@Boola76 wrote:
In September I took out the new Volt package which included Netflix. When we first installed it everything was fine and Netflix was working correctly. Then it just switched off, I contacted Netflix and they said Virgin had cancelled it. So I contacted Virgin spent hours doing all the is it connected, press this button, restart that and nothing happened. Then about a week later it came back on, then a week after that it went off again. Again Netflix advising it has been cancelled by Virgin.
Six months later I am having the same problem and have probably only had Netflix for 2 months out of the 6. I have spent numerous hours on the phone/chat doing the same things over and over again with the agent expecting a different outcome (the definition of insanity by the way). About 3 months in I raised a complaint and was fobbed of with dial this number and report a fault which doesn't let you report a fault just sends you a text message and cuts you off. I raised another complaint yesterday as it has gone off again and got a generic response apologising for the issue with my "internet". To which I responded saying I wanted a response written by a human. In response I have been sent a text message telling me to call the 0345 number which guess what send me a text and cuts me off. I have also that Netflix is free and it is not a priority. Its not free its included inn the package I pay over £100 a month for.
Anyone managed to solve this problem? My next port of call is the ombudsman.
You won't be able to solve it. It's ultimately down to a somewhat flakey backend set of processes which VM use, and something it broken and simply not paying Netflix properly and hence they, quite rightly, honestly, cut you off.
Slightly in their defence, VM and it's precursor companies were all amalgams of smaller cable companies which were acquired or merged with over the course of decades, so I wouldn't be surprised to find that their backend systems are all held together with the equivalent of sticky tape and blind hope!
What you have run headlong into is the usual VM's modus operandi, where it works for the vast, vast majority of customers, but when, as in your case, it doesn't, then all four wheels instantly fall off of the VM wagon and everyone runs around like the proverbial headless chicken and they simply have no mechanism for dealing with it!
Ultimately, you are paying for a service which VM simply aren't providing, which puts them in breech of contract - so yes, I think the Ombudsman will eventually be the way to go, but first, you need to make an official complaint (and do this in writing as a physical letter, with recorded delivery - there are good legal reasons for doing it this way), you request a refund of the cost of the Netflix service for the months you haven't had it plus compensation of £50 for the inconvenience. When this complaint is inevitably ignored, fobbed off etc. you then reject any 'resolution', request a deadlock letter and escalate it to the Ombudsman service. You might also want to consult your local Citizen's Advice Bureau with a request that they take it to your local Trading Standards authority, on the grounds that VM are taking money for a service which they are failing to provide.
