No TV or Broadband. Might miss Olympic ceremony!!!!!!!!!

[RobbieD]

Our Virgin Media TV & Broadband has been down since Wednesday morning (here in South East London).

My wife is able to work at home due to the Olympics, but this forced her to have to go in to the office in central London, because she can't work from home without access to email and her work intranet.

Wednesday evening the India call centre told My wife that it was due to upgrade work in the area and would be back on by 10pm. (I found it hard to believe that Virgin would do upgrade work which meant taking down both TV and broadband through to the evening.)

It didn't come back on at 10pm (despite several box reboots) and was still off yesterday morning so my wife had to go in to the office again.

I called faults on 151 last night and the lady in the Indian call centre told me that the engineers were still working on it and it would be fixed shortly. I told her that my wife was told that last night, and she said she could only apologise, but it should be fixed that evening.

Of course it is still not working this morning!!!! And my wife is now on her way in to central London again, and very unhappy!!

We are now also very concerned that we will miss the Olympic opening ceremony tonight - which my wife has a connection to, so we really want to see it! (We have never brought a freeview box, as we have Virgin Media, I'm tempted to try and buy an HD freeview box on the way home tonight, although we don't have an aerial either and I don't know if I could just buy an indoor aerial and have it work.)

I think this could be the thing that makes us switch to Sky!

Are we the only ones without any Virgin TV or internet? We are in the SE6 area.

AAHHHhhhhhh!!!!!

 

[RobbieD]

Wife tells me that (after over 48 hours of outage) both TV service and broadband are back on!

So (fingers crossed) we will get to see the Olympic Opening Ceremony.

 

[metalguru]

Have faith

 

[dante01]

Have faith

In Virgin's ability to make a pigs ear out of everything they say or do

 

[metalguru]

In Virgin's ability to make a pigs ear out of everything they say or do

Harsh

 

[dante01]

Harsh

Did you read the first post?

Have you read many other such posts made both here and elsewhere?

Harsh?

A pretty accurate appraisal given the evidence.

If I want a faith I'll go to church or join a sect. A know Richard Branson has a beard, but seriously doubt that he's the reincarnation of Jesus???

 

[metalguru]

Did you read the first post?

Have you read many other such posts made both here and elsewhere?

Harsh?

A pretty accurate appraisal given the evidence.

If I want a faith I'll go to church or join a sect. A know Richard Branson has a beard, but seriously doubt that he's the reincarnation of Jesus???

Considering the amount of customers Virgin Media have and the fact that they have just recently installed the millionth Tivo, your statement is absolutely idiotic. Yes things go wrong and obviously sometimes with devastating results to the people involved as in this post. But to say they make a pigs ear of everything is pathetic.

And I was implying have "faith" in their ability to rectify the fault. Nothing to do with any sect or religion.

 

[dante01]

I've been waiting for VM to come bury a cable in my garden for nearly 10 months now. I'm more likely to see a second coming than VM do as they are paid to.

and the number of customers or installations VM have or make is no excuse for poor customer services. They make more so should therefore invest more into such services.

I know your wife works for VM, but in who's interests is it in to defend VM? If you don't have an issue then how can you make comments in relation to those that have? You being happy with the service you get does not excuse the poor services others experience. Faith has no bearing, the iissue should never have been there to begin with and if told something by VM then VM should be held accountable for what they said, not have it left to faith to sort it out. If you aren't in when they arrange an appointment they charge you, if they don't do as they say they are going to do when they say they are going to do it then nothing happens other than the paying customer getting vexed and annoyed at VM.

 

[metalguru]

I've been waiting for VM to come bury a cable in my garden for nearly 10 months now. I'm more likely to see a second coming than VM do as they are paid to.

and the number of customers or installations VM have or make is no excuse for poor customer services. They make more so should therefore invest more into such services.

