Virgin Media Community

[LukeusJ91]

Hi all. I haven’t even had my internet set up you and I’m so deeply disappointed. I decide to swap to Virgin from Sky and took the 500mb package out for faster speeds. My contract with sky ends on the 10th February. I ordered the package on the 10th January to make sure Sky will be ending when virgin starts. Well that’s what I thought. I’ve just had a message telling me they won’t be installing til the 25th. If I’d have known they would push the date back by two weeks I would have ordered installation for the week after the 10th January as much closer installation dates were available. So what are my options? My partner is a lead nurse in paediatric Emergency department and they are currently interviewing for new support workers and interviewing from home due to covid so we can’t have no internet for two weeks. We needs a quick resolution to this as i may be forced to call sky and stay on with them. We gave virgin a month to send somebody out to survey the job and they send somebody out the day before installation. This just isn’t good enough.

[nodrogd]

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@LukeusJ91 wrote:

Hi all. I haven’t even had my internet set up you and I’m so deeply disappointed. I decide to swap to Virgin from Sky and took the 500mb package out for faster speeds. My contract with sky ends on the 10th February. I ordered the package on the 10th January to make sure Sky will be ending when virgin starts. Well that’s what I thought. I’ve just had a message telling me they won’t be installing til the 25th. If I’d have known they would push the date back by two weeks I would have ordered installation for the week after the 10th January as much closer installation dates were available. So what are my options? My partner is a lead nurse in paediatric Emergency department and they are currently interviewing for new support workers and interviewing from home due to covid so we can’t have no internet for two weeks. We needs a quick resolution to this as i may be forced to call sky and stay on with them. We gave virgin a month to send somebody out to survey the job and they send somebody out the day before installation. This just isn’t good enough.

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Many problems, such as blocked ducts, are only found when a cable pull is attempted. These are also two-man contractor jobs, which with current COVID restrictions are causing delays, as repair repulls for existing/vulnerable customers take priority. Blockage removal then requires council permits & a third party construction team to get involved. I always advise people that if your new provider uses a seperate wired network to the one you are connected to now, then it is a good idea to overlap your service with your existing provider in case of unforseen problems.

[LukeusJ91]

Or it could be a good idea if they send someone out to survey the property in a timely manner rather than the day before and installation. It doesn’t even need to be that timely to be honest they’ve had a month.

[Z92 · Accepted solution]

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@LukeusJ91 wrote:

Or it could be a good idea if they send someone out to survey the property in a timely manner rather than the day before and installation. It doesn’t even need to be that timely to be honest they’ve had a month.

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If someone is going to come out and check that all the ducting is clear and suitable for a cable then they might as well push the cable down at the same time as they need to lift up all the man hole covers and surround them in appropriate safety guarding whilst they do this, and may have to do this for several hundred meters at times. It's just not practical. 

[LukeusJ91]

It’s not practical to provide good customer service and come promptly to a property see what is needed for installation? 

[Z92]

Even if they came to the property, like I said, that doesn't say what they need until they've lifted all the CATV grids between your property and the local cabinet where they will be connecting you, and this isn't even done by virgin - its done by outside contractors as this is deemed "construction work" and is done by construction workers, not engineers. 

The only part that is done at your property is connecting the outside cable to the inside cable. 

[TS1908]

Hello, I'm also about to log a query about the quality of installation so sadly you are not alone.

What I'm beginning to wonder is how we all put up with this poor level of customer service?  We don't seem to protest by leaving but I see in the papers such as The Times ress that have picked up issues from Virgin Media broadband customers that we seem to tolerate months of inaction.

I'm actually going to be posting in this forum because I came across some comments that said this was the only way to get your complaint dealt with.

Anyway hope you get somewhere.

[LukeusJ91]

I’ve just got off the phone after 2 hours and 18 mins and been passed to 7 different operators. The last one was going to pass me over again. Operator number 4 said they could provide me with a free dongle until my internet is installed. Got to operator number 7 and she still couldn’t sort the dongle but she said the next person I got to will definitely sort it but it will be a £60 charge. I’m now calling sky to see about renewing a deal with them. Absolutely atrocious customer service. 

[LukeusJ91]

Well come earlier then? See what needs doing so they’re ready to install on the day. As I said they’ve had month. I don’t see why you’re making excuses for shoddy customer service. Have you read my other post about the phone call? In what world is that acceptable? 

[Z92 · Accepted solution]

I think you are missing a few important points:

You ordered a month before you want the service, people change there mind and cancel before installation so no point wasting money on installing something that you are not going to use. 

We are in a pandemic and in lockdown, staff are working from home due to this. You can't expect to click your fingers and expect someone to turn up the next day and start threading cables for you when other companies like BT have suspended all such installations until at least March. 

Lastly, if you wanted the installation earlier, why didn't you arrange for the installation earlier? You request installation in a months time and then expect people to come as soon as possible to start the installation. That's just daft.