Screwed Over By Virgin Media

ricey420

Long time lurker, rare poster. I have to share my terrible VM experience with you all though - AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE. I can't even get an e-mail address to complain to, and on the phone I was point blank refused one.

My Virgin services were due to be installed today (4th July 2013) between 10am and 10pm.

I had signed up for the VIP Collection on the 28th May 2013 (over 4 weeks ago), including Sky Sports HD and Sky Movies HD. At the time of signing up for the services, the 9 months half price offer was live, which swayed me in joining Virgin instead of Sky.

I received a confirmation of my order via e-mail almost instantly with the order reference: WS1325359.

I received an e-mail on the 29th May 2013, stating that there was already an active account at that address. The e-mail says "As we can only have one account at each address, that means we need to do a complete check - making sure that the old account has been closed, or if we need to contact the previous account holder first. Don't worry - we'll be in touch again very shortly to let you know what to do next. It normally takes us a couple of days to get back to you.". I replied to this e-mail also on the 29th May, informing them that I was due to get the keys to the property on the 2nd of July. I would like to point out, this is not rented accomodation and I am now the owner of this house.

I received no e-mail reply, and no phone call, despite the e-mail explicitly telling me not to worry and that Virgin would be in touch. I had no further correspondence whatsoever.

I was working today, so I had arranged for my dad to go round and be present for the engineer's visit. He is in his 60's and suffered a life threatening injury three years ago in a bus crash, so you can appreciate that sitting in a house with no furniture would have been difficult for him to endure. However, he very kindly obliged since the installation time was between 10am and 2pm which is a decent time of day and only a four hour window - just about manageable.

At 2:15pm he phone to inform me that Virgin had not appeared. I then called Virgin and spoke to a helpful chap who said he had no record of my order. I went back to him with the Order Number quoted on the e-mail, and he placed me on hold while he spoke to the sales team.

When he came back on, he informed me that the 9 months deal was no longer active (6 months instead with £60 credit), and he also said that the next available date was the 16th of July. I reiterated that I was angry with Virgin Media, not him personally, and questioned why I am not only no longer getting 9 months half price, but why I need to wait 12 days for the privilege. He said I could speak to the Sales Team as they could answer that query.

I was less than happy at this point. I signed up for something which pulled me away from Sky, and I'm now not getting what was promised as well as having to wait.

On top of this, I had processed the online order through topcashback.co.uk's portal so on top of everything lost, I have also lost £65 in cashback, which is a fair amount of money.

Anyway, I digress. When speaking to sales, the girl I spoke to said that the order hadn't went through. I stopped her at that point and told her that I had an order confirmation in my e-mail. She said that wasn't an order confirmation, and that it was, and I quote "Not an order confirmation, just a confirmation that we have received your details".

Well, I have an order number, an installation date, an installation time and a "Welcome to Virgin Media" message. If that doesn't constitute an order confirmation, then I'm not sure what an order confirmation should look like.

I was then informed that the reason why the order hadn't gone through is because there was already an active service at that address. Well, considering I have purchased the property and the previous tenants moved out, I found that highly unlikely. In any case, I'm not concerned who has what, this is a fault at Virgin Media's end, particularly their transfers team. It's not for me to check what services are installed (or not) whether it's gas, electricity or whatever. I booked the installation for two days after I bought the house.

I was then passed through to the complaints team, and spoke to a lady with an Indian accent. I'm all for maximising efficiency and whatnot, but in this instance she could not understand me (I confess: west of Scotland accents can be a nightmare) and I couldn't understand her too well either. She then said she'd applied a £10 a month discount for the first 12 months which I didn't want. She couldn't understand so I ended the call. £10 a month, for the first 12 months, is still less than what I originally signed up for.

I am less than happy with this level of shoddy service. If I don't get the date and time which I booked, then I should be renumerated for that, not penalised. I think I'm quite entitled to 10 months half price, rather than the 9 that I signed up for (actually receiving the 6 is an absolute disgrace). Waiting an extra 12 days is an inconvenience, so to get a worse deal as a result of a problem at VM's end has left a sour taste in my mouth. Furthermore, the installation time is between 1pm-6pm which is even more inconvenient for me.

I would love to e-mail VM with this grievance but they don't have a complaints e-mail address. Probably for good reason, complete incompetence. I'm sorry for the rant, but other Moneysavers really need to be warned of this outfit.

Buzby

I can see you are annoyed, but the bottom line remains that you were seeking service at an address you had not yet got the keys for. Their systems prevented the duplication, so any offers would have been irrelevant until they could place an order. If your purchase fell through (and many do) you would be equally indignant at being charged for a minimum 12 months of service because you had not even entered the property.

Offers change constantly, and I have no doubt the one you like will return so wait for it, or go for a Cashback deal that gives you even more.

ricey420

Buzby wrote: »

I can see you are annoyed, but the bottom line remains that you were seeking service at an address you had not yet got the keys for. Their systems prevented the duplication, so any offers would have been irrelevant until they could place an order. If your purchase fell through (and many do) you would be equally indignant at being charged for a minimum 12 months of service because you had not even entered the property.

Offers change constantly, and I have no doubt the one you like will return so wait for it, or go for a Cashback deal that gives you even more.

I take your point, but given that I had arranged it for today you would think that a supposedly professional nationwide outfit such as Virgin Media would be able to tell their system to kick in today, instead of the date the order was placed.

The didn't even contact me, like they said they would, to inform me! That's what annoys me the most.

Geordie_Ahmed

Cancel the order and go with another provider

olly300

Unfortunately the way to deal with most ISPs is to cancel the order as soon as you have a problem. If they really want your custom they will then chase you by phoning you repeatedly.

Also FYI I know Sky treats people just as badly when they move house.

mije1983

onchannel wrote: »

i had the same problem and i decided on going with the online streaming sites outhere. I found a website called xxxxxx that provides movies and tv shows in full lenght for free. when problmes like these are encountered you should try using a non profit alternative.

kizkiz

I had success when I emailed the CEO on [EMAIL="neil.berkett@virginmedia.co.uk"]neil.berkett@virginmedia.co.uk[/EMAIL]
Not sure if he has been replaced by Tom Mockridge yet though

I had similar issues and they made good on all the money I lost out on due to their incompetence

Moneymaker

ricey420 wrote: »

I should be renumerated for that, not penalised.

"Reimbursed" (if you already paid) or "compensated" (if you didn't) is the word you are seeking.

"Remunerate" (note spelling) means "to pay (someone) for services rendered or work done".