Temporary Line From Neighbour & Cancelled Appointments

[Stockholm]

Virgin Media are fully aware of the below but i've seen no sense of responsibility or shame leading to concrete action, if standards exist i don't believe i've seen them.

Called in February to make changes down to the in contract price rises. Agreed a new deal to start at the previous address for broadband only    Called back in early March to arrange a home move of agreed services and booked the necessary appointments.                             

On moving day, pre install team down tools mid way through the cabling, the excuse given is that there is a carriageway.

Almost on cue the engineer arrives at the same time and proposes running a cable from the neighbours access point, gets no answer from the neighbour but insists that seeking permission is a courtesy and isn't essential.

He proceeds to install a temporary line which my neighbour later removes that night. After explaining to my neighbour that i work from home and being frank about what had happened she was kind enough to let me reconnect the cable running from her access point, the agreement being that it gets sorted urgently.

The matter is  further complicated as my new neighbour has sold her property and is awaiting completion, she's understandably worried that this reflects poorly against her with the new buyers. Who would want to move to a property with a trailling cable running into next doors property?

Back to the installation day, i learned later on from a second team who stopped to chat having seen the spray paint along the path that the earlier team stopped the job so they could lock in a job completion since they need to get to a certain number before they get to finish achieved by inflating numbers through splitting jobs. I was told by them that they had no more than 1 to 1.5 metres further to go.

Since then there's been 4 repull appointments cancelled at the last moment, the most recent one coming today, several other installation appointments booked and cancelled without reason some arranged before the cable pull pre install work is even attempted. 

Not to mention the ridiculous billing and contract issues experienced since Feb which still haven't been fully corrected. Ive learnt though to deal with one matter at a time since you never want to have installation and billing issues concurrently, Virgin Media's modus operandi means you cannot take a step to rectify one area without harming yourself in the other, this being caused by the choke point which is known as having an "open work order" 

I don't believe any effort has been made to get the necessary permits for the repull work, the company i believe has some sort of internal prioritisation method whereby, spend too little for their liking, have broadband only or live in a not so prosperous area and find yourself firmly at the bottom. Having spoken to likely a dozen people through this not a single one takes on involvement or interest in your case, personally calls you back as agreed, has permissions or even broad access to information you'd ordinarily expect of a manager or senior staff member.     

As i've said at the start i want to see if any of this moves Virgin Media to lift a finger, i'll continue to provide updates in this thread. 

[-tony-]

you have perfectly described the dis function that is VM installs when something goes wrong and that seems to happen more often these days - departments whilst part of the same company do not communicate - external contractors are not part of the same universe it seems so expect more of the same

the cable to next door is likely to be a permanent temp solution if things follow the usual course - staff here may be able to get messages to the area field manager which always sounds positive but such communication may go nowhere as there seems to be a policy in many instances to do nothing which [hopefully] makes you give up and go away

[jem101]

@Stockholm as @-tony- rightly says, this has all the hallmarks of a 'permanent' fix now, after all if you look at it from VM's perspective, you have a working connection, you are paying them money each month so just what incentive do they have to come out and put things right?

I was particularly 'amused' by the 'randomly running cables across someone else's property is fine, no need to ask permission, it's just a curtesy' claim! Except you actually do need to get permission, in writing, so your neighbour was certainly within her rights to cut the whole lot away and dump in the nearest skip! By the way is your neighbour a current VM subscriber?

All I can suggest, in light of your neighbour's situation is that you see if you can't get some sort of temporary 4G or 5G router to tide you over while your neighbour removes the cable (because I assure you that the new owners certainly will without any notice). You then report a total loss of service and make the claim for daily compensation. We all know that this is going to end up at CISAS so make sure that you keep records of every failed visit or missed appointment, exactly what was said in every communication and what was promised to you, and what did and didn't happen.

[Lee_R]

Hi @Stockholm thanks for posting and welcome to our community.

I am really sorry to hear of the delay in your installation and the experience you have reported when you've attempted to have the installation issue resolved. I would like to take a closer look on your behalf.  I am going to send you a private message.  Please look out for the purple envelope in the top right of your screen.

Regards

Lee_R

[Stockholm]

You're absolutely right here Tony, just like you said ive received a mod message telling me that an area field manager has been contacted and i will get a reply, that was said around 2 weeks ago.

[Hayley_S]

Hello @Stockholm,

I am sorry for the delay with this, the agent who emailed the AFM is not in until Monday afternoon.

He should update you once he has checked over his email responses.

Many thanks,

[Stockholm]

I wonder if in the last 6 weeks theyve managed to get a council permit to dig, get a 2 man team together at one time and a long enough cable. Guess ill find out on the 30th.

[Stockholm]

I wonder if in the last 6 weeks theyve managed to do a site survey, do some pretty spray markings, get a council permit to dig, get a 2 man team together at one time, placed the correct sort of appointment and a long enough cable to boot. Guess ill find out on the 30th one way or another. Good thing is i dont have to be there to find out as they've so kindly mentioned in their text. No, for that ill call in afterwards to speak to a joined up thinking empowered problem solver who i expect will call me back.

[Stockholm]

Well ill be damned, one.network shows external work is scheduled between now and the 30th for my address, so there is still hope if the hope doesnt get to me first.

[Stockholm]

Three man team shows up, looks around a few minutes decides its not worth doing. I asked why and was told theres a blockage which they knew about months ago, they will say any old rubbish. These outsource outfits are a law unto themselves, they think themselves really clever picking just the easy jobs, any difficulty and they'll delay and delay, they will keep the job in their back pocket for a rainy day.