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Poor Pre-Installation Workmanship

bracken866
Joining in

So today I had my pre-installation for broadband service which I didn’t know when they were coming or wasn’t even given a heads up and wasn’t home when they first arrived! There were many things that I didn’t want them to do and where I wanted them to put a new box but could see and hear everything that was being discussed with them via the good old ring video doorbell! 

After getting back from going out for breakfast with my son I came to the realisation that they used the fastest and easiest way to ‘lay cable’ right over the top of flags and then proceeded to point it in not even attempting to bury the cable or think to run the cable right around the garden in which they wouldn’t of had to do this god awful job of attempting to point it in. At this point it was too late when I saw what they were doing they’d already finished. I told the guys that that is not good enough and you should of lifted the flags and relaid and his response was so you want to have a go! And if I did that they would go back down level! Well they would if you did it correctly (Know from experience) All this is recorded by the way! Here’s me thinking that your cables need to be buried between 1-6 inch? To avoid cables accidentally being cut, damaged or vandalised!? 

im not by far saying the flags are laid perfectly to begin with I haven’t got round to ‘re-vamping’ the front garden as I’ve not long lived here but what they have left me with is a eye sore and is going to wind me up no end 

What are my options here as I am far from pleased from the poor workmanship they’ve left behind, the cement they’ve left on the flags and step and being in the construction industry for the last 15+ year’s. It would not fly if I was charging for this I would not expect to be paid and if I had to pay someone to do this I simply wouldn’t pay until it was done correctly or at least to a decent standard

I wouldn’t mind they didn’t even knock the door or ring the doorbell, I would of given them the route to the house and they have just connected the cables to the old NTL box that was previously on the wall which is probably about 30 years old and needs to be replaced also

I would really appreciate some advice on this and how virgin are going to rectify the poor quality of work! I haven’t even had the installer come yet either so your definitely off to a great start here as a new customer!

11 REPLIES 11

As this concerns property damage, the normal escalation route for complaints about VM (to CISAS) isn't an available option, as property damage is outside CISAS' remit.  So if you've got a big bill, and it seems VM should pay as its down to their faulty workmanship, then you need to consider one of the following:

1) Contact Citizens Advice and see what your rights are.  Free, sometimes excellent, sometimes not quite so useful

2) See a lawyer.  About £100 for the first consultation, but potentially then leading down an increasingly legal route with high expenses.  If you end up in court and win you should get the expenses back, but this can be slow and stressful.  In my view lawyers don't have a good reputation for handling small consumer rights cases.

3) Join Which Legal.  £99, but that's for a year's unlimited legal advice.  They'll explain your rights, what wording to use in letters, and if you do need to initiate legal action they'll help you with making a claim yourself.  You could try adding that to the cost of the claim against VM.

In terms of the residual damage after cleaning, if a trade cleaning service has not removed it, I suspect you're stuck with it unless you're prepared to risk further more aggressive work that may cause physical damage to the stone.  That may be unwise, since if that didn't work, I reckon it's unlikely a court (if it should go that far, which hopefully it won't) would agree to the ultimate fix of relaying new stone.  I think you might reasonably demand compensation for (1) poor handling of the original work, poor handling of the complaint, the cost of cleaning, and an amount in respect of the residual and probably permanent damage, but all of this is getting complicated and you now need professional advice.  Personally I'd go with Which Legal as they helped me secure a £30,000 settlement in an employment dispute (the best £99 I've ever spent), you might want to see if Citizens Advice can help first.  And perhaps give the forum staff this last chance to get you a settlement offer before taking matters to the next level?  VM have a history of paltry compensation offers - if that applies here it's your choice whether to take a low offer because that's the path of least resistance, or to hold out for what you think is reasonable.

bracken866
Joining in

Thanks guys. 

It’s just so frustrating and the fact their customer service is so poor, it’s like they’re inviting added issues to them not replying and being hard work. It my house, my garden, my flags they’ve just took the easy and laziest way of doing something that involved more work do they work like this all the time? I find it hard to believe a company like this can get away such poor workmanship  I’d be bankrupt if I worked like them

I asked them a simple question as I’m a joiner that if I hung 15 doors and 14 of them were either too big needed planing or dragging on the carpet not latching and so on would you pay me the full amount for 15 doors or would you only pay me for fitting 1. I know personally I wouldn’t expect to be paid anything in fact I know it would be me that would be buying 14 new doors but so far no one has answered it