Conlusion of my posts - went with Virgin

gemstars

Hi all,

Saying as I've asked so many questions on here I thought it only fair that I let you know what the final decision was.

I've signed up with virgin media for 12 months 10mb broadband with a virgin phoneline. It is costing £133.88 for the year including installation and cashback.

I also thought I'd let you know how the activation went in case anyone is thinking of joining and has questions about it.

I signed up online at the beginning of the week. It asked for a date for the quickstart installation 'box' to be sent out, I chose today, I'm at work but my partner will be in to recieve it.

1) I got a phonecall from a guy called Geoff from Virgin to say he was on his way. Wasn't expecting this but was impressed by them calling ahead.

2) I wasn't at home but boyfriend was. He says Geoff arrived, connected things and turned things on outside the house, popped off to the exchange to do things there, then came back and did a bit more outside the house and then said he was finished, took about 15 mins in total. Installation stuff would be arriving separately. All good so far

3) Installation stuff arrived - huge box from UPS. Contained modem, wireless router (I thought this would be arriving separately), huge 25 metre cable to wire pc to modem if it was needed, installation disc and a few other bits. Boyfriend text me saying I need to call up and activate the services and gave me an 0800 number. Everything so far still fine

4) I called up from work and spoke to a horrible lady who I assume was in the Swansea call centre (now I'm thinking that this is where all those problems I've read about come in to play!). Basically she was very short, sharp and rude. She said I had to call from the property to set up as they need to check 'stuff', as the phone is not yet activated I'd just have to ring from my mobile, no they couldn't call me (in true MSE style I didn't want to pay the call charges), no my boyfriend couldn't do it as he's not an account holder, no she couldn't add him onto the account, no there was no other way of sorting it out. So I hung up not a happy bunny :mad:

5) I called back and spoke to someone else. I explained that I wanted to activate but wasn't at the property. She explained why I had to be at the property and then offered to call me at a convenient time to sort it out, I mentioned my boyfriend was in the house, she offered to put him on the account and call him up to sort it out now. 10 mins later it was all done and apparently the wireless internet's working fine:j

So far so good. In the end I'm happy with the service but was very dissapointed with the first person I spoke to. If you do get frustrated it is definately worth hanging up and trying your luck with someone else - unfortunately call centres are a bit hit and miss.

gemstars

I forgot to say - that's to all those who responded to my queries. :-)

Lokolo

I had the exact same procedure last year for my uni house.

Although I didn't have the interim of the annoying call centre woman and the guy on the other end made things very painless. Although it took a good 30min to activate everything which was a little lame as it costs me money.

Doing the same this September when I move back into the same house. I just hope it goes as smoothly.