Sliced through Virgin Media cable while gardening!

Swipe

pphillips said:

Chino said:

pphillips said:

If they do charge then make a complaint as after 8 weeks you can go to CISAS for adjudication.

What would be the nature of the OP's complaint? That he was charged for repairing a cable that he damaged?

That Virgin Media buried the cable without protecting it.

The same as every other house then?

pphillips

Swipe said:

pphillips said:

Chino said:

pphillips said:

If they do charge then make a complaint as after 8 weeks you can go to CISAS for adjudication.

What would be the nature of the OP's complaint? That he was charged for repairing a cable that he damaged?

That Virgin Media buried the cable without protecting it.

The same as every other house then?

The one in my garden is protected by a green plastic tube.

[Deleted User]

pphillips said:

The one in my garden is protected by a green plastic tube.

Did Virgin actually fit that though? If they did, it's certainly very unusual and not normal practice. Are you sure that wasn't done by a previous occupant of your home? 

victor2

Moneyineptitude said:

pphillips said:

The one in my garden is protected by a green plastic tube.

Did Virgin actually fit that though? If they did, it's certainly very unusual and not normal practice. Are you sure that wasn't done by a previous occupant of your home? 

Probably not installed by Virgin - mine is in yellow tube, installed by Diamond Cable. Two pieces of tube which don't quite meet, so if there's one spot in the lawn where you would sink a spade in, you can be sure it will be that gap between the two pieces.

Hasbeen

victor2 said:

Moneyineptitude said:

pphillips said:

The one in my garden is protected by a green plastic tube.

Did Virgin actually fit that though? If they did, it's certainly very unusual and not normal practice. Are you sure that wasn't done by a previous occupant of your home? 

Probably not installed by Virgin - mine is in yellow tube, installed by Diamond Cable. Two pieces of tube which don't quite meet, so if there's one spot in the lawn where you would sink a spade in, you can be sure it will be that gap between the two pieces.

Op stated that it was an old NTL cable:

Deleted_User said:

Will do thanks. It was on old NTL cable that Virgin had connected their gear.
They came a day early yesterday and fixed the issue.

[Deleted User]

Hasbeen said:

Op stated that it was an old NTL cable:

That's the cable which  was cut through by the OP. 

The one in question was the one "protected" by a green pipe. There was also mention of a yellow pipe (seemingly fitted by Diamond Cable). 

Again, these were/are not fitted as standard by Virgin and may be a throw back to one of the many different cable firms eventually taken over by Telewest and NTL. The merger of those  latter two companies  later resulted in the adoption of the Virgin name. 

Regardless, use of those "protective" pipes is definitely not standard throughout the whole Virgin cable network and so complaints about the lack of them in most areas are not valid. 

[Deleted User]

I think (as you cut the cable) it’s your responsibility unless you can gather substantial evidence that it was a dodgy installation 

pphillips

Moneyineptitude said:

pphillips said:

The one in my garden is protected by a green plastic tube.

Did Virgin actually fit that though? If they did, it's certainly very unusual and not normal practice. Are you sure that wasn't done by a previous occupant of your home? 

Green tube could have been installed by Telewest or Virgin.
Pretty sure my previous address has one too and that definitely was installed by Virgin.
At my address before that it was NTL, can't remember whether or not they used protective tubing.

iniltous

TBH , even if the cable had been put in a conduit ( calling it a duct is overstating what it is ) would provide no protection against a spade , you would just damage the conduit as well as the cable.
It remains to be seen if the OP will eventually have to challenge a charge or not, TBH, if they are paying a substantial monthly fee, the threat of leaving if a penalty charge is raised may well result in it being waived , but only time will tell

jb66

iniltous said:

TBH , even if the cable had been put in a conduit ( calling it a duct is overstating what it is ) would provide no protection against a spade , you would just damage the conduit as well as the cable.
It remains to be seen if the OP will eventually have to challenge a charge or not, TBH, if they are paying a substantial monthly fee, the threat of leaving if a penalty charge is raised may well result in it being waived , but only time will tell

Virgin dont charge for this, I wouldnt worry