Fibre connection delayed by over 10 weeks, constantly lied to by Virgin support, no response to complaint

[JontyH]

Hi all - apologies if I sound frustrated, I'll do my best to keep this objective. Any help would be incredibly appreciated, this is causing huge amounts of stress and anxiety.

Essentially, we moved house and signed up for Virgin fibre in late-June. Since then, it has not been fully installed (we have the router and cabling to the inside of the house, but the connections box or whatever it is is at capacity, so is waiting for upgrades for our connection to be complete). This is the timeline since that point:

June 29: Signed up for Virgin M200 Fibre Broadband

Jul 3: Engineer visits, brown box on the outside of the house, pulls the cable and connects to router. Says the junction box is at capacity, needs a upgrade, and this should occur on Monday July 19th.

Jul 19: Nothing happens. Call in to query, told it will be installed in the next 24 hours.

Jul 20-23: Still nothing, every phone call we are told it is imminent. 

Jul 23: Submit complaint regarding missed appointment, failed provision of services, and consistent mistruths from support teams.

From Jul 23 to now, in mid-September, we have done everything possible to get some kind of resolution. This includes:

- Phoning up, genuinely at least 20 times, only to be told (lied to) that it would be installed in the next day or two. Obvious lies, presumably to keep us from cancelling or kick the can down the road, despicable. A few times, we were told 'the construction team needs to upgrade the network in your area but doesn't have a timescale for this work'. Three times, we were also told we would recieve an email from the area manager about our case - surprise surprise, radio silence.

- Live chat, which was just as useless and untruthful as the phone support.

- Twitter, which directed me to the phone support.

It is now 2.5 months since our initial installation date, and 8 weeks to the day since our complaint - does this mean we should recieve (or request?) a deadlock letter for compensation?

If we hadn't been constantly lied to by support, and told directly that installation was imminent, we would have cancelled and moved to a competent provider weeks ago. Instead, we've been strung along for weeks with no internet but a dodgy 4G hotspot, and as of two days ago when I phoned up, we have been told there is no timeframe for the network upgrades to take place.

Throughout this entire time, there has been not a single piece of communication from Virgin, not even an automated phone call, text or email, let alone someone actually reaching out.

Absolute joke, from the support team who bare-faced lie every time, to the construction team who after two and a half months still can't work out how to upgrade a connection box, to the initial sign-up which surely shouldn't let new connections apply if the network doesn't have capacity?

Maybe, I really hope, I'll get some help on this forum. Otherwise, anyone got any tips for the compensation process? Given the hours spent on the phone, the constant lies from support, the huge stress and anxiety, not to mention impact on work performance due to prevention of home working during a pandemic...

Please help!

[goslow]

A sorry story but, sadly, one which is repeated over and over again on the forums in recent times.

If there was not adequate capacity to connect you to the cabinet, I would question whether you should have even been signed up at all.

The compensation scheme is detailed below

https://www.virginmedia.com/help/automatic-compensation

https://store.virginmedia.com/the-legal-stuff/terms-and-conditions-for-fibre-optic-services/automati...

As you have described it, this seems to be a problem totally and exclusively down to VM's own issues.

3 July up to date is 74 days, multiplied by £5 per day = £370

This sum will be calculated once you are actually up and running and then applied as credit to your account, most likely.

You may also be given misleading info from the various branches of VM about the compensation scheme, so have a good look through all of the info above and see how it applies to your situation and work out what you think you are entitled to.

As for when you will actually get connected, you should (as you have already realised) take any further dates given as 'subject to change'.

VM's order management systems only seem to process jobs in a linear manner. When any event throws a job off track (such as a cabinet being at capacity) then they seem to have no means to remedy this and no one seems to take control of the issue to resolve it. In all likelihood, the necessary upgrade work may well be progressing on its own timeline irrespective of your own connection issues.

One of the forum team may be able to shed more light on your installation. They normally reply within a day or two.

I hope you get something better than my gloomy predictions.

