Installation Endless Delays

[d40eq6]

We signed up for VM in January 2023. We picked an installation date of 13 February 2023 to coincide with the expiry of our BT Contract.

2 days before the installation date (11 February) a VM engineer came round and thought that some work would be needed between the kerb and the house (there was a VM connection about 19 years ago but the cable is no longer there.

On the Sunday night (12 February) we had a power cut that resulted in some major street works outside of our house. The works went on for 2 weeks and resulted in our installation date being delayed 3 times. We finally had a fixed date of 30 March.

On 30 March, I got on live chat first thing as we had received no contact at all from VM. My wife had changed her work days so she could be available. We were told bluntly as follows:

"I  can see there are few Pre-Pull work required in area due to which the installation got delayed.

We can complete it on 18/04/23 between 1PM to 6PM."

We had to chase this. It seems that VM Installation has given up on us. I complained. I was told:

"You can get in touch with our Pre-Installation Team on 0800 064 3823 or 0800 183 1234. Our team is available from 8AM to 8PM - Monday to Friday, from 9AM to 6PM on Saturday and 10AM to 4PM on Sunday.

We are from customer service and we deal with account post activation. Please call them and they will reschedule the visit at earliest."

So I've got to spend more time chasing up VM when my installation will now be at least 2 months later (I have limited confidence now that the 18 April date will now be hit).

This is really disappointing customer service. I'm paying over the odds now for BT due to no fault of my own.

[jem101 · Accepted solution]

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@d40eq6 wrote:

We signed up for VM in January 2023. We picked an installation date of 13 February 2023 to coincide with the expiry of our BT Contract.

2 days before the installation date (11 February) a VM engineer came round and thought that some work would be needed between the kerb and the house (there was a VM connection about 19 years ago but the cable is no longer there.

On the Sunday night (12 February) we had a power cut that resulted in some major street works outside of our house. The works went on for 2 weeks and resulted in our installation date being delayed 3 times. We finally had a fixed date of 30 March.

On 30 March, I got on live chat first thing as we had received no contact at all from VM. My wife had changed her work days so she could be available. We were told bluntly as follows:

"I  can see there are few Pre-Pull work required in area due to which the installation got delayed.

We can complete it on 18/04/23 between 1PM to 6PM."

We had to chase this. It seems that VM Installation has given up on us. I complained. I was told:

"You can get in touch with our Pre-Installation Team on 0800 064 3823 or 0800 183 1234. Our team is available from 8AM to 8PM - Monday to Friday, from 9AM to 6PM on Saturday and 10AM to 4PM on Sunday.

We are from customer service and we deal with account post activation. Please call them and they will reschedule the visit at earliest."

So I've got to spend more time chasing up VM when my installation will now be at least 2 months later (I have limited confidence now that the 18 April date will now be hit).

This is really disappointing customer service. I'm paying over the odds now for BT due to no fault of my own.

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Actually for us 'old-timers' on the forum, this is not so much disappointing as 'situation normal' for VM!

Right then, firstly, there will probably be a post from a member of the forum team (VM employees) at some point and it will no doubt contain phrases along the lines, of 'sorry to hear about this, it is not the level of service we aim to provide (well actually)'; 'have you spoken to The Team, and what did they advise?' and 'this is probably down to needing local council permissions, so not our fault guv'. All of the above, being absolute rubbish, and really the forum team staff, do know it is so, but are, sort of, obliged to toe the company line and regurgitate it to keep their jobs, so whatever!

Just to set expectations, you understand?

So, was February 13th the first accepted and agreed, installation or 'go-live' date? If it was, then from that day onwards, VM are now obliged to pay you some £5.25 for each and every day that passes as compensation. And this continues until either you cancel (although they are still obliged to pay you up to that date, or VM formally notifies you that they won't be connecting you up, for whatever reason, but they have to give you 30 days notice of that, so still need to pay you the aforementioned £5.25 for the next 30 days). Could actually be quite lucrative for you really?

