Virgin Nightmare!

mrtom21

spike7451 wrote: »

Actually,I would & did.I worked for Sky Broadband in their Tier 2 & Tier 3 Technical Support call center from when Sky started offering broadband in July 06 until I left in Jan 08,so you see my judgement is based on experience,both as an engineer & a csr agent.

Whiskydry - My comments were not targeted at you in any way just to set that straight.

Spike - You would and did is a matter of your own opinion not mine. My issue was with the generalisation that the people answering the phones are "p1llocks". I guess i'm one too since i work in a call centre... and I am sure the hundreds of people that use this forum who also work in call centres are also p1llocks? And of course you yourself worked in a call centre... does that mean you are one too?

I was not defending companies... Just take offence when someone makes their judgement on the person taking the call themself as if they are superior in some way.

spike7451

mrtom21 wrote: »

Whiskydry - My comments were not targeted at you in any way just to set that straight.

Spike - You would and did is a matter of your own opinion not mine. My issue was with the generalisation that the people answering the phones are "p1llocks". I guess i'm one too since i work in a call centre... and I am sure the hundreds of people that use this forum who also work in call centres are also p1llocks? And of course you yourself worked in a call centre... does that mean you are one too?

I was not defending companies... Just take offence when someone makes their judgement on the person taking the call themself as if they are superior in some way.

Unlike some people who work in some call centers (ie Sky's Tier 1 in Lipa) I know what I'm on about & not reading off a script & apart from a few day's training,know next to nothing about the thing they are supporting.
How many adverts for call center tech support do you see that say 'no experience needed'?

mrtom21

I don't disagree on that front... I just wouldn't call them p1llocks, it's the companies fault not the person on the phones.

Paparika

mrtom21 wrote: »

I don't disagree on that front... I just wouldn't call them p1llocks, it's the companies fault not the person on the phones.

But then again.. to be one of these 'p 11locks' you need to have some form of I.T. knowledge to do the job

dave_dph

You do not have to call in to obtain technical support. A much easier and effective way is to use the newgroup support groups.

Do you use newsgroups already? If not they are easy to set up in your news reader, such as Outlook Express, Windows Mail or Mozilla Thunderbird for example.

The news server address is text.news.virginmedia.com and then choose the support group you need, e.g. virginmedia.support.broadband.cable

When you post into the group just give them the first part of you blueyonder / ntl / virginmedia email address and the support guys will locate your account from there. Do not post personal details or account numbers, they don't need them.

The tech guys will ask you to run various tests which will help them diagnose the problem and arrange for an engineer if necessary. The newsgroup support is excellent.

dizziblonde

One thing I've learnt over the years with NTL and then Virgin... if you get India when calling tech support, it's easier just to hang up and redial until you get a UK guy. Seriously - when we had the installation done in our new place the installer told us we'd have to make a quick call to tech support to have the account setup finished on their systems as it wasn't going through automatically, told us exactly what to say - we made the call and got India.

"Please delete your TCP/IPs"

Called again... "You must reinstall Windows".... "errr this is just a house move, everything worked fine at my old address, I've been told to say X is what needs doing"... "Please contact Microsoft and reinstall Windows."

Gave up trying to get sense out of this guy at that point, redialled and got a UK guy who fixed it within 30 seconds.

Seriously - lot of respect for the UK guys who don't half know their stuff, the numpties in India are seriously dreadful and it's so bad that if my net goes down I try the reboot boogie, pray to God for it to work and then get a stiff drink ready to brace myself before trying to get sense out of the outsourced guys.

The cableforum guys are very good at getting sense out of the Virgin media empire too - think lots of 'em are the same lot that are over at cablehell.

robt_2

dave_dph wrote: »

You do not have to call in to obtain technical support. A much easier and effective way is to use the newgroup support groups.

Do you use newsgroups already? If not they are easy to set up in your news reader, such as Outlook Express, Windows Mail or Mozilla Thunderbird for example.

The news server address is text.news.virginmedia.com and then choose the support group you need, e.g. virginmedia.support.broadband.cable

When you post into the group just give them the first part of you blueyonder / ntl / virginmedia email address and the support guys will locate your account from there. Do not post personal details or account numbers, they don't need them.

The tech guys will ask you to run various tests which will help them diagnose the problem and arrange for an engineer if necessary. The newsgroup support is excellent.

Totally agree that newsgroup support is the best and fastedt way to get a problem resolved. Straight to level 2 and above.

You don't need to post any part of your username or details, your IP address alone will identify your account. I have never given any information on newsgroups other than my first name and last initial.

whiskydry

dave_dph wrote: »

You do not have to call in to obtain technical support. A much easier and effective way is to use the newgroup support groups.

Do you use newsgroups already? If not they are easy to set up in your news reader, such as Outlook Express, Windows Mail or Mozilla Thunderbird for example.

The news server address is text.news.virginmedia.com and then choose the support group you need, e.g. virginmedia.support.broadband.cable

When you post into the group just give them the first part of you blueyonder / ntl / virginmedia email address and the support guys will locate your account from there. Do not post personal details or account numbers, they don't need them.

The tech guys will ask you to run various tests which will help them diagnose the problem and arrange for an engineer if necessary. The newsgroup support is excellent.

Thank you for this, I'm thinking it will come in handy at some point. But I've tried to access the group to no avail, and upon googling, it seems I have to be using a Virgin connection to access the group, which is a fatal flaw really since it's my Virgin connection that broken..... :rotfl:

duchy

Ooops
Friend or neighbour with a Virgin connection ?

I find it quite incredible just how script driven off-shore support is . It's the reason I quit Virginy after one too many pointless calls

whiskydry

I have today spoken to "Customer Relations" and feel mildly placated. I have a £20 goodwill credit on my account, a technician has been booked for next Weds, and in the meantime the "broadband expert" will be phoning me on Monday to see whether he can resolve it without the need for the technician. That phone call was just so much easier and I was actually listened to. How hard would it be to make all helpline staff so obliging!

Fingers crossed for next week!