Virgin Media: Failure to provide service as stated

Mark_Hebden

Hi,
I was wondering if anyone can give me some advice on the following issue i have with Virgin Media.

I started my Virgin Media contract back in Jan 2016 its an 18 months contract. I recently finished a purchase of my first home at the end of Sept. So i ran Virgin Media up and they said it was all good to be transferred to my new property. They said they would be around on Oct 24th which was great as my move date was 22nd Oct.

Oct 22nd: I moved to my first home with no hassle. Received a phone call from Virgin Media saying they could come around that day, great i thought and within an hour they showed up.... Only to find out that there was no cable point to the house. So they went away without leaving any information.

Oct 24th: I received a phone call t stating that another engineer visit has been booked for 10th November, i mentioned on the phone that last time they came there was no cable to the house. So they booked in a site survey for Oct 26th.

Oct 26th: They came around for the site survey and found the cable piping to the house (it wasn't where they had it on their records). But still no cable was in there, so they did try to place cable down the piping only to find out it was blocked/collapsed at some place. So they mentioned they would have to raise this to construction to get the road dug up to fix this.

A few days later i received a letter saying an engineer was due on Nov 10th. So i booked the day of work.

Nov 10th: I gave Virgin a call at 3pm to double check an engineer was coming as they hadn't done the work on the road. The guy on the phone said yes the engineer has finished his other jobs and should be around to yours next. 6:30pm and still no engineer, i ring up again and the lady on the phone says the job was actually cancelled on the 9th Nov, but no-one contacted me to notify me of this... waste of a day off. A week later I've still not heard anything from Virgin Media, so i ring up and they say its been rescheduled for 29th Nov. Still no mention of the work needed on the road.

29th Nov: The engineer does show up this time... but of course he can't do any work as they still haven't done the work on the road. I call up their customer support trying to get any information on how long it will take for this work to take place. No-one can seem to give me anything, so i ask to cancel my contract as i'm totally fed up with them. But they say will cost me £160 early disconnection fee. I tried to argue the point that they should waive that £160 as it has cost me more than that in days off and they have failed to provide a service they said they could provide.

Do I have any consumer rights to argue back at them to get my contract cancelled or am i stuck by their T + C's and have to wait it out for an unspecified amount of time with no internet?

Thanks.
Yet another angry Virgin Media customer :mad:

macman

There is no SLA on a residential contract, so all you can expect is a pro rata credit for the downtime, if you ask for it. And possibly a small goodwill payment. Consequential losses-forget it.

littleboo

If you are in an 18 month contract from Jan 16, then by moving home you either terminate that contract early and pay off the relevant charges for early termination, or take the new service to the new property, if they can provide service at the new address. Your contract may start a new minimum term if you move.

Mark_Hebden

I have taken the service to the new property which they said could be supplied. However, it turns out it can only be supplied after they dig the road up as they never laid the cable properly in the first place! A failure on their side.

JJ_Egan

If they will allow you to cancel at the new premises will they require you to pay off the old contract ??

Mark_Hebden

Yes, if i want to cancel instead of waiting for them to dig up the road at some unknown time in the future i have to pay off the remainder of my contract. Chances are though the contract will be up before they even do the work. I've heard it can take upto a year for them to get the work done. I can't live without the internet for a year!

JJ_Egan

Grab a mobile dongle if you have a need for the internet .

iniltous

TBH , you are not in the strongest negotiating position, as your old address was in still within a minimum term ( and playing devils advocate here) it was your choice to move , they agreed to not levy any ETC as you would take VM at your 'new' address.
Obviously they have failed to provide service, and also failed to keep you advised of the issue, but if you now advise them that the delay in getting service is unacceptable, and you want to be released from any minimum term at your new address, that really shouldn't be a problem, but I doubt if they will waive the ETC's due at your old address,in fact if your new address didn't have VM services at all, you would be liable for ETC's, unless access to VM is what made you decide to move to this new address, but that would be unlikely, and impossible to prove