(Edit): If you have submitted a complaint to VM on 23 July and they have not resolved, this is nearly at the 8 week criteria and you can escalate to CISAS.

https://www.cedr.com/consumer/cisas/complainnow/

this process can be time-consuming itself and won't speed up your installation any but you don't seem to be getting anywhere with VM from what you have described so may be your final option

[jbrennand]

I have flagged for VM will respond here

[JontyH]

Thanks Goslow - sad to hear we're not an outlier.

The bit about compensation being applied as credit is concerning - my hope was to obtain a deadlock letter, escalate the complaint to CISAS if necessary, and move to a less dishonest broadband provider. If it was applied as credit to the account, would it be recoverable if we cancelled the non-existent installation?

Thank again for the help!

[goslow]

@jbrennand has flagged this for the VM forum team to reply. See what they can do to assist you first of all. Better for everyone all around if they can resolve in some way.

[JontyH]

Thanks @goslow and @jbrennand - hopefully a response comes soon.

I saw on another post with a similar issue that the cooling off period starts from when the broadband is connected - is this correct? I'm thinking about signing up with another broadband provider in the meantime, and then I can cancel one of the services if this is, or more likely isn't, resolved in that timeframe...

[Z92]

It's correct, you have until 14 days after you have a working connect in order to cancel.

However, note that if Virgin can prove it's not them that has delayed your installation (for example, they point to a third party) then your compensation may well be reduced substantially, and you may end up with something like a £25 credit instead. It's very unlikely you'll get this either if you cancel your installation within the cooling off period.

[goslow]

---

@JontyH wrote:
Thanks @goslow and @jbrennand - hopefully a response comes soon.

I saw on another post with a similar issue that the cooling off period starts from when the broadband is connected - is this correct? I'm thinking about signing up with another broadband provider in the meantime, and then I can cancel one of the services if this is, or more likely isn't, resolved in that timeframe...

---

Your cooling off rights are here

https://www.virginmedia.com/shop/the-legal-stuff/terms-and-conditions-for-fibre-optic-services#cooli...

Agree with @Z92. If you don't actually become a VM customer, then VM won't be reimbursing you under the VM compensation scheme.

As you are approaching the 8 week period when you can apply to CISAS, give CISAS a ring for advice and find out what they can (or cannot) do for you. Number at the bottom of the link below

https://www.cedr.com/consumer/cisas/complainnow/

You would then be in a position to decide whether to complain to CISAS or to hold out for VM to do something or to ditch VM altogether and go elsewhere.

I think if VM had messed me about so much, I would not be giving them my custom. If you are looking a trying to get another provider in place, you would need to check out minimum contract and leaving terms etc. to avoid being tied in elsewhere if VM do eventually come through with the installation.

Also, if your local cabinet has reached its physical capacity for more connections, I would also be considering the possibility of more general issues in your area with over subscription of VM's services. Have you talked to any of your neighbours using VM to find out what the actual quality of VM's service is like in your street/area?

What other options do you have available? Openreach FTTP is rolling out at speed in many areas. You can get an idea of scheduling below

https://www.openreach.com/fibre-broadband/where-when-building-ultrafast-full-fibre-broadband

[JontyH]

Excellent stuff, thank you so much.

I'll give them a day or two to attempt a resolution on here, then look into what CISAS can do for me.

I have all the Openreach options at ~63 Mbps, and Sky at 150 Mbps for a few quid more, so I can find an alternative at decent speeds, thankfully!

Good point about further issues if the box is overloaded - I'll check in with a couple of neighbours.

[Travis_M]

Welcome to the community forums and thank you for taking the time to get in touch.

I am really sorry to hear you've been waiting months for your services to be installed at your new property and you're still no further with a date. There can be a number of reasons as to why we've had to delay your install, this could be a construction issue or we're waiting to gain permits to carry out the required work.

I am going to send your a private message so we can take a closer look at your account and see why it's been delayed and if we are able to confirm a date for you. I will also be able to take ownership of the complaint and make sure it's is being dealt with accordingly.

Please keep an eye on your inbox @JontyH

Regards