Hi,
I placed my order for Virgin on the 21st December - Engineer install scheduled for the 16th Jan and the Pre-Install team would "Turn up sometime before the engineer visit", okay.
The Pre-Install planks turn up 1 day before the engineer install date, park on my neighbours drive and start surveying my neighbours property and then realise it's actually being installed on the property next door (???). They look at my driveway for 2 minutes and then get in their vans and are about to leave until I open the door and wave to them. They explained to me that they "don't have the tools" to do the install (What are you storing in 2 LWB Transit vans then?) and that additional work would need to be done to cut down the side of my driveway and lift some paving slabs, they explained that they weren't aware of the additional work but had they been told they would have been prepared for it. I asked them who turned up the day before and they were completely confused and didn't realise I have a doorbell camera, another Virgin engineer came the day before with a partner who was wearing hi-vis and they were taking pictures of my driveway, so someone at Virgin did have information but either didn't pass it on or there's just no communication - definitely the latter.
I said that's fine and told them to do what they need to do so they took some pictures, "raised it with their manager", didn't give me an estimate time when I asked and then left quicker than they arrived.
Engineer turns up the next day and he looks genuinely annoyed, he has no idea the cable hasn't be pulled so I relay the story to him. He says there is nothing he can do (fair enough) and then gives me the famous "I'll raise it with my manager" line before leaving.
Last night I was on the phone 5 times with customer service before I ran out of time. Each time it would take around 4 minutes just to go through the automated process and then get put through to someone, the music is so loud that my ears are bleeding and then the person who answers the phone immediately asks for my account number - one of the numbers I just spent the last 4 minutes entering on my keypad, why?!
I managed to get through to a sincere sounding offshore man who is going to put me on hold and "raise it with his manager" only to come back and find his manager is in a meeting...okay. He then spends the next 15 minutes with me trying to give me "Unlimited" data on my Virgin SIM as some sort of compensation - probably the most useless sort of compensation for an NHS worker that needs to manage 3 remote systems and now has no internet, brilliant. (I still don't have unlimited data on my plan so he didn't do anything in the end and just wasted my time) He then puts me through to the pre-installation team but before that he puts me back on hold, then I'm disconnected. Great.
The second time I call it's a similar case of "Ma'am I will talk to my manager please hold" and then the manager is in a meeting and they put me through to the pre-install team, this time I actually get through and manage to have a 10 minute discussion about the issue. I'm put on hold again a few times and then I'm disconnected, AGAIN.
This keeps going on until my final call which I finally get through to someone that isn't offshore and actually seems concerned about the whole situation, unfortunately we're running out of time and he promises to ring me back at 12:00-12:30 the following day, which is today. He even promised to stay on the line while transferring me to ensure that "they don't cut you off"- so he actually admits they cut people off on purpose, nice.
I'm still waiting for that phone call. I haven't gotten a single email either - every bit of communication has been on my end. I don't even know if I have a package or contract with you at this point because I've literally received nothing.
I just have a few questions really:
1. Why is the customer service line designed specifically to encourage people to give up and not bother? Seems like really bad business practice and I'm kind of shocked that Ofcom don't fine you for it.
2. Why is there no communication between the pre-install team and the engineer who does the last bit of the install? He could have been helping someone else out instead of turning up at my house for absolutely no reason.
3. How is it acceptable to leave an NHS worker without internet when this is supposed to be considered "essential", doesn't feel like it.
4. What is the date for my late non-pre install? Is it sometime this year?
Any help from the forum staff would be fab, cheers.
