MSE News: Virgin Media begins notifying non-cable customers of transfer

TheOldDear

Mangle wrote: »

Regarding some posts about the BT line, the guy I spoke to was quite clear. I was adamant that my telephone number was nothing to do with either TT or VM, so why was I being told my number would remain the same? He broke out into "honesty" and said that TT do not offer Broadband packages alone. They only take Line Rental AND Broadband. So it was a compulsory thing. He said, "to be honest mate, you have a choice, either let this thing go through, and we will take over your line rental from BT, or you switch to BT yourself with their Broadband".

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I had a Virgin.net account for ADSL broadband only, using my BT landline. Have now been forcibly switched to TalkTalk but no mention was ever made of having to use them as phone provider too, so I still have my BT landline even though our ISP is now TalkTalk. All working okay, including both TalkTalk and (for a few months longer) Virgin email addresses. The broadband speed is sometimes dreadfully slow, but it was when we were with Virgin too. It's tempting to think that some TT helpline staff misinform in order to try it on because they get commission on new orders, but I'm just guessing here. If so, that's appalling.

My only real concern now is that I'm (still) being grossly overcharged. I was paying Virgin £20.35 a month and with TT it's £20.31. I am, though, taking advantage of the 10% discount you get if you override your direct debit to pay immediately the bill comes in. Would love to know what other reluctant TT customers are paying...

brewerdave

TheOldDear wrote: »

I had a Virgin.net account for ADSL broadband only, using my BT landline. Have now been forcibly switched to TalkTalk but no mention was ever made of having to use them as phone provider too, so I still have my BT landline even though our ISP is now TalkTalk. All working okay, including both TalkTalk and (for a few months longer) Virgin email addresses. The broadband speed is sometimes dreadfully slow, but it was when we were with Virgin too. It's tempting to think that some TT helpline staff misinform in order to try it on because they get commission on new orders, but I'm just guessing here. If so, that's appalling.
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The people who are being switched forcibly over onto line rental as well as b/band with TT are on unbundled exchanges -there have been a number of reports of such slamming behaviours -IF TT don't have their equipment in your exchange your phone line will remain with BT.........However, TT are themselves moving such b/band only customers onto Daisy Communications as they don't want them !!!

Mirerrawiel_Voltiac

Well I am now with TT but only after I picked up the phone to have a 'let's sort this out' conversation, apparently my order was stuck and would have remained stuck if I hadn't called, I am now on exactly the same package I was with Virgin, but for about £15.00 a month less although that did involve a 'tell me why I should stay with you' moment.

The first time everything was agreed it was not actioned so I had to have the same conversation twice but as far as I can tell it is now 'sorted'.

My one remaining query is what happens to my final months' virgin media payment, I finally switched just before it became due - I was paying by debit card due to an ancient b**ls up so there was no DD on the account and I can no longer access my vm account to make a payment.

I'm certainly not phoning them and that goes through to TT now anyway who state on their site they cannot take payments for Virgin.

I strongly suspect a lot of us will be hearing from DCA's in the fullness of time over our final bills at virgin.

I wonder if they kept our credit agreements?

Mister_G

Mister_G wrote: »

I too have been forcibly migrated from VM to TalkTalk. My fairly pathetic 1.5Mb that I had with VM has now dropped to below 0.5Mb. Last night it was down to 0.12Mb!

I spoke to VM about it on 3rd April, just after it happened. The guy told me that I had been moved to TT and that he would report a fault. I got the usual text message from VM apologising and saying that it would be fixed within the 5 working day period.

Of course, what with Easter and this weekend getting in the way, I'm expecting it to all come right on Monday.

I suspect that TT do not have sufficient spare capacity on my (non-unbundled, non 21CN) exchange to cope with the large number of VM customers that they have just inherited.

I'll let you know, but it's not looking too good at the moment.

Well, it's now Wednesday and I have just come off the phone to VM, as there had been no change to my BB performance (down to 0.15Mb last night!). The guy informed me that VM and TT have a transfer issue with a few hundred customers and that I am one of them. He reckoned that it will be resolved by this Friday.

I'm still suspicious that this is due to TT not having sufficient capacity on some of the non-unbundled 20CN exchanges to take the switched over VM customers, as I get better speeds (1Mb) during the 'quiet' periods.

If any of the IT gurus one out there can confirm that this could be the case, I'd love to know!

Anyway, watch this space and I'll provide an update on Saturday.

Mister_G

Mister_G wrote: »

Well, it's now Wednesday and I have just come off the phone to VM, as there had been no change to my BB performance (down to 0.15Mb last night!). The guy informed me that VM and TT have a transfer issue with a few hundred customers and that I am one of them. He reckoned that it will be resolved by this Friday.

I'm still suspicious that this is due to TT not having sufficient capacity on some of the non-unbundled 20CN exchanges to take the switched over VM customers, as I get better speeds (1Mb) during the 'quiet' periods.

If any of the IT gurus one out there can confirm that this could be the case, I'd love to know!

