Virgin Media Voicemail Service?!?!?!?

Buzby

A job offer is just that - it is not confirmed employment. Trying to use this as basis for a claim will ultimately fail as you cannot prove any loss, at it is just speculation that you would have got it.

Your line, like all others operated by VM, incorporates voicemail from the outset. It does not require a payment plan in order to be applied to a line. There may be other reasons why, and you might find it useful to know from VM when the service was formally provisioned. However, this information would give an insight why it wasn't there from the start, not any benefit of blame leading to enhanced compensation. £20 is better than nothing, and the longer you wait, the greater chance this offer will be rescinded.

Jonny1275

to further clalify, the job offer i am refering to was in the bag so to speak, the agency have advised they were looking to fill the position immedaiatley and as i had already previously attended an interview they were contcacting me with a start date. in regards to the voicemail itself, virgin medias tec services have confirmed the service was activated on my line on 16th july when the payment plan began, i was not informed about it and didnt require it as i already have an answering machine

[Deleted User]

Buzby wrote: »

A job offer is just that - it is not confirmed employment. Trying to use this as basis for a claim will ultimately fail as you cannot prove any loss, at it is just speculation that you would have got it.

Exactly. Is the Recruitment Agency going to appear in court to testify that they made this offer on an answer machine? I think not.

Jonny1275

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

Exactly. Is the Recruitment Agency going to appear in court to testify that they made this offer on an answer machine? I think not.

please see my previous post.... i already answered this, the agency have facilitated me with a letter detailing the time the calls were made, the details of the job, and the start date that was involved...... i placed this post to seek advice on what settlement i should be seeking

[Deleted User]

Jonny1275 wrote: »

i placed this post to seek advice on what settlement i should be seeking

I'd be posting on another site. This is money-saving, not "compo" chasing!

Jonny1275

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

I'd be posting on another site. This is money-saving, not "compo" chasing!

good point lol,,,, just sort of guessed you lot would be the guys who knew the isn and outs of these things

ps... if no one ever kicked off and claimed ''compo'' over service issues, why would companies ever listen to customers?...

macman

And no ethical solicitor will take on this claim, as it has zero chance of succeeding.

Jonny1275

Just quick update for anyone who read this… CISAS rejected my complaint so I issued vm with a subject access request and obtained transcripts of all calls that took place between us, these clearly show I was right and was not advised of the addition of the voicemails service. Further more their data protection & privacy department had written that they can not find a copy or any details of the alleged letter that was supposed to have advised me of the voicemails service. They have also provided transcripts of the calls that took place on the week I discovered the voicemail service. On receipt of this evidence I issued vm with a letter before claim asking they pay a compensation sum that reflects the wages I lost as their service had intercepted messages offering me work. I received a grovelling reply to my letter within three days and am waiting on a callback from their head of complaints early next week. Hopefully they will suggest a suitable settlement but if not I’ll put it through the small claims court and ask the court to assess damages.

Buzby

Sorry, but I still believe you are making heavy weather of a facility you were provided with at no cost. You also seem to think their inability to provide 'proof' of be provision somehow helps your case. It doesn't.

Did you never notice the interrupted dial tone (advising a message waiting)? Or even wonder what it was?

They may make a no-liability gesture - simply to retain your business, but that will be as far as it goes. As for seeking wages for a job you only had an offer of interview (not employment) - I have to say this is the closest I've seen to a customer attempting to 'mug' a supplier!

Jonny1275

Yes I was provided this facility at no cost but I didn’t ask for it and wasn’t advised it had been added… therein lies the problem.

I sought the proof as you put it, as vm tried to deflect this complaint by only supplying account evidence to cisas that backed their claim of defence, and unfortunately cisas in their capacity as an ‘independent arbitrator’ didn’t see fit to raise questions with the numerous points I was making or the information vm omitted. Vm supplied an account note from when the agreement was set up that stated that I’d been advised of the t&c’s of the agreement, but this account note doesn’t mention them putting a voicemail service on my line. Vm stated that it is a requirement for all customers with a payment plan to have voice mail on their telephone line and this is added when the customer accepts the payment plan, but again after going through the t&c’s there is no mention of this. Whilst a company retains the right to alter your services if they chose, they also have the contractual obligation to inform you of this otherwise they are violating the unfair terms in consumer contracts act 1999.

As you will appreciate I use the phone quite a lot as I was job hunting but at no point was I ever met by this intermittent dialling tone both vm and yourself mention, nor was there any spoken message advising messages left when I picked up the handset.

As for the job offer, this was not for an interview. I had already had an interview with both the recruitment agency and the company itself. When the company needed a candidate to cover the 12 week work placement at short notice the rec agency immediately called me and left a message asking me to confirm I could start the following week. When I didn’t ring them back as they had left their message on a voicemail service I didn’t even know I had, they left a further message two days later. When I still didn’t respond they tried calling a third time but after being met by the answering service again they assumed I wasn’t interested and as they needed to fill the vacancy urgently they gave it to another candidate. When all this was discovered and I launched my complaint with cisas, I asked the rec agency if they would write a letter detailing these calls and messages but they advised that they couldn’t disclose details to a third party so I couldn’t provide details to cisas and I was chastised for this. However I’ve spoken to the rec agency again and said court action may now be involved and they’d advised that as if the matter is addressed in court, that frees them from their disclosure liability and they would happily appear on the given date to provide evidence.

I’ve heard all the arguments about service level agreements and how this is just one of those things and how I should take it on the chin but vm have tried in vein to deflect the complaint from the outset, right up to the point of actually lying in their defence to cisas, happily though after I bit of legwork I’ve caught them out.

I’ll keep this thread updated as things develop