Very disappointed - Virgin cannot install

[quietriot1983]

In the middle of a house move, I arranged with Virgin to set up at my new address the day after I was to receive the keys - they informed me some pre-works would be needed although it wouldn't require anyone to be there. Out of courtesy, I informed the people who were still living in the house, to which they told me that they'd tried to have Virgin installed previously and "there were no cables".

I flagged this up with Virgin, they "investigated" and came back with the response not to worry, it's there now and some of the neighbours have Virgin fibre so it's all good.

Come to today, up rolls a crew with diggers to run cables (I thought this should have been done previously!), and they said the underground track wasn't where it said it was on the map.

Engineer tips up to "complete the install" and says he's been to this location before and the cable stops further down the street so my new house and my closest neighbours cannot have Virgin fibre.

To sum up:

Virgin - clearly money grabbing and not actually investigating what engineers/workmen/customers report to them.

Communication clearly lacking.

Very very disappointed.

Now having to wait 2 weeks to get up and running with an alternative, when I should have been sorted today.

RUBBISH

[Paul_DN]

Hi quietriot1983,

Thank you for reaching out to us, really sorry to hear your new address is not serviceable due to no cables being laid, when we look at this everything is taken into consideration including the amount of work needed and the cost involved.

Apologies again for any inconvenience caused.

Regards

Paul.

[quietriot1983]

Paul,

Thanks for replying.

I now have this spray paint on the road in front of my house,

https://imgur.com/s0pt8FO - where the track ends further down the road, which last week's install team had to dig up to provide a photo to their management?

https://i.imgur.com/SPZKYGf     https://i.imgur.com/r33DuPK     

https://imgur.com/s0pt8FO - these then go along the road, ending outside my house.

and after several hours on hold, I was told my install has been resheduled - I queried the spray  paint and was told not to worry, we will do it?!

I am still a bit in limbo here, having essentially TWO pre-contract agreements in place with 2 providers.

I would very much like to speak to an English-speaking member of the pre-install team to get to the bottom of exactly what's going on here and who has sprayed this on the road, because as much as they try, CS is sometimes very difficult to understand and I'm sure also things I say get lost in translation!

At the end of the day, if Virgin ARE going to dig a channel and extend their cabling, then that's what I want to happen, as they are both faster and cheaper than BT, and I was a VM customer at my old house too.

[nodrogd]

Firstly, spray paint everywhere means nothing.

They take measurements & photos, then pass it back to a costing team. If the figures go over budget, it goes no further. The budget is more is several properties are involved, but for one property it usually works out at 10 metres of tarmac being dug, more if it is under grass.

The records are another matter. The plans will have come from a previous cable company build. These can be sketchy to say the least, & if the build contractor at the time was behind schedule they were known for abandoning anything that wasn’t finished & moving to the next section.

[quietriot1983]

It just is a very big coincidence that I've been given (well not given, but it says it in my account and was forthcoming when questioned) a rescheduled date AND the paint appearing at the same time.

The top and bottom of it is that I NEED an answer, because I've simply got to have connectivity but I can't tie myself into potentially TWO contracts, or then deal with the delays that will come from cancelling and re-ordering etc etc

[quietriot1983]

@Paul_DN please could you respond?

I have just spent another hour onto CS speaking to various people who simply do not understand the situation - ending in me getting cut off...AGAIN!!!

I need to know if these green lines mean someone is going to do works outside the house in the road before this rescheduled installation date, or whether someone is going to turn up on the 16th and I'm going to be in the same situation again!

[quietriot1983]

So after being cut off during transfer to the 'pre-install team' (despite supposedly calling them direct in 0800 052 1734) three times, I gave up and tried other numbers.

I got through to planning, digging and construction on 0333 000 5925 and spoke to a very helpful gent who said there was no planning in place, but the green lines and T meant that it is a shallow track that will be dug and cable laid between now and the 16th.

Still skeptical it will happen, but that's a bit more positive at least!!

[risc19]

Be careful.

You have experienced the level of 'customer service' that they offer.

Once they start your 'service' and have you in a contract it only gets worse.

Look at the forums and have a little think.

[quietriot1983]

This is the thing though, I've been a customer for many many years, and this experience thanks to a house move is annoying.

Never had any issues at the old house, which is why I'm so vehement in pursuing that it gets installed!

[quietriot1983]

Update via a neighbour:

A man came today and was measuring length of cable from the end of the track to where the T paint is. Looking more promising 🙂