Awful experience with NOW Broadband

Mowog

Just wanted to share the shocking experience I'm having with NOW Broadband, in the hopes of warning off any other potential customers who may be duped by their website.

When Virgin announced their price rises I took the opportunity to quit the contract early, hoping to say goodbye to The Worst Customer Service In The World for good. I signed up with NOW through their website. They ask you to enter your postcode, and then show you what's available. I chose the fastest broadband and went through the motions of signing up.

They gave me an installation date of the 18th (last Friday), charged me a fiver and sent out a modem/router. They sent reminders running up to this date to ensure I'd be home, but the day passed without anyone knocking at the door. Not a problem, I thought, probably just due to the weather. I called to chase it up, and was given the most confusing pile of jargon-ridden excuses I've ever heard. After the third phone call it eventually became clear that they were saying that they couldn't technically deliver the type of broadband that they'd sold me.

The extra mystery is that they use BT OpenReach, and it isn't that long ago that we had EXACTLY this type of broadband to the house via Sky TV. There's a pretty new looking socket still in the wall with an OpenReach logo on it. But, for reasons that were not forthcoming, NOW cannot supply this.

I don't mind that they can't supply me with broadband, but I really do mind that they gave me a fixed installation date, a modem, and reminders, only to then turn around and say it couldn't happen. My contract with Virgin is due to end in a couple of days.

This now leaves me stuck with Virgin Media - I think literally the only thing I can do is cancel the cancellation, and continue to enjoy their horrid new TV box and The Worst Customer Service In The World.

Needless to say I am really not impressed with NOW, and would strongly advice others to shop elsewhere.

RogerBareford

Mowog said:

Just wanted to share the shocking experience I'm having with NOW Broadband, in the hopes of warning off any other potential customers who may be duped by their website.

When Virgin announced their price rises I took the opportunity to quit the contract early, hoping to say goodbye to The Worst Customer Service In The World for good. I signed up with NOW through their website. They ask you to enter your postcode, and then show you what's available. I chose the fastest broadband and went through the motions of signing up.

They gave me an installation date of the 18th (last Friday), charged me a fiver and sent out a modem/router. They sent reminders running up to this date to ensure I'd be home, but the day passed without anyone knocking at the door. Not a problem, I thought, probably just due to the weather. I called to chase it up, and was given the most confusing pile of jargon-ridden excuses I've ever heard. After the third phone call it eventually became clear that they were saying that they couldn't technically deliver the type of broadband that they'd sold me.

The extra mystery is that they use BT OpenReach, and it isn't that long ago that we had EXACTLY this type of broadband to the house via Sky TV. There's a pretty new looking socket still in the wall with an OpenReach logo on it. But, for reasons that were not forthcoming, NOW cannot supply this.

I don't mind that they can't supply me with broadband, but I really do mind that they gave me a fixed installation date, a modem, and reminders, only to then turn around and say it couldn't happen. My contract with Virgin is due to end in a couple of days.

This now leaves me stuck with Virgin Media - I think literally the only thing I can do is cancel the cancellation, and continue to enjoy their horrid new TV box and The Worst Customer Service In The World.

Needless to say I am really not impressed with NOW, and would strongly advice others to shop elsewhere.

Since you last had that type of broadband more people could have also got the same type in your area and now there could be no room left in the cabinet to connect up your line to the appropriate speed of broadband.

But they should have been able to check this before you placed the order and rejected it.

iniltous

As already stated, it could be the FTTC ( cabinet ) is out of spare ports, however that is no excuse , they shouldn’t take your order if they ‘know’ it will not be possible to provide the service.
If interested you could check the status yourself at 
https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL
Your VM or Now phone number won’t work because they are not ‘BTw’ based , but the address option should..if it shows ‘waiting list’ against VDSL then no spare ports, if it shows ‘available’ then whatever issues Now have , it’s not the FTTC cabinet , and if there are spare ports, there are other providers apart from Sky and Now that offer service via FTTC, and as the speeds are OR derived, whatever speed Now said you could have , any OR based provider could supply…the checker shows what’s predicted for your area.

HaroldWren5

Mowog said:

Just wanted to share the shocking experience I'm having with NOW Broadband, in the hopes of warning off any other potential customers who may be duped by their website.

When Virgin announced their price rises I took the opportunity to quit the contract early, hoping to say goodbye to The Worst Customer Service In The World for good. I signed up with NOW through their website. They ask you to enter your postcode, and then show you what's available. I chose the fastest broadband and went through the motions of signing up.

They gave me an installation date of the 18th (last Friday), charged me a fiver and sent out a modem/router. They sent reminders running up to this date to ensure I'd be home, but the day passed without anyone knocking at the door. Not a problem, I thought, probably just due to the weather. I called to chase it up, and was given the most confusing pile of jargon-ridden excuses I've ever heard. After the third phone call it eventually became clear that they were saying that they couldn't technically deliver the type of broadband that they'd sold me.

The extra mystery is that they use BT OpenReach, and it isn't that long ago that we had EXACTLY this type of broadband to the house via Sky TV. There's a pretty new looking socket still in the wall with an OpenReach logo on it. But, for reasons that were not forthcoming, NOW cannot supply this.

I don't mind that they can't supply me with broadband, but I really do mind that they gave me a fixed installation date, a modem, and reminders, only to then turn around and say it couldn't happen. My contract with Virgin is due to end in a couple of days.

This now leaves me stuck with Virgin Media - I think literally the only thing I can do is cancel the cancellation, and continue to enjoy their horrid new TV box and The Worst Customer Service In The World.

Needless to say I am really not impressed with NOW, and would strongly advice others to shop elsewhere.

You are right. That is just bad customer service. You can still sign up with a new broadband provider and leave Virgin Media though. Can you get FTTP broadband in your area via an Openreach provider? 

PZ19

Didn’t virgin offer you a retention deal after you quit?  I’ve been with them over 20 years and apart from the dance around new contracts have never had any reason to contact them..

Mowog

Thanks so much for all the replies. I didn't know about the broadband checker website. It does indeed show 'waiting list' for VDSL, so I guess no spare ports since we last had OpenReach broadband. That really does beg the question why NOW couldn't do the same search before giving me a fixed installation date. Absolute idiots, frankly.

My job totally relies on a decent broadband connection, so unfortunately, with the cut off being tomorrow, I felt I had to just go back to Virgin. The good news is that I got the 1 in 100 of their staff that has both the experience and the desire to help. Although I'll be living in fear of anything going wrong (because when it does, the customer service really is the worst I've ever known), I did at least get a very good deal. Just £1 more a month than I would have paid NOW for broadband and phone line, and we keep the nasty telly box. My better half is pleased that she'll still be able to record programs, and I'm happy to be paying exactly what I think it's worth for it - £1 a month.

Thanks again for all the helpful responses - will make sure I remember the advice for when we next have the chance to switch.