Virgin Media Cannot Send An Engineer For Over A Week!

Bowbelles

I have been unable to make or receive calls on my home phone since this morning.

I tried ringing Virgin Media on the number given on the website from my mobile but gave up after hanging on to be connected for 10 mins!

My father rang on my behalf from his BT landline. He got through after about 15 mins and explained the situation (several times) and was asked if I had barred incoming calls - if I had (and why would I) I would not be phoning to report a fault.

He was told the earliest an engineer could come out would be 6th August (why not employ more engineers?).

He explained that I have young children and did not want to be without phone and asked to speak to a Supervisor when the operator promptly cut him off! How RUDE!

I think this level of customer service is disgusting.:mad:

(Thanks for that - had to get if off my chest)

Bufflowbill

Probaly because their running out of Tools.:D

http://www.people.co.uk/news/tm_headline=virgin-man-left-this-in-tot-s-toybox&method=full&objectid=19537734&siteid=93463-name_page.html

Farway

Not much help to you I'm afraid, but BT do reroute incoming calls to your mobile, for free

Does Virgin cable do the same?

If they do not then when you or others next look for a phone provider maybe a BT landline could be worth a check out.

I have found sometimes you really do get what you pay for, and the few bob extra for BT could be worthwhile in the long run

normanmark

Unless you're a business customer or a priority customer then your request for an engineer will go the back of the queue. If that means its a week then unfortunately you'll have to wait!

In a perfect world people want an engineer in 5 mins but im sure you're not the only customer who has a problem with their line

stiffnuts69

normanmark wrote: »

Unless you're a business customer or a priority customer then your request for an engineer will go the back of the queue. If that means its a week then unfortunately you'll have to wait!

In a perfect world people want an engineer in 5 mins but im sure you're not the only customer who has a problem with their line

I like the bit where you say "then unfortunately you'll have to wait"

What cobblers people are paying an arm and a leg for Virgin media's poor telephone service which in my opinion has poor call and line quality and charges at over inflated prices. I dumped my virgin telephone line and I encourage people to vote with their feet and move.

With paying over the odds for their telephone service cant VM afford a few more engineers.

A week for some bloke to come around and play with a few wires. What a bloody joke.

GS131

Stiffnut you are lucky !

Four weeks ago our phone went dead and after doing the normal checks we reported a fault and a few days later an engineer came out and said we needed a new line from the box which he was unable to do. He phoned in and booked an appointment, the first available was last Saturday. This was unfortunate as we work from home and use Saturdays to get out, have lunch out etc, but we just had to forgo that in order to be here for the engineer.
The appointment was PM and we were here the whole day, they didn't turn up. (they had an alternative tel no but didn't ring )
I telephoned this morning and was told that they didn't have a crew to come out on Saturday and I would have to wait until the 6th of August. I said that in the circumstances (having already waited 3 weeks) that wasn't acceptable and asked to speak to the supervisor, he wasn't available and instead I was transferred to someone else who was even less helpful and said that it wasn't up to them to rectify their mistake and now the first available date was the 30th of August, I found it unbelievable that in the 15 minutes I had been on the phone 20 days of appointments had been taken up and why were they not going to rectify their error ?
Eventually I was put through to a supervisor, who even after I had explained how unsuitable a Sat appointment was managed to offer me an appointment on a Saturday again ! When I asked her what they would have done if I hadn't phoned in there was a silence........in the end I took the 28th appointment and phoned BT. They are installing a new line next week.
Phoned Virgin again to give notice, went through it all again and was told I had to speak to disconnections and there was a 10minute queue. I had already hung on and on between different departments (on a mobile, goodness knows what my bill will be !) so I am going to write when I can find the address.
I'm livid.
I'm also going to report the whole saga to Otelo (?)
They are in error, they let us down and yet they have no interest in rectifying the situation.
They have lost my custom and I really hope that anyone considering using them thinks again.

normanmark

stiffnuts69 wrote: »

A week for some bloke to come around and play with a few wires. What a bloody joke.

I'm sure its just 'playing with a few wires', unless you're a qualified engineer who can diagnose just like that problems that people have? If so i'm sure Virgin will take your CV & you can then help out these people

I'm a VM customer for the broadband, never had one problem. Only problems ive encountered was with billing & they are all sorted out in one phone call. But not a lot i can say as you'll always have a biased opinion due to your experience with them

I can empathise with the original poster, but the fault was only detected today! Unless VM have a stack of Hogwarts students in their White transit vans then i doubt anything magical will appear instantly to solve the problem!

