Terrible Pre-Install Process

[SR8]

I have seen posts of people having their installation dates delayed or NaN/NaN meaning that they require permissions from the landlord or council. I have been contacting virgin media daily since Friday 18th June (excl Sunday). I keep being told about a faceplate installation and originally when I got a deal with Virgin on 15th June, I was told a faceplate installation will occur on the 25th June and installation date will be 10th July.

That installation date on the account is now NaN/NaN and I confirmed with the construction department that no form of digging is noted on my account and that only work needed to be done on the cabinet and the house itself for a faceplate to get the wiring into the house. I keep being told that there is a rolling date for someone to do this external work but keep getting replies such as technicians cannot talk to me over the phone or there is no date or to just wait even though the cabinet work is done by virgin media apparently. I was even told by one agent that I cannot get virgin media which worried me immensely and other agents told me that faceplates needs to be installed first by a 3rd party.

I am currently waiting for a supervisor from the pre install team to call me since yesterday (no calls nothing) and now waiting for a regional supervisor to call me today regarding this issue. I am beyond frustrated by the lack of clear communication in regards to what actually needs to be done within my property. I was under the impression since virgin media has been available on my property that all that would be required is an engineer to install the faceplate on the 25th based on the sales agent but, this was put on hold and now a rolling date for some reason. I am constantly being told conflicting processes and emails being sent out to area field managers or area sales managers with no result and want someone to give me set timescales in this process. I live in an housing association and was told any form of permission required for the property in terms of installing virgin media should not be an issue and be already granted. 

I am appalled by the false hope I am given by the cs team stating it will be done on the 18th or today or the previous day with no outcome occurring at all. I would like some clarification and a resolution to this matter otherwise I cannot hold on any longer to this deal as myself and my family members need internet to work from home and I am wasting so much time dealing with this being on calls for hours per day, it is the most frustrating service I have ever experienced with a internet service provider.

[jpeg1]

Unfortunately your experience is quite common.  The best you can hope for is for a staff member to pick up this thread and offer to help.

[SR8]

That is such a shame I hate that many others have to experience this. I really hope a staff member picks this up because the constant phone calls are not helping and I am lost as to what to do next

[nodrogd]

This will be a repull from the cabinet. Its a two man contractor job & these teams can work across multiple cable franchise areas. As a result they are usually up to their eyes in jobs.

[SR8]

How does a repull work? I was once told by a technician that the external work has not yet been assigned a technician. To be fair I understand from reading online that technicians do seem to be overworked which is unfair but I wish that they were assigned a date at least so that they are not overworked and scheduled for a time that suits them if not possible then another contractor should be chosen rather than force a contractor to overwork. 

[nodrogd]

Cable pull teams have specialist kit in their vans to pull cables from the cabinet to the property boundary. Some of these also do the drop box fixes to front walls. It all depends what the arrangements are with the external contract firm that has been engaged in that area.

[SR8]

Yeah I was told that i need a Tee near my cat v area and then an omnibox at the property entrance or any other location that will allow a faceplate to be installed within my property at the point I decide to choose. I was supposed to get an update from an area field manager today regarding the date in which the install would be done (which was told by a site surveyor who checked the outside of my property) but awaiting for that update. I am glad there is some progress done so far and hope many others who have this issue can get up to speed on their installations. I just want clear communication in regards to the process timescale and the installation itself. I appreciate your explanation nodrogd 

[SR8]

Just an update, kept being told to set a date for a faceplate installation and there has been delays due to the external work which makes sense but I spoke to a nice person in the pre install team who said to me that faceplates cannot be done without the external work and the dates will continually be assigned to the next day until the council approve the works and such so the faceplate dates are just guesses. Really sucks that the person assigning the call give mixed information and then just hang up on you when asking for more information. I really want virgin media to come through as soon as possible since working from home has been stressful without any virgin media services. I hope an advisor or someone here can try and find out if there is any approval sent over or progress if possible.

[-tony-]

if they need council approval some one has tried to pull the cable and found a blockage or other work needs doing so the pull will be weeks away - 6 weeks is a minimum for the council to push it through their system than add more time for the work to be done - once thats complete the cable pull team will do their bit

[SR8]

Thanks for the reply Tony but my god that's really long, they said to me 4 weeks now this. I don't know if I can wait any longer. I'm usually a patient person but I have a family that needs Internet services for working at home including myself. I don't understand why they delayed the fact that we needed all this work done. They once told me we had the wires all ready *facepalm* I guess I'm just hoping on luck at this point for my family to bear patience or some miracle that this works out. I really hoped this was a simple matter I guess not 😔. I hate being told false hope on such matters.