Installation delays because of fake permit excuses.

[Megatronman]

I took out a Volt contract with VM for 1.3GB Fibre on 2nd Nov 2022 and was told that an VM engineer was booked for the 28th Nov. Outside contractor was booked for the 9th Nov, they  turned up on 25th Nov and couldn't get fibre to the BT wall box at my home because of an obstruction. 

Pre install team advised outside contractors would be back on the 30th Nov, no show!, rebooked for 1st Dec, no show! rebooked for 2nd Dec, no show!.

Then on 5th Dec I got a text saying my VM engineer appointment was rescheduled to 28th Jan 2023. I contacted the pre install team and was advised that there was an issue with my title deeds, there wasn't!!!, then I was told that a  council permit has been refused to do the outside work???, and that another application has been requested to complete my install and this was the reason for the canx VM engineers and the 3 month delay for VM to provide my services.

On the 6th Dec, I contacted my Council's Roads and Planning Dept and they advised that no permit application had been made or refused and that a permit was not required as no council restrictions were needed for my street or property.

Either the 3rd party contractors are blatantly lying to VM or the Pre install team are deliberately delaying installs because of workloads??

Can VM explaine how this situation exists, especially when you are required to compensate the customer for this delay and as advised by Ofcom compensate starts from the first missed delay in providing the service to the customer  meaning that VM will be paying me from the 9th November 2022 till the 28th January 2023 based on either a lie by 3rd part contractors or a deliberate delay caused VM's pre install team.

I note from the community's forum that many customers are being told they can't get their installations done due to permit delays when permits are and have never been applied for or needed!.

Virgin Media need to investigate this as a matter of urgency.

[Chris_W1]

Hi Megatronman, thanks for the message and welcome to the forums. 

I am sorry to hear about the experience which you have had with us and this is not the experience which we want you to have with us. 

I will send you a private message so that this can be looked into further. 

Kind regards, Chris. 

[jem101]

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@Megatronman wrote:

I took out a Volt contract with VM for 1.3GB Fibre on 2nd Nov 2022 and was told that an VM engineer was booked for the 28th Nov. Outside contractor was booked for the 9th Nov, they  turned up on 25th Nov and couldn't get fibre to the BT wall box at my home because of an obstruction. 

Pre install team advised outside contractors would be back on the 30th Nov, no show!, rebooked for 1st Dec, no show! rebooked for 2nd Dec, no show!.

Then on 5th Dec I got a text saying my VM engineer appointment was rescheduled to 28th Jan 2023. I contacted the pre install team and was advised that there was an issue with my title deeds, there wasn't!!!, then I was told that a  council permit has been refused to do the outside work???, and that another application has been requested to complete my install and this was the reason for the canx VM engineers and the 3 month delay for VM to provide my services.

On the 6th Dec, I contacted my Council's Roads and Planning Dept and they advised that no permit application had been made or refused and that a permit was not required as no council restrictions were needed for my street or property.

Either the 3rd party contractors are blatantly lying to VM or the Pre install team are deliberately delaying installs because of workloads??

Can VM explaine how this situation exists, especially when you are required to compensate the customer for this delay and as advised by Ofcom compensate starts from the first missed delay in providing the service to the customer  meaning that VM will be paying me from the 9th November 2022 till the 28th January 2023 based on either a lie by 3rd part contractors or a deliberate delay caused VM's pre install team.

I note from the community's forum that many customers are being told they can't get their installations done due to permit delays when permits are and have never been applied for or needed!.

Virgin Media need to investigate this as a matter of urgency.

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And I do think you have hit the nail securely on the head! The old 'sorry we didn't get you connected up for ten years, but we were waiting for Council Permits' excuse, no, outright lie, has been fairly commonly reported on here. I suspect they rely on customers not being aware that it's perfectly possible to check it for themselves and call VM out where necessary.

Ultimately, the issue is that VM have decided for business reasons (and fair enough, their company, their right to run it as they see (un)fit), to outsource a great deal of the pre-install work to various contractors and sub-contractors. In itself that's not necessary a bad thing (even if they do pick the lowest bidder), what does become a problem is that VM seem to have completely abrogated any responsibility or oversight as to what said contractors are doing. They basically don't know when, or even if, you will be connected up, and frankly as a company, neither do they care!

You are entitled to compensation of £5.25 per day from the first go-live date, not any pre-install work, so that will be 28th November, not 9th, sorry! Nothing has actually been rebooked, as such - it works like this, the contractors tell VM that the job should be done on, say 1st, and that is what appears on the system when you check and crucially this is what the customer services staff see on their screen. Now VM have no way of knowing if it will actually be done, and when 1st comes and goes and the job has not been logged as completed, then it simply rolls on to the next day. You see a 'rebooked' job for 2nd, the CS staff see that 'it is booked for today - yes I know it's 6 o'clock and dark out but it will definitely be done today, you can be 'rest assured' (sic)'.

Rinse and repeat.......

[M_star99 · Accepted solution]

I personally think its area/engineer availability related.   I was meant to have a council permit but the vm contractor came next day! Saying they have it I didn't or never heard of a 24hr permit approval process, but apparently they have a direct person who just approve it.  I don't know but the engineers where fab, and my neighbours all say the same. I asked everyone one before I signed up.  So must be something relating to where you live and who comes and serves that area.    

