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Installation Cancelled

Ax10
Joining in

Hi there. 

We've recently moved into a new home and wanted to get setup with Virgin Media, otherwise we are limited to open reach broadband (and limited speeds).

Purchased a broadband and phone line package from Virgin Media towards the end of March and booked in a date for the 7th of April to install. 

Received a call to say this was delayed as the job is more complicated, this had been rescheduled to today (25th of April).

I'm at the house, having to work from home with my 4G mobile hotspot and 1 o'clock passes and nothing. I've checked my emails and my account and there's no communication from Virgin apart from the empty appointment area. 

I then spend the next 30 minutes on the phone to be told that unfortunately my house isn't serviceable because it doesn't fit in their budget to do so.  I've been told to expect a call back within 48 hours but we shall see.

Is there any possibility to get Virgin installed qt my property or am I now fighting a losing battle? It would've been nice to have been told this before waiting around for hours, better yet two weeks ago after their first visit. 

11 REPLIES 11

Andrew-G
Alessandro Volta

Staff here can usually have a further look, and occasionally change the company's mind, but don't hold out any hope of getting a qt installation.  VM's performance on any non-standard new install is often bravely, heroically poor leading to delays of many months, and that's before the complications if you need to make a financial contribution.  The small glint of hope is that sometimes the staff here can persuade the company that the property is serviceable within budget despite what you've been told (still unlikely to be quick).   If your property is over the fixed installation budget then you may be able to make a contribution, but depending on circumstances that may be very high indeed, and my impression is that the arrangements for customer contributions are irregular, slowly processed, and not offered in all circumstances.  

To give you a feeling for the possible costs, I suspect the budget for new installs is around £600.  If VM only needed to run a cable across the road, if that were 5m of ducting laid under tarmac, you'd be looking at costs of £200 per metre, plus the costs of "Section 50" permits for streetworks (£200-1300, depending on the council concerned), and maybe a couple of hundred quid for traffic control.  You may even be asked to contribute to a full costing survey of around £250 before they even provide a quote.  Your circumstances will be different, you can see in my illustration how you might be asked for £800 or more as a contribution for what looks like quite a short run.  You'll have to hope that your install costs were actually only £700, and there's only £100 or less to find!

The other thing to consider is whether your area is in Openreach plans for FTTP.  If you're lucky there's "only" a year or so's wait before your area gets FTTP, in which case sitting it out on FTTC may be your best option.

Thanks for the detailed response Andrew. 

Based on what you've said, it's clearly not very feasible. Unfortunately looking at the broadband checker, it seems we aren't in an area they are looking to implement FTTP in the short future. Then again, I've also checked community fibres website and they said it's coming soon so perhaps I'll call them and see on the timeline.

I'm surprised it's taken them a month to tell me this though, especially when I included my postcode online and they say broadband is available there + already visited (and said they couldn't install because they needed a permit initially).

Hopefully I'll get a callback over the next 24 hours or so as promised to see if there are any solutions. 

I guess the same issue pops up amongst mine and others case; it's the lack of communication which is the most frustrating thing.

Kain_W
Forum Team (Retired)
Forum Team (Retired)

Hi Ax10,

Thanks for posting and welcome to the community!

So sorry for the issues with the installation, from checking our service I can see you've recently been in contact with the team.

Have you been advised the same issue with the installation?

Let us know,

Kain

Hi Kain,

Thanks for reaching out.

The only contact I had with VM is when I called to see where their engineer was. I was then informed it had been cancelled and why.

I was meant to receive a call back within 48 hours but that never happened.

Thanks for your reply Ax10, sorry to see you have not been contacted.

Did the team advise the reason why they would be calling you back if they had advised why the property cannot have the services already?

Regards

Nathan

The do's and don'ts. Keep the community welcoming for all. Follow the house rules


They basically said they'd call back to discuss any alternatives, but I assumed there wouldn't be otherwise they'd have mentioned this already?

Hi @Ax10,

I am sorry about this, can appreciate it isn't the news you were hoping for. 

Can I ask if anyone has contacted you since to discuss further as advised?

 

Ayisha_B
Forum Team

New around here? Check out the do's and don'ts, in our Community FAQs


Hi Ayisha, 

No worries. Sadly it's just one of those things. 

Unfortunately not, still waiting for a followup. 

 

Sorry to see the team have still not followed this up. I'm going to send you a PM to discuss this further.

If the team have contacted you since  then please ignore the PM.

Regards

Nathan

The do's and don'ts. Keep the community welcoming for all. Follow the house rules