Terrible service from Virgin Media.

Libby123

September the 8th and Council Builders ripped up my cables whilst digging outside my home. My housemate contacted Virgin the same day to inform them and they advised us someone will be out the following day to fix the problem. It turned out we needed the cable re-laid so the engineer told us he'll sort out a date and be back in touch with us. 5 months later 4 hours of calls the their so called customer service, two more visits by their engineers telling us the same thing and we are still without service.

They've even had the cheek to call my housemate up demanding we pay our bill, why should we pay for no service. We've now contacted trading standards as surely this is now legal, they should have sorted this out months ago.

We are all now having to pay for BT openzone which isn't cheap, and will Virgin refund that.. i doubt it. Disgusting service stay well away.

visidigi

So the council builders damaged the cable and you think that makes virgin liable?

The council builders are liable for damaging the cable. Ironically the council is also responsible for providing Virgin with the required approvals to do work in the street. If the council will not approve (and it takes quite a while anyway) then virgins hands are tied.

Officially you have a contract with Virgin, the council caused your loss of service, not virgin, so you should pay your bill to virgin and reclaim the cost from the council.

The council caused your problem, not virgin, its the council who you should be complaining to.

spike7451

Your cable will have to be repulled,which due to Health & Safety regulations is a two man job,hence the previous engineers re-booking the job.If the council originally cut the drop cable,then the chances are the cable ducting is blocked solid with debris & muck,Unblocking this is normally very hard to do.
Because of this,and I have spent time on the Repull crew myself,starting out as a cable installer originally,the duct will have to be unblocked,which usually means opening up the footway or road,depending where it is blocked.VM cannot just open up the road or footpath,they have to get permission from the council & also arrange for reinstatement afterwards.Normally a Service Tech would make a temporary repair to the damaged cable or,if that's not possible,ask a neighbour if they can use one of their spare telco pairs & split off the catv feed for tv/bband at a push to provide a temporary service.
Any compensation would have to come from the council as it isn't VM who cut the cable & therfore not their fault.However,four months is far to long to await on a re-pull,usual turn around time was 2 days when I was doing it.
What you need is a complete Drop Cable repull & reinstatement,so in your correspondance,make sure you mention that.

Libby123

Actually the council left the road outside my house dug up for three months waiting for Virgin to relay the cables. So yes it was the council who ripped out the cables but due the lack of communication within Virgin no body on their side has yet to bother to attempt to contact them.

spike7451

Libby123 wrote: »

Actually the council left the road outside my house dug up for three months waiting for Virgin to relay the cables. So yes it was the council who ripped out the cables but due the lack of communication within Virgin no body on their side has yet to bother to attempt to contact them.

Problem is VM got rid of all of the in house 2 man crews & the contractors got rid of most of them including the construction crews that would go out & fix the ducting.
Your best bet would be to write a letter to the nearest area office,addressed to the Installation Manager,keep a copy & send it recorded delivery,stating that you are still waiting after x months for a cable re-pull & have been without service since the cable was damaged.
Insist on a site visit with him & the contractor's manager to agree the work that needs to be done.
If you lived in Northern Ireland I could have helped further as I know the Installs Manager & the Contractor Manager.
You can get the address below;

http://careers.virginmedia.com/about/our-locations.html