OK, usual advice, set yourself a deadline, say, end of April, and if VM haven't extracted digit and got you connected up, then you forget about it and just sign up with an alternative supplier. However, one thing to consider is this, even if you sign up with another supplier, if you don't formally cancel the VM install, then the compensation keeps racking up. Eventually, they'll get around to doing it, you test it and immediately cancel under the 14 day Distance Selling  Regulations without any penalty, but you know that the cables are in place and working should you want to give VM another chance in the future. Only drawback is that you now have a box on the outside of the house and hole drilled through the wall - might be worth it though considering the compensation owed!*

*Ah yes, almost certainly, you will have a bit of a fight to get said compensation VM will deny you are entitled to it, claim some oddball BS excuse about it being a two man job and they only sent one (like that's your problem) - but consider this, your installation date was 13th Feb, yes, but they only bothered to send someone round to see if it was even possible to do it two days earlier? So basically, they promised you that it would be working on 13th, without actually knowing if it was possible! Not your problem, it's theirs!

Anyhow, when you do start getting messed about then please do post back on here as some of us are really quite good at advising on how to make a complaint and escalate it to the industry arbitration service.

[d40eq6]

Thank you so much. That has made my night! Can you point me towards the bit in the industry regs that obliges them to pay the £5.25 per day compensation and indeed how best and when to claim this? And yes 13th Feb 2023 was the confirmed Installation/Go Live Date.

[d40eq6]

Found it: https://www.virginmedia.com/help/billing-and-payments/automatic-compensation

[jem101]

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@d40eq6 wrote:
Found it: https://www.virginmedia.com/help/billing-and-payments/automatic-compensation

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There you go, and I am glad, that I managed to ‘make your night’, I do try!😉

But like I said, VM will absolutely squirm and wriggle and deny that you are entitled to anything, for some kind of BS, made up excuse. But now you are armed with the facts from VM’s own website, which you could cross check on OFCOM’s website, you will be in a good position to argue and successfully prosecute your case.

One thing to watch out for, some VM ‘agents’ may well mention the ‘provisional date’ excuse. ‘Oh this was only a provisional date and so isn’t valid’. This argument has been blown out of the water quite a few times now, OFCOM’s regulations (which VM signed up to), make no mention of this, and indeed it is just something that VM’s customer services people seem to have invented themselves, possibly as a way of trying to avoid paying out. So, here’s a tip, if you ever see anyone claiming to be a VM representative*, citing this ‘provisional dates’, nonsense, be aware that they are outright lying to you and attempting to defraud you of your just compensation.

* Not that any member of the forum team here would do such a thing, would you? Oh wait……

[Andrew-G]

"One thing to watch out for, some VM ‘agents’ may well mention the ‘provisional date’ excuse." 

Don't forget "it was a two man job, so we don't need to pay compensation" and "it was all the council's fault".  Or "we can't afford to pay compensation".

None of these are acceptable, they appear to be part of routine and intentional behaviours to stop customers getting the compensation that they're entitled to.  One or two errors you could understand (after all the agents have no training in the relevant regulations that telecoms providers are supposed to adhere to), but the frequency with which we see this sort of nonsense establishes that this is in fact normal for VM.

But as long as most people (1) continue to wait for this shambolic outfit to carry out a simple install, and (2) are fobbed off when it comes to being compensated, then Virgin Media will continue to behave in this way.  Then again, if customers did the most rudimentary research on VM's reputation for customer service before signing up, I suspect many wouldn't then have signed up.

[Steven_L]

Hey d40eq6,

Welcome to the community and thanks for taking the time to post here on the forums.
I’m sorry to hear of the issues that you’re having with your installation, this is far from the service that we should providing to any of our customers. I'm going to raise this as a complaint for you and pass this over to our installation team to be investigated. 

Firstly, I would need to confirm a few details via private message, please look out for my message and we can get started.
Kind Regards,
Steven_L

[d40eq6]

Thanks Steven for acknowledging the Complaint.

I have replied to your private message.

[d40eq6]

So I am being told that installation is not possible until November 2024 due to the Council having placed a s.58 restriction under the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991. The Council have refused consent.

I'm bemused as no major resurfacing has taken place for a number of years and none is planned. I have approached Highways direct for clarification.

Virgin Media claim there is nothing they can do.....

[kaslerp]

My story is a similar tale of woe. Installation first scheduled in February - it’s now July and now cancelled until August. Is there an email address that I can send a formal complaint to as the people on the phone are totally useless and seem to have no power to escalate issues.