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Severely delayed installation - what to do?

VMSA66
Tuning in

Hi,

You're not alone. I had fibre connected outside my house in November 2021. December 2021 VM install engineer came out and said the fibre is broken and they can't fix it, it has to be the cabling team. I've made a call and they'll be out in a few hours, i'll get you setup today, my next booking is the house opposite so don't worry. Never saw them again. No one ever come out to fix it. Contacted VM, again no cabling come to fix it.

March 2022, VM engineer turns up, says there is a break in the fibre and needs to be fixed by the cabling team.

April 2022. VM Engineer is due Monday but still no one from the cabling team has been out. I have chased this one every 48 hours, each time I contact VM I get told they are coming this week, nope, chased this week, guaranteed by Friday, guess what, no one turned up. I've been told:

1. We'll send you a 4G router while you have no internet: Nope, never got one

2. It has been escalated with a "manager", chased the next day and said we can't do that, you were told incorrect we can only fill in form.

3. Next time "I'll speak to the cabling team now, Hold on..." They have confirmed they will be out by Friday 8th April. No one ever come.

I have raised complaints about the run-around I am getting. It gets raised then 30 seconds later I get a resolution saying we've closed your complaint. Yet the problem with the service is outstanding....

Am I made for pursuing VM? Clearly they don't want my money.


1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions

Andrew-G
Alessandro Volta

@VMSA66 Keep diligent records, because VM's track record is that they sometimes try and dodge even their own "automatic compensation" scheme rules.  That's what happened with the customer who had a full one year delayed install.  On the plus side, five months or more at £5 or so a day will add up to a tidy little sum and sometimes VM just credit it without any action. 

If you cancel the installation, VM will say that under their auto-compensation scheme rules they only offer compensation as a credit against an existing customer account.  Whilst that's true for VM, that doesn't mean that you're not entitled to compensation for their failure to deliver the service with reasonable skill and care, as required by the Consumer Rights Act 2015.  So if you find yourself in that situation, don't be put off, just raise a formal postal complaint with VM, wait for that to be fobbed off, and escalate the matter to CISAS asking for compensation (and in addition to the delays itself, report any instances of broken promises of installation, of call backs, etc, or any instances of being cut off, long phone delays or rudeness).

See where this Helpful Answer was posted

51 REPLIES 51

Zoie_P
Forum Team (Retired)
Forum Team (Retired)

Hi VMSA66,

Thank you for your post and welcome to the forums 🙂 

I am so sorry to hear you are having issues with a delayed install, I know these can be very frustrating times. There could be different issues that can be the cause such as construction, permissions etc. 

Have our team advised on what it is that is taking so long?

Zoie

Hi,

Thank you taking the time to reply to me post. It's the last place I can go to to try and get this installation complete.

The fibre was blown to my property and attached to a grey VM box on my house. When the installer came out he noticed the fibre is broken, it got pinched when the cabling team closed the grey box attached to my house.

All that needs to happen, as per the VM installer is a new fibre needs to be blown to my property.

Why it's taking so long, I don't know why. I have chased this every 48 hours and was promised it was been looked at and was twice guaranteed dates for the cable work. My appointments moved daily in the app then 2 days before the VM installer was scheduled to come it was delayed again. 

Te reasons I have been given have all bee lies. I have the messages to prove. I had; local authority approval for digging up the road ; Planning permissions ; planning laws; my neighbor etc. Not it is even remotely possible because the cable has already been blown through, it just needs replacing. No one wants to come out. I'm desperate for fixed line internet. Two of us work from home and consume large amounts of data due to the nature of our jobs.  I'm burning through SIM cards, costing a fortune. 

VM customer service have not helped at all. No information. Lies. Rude. They just hang up. Install date moves all the time. Patience is at my limit now. All around poor service. How can it take 2 months to replace 15metres of fibre, that's how close I am to the VM cabinet.

 

Regards

Ryan_N
Forum Team (Retired)
Forum Team (Retired)

We appreciate you coming over here but unfortunately it's not something we could action or speed up - as this sits with a different team completely. 

 

When you have spoken with the team, which team is it? Have you been speaking with our pre-install team? As they would be the team that would deal with this situation. 

 

Cheers, 

Ryan. 

It's the preinstall team I have speaking with. No help.

There is no help from anyone from any medium at Virgin Media.

Hi @VMSA66,

I do apologise for the longevity of this. I appreciate it's incredibly inconvenient and irritating, but we would do everything that we can to get you up and running ASAP.

If you're still waiting on an update then it would be best to get back in contact with our pre-installation team on 0800 052 1734. They can advise on next steps and what your options are. Unfortunately we're unable to expedite any pre-installation work or requests from here on the community forums. Sorry.

Let us know how you get on either way.

Thanks,
 


Zach - Forum Team
New around here? To find out more about the Community Forums, take a look at our FAQs!


Now reach 30 failed engineer visits. Spoke to pre install team who, and I quote "100% guarantee and an engineer is coming on the 22nd April". No one turned up.

Stuck. Help. Not broadband for over a month now. Is this normal.???

Where/who do I go next? I'm just told someone is coming. Surely, 30 failed times an engineer hasn't turned up isn't normal.

Hi @VMSA66,

I'm really sorry to hear that unfortunately this installation matter is ongoing. Have you made contact with the team about this since your last post? If so, what did the team advise regarding next steps?

Thanks,
 


Zach - Forum Team
New around here? To find out more about the Community Forums, take a look at our FAQs!


Hi,

Contacted Pre install team again. I was told we cannot guarantee an engineer. You were wrong to be told that. Currently no engineer is assigned. That's it. Same as always, waiting for an engineer to turn up. It's now been over one month waiting for an engineer to turn up to fix the broken fibre.

I'm getting nowhere. Just going around in circles. Everyone gives different reasons or excuses. I've everything I can to chase Virgin Media to get this setup and sorted. I'm the customer, surely Virgin Media should doing all that it can't to help customers.

Exhausted.

@VMSA66 the current record, as far as we know, for a delayed installation is exactly a year from the first promised date to when it happened - so you have quite a way to go!

A while back, I did type up my thoughts on this matter (post 18 in this thread QuickStart-set-up-and/Multiple-Failed-Installations-zero-communication if you fancy a read). Bottom line, set yourself a hard date (say next Monday), if nothing has happened by then then arrange an alternative supplier, which you can cancel if VM suddenly pull a rabbit out of the hat.

But don't cancel the VM install, just forget about it - the external works don't need you to be home, so if it happens it happens. Let them connect you up, test it and cancel within the 14 days cooling off period - but at least you will know that the cable is there and working should you decide to give VM another go in the future.