Virgin Media Broadband charging 25p/min for its helpline

marleyboy

espresso wrote: »

Actually 101k is more than twice the achievable speed using a 56k dial up modem! Sounds like you are being throttled.

I suspected that myself, although they not only deny i am being throttled, but say they have never heard of it. Today after yet another engineer came around, and predictably found no faults on my end, he rang his manager, whom said it must be that I dont have enough memory in my pc to handle it. (I didnt expect him to know ANYTHING about how a pc works).

In the end the engineer concluded that th fault was on their side, so I had to ring them up on the premium number. Hesitantly I did this, and was told that yes I wasnt getting the 20meg speed, due to a nationwide fault on the 20meg system, as I have endured this fault for now 6 weeks, I asked when will this be resolved, they said they dont know that. £3.00 that cost me. I asked wether the fault was with the 4meg as well, they said no, just the 20meg. So I asked if I could drop it to 4meg, as that would be faster than my current last reading of 120kbps.

It took retentions to do this, and as such its been dropped, regrettably because I know this is not unlimited download, (even though theres no such thing). but I wont know until tomorrow if this will solve it, if not, im looking at either Tiscali or BT, maybe even Pipex, but I dont know which is the best value for money.

Im looking for at least 8meg at a decent price, and possibly unlimited, with at least a half decent customer service. Has anyone got any suggestions??

Barry_Mung

marleyboy wrote: »

if not, im looking at either Tiscali or BT, maybe even Pipex, but I dont know which is the best value for money.

Im looking for at least 8meg at a decent price, and possibly unlimited, with at least a half decent customer service. Has anyone got any suggestions??

Don't go with tiscali, their (indian) customer service is awfull, thats IF you can get through in less than 20 mins! P2P and torrents on my adsl were awfull, 15Kb/s if I was lucky.

I checked on this site last september and found my exchange could only supply 2MB through ADSL, (can someone remember the link??) it wouldn't be upgraded to 8meg until xmas THIS year!

Anyway, heres a good bit of advice (and a warning):
I downgraded with tiscali June 2006, to 2 meg, then january this year I got two red letters, demanding I pay a bill for 6 months service. I took screengrabs of my account page with them (good tip this if you have the same problem) where it said "You are not currently subscribed to any monthly service." And one that said I was paying by direct debit.
I then got the debt collectors after me, so phoned them and explained what I thought had happened.

They had not cut me off for 6 months, even though I had not paid, (usually they cut you off within 30 seconds of not paying!) so I was still in the system, but not actually registered! After the debt collectors recieved the email containing the two screengrabs, two months later I got a letter from tiscali asking me not to cancel my direct debit (I never did!) and said my mac number would be clear in 10 days....

Lots of hassle, but I won! 6 months free (slow) broadband.

Need any more reasons?!

Not heard any hassle from any of the other two isp's customers, but try and check what their support line is before you embark on another isp. (And if its in india!)

BONJOEY

can you really phone up and end the contract ( a contract i did not enter) by saying about the premium rate number??

RabbitLover_2

Virgin seemed to have lost the plot. Are they really trying to force customers away ? Since they 'took over' NTL they turned a company with what I believed to be a shocking customer service attitude in to an absolutely appalling one !
Sorry Richard but I think this has really cheapened your whole brand image (which I used to really respect).
I for one will be voting with my feet !

kitekat

MSE_Martin wrote: »

What's this about?

On 1 July Virgin Media started charging 25p/min for its technical helpline.

One way to get some money back

If the reason you're calling the technical helpline is because it has made an error, rather than it's your issue, if you ask, it should refund you the cost of the call against your next bill.

Also if you need help with technical queries it's always worth asking the helpful bods on the Techie Stuff Forum.

Martain this was posted on here on 15/06/07.

BONJOEY

HELP!!!!


i phoned the 0906 number twice due to a fault at there end, and this fault was not reported to there freephone line ( the number you check to see if there are any problems in your area)
i was on the phone to the 0906 number approx 9 minutes both times, i phoned customer services and even though its a fault at there end i am not I REPEAT I AM NOT entitled to a refund!!!!!! i am livid!!!!!


i am so angry that i am taking this matter further surly i cannot be required to pay for a fault at there end??? help me out martin!

trubster

Bonjoey

Call 150, Select option 3 then 2, then 3 then 1, wait 20 mins, tell them you want to cancel... they will give the refund and lower your price plan. Take it at your own risk, things will only get worse. I would recommend cancelling

This dept will bend over backwards (Normally) to keep you on board, so even if you are not bothered about cancelling, give it a go and get a much cheaper subscription

You can cancel even if you are in a 12 month contract.

BONJOEY

TRUBSTAR your saying that i can canel even if in a contract?

also they are saying i am in another contact when i threatened to leave them when they dropped sky one, and 100% i did not enter another contract and they aresayng its there word against mine???


bullys!!

trubster

bully them, tell them to cancel as you will cancel your direct debit in 30 days. tell them the call is recorded on your end and because they made 2 serious changes to your package (Free Tech Support and Channel Listings) you deem that a breech of contract.

It was on watchdog that you could leave VM for sky without waiting the 12 months.

If no luck ask for supervisor, I am on the phone now to BT to port phone line over

(When you cancel, DONT cancel your phone line if you want to keep the number, tell them BT will do this on your behalf)

BONJOEY

every time i phone i get this patronising pr++k on the other ending using my first name as if he knows me saying i am in a contract even though i know 100 % that i did not enter another contract this is proper bulling and i feel so angry i am going to report it to watch dog, as i did not enter another contact , especially one that involves phoning a premium rate number.