VM Phone Help (150) appears to have changed for the worse

[Melvil_Dewey]

Firstly I am addressing this board because I could not see one that deals specifically   with customer service. Please move this message if necessary.

I am having problems with my TV and phoned VM around 7pm. The link given by them did not solve the problem so I phoned again about 7:45pm. The automated system took me through the usual procedure, noted that I had phoned earlier and then said they would put me through to someone would help. They said that they needed to check my memorable word. I gave the 3 letters asked for and then, to my surprise, instead of being put through to the promised human being I was then, completely out of the blue and very abruptly, told that they were closed and to phone back at 8am. Notice that the closing time of the phone help line was not given - I was left to guess what that might be. Also, tomorrow being Sunday, I was not given any clue as to whether the help line operated then.

That a company the size of VM finds impossible to compose a polite message saying that we are now closed, but leads the customer through a long rigmarole and a promise of a human contact and then simply tells them to go away says something uncomplimentary about VM. The whole fiasco gives the impression that some extremely junior member of staff was ordered to write write something, anything, to get rid of any customer that dared to to bother VM in the early evening.

Also, my past experience has been that the phone helpline did not close at around 7pm. Am I correct in saying that VM are now saving money by cutting back on customer service. All in all it makes you wonder what they will be cutting back on next.

[roy247 · Accepted solution]

From a quick google search it says the help line is only open until 6pm Saturday and Sunday, I did think it was later than that, Monday to Friday it's to 9pm, 

When phoning choose the option to report a fault, then ignore all the options offered and you should then be placed into a queue to speak to someone.

If you say what the problems are you might receive some helpful advice or the forum team might respond.

[newapollo]

Hi @Melvil_Dewey 

@roy247  is correct regarding the phoneline opening/closing times, see screenshot below.

Looking at your previous forum threads it seems that unless you have recently changed TV set boxes then you either have a TIVO or V6 box.

What is the actual issue(s) you are experiencing with the TV? 

Are the issues affecting just live TV, or recordings, or apps/catch up?

If you provide any onscreen error messages and error codes they may help pinpoint the issues and provide a remedy for the problems. 

Did you search the forums to see if anybody else has the same TV problem? 

Have you used the online /check-services function to see if any issues are listed?  You can also a run a test on your equipment from there. 

If nothing is showing  you could also try the automated Service Status number  0800 561 0061.  This often gives details of more local issues down to postcode level.

opening times

[Robert_P]

Hello Melvil_Dewey

Sorry to hear of the service issues experienced, we appreciate you taking the time to raise this via the forums.

We can see you have spoken to the team since posting, we're they able to offer a resolution during the call?

Let us know.

Rob

[Melvil_Dewey]

Thanks for the reply. Your suggestion about ignoring everything and just waiting for a human being to appear fits in with what I have sometimes found with other helplines. I shall definitely use it with VM in future.

Regarding the actual TV problem I looked up some of the error codes appearing on the TV and found it is related to not being able to access catch up and on demand services. I have a Powerlink booster supplied by VM connected by Ethernet cable to my V6 box. I think this may be the problem. I spoke to VM the following day and they arranged to have an engineer come this week.

[Melvil_Dewey]

Thank you for the reply. As I posted above the problem appears to be with not being able to use the catchup services. As noted, I have a VM engineer coming this week.