Virgin Media Community

[scooby565456]

Hi All,

Glad to be part of your forum,

Now its time to have a wee moan!

I have had the cable insulation guys here twice in January 1/23, but they haven't managed to get the cable to my house, there is a double visit booked for Thursday 26/1/23, this week for a dig up team and cable insulation team, so hopefully all goes well.

The problem doesn't end there, they have booked an engineer for 21/02/23 to complete the install,  so I am caught between the devil and the deep blue sea, as any other broadband company can't do an install any quicker, 

And the call centre all seem to be abroad, and it's very difficult to communicate with a very strong Scottish accent, and all you get is the runaround.

I have had 3 calls from Virgin Media and when I answer I get cut off, then a text turns up asking me to contact Virgin.

I got a call on Saturday to say the engineer was running 45 minutes  late, this was at 16.00 on the Saturday. 

The engineer was at my home at 10 am and had to go away as the cable was not installed, so just shows how out of touch these call centres are.

So any advice would be much appreciated re this matter.

Sorry for my first post to be a massive moan, but getting in touch with someone who can help is impossible, as all you get is the prepared script.

Virgin broadband is easily the best out there but their customer service is so bad, and causes frustration.

Well the visit to-day 26/1/23 never happened, the way this is going I am going to give it to 21/2/23, then am off to another provider.

I have not had broadband since early December 2022.

scooby565456

[Reece_MH]

Hi scooby565456,

Thanks for your post and a warm welcome to our Community Forums.

I'm very sorry to hear about the problems you have had relating to your installation. It's certainly not how we aim to do things. There can be various reasons for a delay in installation, and a lot of the time, these relate back to permit approval from the Local Authority, or Site Developer(s).

If you have been provided with an in-home installation date, then the pre-pull work by our Pre-Enablement/Construction Team can complete the work at any point up until then - you won't need to be home for our team to do this. Was the installation date of 21/02/23 provided directly by our Pre-Install Team?

Thanks,

[Andrew-G · Accepted solution]

Forum staff: "and a lot of the time, these relate back to permit approval from the Local Authority"

And a lot of the time Virgin Media blame the council for permit delays when either:

a) VM or their useless contractors have not even applied for a permit, or

b) VM OTUC didn't apply for in any timely manner for a permit, or

c) VM OTUC have got the permit but done nothing prompt to complete the installation.

d) And in one fabulous instance VM invoked the "council permits" excuse for an installation delay on a private road that had zero involvement by the council. 

Contrary to urban myth and VM's excuses, most councils are very prompt at issuing the necessary permit (called a Section 50 permit), because they're not just needed by toytown outfits like VM, but real utilities like gas, water, electricity, Openreach, and those businesses require a permit to be turned round very quickly.  It is possible the council are the source of delays, but I'd bet a modest sum it not.  As rule, VM's installations (and the related cable re-pull activity) are an organisational omni-shambles where nobody has a clue, nobody knows what's happening, and nobody actually cares.   You can check on the permits.  Phone your local council (unitary or county) and ask for the highways department.  

These "blame the council" excuses are also sometimes used to try and evade VM's obligations under the Ofcom automatic compensation scheme.  If they try it, get the facts from the council, and if need be launch a formal complaint and if that doesn't get a result then take it to Ombudsman Services.

[scooby565456]

Hi Reece.

The insulation date was supplied on-line by my.virginmedia.com

Order Ref: 68072777

scooby565456

[Zach_R]

Hi @scooby565456,

Thank you for confirming. If we've advised of a new installation date to you of 21/02/23 then I assure you we'll do all that we can to meet that, with all pre-installation work expected to happen and be completed in advance of that date.

If you would like further advice on the pre-installation work, or to see if there's any potential of bringing that installation date forward, it'd be best to reach out to the pre-installation team directly on 0345 454 1111 (or 150 from a Virgin Media landline).

Please keep us posted on this, and let us know if there's anything else that we can assist you with at all.

Thanks,
 

[scooby565456]

Hi Zach_R.

VM have missed 10 scheduled visits, 

They took money from my account 2day for a service I am not getting.

Am I entitled to compensation for this comedy of errors?

On reply said to raise a complaint, I did this and it was resolved immediately as VM put up a date for the teams to attend my home.

And no surprise they still haven't turned up, my first scheduled date was back in December 2022, 

I checked the scheduled visit date 2day, and it has  changed to the next day and still no visit.

VM have easy the worst customer service I have ever seen, what a way to treat customers that want a service and are paying for a service they are not getting,

Scooby565456 

[scooby565456]

I made some enquiries to North Lanarkshire council, re Permit to dig up the pavement.

And here is their reply,

Good Morning

Virgin Media are a statutory undertaker and can raise their own works notices within the Scottish Road Works Register, which means that they do not have to apply to North Lanarkshire Council to undertake their works.

So that has blown the party line that VM are waiting on permits to get work done, they don't need them in my area.

And the visit date has changed yet again, its scheduled for to-day.

scooby565456

[scooby565456]

I have contacted my Local Authority, North Lanarkshire Council, regarding permits to carry out dig-up work.

Here is their reply regarding my query,

Good Morning,

Virgin Media are a statutory undertaker and can raise their own works notices within the Scottish Road Works Register which means that they do not have to apply to North Lanarkshire Council to undertake their works.

So where do we go from here, still no cable installed, and VM have started taking money from my account.

scooby565456

[David_Bn]

Good Afternoon @scooby565456, thanks for coming back to the thread.

Check out the purple envelope in the top right hand corner for a private message from me and I'll look into this for you, once data protection has been passed on the account.

Kindest regards,

David_Bn

[scooby565456]

Thanks to David from the forum for his help. , 

The  Cable was installed to my property to-day at 16.00.

Thanks to every one for their input.

John