[Megatronman]

Hi, Regarding compensation from VM. After Contacting Ofcom, I was informed that the automatic compensation process now includes the failure of communication providers ability to resolve each service issue includes pre activation delays that impact the customers ability to recieve their services. I was advised that delays and cancelled appointments to provide services prior to activation by 3rd party contractors employed by communication providers to minimise the disruption to the customer will constitute a failure to resolve a service issue and compensation will apply if pre activation works managed either directly or indirectly unreasonable cause delay in providing the service after the initial pre installation date was provided by the communication provider. This change by Ofcom allows me to claim from the 9th November as VM provided and cancelled my pre install date and then failed on multiple times to attend revised pre install dates extending the delay in providing their services. I was also advised that the same compensation rules for engineer installation cancellations by the communication provider is set at a standard £25 per day compensation for each canceled appointment would also apply to each pre install cancellation by a 3rd party contractor that is attached to any existing  communication providers failure to resolve a service issue.

Ofcom had requested me to provide a full statement of my VM issues and provide to them my email communications from Glasgow City Council's Road and Planning Department regarding their response for confirmation of any specific permit applications relating to my property and their confirmation that no permit was requested or refused by GCC planning department contury to VM's reasons for a 3 month delay in providing my services.

[jpeg1]

Thank you for pursuing this with ofcom and posting here. If Virginmedia are hit with cases like this and have to pay substantial amounts of compensation they might, just might, have to clean up their installation process.  And that would do everyone a favour. 

[goslow]

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@Megatronman wrote:

<snip>

Ofcom had requested me to provide a full statement of my VM issues and provide to them my email communications from Glasgow City Council's Road and Planning Department regarding their response for confirmation of any specific permit applications relating to my property and their confirmation that no permit was requested or refused by GCC planning department contury to VM's reasons for a 3 month delay in providing my services.

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Kudos to you for doing your own detective work to get to the truth of the delays.

For my own interest (and the benefit of anyone reading this in future) by what route did you contact OFCOM and how did you get them to take an interest in the matter?

The OFCOM doc on the compensation requirements is here (although the rates quoted are out of date)

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

The correct/current rates are here

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

Good luck with progressing your case!

[joangray71]

I too am having problems, only mines is a cut fibre cable outside my garden in the street about 12ft..

I have no broadband or phone and my mum is prone to falls and relies on Alexa if she falls but now it's terrified she'll fall if she's home alone.

Since November 24th nothing an indoor engineer came out on 28th but could do nothing. Then he said the correct one would come out that day or the next. No-one showed I was then told they would come out on the 13th December.... Then I got a text they'd be out on the 30th November, 2nd December, 3rd, 5th, 7th 8th, 9th then I was told 4th January and my 78 year old is on the vulnerable list and they know she relies on Alexa.

They also lied saying they had been out but they need to dig up the street and my drive.... This was a lie and I told them it was a lie as the street is already dug up because CityFibre left it so it was easy for Virgin to repair it and it is no where near my drive it goes from street into garden to house.

They hung up on me!

Then the next one I spoke to them admitted no-one has been out that they were booking the jobs but not booking anyone to do the job.

So I'm now left wondering if the job will ever get done in left in limbo and I'm eating through the data on my phone trying to deal with this.

It's supposed to be getting investigated and I've been told they're contacting the local team in Glasgow.... That was on the 5th December I've heard nothing since.

[jem101]

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@joangray71 wrote:

I too am having problems, only mines is a cut fibre cable outside my garden in the street about 12ft..

I have no broadband or phone and my mum is prone to falls and relies on Alexa if she falls but now it's terrified she'll fall if she's home alone.

Since November 24th nothing an indoor engineer came out on 28th but could do nothing. Then he said the correct one would come out that day or the next. No-one showed I was then told they would come out on the 13th December.... Then I got a text they'd be out on the 30th November, 2nd December, 3rd, 5th, 7th 8th, 9th then I was told 4th January and my 78 year old is on the vulnerable list and they know she relies on Alexa.

They also lied saying they had been out but they need to dig up the street and my drive.... This was a lie and I told them it was a lie as the street is already dug up because CityFibre left it so it was easy for Virgin to repair it and it is no where near my drive it goes from street into garden to house.

They hung up on me!

Then the next one I spoke to them admitted no-one has been out that they were booking the jobs but not booking anyone to do the job.

So I'm now left wondering if the job will ever get done in left in limbo and I'm eating through the data on my phone trying to deal with this.

It's supposed to be getting investigated and I've been told they're contacting the local team in Glasgow.... That was on the 5th December I've heard nothing since.

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The repair job will be done when and if the contractors get around to doing it - and there is absolutely nothing that you, indeed neither VM, can be done to expedite this.

Your elderly Mum reliant in an internet connection? Well from VM’s corporate perspective, well sorry about that, but tough, do one!

[joangray71]

@jem101

"The repair job will be done when and if the contractors get around to doing it - and there is absolutely nothing that you, indeed neither VM, can be done to expedite this.

Your elderly Mum reliant in an internet connection? Well from VM’s corporate perspective, well sorry about that, but tough, do one!"

Why don't you go "do one" you nasty tw*t