Help please, new customer, 14 days without internet, and still not connected to street cable

[Andrew_N_UK]

Hello all, I'm sorry if this is posted on the wrong board! We are new customers, but have (so far) been 14 days without internet, and are still not connected to Virgin's street cable. We moved house on the 8th March, and discovered there was no Virgin media connection in the house, and so our QuickStart self-install kit was useless. An engineer came 3 days later and said he had to ask for an immediate cable pull because our house is not connected to the Virgin cable in our street. Nothing happened for days so we contacted Virgin and an engineer eventually came on Saturday 18th. However he had no idea what he had to do (no instructions on his work sheet), and when we explained he said he was unable to help except to say he'd send an email to his boss because a contractor (Kellys) has to connect us (i.e. the cable in the street to our house), and that he can't connect us. We are still without any connection, and frustratingly, we have had no contact from anyone to tell us what is going on, we have no idea why nothing has been done, nor when (or if) we are ever going to get connected. My wife cries every night when she gets home form work because she is having to commute 3 hours to her office because she can't work from home as there is no internet, and she can't connect anywhere else because her company laptop proprietary software requires a special secure connection and her laptop won't connect to any public wifi, nor anything deemed insecure. We can't hotspot also for these security reasons. So without internet we are stuck, and my wife has to commute 3 hours daily, and just to rub salt into the wound she has to pay £35 a day for the train fare too. So we are totally fed up and utterly desperate for any kind help anyone can please pass our way! Many thanks to any good Samaritan out there who can help, Andrew (NB: in case you wonder, I have paid for public BT Wi-Fi to access the internet and write this, but I'm getting only about 0.5 to 2 mbs, and it frequently drops, so I have to keep logging in; it's barely OK for slow internet access, but useless for office work and especially Teams etc). 

[Client62]

"her company laptop proprietary software requires a special secure connection and her laptop won't connect to any public wifi, nor anything deemed insecure"

 If this is so, what makes you think it will work with a Virgin Media domestic connection ?

[goslow · Accepted solution]

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@Andrew_N_UK wrote:

Hello all, I'm sorry if this is posted on the wrong board! We are new customers, but have (so far) been 14 days without internet, and are still not connected to Virgin's street cable. <snip>

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In the scenario you have described, you could be waiting months to get connected or your new cable installation could happen imminently. You'll get no reliable answers you can depend up on from VM. This is due to the way VM has outsourced the cable installation work. If you call the pre-installation team on 0800 052 1734, they will 'guarantee' you that your installation will take place on the next scheduled date but past topics on here suggest the 'guarantee' is worthless as it is nothing more than the next automatically-scheduled date available and VM does not seem to have any direct way of influencing the process. You'll find dozens of similar topics on here.

You should look at a 4G/5G mobile data connection on a rolling monthly basis until you are connected. Maybe a plugin USB device for an individual laptop, if required, or a hotspot device. I am not sure why (or how) a laptop would be setup so that it could not connect to a personally-owned mobile data connection.

You will be due compensation for the delay

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0026/216962/Industry-Code-of-Practice-for-Automatic-...

and updated rates

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-internet/advice-for-consumers/costs-and-billing/automat...

If you were expecting a VM 'Quick Start' installation where you plug in equipment your self to existing VM cabling (and this has failed) then the day rate for compensation is £8.40 per day as VM class this as a 'fault'. See para 6 below

https://www.virginmedia.com/legal/fibre-optic-services-terms-conditions/automatic-compensation

Keep detailed records as you go along of all VM's bungling attempts to install. This will help ensure you get the correct compensation once installed. Also check if VM has started billing you yet.

[Andrew_N_UK]

.@Goslow, thanks so much for your detailed explanation. I'm very grateful you've made so much effort to explain things to me, but evidently it's not good news. I'll take your advice. I was already thinking of getting what you suggest (a SIM plus mobile hotspot device) so I will go ahead and do so. Turns out my wife asked her IT department and they happen to have one to lend her, so she is buying an unlimited 4G data SIM from EE (1 month, no contract) for £31, which seems like a good deal (I'm posting details in case any others read this post in our situation). EE have (allegedly) a very good signal here, much better than my Virgin Mobile (zero to 2G, rarely 3G, sometimes "4G" but very slow) and Vodafone (same issue). (In case any wonders, we know her proprietary security-conscious company software works on a home system because it worked fine in our last two houses; I assume something in the software checks if it's on a public or private wifi system but I'm not the IT specialist so I'm just guessing!). And yes, I am being charged already (unfortunately ironic "Congratulations for joining etc"" emails received from Virgin!). Is there a best way / best department to tell Virgin to stop charging us and to start compensating us (we did order a VM 'Quick Start' installation), or should we just phone the standard customer complaints line?). Thanks for everything, Andrew

[Andrew_N_UK]

@Client62 Thanks for pointing that out as a possible problem, but we know that her proprietary security-conscious company software works on a home system because it worked fine in our last two houses; I assume something in the software checks if it's on a public or private wifi system but I'm not the IT specialist so I'm just guessing!

[-tony-]

for deals - Smarty is better - 4g unlimited was £20 on 30day contract - they have in the past had special deals that took it to £18

if you have 5g in the area then 3 is a good deal - £25 a month rolling contract - i dumped VM and use that - 400 to 500 down on a good day - 70 up - drops to 200 down sometimes and if the mast is very busy drops to 4g which gives about 30 down but is still very usable

as to VM dont cancel even if you decide that they are not worth a lite - let them install and then cancel in the 14 day cooling off period and collect a fiver a day up to that point

Tony - Sacked VIP

[Andrew_N_UK]

Many thanks for the notes, I'll bear them in mind. Yes those are much better deals, but beggars can't be choosers as they say and in our case it seems where we live that only EE have a great signal amongst the carriers I have been able to check (with neighbours). I have no idea if the signal from Smarty (provided by Three) will be as poor as the others, or better, but we can't afford to gamble - knowing that EE has an excellent signal we prefer to pay a few pounds more and be sure (assuming we will be un-connected for a few weeks rather than months). The mobile hotspot device we are being lent is a 4G model (no 5G), but in any case the EE deal is limited to 100 mbs anyhow so the extra speed capability of 5G will be redundant. 

Many thanks also for the advice about VM cancellation. Assuming we decide to stay with VM after they install do we still get compensation and how do we claim that? Thanks for your advice.

[goslow]

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@Andrew_N_UK wrote:

<snip>

Many thanks also for the advice about VM cancellation. Assuming we decide to stay with VM after they install do we still get compensation and how do we claim that? Thanks for your advice.

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You should probably have a good read through the OFCOM doc at #3 and come back with further queries. Under VM's T&Cs a failed 'Quick Start' is treated as a fault so read the doc from that POV and assume a higher rate of £8.40 per day.

Topics on here often describe a battle with VM to get the correct compensation applied so it is important you have an idea yourself of what you think you are due to match with anything VM comes up with.

If you have further queries after that post back on here for further info/advice.

[Andrew_N_UK]

@goslow very many thanks once again for your kind help and advice. By the way, we have installed an unlimited EE SIM in our mobile hotspot device and finally have a stable internet connection with decent download speeds (compared to what we had). So at least we are now constantly connected. Just need to wait for VM's contractor to connect us to the street cable box. Sigh.