Hub5 and disgusting customer service

[Privateer]

We have been with Virgin since before Virgin was Media. We were legacy NTL subscribers, so I've spoken to CServ a few times over the years. The company I have dealt with in the last 2 years is not the company I've been with for 20 years. Today was the final straw for me; so I'm complaining here.

We've always have the top tier broadband, since top tier meant 512kb/s. We moved house in COVID, and Gig1 was available at the new house, which I sub'd to as a "new customer" (losing 20 years of history) because we still needed BB at the old house while renovations happened here, and VM can't deal with two connections on one account (insert eye roll emote). I accepted a Hub4 due to the shortage of various products at the time; Hub5 had been announced, but then delayed. I was told I'd be able to request a Hub5 when they were more widely available, which I also accepted. I've had routers sent out to me in the past to gain the new highest tier product.

I requested one last year, and was told that new customers were a priority, which is disgusting in its own right, but "that's business" these days. So I accepted that. I requested one in January, which was accepted, but the router never turned up. I got ill, my kids got ill, I couldn't be bothered chasing it up. 

9-10 days ago I requested a Hub5 for the FOURTH time. The guy told me it would be here in 3-5 working days. Which should have been Tuesday-ish. The order was accepted. I KNOW the order was accepted because (weirdly) a PLUG for the router turned up on Monday, separately.

Today is Friday, so I've just phoned up again. After a 20 min call, during which I was told that VM don't make a Hub5, which then turned in to her simply flat out refusing to send me a Hub5, after which I got politely irate, and then I'm pretty sure she FAKED a bad phone connection by continually pressing her mute button until she left it muted, and I had no choice but to hang up. What the...

So I called back again, determined to not even get politely irate. The guy told me that Hub4 was VM's top product. I informed him that VM list a Hub5 and even a Hub5X on their public facing website, which stumped him. I told him that I feel that a Hub4 with its 1gig port is limiting my connection (my connection tops out continually at 940mb), and that I feel I need the 2.5gbe port of the Hub5 in order to get the advertised speed of 1130mb. He put me on hold. He came back and told me that the Hub4 and Hub5 were the same spec. The Hub5 that didn't exist 5 mins before. I again told him that it has a 2.5gb port, and WIFI6. He put me on hold for TWENTY MINUTES. Not only that but I think it was as a way to get rid of me, the hold music kept dipping out when I'm pretty sure he was checking to see if I was still holding.

He finally came back on the line, and started to tell me that the Hub4 DOES have 2.4 (can you already see where this is going?) AND 5 giga-something connections. Which is WIFI! My irate politeness started to rear its head again. I want a faster WIRED port! 

But it doesn't matter, because I never made an order for Hub5 during my previous 30 min call. Explain how I'm holding a PLUG for the router then! He said he would escalate the situation to "the engineer", and if there was "an engineer" in my area, and there was a Hub5 available on the van, I'd get that. Within 30 days. What? If someone happens to me in my area, with a random Hub5 that I can't request as a 20yr customer, I'll get that one... definitely within 30 days. 

I asked to speak to a manager. A manager is not available. No kidding... But one will ring me back, at some point. 

He asked if he could help me with anything else. I said no, because I don't feel he has helped me today at all, and I politely informed him that I did not believe him about the 30 days or the manager. He didn't respond to that, but said goodbye to me and hung up.

Twenty years I've been a customer of Virgin Media. I know I've been lucky; I can count on one hand the number of major broadband incidents I've had, and I've dealt with some fabulous CServ people. And I know I'm complaining about a very first world problem - I want 1130mb broadband rather than 940mb. Today has left a very sour taste in my internet mouth.

(My house is wired for 10gig (half a kilometre of CAT6a in my walls), with a 2.5gbe switch and 2.5gbe connectors on the 3 main PCs here)

[goslow]

Have you submitted a formal complaint to VM about not being able to get a Hub 5 as was previously promised?

In some past topics, some customers signed up to packages where a Hub 5 was specifically listed as part of the package (but did not get one when the kit was provided, due to Hub 5 shortages). Subsequent complaints did, eventually, yield a Hub 5 for those customers as it was a specific part of the package as-ordered.

Did your new house 1Gb package mention anything specifically about the Hub 5 when your ordered it?

[Privateer]

"Have you submitted a formal complaint to VM about not being able to get a Hub 5 as was previously promised?"

This happened today. I have not yet made a formal complaint. But there is apparently no record of being promised a Hub5 from 10 days ago, let alone from 6 months ago, let alone from 2 years ago. Do you think the people that lied to me 3 different ways in two 30 minute phones will uphold a compliant? I have received a plug for the router as a separate item, which proves an order went through. Unless... the guy from 10 days ONLY ordered me a plug. What?

"Did your new house 1Gb package mention anything specifically about the Hub 5 when your ordered it?"

