the council directly to find out what is happening. Overwhelmingly councils report that any permits were issued promptly, or had never been requested, or were issued and lapsed because the work was never carried out in the time window of the permit.

So the 'council permit' excuse actually means lack of coordination on VM's/the sub-contractor's part in mobilising the resources in time and/or arguing about the costs and/or identifying what work actually needs to be done and executing it.

Hopefully your work goes through on 8 Nov but you should be keeping a detailed record of events right back to the beginning of your 'customer journey' (dates, times of all calls, messages, texts etc. along with any missed appointments and failed appointments where someone turns up but no work was carried out). Keep the record in a timeline format with links from the timeline to each piece of recorded evidence. This will make it easy for you in the future to put forward a case to arbitration for the correct compensation, should that be necessary.

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

[reecejones100]

Hi there all, just thought I would update you all on how this is going. So the work was carried out on the 8th of November and unfortunately could not reach to the problem. So after many conversations with the guys that was doing the work (Avonline contractor) they advised that we have our own channel to dig to our property and that would need a digger. So back to square one and I have been told the budget has been accepted and now just waiting for it to be done which I am told virgin should be up and running on 27th January… we shall see. I have contact the local council and guess what they haven’t heard anything from virgin yet and also Avonline has not heard anything as I got the council to contact them. I just don’t know where I stand anymore it just seems like I’m stuck and nothing is moving..

[John_GS]

Hi @reecejones100 

Thanks for coming back to the thread, apologies it's delayed further but it's good to hear the construction works have been accepted to go ahead. 

Best wishes.