Replacement incoming cable

[Neal2]

Hi I have been told by Virgin media technician that I need my cable which feeds the house replacing, contractors NMC turned up to do the job Wednesday 23 June but found the cable duct blocked they marked up the pavement & said someone would return in the next couple of days ? No one has returned yet. Could anyone help with a contact which doesn’t involve 45min wait on the phone.

[Tudor]

It’s possible that it will be a lot longer than that. The contractors probably need to get council permission to dig up the pavement and councils seem to move very slowly in this area. Could be weeks.

[-tony-]

they usually send another team and maybe another one after that to try and clear the duct with push rods - if they cannot do it then its a digging job and as Tudor says thats not going to happen in a couple of days - they need to apply for a permit from your local council and most of them are slow to do the paperwork - 6 weeks minimum - longer for many

[Kath_F]

Hi Neal2, 

Thanks for your post and apologies to hear that you are having to have an external cable replaced. 

As mentioned by the Community users above, this may be something that takes a lot longer than a few days. I can see there is an appointment booked in currently where a team will attend to try and resolve this. 

We cannot confirm the appointment time slot publicly, so to view this please sign in to My Virgin Media here: My VM

Hopefully things will go smoothly and the replacement cable can be run then. If not the team will advise the next steps 🙂

Please lets us know how the appointment goes. 

Take care.

[Neal2]

Hi thanks for the reply. I understand about the council paperwork etc but it would have been better if the contractors who tried to rod the duct hadn’t told me someone would be out in the next couple of days to dig up the pavement ready for the new cable. Also I would have thought a courtesy update email from Virgin would be have been the least they could do for a disgruntled customer. I’ve gone over 8 months now not being able to stream or watch catch up but still been charged every month for the service.

[Travis_M]

My apologies for the inconvenience @Neal2

Please keep us updated on how the appointment goes.

Regards

[Neal2]

Hi. Update on my new cable. I’m still in exactly the same position as over a month ago. After the original virgin technician had advised I needed a replacement in coming cable I’ve had 3 gangs from North Midland Construction (virgin sub contractors) visit gang 1 confirmed duct was blocked two week wait gang two dug up the pavement but could not locate the duct, two week wait gang three turned up to yet again confirm duct is blocked two week wait gang four did not appear after waiting in. I’ve now had a text from virgin to say work has been re scheduled in another two weeks. I’ve only received a partial service for over eight months but have been charged over £94 each month. Both Virgin & their contractors should be ashamed of the treatment of loyal customers.

[Zak_M]

Good morning @Neal2 

Thank you for keeping us updated.

I have just taken a quick look over your account and can see that you managed to speak with our support team yesterday , have they been able to confirm that the appointment is due to take place? 

Kind regards,

Zak_M

[Andrew-G · Accepted solution]

@Neal2  I’ve only received a partial service for over eight months but have been charged over £94 each month

I'm sure the forum staff can arrange for the appropriate team to offer generous compensation for the poor connection, the hassle and poor service in getting it fixed, and any no-show appointments. 

Of course, if they can't, there's always the formal complaint route.  Read and follow the VM Consumer Complaints Code of Practice, and make the complaint in writing using the online form in My Virgin Media.   If VM don't sort your complaint out to your complete satisfaction (which is possible - the performance of complaints is handled to VM's customary high standards), then after eight weeks you can escalate to the industry arbitration scheme CISAS.  If escalating to CSIAS it doesn't matter whether VM reject the complaint, lose it, ignore it, close it, or offer no acceptable resolution, all that matters is that the company have had the opportunity to make things right and have failed at that.  Make sure your complaint is clear, starts from the beginning, includes as much detail as possible on the contacts you've had with VM, particularly when you first noticed the problems and raised them with the company, and including (if relevant) any rudeness, long waits, being cut off or disconnected. It should also specify exactly what outcome you want.

Formal complaints are slow, and should be a last resort, so see if the forum staff can sort something good out.  That would be quicker and easier for you, and cheaper for VM (because your complaint would certainly be upheld if this had to be escalated to CISAS).

[Neal2]

Hi thanks for the reply. It was a morning appointment I had yesterday when they did not show for 14.00hrs I spoke with virgin who said they could track them & they would definitely come later in the afternoon between 17.00 & 18.00hrs but nobody appeared.