I know your wife works for VM, but in who's interests is it in to defend VM? If you don't have an issue then how can you make comments in relation to those that have? You being happy with the service you get does not excuse the poor services other people have to tolerate. Faith has no bearing, the iissue should never have been there to begin with and if told something by VM then VM should be held accountable for what they said, not have it left to faith to sort it out. If you aren't in when they arrange an appointment they charge you, if they don't do as they say they are going to do then nothing happens other than the paying customer gettering vexed and annoyed at VM.

My my you must live in a perfect world. Every company that produces anything be it a product or a service is never perfect and if you are saying that VM should be 100% perfect then please show me any company that is. I have had problems with my virgin service in the past, VM and VA but they have been sorted out. But then again I realize that things in life are far from perfect especially when technology is involved and I won't throw my toys out of the pram and if that's bad in your eyes then so be it. At the end of the day things are usually sorted out.

You are obviously the type that likes to complain and following your posts its quite obvious you probably wind people up so much, that may be the reason your cable hasn't been buried correctly. If thats not the case and it is a complete b*&%s up then you are free to go to another provider who I am sure will have a 100% record on fault rectifications Or no faults at all in your perfect world.

Also they used to charge you if you missed an appointment but not anymore, unless you are a constant offender that is. My wife works in corporate accounts so totally irrelevant to this post. You just appear to try and fit every comment people make into your scenarios, you should try and get a life you sad person.

 

[dante01]

So you have no issues with VM's customers services and those that do are incorrect and shouldn't post here or complain to VM? I'm sure Virgin are estatic that you are telling disgruntled customers to simply go elsewhere if not happy???

I complain when I pay for a certain level of service and do not get that service. VM are legally obliged to provide the services they take my money for and I will complain each and every time they fail to fulfil their commitments to me as a paying customer. If you don't voice your concerns then what incentive is there for a company or service to improve the situation, not only in relation to an individual case or problem, but also in relation to that concerns customers relations as a whole?

So you are now suggesting the cable wasn't buried in my garden because my attitude is wrong? The cable was exposed prior to me moving into my new home. I tend to complain after issues arise, so blaiming me for VM's ineptitude prior to me moving here is lame. Or are you suggesting if I do not mention the cable to VM, put my faith in them and sit here doing nothing then they will come bury it?

If I experience issue with other services then I'm just as likely to be upset by them, but this forum deals with Virgin Media cable. You obviously never have an issue with anything and are therefore very lucky.

 

[metalguru]

So you have no issues with VM's customers services and those that do are incorrect and shouldn't post here or complain to VM?

I complain when I pay for a certain level of service and do not get that service. VM are legally obliged to provide the services they take my money for and I will complain each and every time they fail to fulfil their commitments to me as a paying customer.

So you are now suggesting the cable wasn't buried in my garden because my attitude is wrong? The cable was exposed prior to me moving into my new home. I tend to complain after issues arise, so blaiming me for VM's ineptitude prior to me moving here is lame.

I never said people should not complain I said things do go wrong and ultimately very wrong but in the grand scheme of things more people are happy than unhappy with VM or else this site and others would be in melt down and people don't tend to praise a company rather they would diss it.

Your attitude is that everything is perfect and it isn't and never will be no matter which company you deal with that's just life but obviously you can't deal with that. I said in my post I have had problems, and so there you go again trying to fit things into your way. So sad.


Did the person who posted get the problem sorted?

Still think that your attitude is the reason your cable is exposed, your whole tone is very aggressive. I bet mummy and daddy spoiled you rotten

 

[dante01]

Did the person who posted get the problem sorted?

No, they were told something that wasn't the case. Nothing that VM diid was in relation to the customers enquiry and when the initial enquiry was made then the reply was incorrect. Why did he need to make a second call and can you blame him for not putting "faith" in what he was told the second time around? Why not just say that they cannot guarantee services will be resumed, but they are trying their best to rectify the situation as soon as they can? I can only presume that work carried out in relation to an upgrade would be scheduled, so why no prior notice? Virgin seem eager enough to post you information relating to "Great" new phone deals etc., but less eager to tell you when they will be severing your services due to scheduled repairs etc.

Do you think he will be reimbursed for the 48 hours of services he missed through no fault of his own?

