Installation/Wayleave drama

[VpFalcon]

I placed my order at the start of March, and everything was going well.

I got a text on the 8th of March confirming my install date of the 25th of March, and they stated they needed to do some external work first. 
The 14th of March came around, and I got another text saying external work is complete and all is good to install on the 25th.

On the 23rd, which is a Saturday, I got an email in the morning stating that I needed to gather contact details for a Wayleave agreement for two of my neighbors. Despite one of these already being a virgin customer and not requiring a Wayleave.
They also postponed my installation indefinitely until this was arranged.

I argued that there must have been a mistake, as there is a clear route that doesn't involve crossing anyone's property. Given that one of the neighbors drive is concrete, I can't see any justifiable way that digging that up would be easier than following the path outside my house, which is where my neighbor's cable goes. 

It was agreed that an engineer would come out to survey the site. He took a video explaining the cable route that would avoid crossing anyone's property and then submitted it back to Virgin Media.
He then explained to me that it's unlikely it will be installed as a small patch of the path outside my house will need digging, and Virgin will not want to do it as it costs too much just to connect one house.

Following this and the confirmation from the engineer that a route not requiring a Wayleave was available, I tried contacting the Wayleave team again. To which I got a very blunt "Our engineers have confirmed that we will require permission from your neighbor to complete your installation" which to me seems like a blatant lie.

My theory at the moment is that Virgin doesn't want to install because the cost of installation outweighs the value of the contract, and they are using Wayleave as an excuse to get around the auto compensation scheme.

But so far, this has been one of the worst interactions with any company I've ever had, and I'm honestly amazed they still get away with it. 

[Adduxi]

There are many cases on these Forums of "unserviceable" properties.  One of the reasons is it not economical to do the installation work.  This can run to tens of thousands for civils etc. and VM will never re-coop the costs.  It's similar to Openreach, but at least they give the option for the householder to foot the bill if they choose, and these are generally eye watering ......

[Joseph_B]

Hey @VpFalcon,

Welcome to the Community Forums and thanks for the post.

Sorry to hear about your issues faced with this, can you confirm with this you have spoken to the Pre-Installation team on 0800 052 1734 since the engineer visit? They would be the ones to handle information re the installation and confirm anything through for you.

Joe

[VpFalcon]

Unfortunatly yes,

The pre-installation team say every time that they will get the wayleave team to contact me within 24 hours which usually doesn't happen.

I just find it crazy that the house right next to be can get a virgin service and I cannot.

[Zach_R]

Hi @VpFalcon,

I'm sorry to hear this. When did you last discuss this with the team and what did they advise? Do you have a signed wayleave agreement from the neighbours? This would still be needed regardless as to whether they're a Virgin Media customer or not.

Thanks,