I ordered Gig1 before the Hub5 was a legit product, though it had been announced in the media. Having had VM for a long time, I have generally had 10% better than advertised speeds (ie 224mb on the 200mb service back in the day, or 546mb on the 500mb package as my final service at my previous house). So I knew that 1gig ports on a 1gig service wouldn't be enough. I actually think I ordered Gig1 before VM started advertising it as 1130mb, which is OBVIOUSLY too much for a 1gbe port. If I'd have known that it would take this long, and would be actually gaslit by CServ trying to update the router, I might have gone for 500mb, and upgraded to Gig1 down the line (pun).

[goslow]

VM's complaints processes are notoriously poor. Yesterday OFCOM launched an investigation into them.

If, however, you wanted to take your issue of the Hub 5 further to arbitration

https://www.ombudsman-services.org/

then a formal complaint to VM is a required first step. Not sure what the basis of the complaint would be though (unless the Hub 5 was a specific condition and basis for you taking out a contract or renewing etc.) as I am not aware of past topics on here where VM was obliged to provide a specific hub model on the 1Gb service.

I mentioned the cases of the Hub 5 being in the advertised package at the point of ordering as a few people reported VM had sent a Hub 5 out on that basis (no doubt to avoid any 'not-as-advertised' problems).

Some people on here have reported getting a Hub 5 simply by badgering VM (which you seem to have tried already). Some people have reported success simply based on the random coincidence that more Hub 5 stock became available at the time they asked.

Your efforts so far have probably been thwarted by the randomness of whoever you happen to speak to at VM and the randomness of how the order is processed.

The VM forum team should reply here before too long to give you an official reply on how/if you can get a Hub 5

[Privateer]

I'm functionally annoyed by the lack of a Hub5, but the reason for my post is that I'm disgusted by the CServ response to this issue. I've worked CServ for a large computer retailer with many more hardware products and services than Virgin offer, and I knew the main ones well enough to have a discussion with the customer, and if I didn't, I knew how to look up the info in seconds. 

Being told outright - twice - that Virgin don't make a Hub5 (not that they don't have stock) is utterly ridiculous.
Then being told they are the same spec is ridiculous.
Not knowing what a 2.5 gigabit port is, is not leap in logic from a 1gig port, and if you don't know what a 1gig port is for a product that's 1gig, you should not have a job in that dept.
Faking a bad connection to cut off a customer, is ridiculous.
Leaving me on hold for 20+ minutes, and CHECKING TO SEE IF I'D DISCONNECTED, is ridiculous. I work for myself from home, I'm not disconnecting, buddy.
Telling me that "definitely within 30 days" there will be a spare Hub5 left in an engineers van that I can have, but not order, is ridiculous.

I still want a Hub5, and I still want to know why I have a plug !!!

[goslow]

Your expectations are not unreasonable but this is VM. Customer service is heavily based overseas and I would doubt most of the call handlers have ever even seen a VM hub, let alone know what a 2.5 Gb port is or how it differs from a 1 Gb port.

They are simply reading from whatever prompts come up on their screen. There are sufficient past examples on the forums to state that, when they don't know what the answer is, they either make something (often bizarre and comical) up or cut off the call.

This is how VM has chosen to set things up and run its operations.

You may have to acquire your Hub 5 covertly over time, piece-by-piece. Starting with the plug, which you already have, next see if you can get hold of a power supply with another phone call and eventually work up to the Hub 5 itself!! 😁

[Privateer]

"The VM forum team should reply here before too long to give you an official reply on how/if you can get a Hub 5"

😭

[Chris_W1]

Hi Privateer, thanks for the message and sorry to hear that you are having issues with the broadband service and are unhappy with your current hub. I will send you a PM so that this can be looked into further for you. Please keep an eye on your inbox. - Chris. 

[Privateer]

To keep everyone updated, a few more things have happened. Chris palmed me off to yet another forum team member, after twice asking the same question that I've already posted about here - twice - so forum help is as good as phone "help". Other team member informed me that they DID send out a Hub5 plug. JUST. THE. PLUG. For a Hub5 they KNOW I don't have, and have no intention of supplying me with. What?

They also obliquely confirmed that VM *DO* have surplus Hub5s, because they all but suggested that I break my Hub4, and that an engineer might swap out the damaged 4 for a Hub5 - AT THEIR DISCRETION. So they have enough Hub5s for a random engineer to possibly have one on their van, and to supply me with one without talking to those up the chain, but those up the chain WILL NOT supply me with one. What?

How petty do you have to be to not supply a top tier, 16.5 year (VM took over my NTL contract in Feb 07) customer, with a surplus stock router, that must cost the company £30? What?

So, thanks to CServ, I've got my internet "issues" sorted (I hope). I'm in the process of signing up with a FTTP company that offer 900/900 for £30/mo, and £100 of Amazon vouchers. It's the little things, I guess. What a pathetic way to lose a customer, VM.