 

[metalguru]

No, they were told something that wasn't the case. Nothing that VM diid was in relation to the customers enquiry and when the initial enquiry was made then the reply was incorrect. Why did he need to make a second call and can you blame him for not putting "faith" in what he was told the second time around? Why not just say that they cannot guarantee services will be resumed, but they are trying their best to rectify the situation as soon as they can? I can only presume that work carried out in relation to an upgrade would be scheduled, so why no prior notice? Virgin seem eager enough to post you information relating to "Great" new phone deals etc., but less eager to tell you when they will be severing your services due to scheduled repairs etc.

Do you think he will be reimbursed for the 48 hours of services he missed through no fault of his own?

In my case and friends cases yes reimbursements have been issued.
In the end the services were resumed?

I agree with the customer services issue and probably language issues.
But VM's are no worse than anyone elses.

A customer services op will probably say anything to close out the fault call and I hate things like that but like I said that's life, ask Esther.

Also VM were left a very bad legacy from the previous cable companies (NTL in my area) and the work to sort things out is still ongoing after 5 years.

 

[dante01]

I agree with the customer services issue and probably language issues.
But VM's are no worse than anyone elses.

AS I said, this forum deals with Virgin Media and not the other services. I also already mentioned that VM's customer service record should be appraised on its own merits and not excused simply because of poor customer services elsewhere. I pay Virgin, not SKY or similar operations and expect to get what I pay for.

And no, I'm not antagonistic towards the phone operatives or the VM engineers who've previously visited me at home. I even have the personal phone number of one such installer who recommends I call him direct rather than waste my time with the phone reps.

I cannot comment on your experiences of VM, but mine are based on being a customer for over ten years and things are generally getting worse. I now hate having to deal with them regardless of why, be it to report a fault or procure additional services. I seem to be plagued by issues whenever I contact them and the mistakes they make a so ludicrous. You go on about their size, a company this size simply shouldn't be making many of these mistakes to begin with.


I know it not your fault, but if Virgin want my "faith" then they need to actually do something to first of all instill some and then maybe, just maybe I'll start to once again have some in their abilities to do as they are supposed to do. I actually like the service when it is working and do not want an alternative. The issues are with the customer care and business acumen associated with VM and not the actual services themselves. I can only equate it to dealing with cowboy builders, or rather you'd get the impression that was who you were dealing with if not for knowing it is Virgin Media.

 

[metalguru]

You shouldn't have been given the engineers number.

That's it

 

[dante01]

You shouldn't have been given the engineers number.

I'll ring 151 on Monday and report him!

 

[metalguru]

I would as you like things to be correct

 

[Gavtech]

Gentlemen, this conduct is unbecoming.

Please cease all personal comment and let it be.

Thanks.

 

[metalguru]

Yes it's about time it was shut up, period.

 

[RobbieD]

As the original poster, I certainly didn't mean to cause the above arguments.

Generally, we have found Virgin Media to be quite good (and better than my previous experiences with Sky) but I do find the Indian call centre frustrating - and even more so now that they seem to also be dealing with faults (which appeared to remain UK based when customer services first went to India). Maybe someone reading from a script can deal with general enquires, but faults really do need someone with a little bit more expertise.

But we did get to enjoy the Olympic Opening Ceremony, and my wife is able to work from home today, so all is well.

I've been waiting for VM to come bury a cable in my garden for nearly 10 months now. I'm more likely to see a second coming than VM do as they are paid to.

Funny you should say that:

(Not wanting to restart the argument, but...) When we first had our install, the engineer said that someone else would come to bury the cable. Despite a few calls to customer services, several years later, the cable is still lying in its green tube along the edge of our lawn, and we've just sort of got used to it!

 

[dante01]

(Not wanting to restart the argument, but...) When we first had our install, the engineer said that someone else would come to bury the cable. Despite a few calls to customer services, several years later, the cable is still lying in its green tube along the edge of our lawn, and we've just sort of got used to it!

You got a green tube?

I'm jealous