New customer or so I thought

[Truck123456]

Me and my wife recently moved home never bothered having WiFi before just using data on our phones suited us fine, but where we have moved to has poor signal, so searched and found a good deal for broadband only with virgin, so went for it did all the necessary happy days, virgin is available in my area, this was on the 13/11/22 then received email to say you have a install date of 30/11/22 sweet things are moving fast, on the 30/11/22 a nice install engineer turned up and looked confused there was no cable for him to connect anything to, he calls his boss to find out more, turns out we have been put for rescheduling so it won’t be today, had a missed call from customer service and that was a joke 40 min of being passed around like an unwanted puppy, and got no straight answer, weeks passed before I noticed some green paint on the path outside by the wall then some ground work lads turned up dug a hole then filled it in. 
kept getting random calls from customer service about the delay, then got told a installation date of 20/01/23. 
I then get another call from customer service again in poor English saying sorry for the delay but we would like to offer you a free mobile broadband device while you are waiting to get you online it is completely free and no charge to me but we will have to run a 2nd credit check on you? 
This didn’t sound right so I declined it. 
I also received various email in December and January about delayed installation I then get another install date of 20/02/23 at this point I really don’t care anymore, some groundwork crew has already been out and sprayed arrows all over the path outside in white paint to say where cabling goes, then a few days later get another poor English call say very sorry about the delay but we won’t be able to install at your address, I then tell them they have sent me a email with a installation date, I then hear some confused sounds (bit like Lizz Truss did) then get oh hang on I think you’re the wrong customer, after some silence yea sorry your installation will be on the 20/2/23 thank you bye.
Now I’m confused am I getting virgin media or not? 
Anyway I can do the 20/2/23 as I’m at work so I change the appointment to the 28/2/23 on the app. 
A few days later 9/2/23 get a email saying we have had to cancel your order as were unable to bring virgin media services to your home. 
so I tried to chat with one of the team in the chat box to find out why this has been cancelled after an hour of waiting I get to rate the person that has dealt with my issue ? It would have been nice if they even responded. 
Can anyone explain to me why this has now been cancelled? 
There is cable in the street as 2 properties to my right have it. 
A little more detail on why would have been appreciated, not just sorry we can’t bring services to you. 
Poor show all round Virgin media. 

[Andrew-G · Accepted solution]

Usually a cancellation is because the cost of the works to connect you exceed the set budget for new connections.  There's no appeal, no argument, that's what has been decided, and unless you're prepared to pay the connection costs (potentially in the £500-1,500 range) that's it.  

At least you should be able to get delayed installation compensation from 30/11 up to 30 days after they issued a formal "cease notice" telling you they were not going to pay any more compensation.  You should expect to have to go to complaint and ombudsman services to get that, as well as to have to check with the council highways team when VM pretend that the delays were all the council's fault, or invent other spurious excuses like "it was a two man job and we only had one man", or "our original install date was an estimate", or "we don't work on Wednesday mornings" etc.  

[jpeg1]

Ironically, Virgin might have found it cheaper to continue with the installation (and gained a paying customer) than write off the work already done and pay the compensation. 

But that would have required joined-up thinking. So it was never going to happen. 

[Chris_W1]

Hi Truck123456, thanks for the message and welcome to the forums. 

I am sorry to hear that there is a delay to the installation. I will send you a PM to see why this has been cancelled. 

Kind regards, Chris. 

[Truck123456]

I didn’t know that I would be eligible for compensation, I have not received anything from virgin about that would I have to apply for it?

[Truck123456]

Thank you Chris PM replied to

[Andrew-G]

---

@Truck123456 wrote:

I didn’t know that I would be eligible for compensation, I have not received anything from virgin about that would I have to apply for it?

---

In theory it's automatic, and you could wait the 30 days from the date the job was cancelled to see if it turns up as a cheque, and for the correct amount.  From comments in this forum I can see VM sometimes try to minimise the amount they pay with whatever spurious excuses come to hand, so I wouldn't be too surprised if the cheque was not automatically generated, or if turned up well short of the amount due.

[Truck123456]

Andrew-G 

You hit the nail on the head dude, they say it will exceed the budget to connect me so have decided to say the property is unserviceable.
I’ve also had no offer of would I like to pay to have the cable installed at a cost to myself, which I would of entertained, even if they would of said if you take out the full package to make it worth our while installing at your property I would of also considered that! 
It’s a joke that virgin say they are available at the postcode and house number, so you go through the process and wait just to receive nothing. 

And when I check online now with virgin it says yes we are available in your area but when I put my house number in it asks for more information on where I live but if I put any of my neighbours it’s says yes we are available? 

I thought they would have changed this for the whole postcode but then that may be thinking, guess virgin will want to waste there time and other peoples. 

So now looks like I’m looking for a broadband deal again onwards and upwards 👍

And will wait to see if I do get offer of any compensation but I’m not holding my breath, guess I will have to be chasing that as well lol. 

[Kath_F]

Hi Truck123456, 

Thanks for coming back to us on this one and we're sorry to learn that your house is not serviceable. 

We don't currently have an option of allowing homeowners to contribute towards the cost of an installation however we will pass your feedback on regarding this. 

It's not uncommon for us to be able to install one house on a street but not one across the road or neighbouring. As long as the work falls within budget, the house would remain serviceable. 

In terms of any compensation, the account is automatically assessed for this. If eligible then the credits would be applied right away. You can view the criteria here. 

Let us know if you have any further queries or questions. 

Thanks,