New contract

[wrightyp]

Hi

I wonder if one of the moderators can help.

I signed up to a new contract last night.  We signed up for the 100mb service and among other things  (set-up fee waived, contribution towards our early payment fee from Plusnet) we were promised the Hub4 router in place of the Hub3.  It now appears that this was not something he could promise because every other agent I have spoken to has rubbished this claim.  Effectively they are calling me a liar.

What do I need to do to speak to someone senior as I have just been hung up on by an agent after asking?

Regards,

Paul

[Adduxi]

Just be aware as far as I know, there is a shortage of Hubs at the moment, and the 100 tier does not need a Hub 4.  There is no difference in performance between the two, except when going above 600 then a Hub 4 is needed.

[LittleMick73]

Hi you will find the hub 3 is very good and reliable, I have read some posts on here where some people have not been happy with the hub 4. Regards Micky

[wrightyp]

Thank you Adduxi, we are not going live until the new year.  Our install date is set for the back end of January 2022.

We have a pre-install survey booked for next week so I am in no real rush.  It was just my upset (tinged with a little anger) at being promised one thing by the sales agent and then being told (in no uncertain terms) by a rather rude lady that we would only get the Hub3.

[wrightyp]

Thanks Littlemick73.  I have been hearing the opposite but I have no experience of either so can't be sure.  I think I am more upset (angry) at the sales agents tone with me.

[jem101]

@wrightyp I have absolutely no doubt that your claim of what the original salesman told you is the complete truth. The problem is that he certainly wouldn't have been in any position to guarantee a particular hub (so that was just a sales gimmick to persuade you to sign up). What's more worrying is the claim to waive the setup fee (I believe this is sometimes done), and there have been quite a few posters on here claiming they were told they'd have part or all of their existing ISP contract paid off by VM - but I have yet to see anyone say that this promise was actually honoured!

What I expect you will get is installation of a Hub 3 (and as others have said this would be perfectly fine), the installation fee still on your first bill, and you'll have to fight to get it removed, and a big bill from your existing ISP for early termination and VM saying 'not our problem, nothing to do with us'

Having said that VM would be legally obliged to honour any and all terms which you were promised, although the onus would be on you to prove they were made. VM could also decline to provide service on those terms and simply cancel the contract outright.

[Hayley_S]

Hello @wrightyp,

Welcome back! Thank you for posting on here.

I am sorry to see that you have had a bad experience with our sales team.

Have you raised a complaint on the account? If not we can do this for you and work for a resolution together.

Many thanks,

[wrightyp]

Hi @Hayley_S

I did raise a complaint.  The three items I had to query were. No install fee, early termination fees covered and supply of a Hub4.

They agreed to waive the install fee and cover any early termination costs.  The item they refused to honour was the sales agents promise that we would be getting the Hub4 rather that the Hub3.  He sold me the 100mb package on the basis that if we needed extra speed it was easier to upgrade and he stated we would not be able to downgrade our speed, but that the Hub4 was a better router and we should have that and not the Hub3.

Regards

Paul

[-tony-]

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@wrightyp wrote:

Hi @Hayley_S

I did raise a complaint.  The three items I had to query were. No install fee, early termination fees covered and supply of a Hub4.

They agreed to waive the install fee and cover any early termination costs.  The item they refused to honour was the sales agents promise that we would be getting the Hub4 rather that the Hub3.  He sold me the 100mb package on the basis that if we needed extra speed it was easier to upgrade and he stated we would not be able to downgrade our speed, but that the Hub4 was a better router and we should have that and not the Hub3.

Regards

Paul

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2 out of 3 is not bad at this stage - hopefully you have it in writing - waiving the installation fee is certainly in the hands of VM agents - paying early termination fees - thats rare - think of hens teeth but maybe they have

what you were told on the hub3/4 is complete rubbish - as hubs on 100 down they are equaly good or bad depending on what you read - all settings the same and wifi no different - again good or bad depending on many things

the hub4 is needed for the higher speeds and can help lower speeds in certain areas - upgrading speed on whichever hub depends on what speeds you may want - it sounds like the agent had a little bit of knowledge and was building on that

the hub3 is fine up to 600 - using a hub4 on speeds upto 600 will have absolutely no impact on the connection - over 600 you need a hub4 - its really as simple as that

you are perfectly entitled to push for a hub4 as thats what you were promises but technically it will have no effect on your 100 connections

it seems you won the 2 issues that matter - your choice to settle for that or not - the hub 3 or 4 is just a matter of winning the war if you choose to push it

[Tudor]

You say you are no moving until early next year. One thing to consider is that for some users all the VM hubs do not give full coverage of WiFi throughout the home. A large number of people have purchased their own networking equipment. I would seriously think about what you need before the install. The options are:

1) A WiFi Access Point located upstairs hard wired back to the VM hub 

2) A Mesh system

3) A retail router with WiFi/network switch all in one box (may still not give good WiFi upstairs)

4) Option 1 & 4

There are a large number of users on the board who can offer advise (sometimes contradictory!).