Virgin Media installation left damaged to outside and inside of property

[Oliver2001]

I had an engineer install my virgin media router and fibre cable today. I told them where I would like the router which was next to where I had my sky router. This was so it could be next to my TV and consoles. They said okay and said they would use the wall along the side of my house, I presumed they would hide the wire in the wall to route it around or at least hide it well however they absolutely butchered my living room. In addition to this they broke the brick on the front of my house while drilling in. I now don't know what to do as I can't change the wiring myself however it is so appallingly bad I cannot keep my living room like this! I also must add that they have added a thing to the wall where the cable enters the room which requires a power cable. They put this box in an area of my living room where there is no plug and instead used one of my power extension leads to plug it in which is not a permanent solution and will not be acceptable! I'm really annoyed at how awfully this took place and I dread to think how difficult this will be to fix. They didn't even hoover up from the drilling.

 

 

 

[-tony-]

thats as it works - they will not go under floors or put them selves out in any way but they should have agreed with you in advance what they were going to do - i assume you were there or someone over 18 was to approve the work and sign it off

if you insist on keeping the hub where it is theres not muck they can or will do - i guess its possible to hide the cable under the floor but the best you can hope from VM is they will do that if you make that possible by lifting part of the floor or putting a pull rope in

you have a few options 

1- use the 14 day cooling off period and tell them to remove things

2 - using the threat of the 14 day cooling off period tell them you want it sorted but that depends on you agreeing to re locating the hub

3 - sort it yourself and reroute the cable undr the floor - nothing to stop you doing that other than those that say you should not but take no notice

the blown brick is a separate problem best you can hope for is a squirt of silicone which is their answer to such things - there are small plastic faceplates from the likes of screwfix that might cover that if you want a diy solution

staff will get to the thread and tell you its not how things should be and apologise but expect not much more than that

[Cardiffman282]

The faceplate Tony refers to is often quaintly listed on DIY sites as a Roman Nose. 

[Kath_F]

Hi Oliver2001, 

Thanks for taking the time to contact us via the Community. It's lovely having you on board with us in the Forums. ⭐

We're sorry to hear you're unhappy with the installation that was recently done. In terms of the inside work, this looks OK to us, the cable is pinned correctly to avoid any health and safety risk however they wouldn't be able to pin it all as the cable should not be bent in a way that could damage it. 

In terms of the external damage, this is a different matter. We'd like to make sure this is raised on the account for you but to do that, I will need to confirm some information with you. I have sent you a direct message to allow us to do this with you in a private space. If you are using a PC/Laptop then you can just click on the little ✉ at the top right-hand side of the page to access your inbox. If you are on a mobile/tablet device then instead click on the little circle icon in the top right then select 'Messages'. 😊

Thanks, 

[NigelGoodwin]

It obviously depends on the individual installer, mine was a lovely young lady called Robyn, and she was absolutely brilliant. Mine was a simple install, I'd managed to see the pre-install team a few days before they did my pre-install, and I mentioned where I'd like the brown box to go. A few days later I got home from work to find a fibre to the house, running down the wall, and a brown box just where I'd asked.

I'd already arranged everything inside, so all the installer had to do was drill a hole through the wall (and come out right next to the brown box) - however, I too was concerned about drilling from the inside outwards, as my walls are rendered, and OpenReach blew a big piece of render off previously, and filled it with silicon. However, she put down covers, and drilled through the wall without causing any damage, fitted the socket on the wall, and then pushed a fibre out through the hole, and went outside to connect it. She then came back, connected a fibre lead from the wall socket to the modem/router, and confirmed everything was working fine. She then folded her covers up, making no mess whatsoever - rather making the Henry I'd got ready for her redundant.

My only 'complaint' would be that the fibre lead from socket to modem/router is too long, and she left it coiled up and neatly cable tied out of sight - however, that's quite useful, as it's probably long enough when uncoiled to move the modem/router to a different place if I wished.

However, the OP's install was a little messy, and the blown brick was poor - you should turn hammer/percussion off for the last part of the hole, before it breaks through. But mistakes do happen.

As an ex-TV engineer I've fitted lot's of TV's, aerials, and satellite dishes - and I wouldn't have been proud of the OP's install.