Anyway, watch this space and I'll provide an update on Saturday.

Just had a call from John in Escalations at VM (based in Swansea rather than India). He informed me that the TT speed issue is well known and that, although TT are trying to sort it out, they can not give any timescales.

He then put me through to Retentions (based in Glasgow) who are going to issue me with a MAC code within five days.

I will hang on with VM/TT for a bit, but it looks like I will be looking for a new ISP elsewhere.

As for the pain of losing my virgin.net email address, well that's another story!

brewerdave

Mister_G wrote: »

Just had a call from John in Escalations at VM (based in Swansea rather than India). He informed me that the TT speed issue is well known and that, although TT are trying to sort it out, they can not give any timescales.

He then put me through to Retentions (based in Glasgow) who are going to issue me with a MAC code within five days.

I will hang on with VM/TT for a bit, but it looks like I will be looking for a new ISP elsewhere.

As for the pain of losing my virgin.net email address, well that's another story!

If you are on a non unbundled exchange then TT don't want you anyway - they are selling off such b.band only customers to Daisy Communications as fast as possible

Mister_G

brewerdave wrote: »

If you are on a non unbundled exchange then TT don't want you anyway - they are selling off such b.band only customers to Daisy Communications as fast as possible

Ah, that's interesting. I currently have/had both phone and BB with VM on one of their packages with all inclusive calls 24/7 and am still paying them monthly So far, I've not yet heard from TT about what package they are going to offer me.

Mister_G

Well, we're now over two weeks on from my last post and, as my evening BB speeds are still abysmal, I have decided to give Plusnet a try.

I rang VM to ask for a MAC code, which they said that they would send me within 5 days. Needless to say, nothing arrived. After 7 days I rang them again and managed to get the MAC code over the phone.

I immediately passed this on to PN and expected everything to 'just happen' I got a nice welcome letter from PN and have been expecting their shiny new router to arrive at anytime.

Until yesterday, when I got a text from PN stating that there was still an 'open order' on my line. This meant that PN could not take it over.

I then made another call to VM on their 0345 number, as I discovered that the 150 number no longer works once you have been moved to TT. VM told me that there was indeed an 'open order' on the line, but they could not explain why, other than 'it can take sometime to cancel it'. The chap did it straight away and said that I should wait until Monday afternoon to contact PN to tell them that the line was now available.

This I shall do, and provide an update later.

luci_1

today my experience of both Virgin and Talk Talk over the last few weeks has built up to the stage of leaving me in tears. I have tried customer service with both companies and have got absolutely nowhere.In the case of Virgin I have now resorted to commenting on their facebook page to try and shame them into a response. Virgin took a full months dd on the 3rd to which they were not entitled and it seems that they will not begin to process any refund before 5 weeks have passed. Talk Talk - for nearly two weeks I have been trying to change a dd date until after my pay day. I live on a very tight budget and have been worried sick since the 12th that this bill would go out and the funds wouldn't be there and eventually I was promised that the dd would definitely not go out on the 25th (a date they set) but would be taken on the 3rd as I requested. Checked my bank balance this morning - and guess what? they have taken the dd and left me overdrawn with bank charges incurred. Who knows if they will then try to take another payment on my agreed payment date of the 3rd? Today I have spoken online to Gcinile,Shivanshu, Parul,Ted and Kranti on separate occasions but not once have I managed to get through to the mythical 'customer payment support' who I am told will be able to deal with my problem. I am very upset and look to lose @ a days wages in bank charges next month on top of paying two companies for this months service. I live alone, I only work part time and between them these two companies have absolutely crippled me financially this month. I am very upset and I really don't know what else I can do to try and sort this mess out?

Mister_G

Mister_G wrote: »

Well, we're now over two weeks on from my last post and, as my evening BB speeds are still abysmal, I have decided to give Plusnet a try.

I rang VM to ask for a MAC code, which they said that they would send me within 5 days. Needless to say, nothing arrived. After 7 days I rang them again and managed to get the MAC code over the phone.

I immediately passed this on to PN and expected everything to 'just happen' I got a nice welcome letter from PN and have been expecting their shiny new router to arrive at anytime.

Until yesterday, when I got a text from PN stating that there was still an 'open order' on my line. This meant that PN could not take it over.

I then made another call to VM on their 0345 number, as I discovered that the 150 number no longer works once you have been moved to TT. VM told me that there was indeed an 'open order' on the line, but they could not explain why, other than 'it can take sometime to cancel it'. The chap did it straight away and said that I should wait until Monday afternoon to contact PN to tell them that the line was now available.

This I shall do, and provide an update later.

Well, we've finally got there. Plusnet still had lots of issues taking the line over from VM and eventually the MAC code ran out. I had to get a new one from VM and eventually I went live with PN on 26th May.

There were a few problems with line speed which didn't really sort themselves out until early July. I have found the PN Forum to very helpful, more so than their telephone support which always seems to entail a 30 minute wait to speak to a human.

My line speed has settled down at 1.7Mbps, which is about what I used to get with VM before TT came on the scene.