Property Damage

[Disgruntled15]

Hello, 

We have been in our new build property for nearly two years. Virgin have just finished cabling in our area. A few weeks ago a sales representative knocked on the door and offered us a good deal. 

However, BT had already hardwired into the property when built. We didn’t want another gray box on the front of the house. The salesman assured this wouldn’t happen as they rent the lines from BT so already plugged into the house. Sounded great and we agreed. 

A few days later I returned home to a large gray box on the front of my house. I am absolutely furious. Nowhere was this stated to be happening and at no point have I been contacted for permission to install this on my property. 

I contacted Virgin immediately to cancel and ask for this to be removed immediately. They sent someone out to survey the box and he said it would be removed and made good in a day or two. 

A few weeks have now passed, no one has returned and because I don’t have an account number I am being passed around like I don’t exist. I am planning on taking legal action due to the property damage. Does anyone have a contact I can speak to who can actually help with fixing this issue rather than being passed around random call centres repeatedly. To say this is a shambles is an understatement! 

Many thanks! 

[unisoft]

OK, light humour, get ready for the great Benny Hill chase with VM 🙂

https://tenor.com/en-GB/view/benny-hill-gif-9109250

[nodrogd]

No. VM don't rent lines from BT except in areas where there is no VM infrastructure, & then only for business connections, not residential. They can use BT ducts if there is an arrangement in place, but this is the only thing they share on residential connections.

[Kath_F]

Hi Disgruntled15, 

Thanks for taking the time to contact us via the Community. It's lovely having you on board with us in the Forums. ⭐

We're sorry to hear you were not made aware that an external box would be required. Whilst we do use telephone posts to carry the fibre cables in some areas, an external box would still be needed in order for us to provide you with a fibre connection. This would have been in terms and conditions when signing up. 

You would have also have been provided with an account number in your welcome pack once the account was set up and engineer installation arranged. It may be worth checking your email and spam folders for this, in case you need it moving forward. 

We can raise this with the installation teams, as a complaint for you and they can then liaise with you to get things resolved. In order to do that I will need to confirm some information with you to pass security. 

I have sent you a direct message to allow us to do this with you in a private space. If you are using a PC/Laptop then you can just click on the little ✉ at the top right-hand side of the page to access your inbox. If you are on a mobile/tablet device then instead click on the little circle icon in the top right then select 'Messages'. 😊

Thanks, 

[jpeg1]

The VM sales person simply lied to you, to get their commision. It's what they do.

'

[Rosebush18]

As jpeg1 said, quite eloquently, yes the VM rep simply lied to you. But the situation now is that you signed up and have a box attached to the front of your property. Now, do you still want to continue with VM? If yes then the second box absolutely has to stay. If not then VM probably won’t remove the box on the grounds that it is a requirement for taking their service, which you, apparently signed up for.

As for taking legal action, fine, that is your right. But do you have absolute ‘proof’ that the VM rep said what you claim? Remember, you are the one initiating the action, the onus is on YOU to prove what you claim, otherwise you will lose.

Look, I do know that it is annoying, but realistically, if you are sure that you don’t want VM services and have cancelled any putative contract, then just remove the box yourself and any cables, dump the whole lot, make good the wall and take the whole thing as a learning experience.

[Tudor]

I think you will find that most of these ‘sales people’ are not employed by VM, but are independent contractors. They will say anything to get a sale and most probably have no idea of the logistics and technical issues involved. You have unfortunately learnt the hard way that when speaking to any ‘sales person’ you should always record the conversation whether  it’s over the phone or face to face. Without these details is an uphill task to get a solution.