Virgin Cancelling an Order after 3 months

[DS_82]

Looking for some advice to see who has had a similar experience to me. In preparation for a move to a new property I researched who would be able to supply my new address with the greatest internet service and found that Virgin was by far my best option. Openreach only have cooper connections currently and no form of fibre meaning speeds would be very slow and not suitable for a family who work from home.
I then called Virgin and was extremely happy with the customer service I received, the call finished with me taking out a broadband and TV 12 month contract, happy days. I was informed that there would be 2 stages to my service being setup, the first one was external works to get the connection to my property and the 2nd being the internal part (in to house).
A date was provided for an engineer to be sent to the property to complete stage 1, they turned up and marked the pavement outside the property and completed the work (at least I thought). The next step was to arrange a date by logging into my Virgin account (which they had created for me as a new customer) for the internal install. Providing you gave more than 24 hours’ notice I was able to change this date which I did once. I then logged in a few weeks later to move the date again and select a new date and found my order had disappeared, in fact I was told that I had no active orders under order page on my account ( this was very weird because I had just a few weeks before). After an age of trying to speak to someone eventually I got a WhatsApp conversation started where I explained my issue, I couldn't believe their response. Apparently someone had tried to call me (didn't think to leave a message) to tell me they had cancelled my order! The reason "I am sorry to inform you that your order has been cancelled with us because there is major civil works & construction works that needs to be done for us to get you a connection and these works exceeds our budget'.
Still not happy with this I requested a number to speak to them and was provided a number for the pre installation team. I called and explained what had happened and told me that 2 engineers had been to my property and that they was not able to do the work due to the budget reason. I questioned this and asked if Virgin was supplying any other households in my streets with a service and was told that yes they are. How comes they can't to my property in this case? After further conversation the agent said that she could escalate this to the area manager who would review this case (by visiting the property) and see if they could get the work approved, the catch, this would be up to 6 months with no guarantee of change from them.
Any help for how I may be able to get Virgin greatly welcomed.
Thanks, Dan

[jbrennand]

A VM person will respond in a day or two - but its unlikely it will progress.

If the powers that be have deemed it uneconomic to service your property then that's that.

There are many possible reasons and others may offer more details.

You say "new" property - is that a new-build? If so the builders would have to have installed the ducting etc.

Also, for example, if the ducts that carry their cables in your area werent put in to service your particular property when done originally, then that would require a lot of expensive digging etc to lay them in - with no guarantee they will get a return (you can cancel for free within 14 days of being connected!). Is there any evidence of a VM "tee" port/point outside your property - a black circular disc or small metal square? This is where the cables "emerge"from the duct to service the properties.


Or your street cabinet may have maxed out on connections -- or you may be too far away - or the network is already at capacity and can accept no more connections. There are others

[DS_82]

Thanks John.

The property is not a new build, it was built in the 1930s.  The only type of phone line is through a BT socket, the previous owner didn't have any internet so I suspect when Virgin was on the road doing the initial works (how ever many years ago) they did not touch my property.  However, my neighbors use Virgin.  No evidence of a disc or small metal square.

Also, I'm not sure where the cabinet is and wouldn't know how to look to see if the connections was maxed out.

[jbrennand]

VM do have a track record of "piggy backing" a connection from a neighbour's outside "omnibox". My mate had this for years!

Does it look feasible to you to run a cable from their box to outside your property? With no roads to be crossed, digging needed, etc - like from an adjacent semi. If so it "might" be possible - notwithstanding the other possible issues.

But it would need a "spotter " and/or the "rarely spotted AFM" to take a look

[Roger_Gooner]

You say that neighbours use VM but what where are they? Are they on the other side of the road*, multiple houses away or on either side of you?

*If only one side of the road was cabled it would cost a lot to dig for ducting to be installed on your side, and that's even assuming that the cabinet has the capacity for more customers.

[DS_82]

Not my direct neighbor but houses on the same side of the road and opposite side have VM services.  I don't understand how they won't dig to another house, the infrastructure is already on the street?

[Roger_Gooner]

The original digging might have been done decades ago by a cable operator long defunct, and for a reason such as lack of money only part of the road was served. Now it costs more to do further digging and extending the ducting, and VM has decided that doing this will go over the budget they have for this sort of job.

[Chris_W1]

HI Ds_82, thanks for the message and I am sorry to hear that the order was cancelled. Can you confirm if we have sent a spotter to determine if the address can be serviced, can you confirm what has been advised by customer services in relation to the installation? ^Chris 

[DS_82]

Hi Chris, 

Thanks for reaching out.  Someone was sent to the property and a pavement marking was made by the gate which I believe is where they planned to do the external part of the connection, then another engineer arrived and was spoken to by my partner who was asking where the cable would be going (what side of the house).  These I presume are the 'spotters' you're referring to?

It was then left with them and assumed the work was completed.  We had a second phase of installation planned for an agreed date which I logged in to my virgin account to move, this is when it showed that I didn't have any current orders and raised alarm bells.  I contacted VM and was responded to by a WhatApp informing me the work was cancelled due to exceeding the budget.  I had not been contacted at all to make me aware this was the case other than the WhatsApp that I instigated.  

Following this I called VM new installations team, all they could offer was escalation to the area manager within 6 months for him to come and look at the job.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Dan

[Tom_W1]

Hi @DS_82, thanks for your follow-up message that's much appreciated.

It is a very difficult one - all we can do from our side is try to escalate with the Area Field Managers to see if this can be reviewed again, but if that has already been done and it has been decided no works will progress until at least 6 more months, unfortunately there's very little we can do to push this forwards.

Please be assured if we do have any immediate updates on this we'll be sure to let you know and stay in touch.

Many thanks