From my assumption there engineers would have prioritised work. Fault logged by one user they go to the end of the queue, not that hard to work out. I know you'll be up in arms saying 'Oh my god they're a paying customer they shouldnt have to wait' but theres plenty of others who pay there way for a service & have the same wait

Moaning on a message board will do what about it? The engineers wont come here any quicker & Virgin wont be thinking about employing more engineers just to keep the MSE's pleased. Not the view point everyone on this board would like to hear but i'm just realistic lol

Also with the recent bad weather im sure certain areas of the country have had engineers drafted from other countys to carry out some emergency work on their network. I'm not saying thats a reason but i know with other telephony providers delays are happening due to this reason.

If it wasnt repaired in the week they said then i'd be totally behind ensuring VM pull their finger out to do their job, but give people a chance to try at least once to resolve it.

GS131

And what about my problem ?

I am not an unreasonable person and if any of the three people I spoke to yesterday had said that the engineers had been sent to Gloucester shire/Worcestershire area I would have understood, this was not the case.
I might have felt more than a little peeved that they had an alternative number but didn't use it to let me know about the situation, but I feel like that anyway.

Today we canceled our phone line and guess what? Having been told yesterday that their was nothing they could do, the system wouldn't allow it etc, having been forced to listen to that inane musac for well over an hour in total, via my mobile, at goodness knows what cost,(and what else would they expect when you do not have a land line) it's far too late. All the offers of moving the visit forward now, offering sweeteners etc are to no avail.

The test of a good company is when things go wrong - AFAIC things went very wrong and Virgin failed spectacularly.

BTW I'm reporting the matter to Otelo and suggest that others who have the misfortune to deal with this rabble, do the same. I believe they are in breach of the sales of goods and services act 1982.

dmg24

Can you explain why you believe they are in breach of SOGA?

normanmark

GS131 wrote: »

And what about my problem ?

I was more referring to the OP, but seen as you asked.....

GS131 wrote: »

I am not an unreasonable person and if any of the three people I spoke to yesterday had said that the engineers had been sent to Gloucester shire/Worcestershire area I would have understood, this was not the case.
I might have felt more than a little peeved that they had an alternative number but didn't use it to let me know about the situation, but I feel like that anyway.

Ok the people on the front line who'll take the calls wont really have 110% updates with regards to what engineers are doing, its not there job. What they'll do is just past issues to a back office team who'll liase with their engineering division. (I dont work for VM im only assuming from my experience working in the communications industry)

GS131 wrote: »

Today we canceled our phone line and guess what? Having been told yesterday that their was nothing they could do, the system wouldn't allow it etc, having been forced to listen to that inane musac for well over an hour in total, via my mobile, at goodness knows what cost,(and what else would they expect when you do not have a land line) it's far too late. All the offers of moving the visit forward now, offering sweeteners etc are to no avail.

The test of a good company is when things go wrong - AFAIC things went very wrong and Virgin failed spectacularly.

Ok well i did read your post last night & i'm in agreeance that if they dont meet their appointments its nothing short of frustrating, especially after 4 weeks!

GS131 wrote: »

BTW I'm reporting the matter to Otelo and suggest that others who have the misfortune to deal with this rabble, do the same. I believe they are in breach of the sales of goods and services act 1982.

Otelo wont be able to do much, they dont deal on individual cases, they collate cases & then approach the service provider in question with a batch & ask questions then. With regards to the SOGAS act i dont think theres much to go on, they've let you cancel from your contract, as long as they dont charge you then i'm not sure theres a case!

dmg24

Ok the people on the front line who'll take the calls wont really have 110% updates with regards to what engineers are doing, its not there job. What they'll do is just past issues to a back office team who'll liase with their engineering division. (I dont work for VM im only assuming from my experience working in the communications industry)

Spot on normanmark. I used to work in the Faults Department when it was ntl (and Diamond Cable before that, there were six of us back then!). The Faults Department can only book appointments according to the slots that are showing on their screen.

Before things were centralised it was easier to communicate with the Despatch Team, we sat right next to them (and some of us even did both jobs). However, it is quite possible that in the current setup the two teams have not even met!

Please don't take it out on the people on the phones. We all know that those that answer the phones have very limited powers, and shouting at them will get you nowhere.