epic fail joining virgin

petercz

Here is a letter sent to VirginMedia, has anyone had a similar experience?

Dear Sirs,

Several weeks ago, I enquired about the possibility of becoming a Virgin Media customer. I spoke with your sales team member about very specific service requirements, quality expectations etc. I was assured that you can connect the requested service, your colleague confirmed that you have adequate and available infrastructure.

our installation was scheduled for yesterday (29.03.17) between 1 and 6pm. I arranged time off to make myself available when you requested. Unfortunately, despite an annoying avalanche of texts and e-mails in the upcoming days nobody showed up. At 18.30 I phoned your customer service number and after 15 minutes on hold I was told that the gentleman cannot help me, all he could see was that the installation is still live and there are no notes to indicate a cancellation or delay. He advised me that it would be best that he transfers my call to your technical department who will have more insight into what has happened. After another 20 minutes on hold I was connected to someone in India who in broken English tried to convince me that the installation could not take place because ‘a cable needs to be installed’, I tried to establish when that circumstance transpired but the language barrier was not allowing, I also attempted to explain that you sent me a text about the need to install a cable to the property on 13 march 9.27am. In this you requested that I confirm that I am happy for you to perform this part of the installation in my absence, to which of course I agreed. I then asked the person to transfer me back to customer service, she told me that ‘I have to call the same number again’. I did that and after another period of listening to oldie-but-goodie music I spoke with another of your colleagues in customer service, I advised him that I would like to lodge a complaint, I also explained what the nature of my complaint is. He quickly advised that I must speak with the complaints department and immediately put me through, this again took a long while on hold before someone answered. I explained the nature of my problem in detail, the person patiently waited until I finished without interrupting. He then apologised and said that I was put through to ‘the wrong complaints department’ (!), he then transferred my call to the right one, which of course meant more Virgin Music. I then spoke with someone who looked into the installation and said that the engineer actually came before 1 pm, decided that the installation couldn’t take place because of technical issues: ‘lack of cable’, and failed to let us know. Person by the name of Deep (he would not provide his last name) confirmed that this is what happened and accepted that it was wrong confirming that my day was wasted. I asked him for his e-mail address so that I could email him but instead he transferred my call to …….. a department which was already closed. It was then 8pm.

I tried to tackle this issue again this morning (30.03.17). My first attempt took 40 minutes, I spoke with a gentleman who introduced himself as Vicky Reddy, He confirmed that the installation was abandoned and that the engineer could have notified us that it will not take place. He also explained that it will not be possible to connect us to your network for at least several weeks as you must apply for local authority permission to dig in the street. I enquired how I should address my invoice for time wasted and he assured me that it will be promptly paid by virgin ‘billing department’. I was not sure if he fully understood the weight of that statement so I once more explained what I mean by invoice and payment, he once more assured that he understands and that any invoice will be paid without doubt. Because I had serious reservations about Vicky’s ability to comprehend spoken English I asked if I could have someone from a UK based call centre deal with this problem. He told me that someone will call me back, and that it will certainly be someone from the UK. I specifically asked within what time frame I can expect this call and he assure that it will be within an hour. To no great surprise this did not happen.

I phone again sometime later and spoke with Brandon in sales. He listened to this snowballing story of epic fails with great interest and told me that he fully understands my frustration. We spoke about what went wrong and Brandon confirmed that it will not be possible to connect Virgin to the property for several weeks. I explained that I intend to invoice for the time wasted dealing with this issue and asked for an e-mail address to send my bill to, Brandon explained that I will need to raise this with customer service as he was in sales. He assured me that he will only put me on hold briefly and speak with customer service to ensure that I don’t need to explain everything again. 15 minutes later the call was picked up by someone in India who insisted on discussing the whole thing once more. When I requested to speak with his manager he hung up.

At that point I decided that I wish to cancel my request for an installation, not only you sold me something which you did not have, but also demonstrated the level of aftercare which I just want to put behind me. This call took another 20 minutes, this time one of your Indian colleagues tried to retain me as a customer by assuring that you will schedule the installation ‘as soon as possible’. When I pointed out that this was an evident lie he seemed unmoved and carried on as if nothing happened.

I tried to become your customer for several weeks, my experience is one which should be publicised as much as possible as a precaution of what one faces if they think of joining Virgin. You have pestered me with unnecessary communications, you littered my floor with untruthful and deceiving advertising materials, You sold me something which you do not have, you unnecessarily requested my presence by which you caused a loss and an inconvenience, and finally you demonstrated what happens if I wish to communicate with you for any other reason than to be sold something.

Buzby

Feeling better? As a residential user, your joke about an address to send your bill.... had they agreed to pay for your time and at what rate? No? Then with no service installation guarantee no wonder the chap didn't understand you.

As you had no cable, all installs are dependant on local plant and wayleaves being available. It is the Council that stipulates what actions need be taken if a pavement or roadway requires breaking to install your feed - there is a fee for this, and a fine if they don't. You seem to believe the world owes you and throw at tantrum when it doesn't work out. Stick with BT's flow par Service and slow speeds for BB - you deserve each other.