Retentions and disconnections!

hairport · 22-03-2007, 20:34

After missing Sky One and Sky Two I decided to cancel my TV and phone service. I didn't really watch any of the other channels and don't use my Virgin phone very much so thought I'd disconnect them but keep broadband.

I made a call to customer services who told me I'd need to contact retentions. So after 12 attempts go get through (their automated system kept hanging up on me) I was given an 0800 number which went through to them directly. Unfortunately at his point I discovered that my Virgin phone line was dead so from my BT line and 30 minutes later I actually got through and spoke to a very nice man who tried to get me to keep the phone and pay a small premium to keep BBC etc etc. I didn't see the point in this as I've already got a BT phone and can get Freeview for FREE!

To cut a long story short I arranged to have my phone and TV disconnected on the 7th May well over the 30 days needed.

3 days I still didn't have my Virgin phone so called faults... to be put through to Accounts who told me that my phone has been disconnected because of my request to disconnect. That's 40+ days early! He advised that I'd need to speak to retentions again to get the phone reconnected...

I have no desire to go over to Sky (though I was with them for 8 years without (many) complaints) but Virgin seem incapable of delivering a decent service to ME.

Comments anyone?

Tim

22-03-2007, 20:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by hairport

After missing Sky One and Sky Two I decided to cancel my TV and phone service. I didn't really watch any of the other channels and don't use my Virgin phone very much so thought I'd disconnect them but keep broadband.

I made a call to customer services who told me I'd need to contact retentions. So after 12 attempts go get through (their automated system kept hanging up on me) I was given an 0800 number which went through to them directly. Unfortunately at his point I discovered that my Virgin phone line was dead so from my BT line and 30 minutes later I actually got through and spoke to a very nice man who tried to get me to keep the phone and pay a small premium to keep BBC etc etc. I didn't see the point in this as I've already got a BT phone and can get Freeview for FREE!

To cut a long story short I arranged to have my phone and TV disconnected on the 7th May well over the 30 days needed.

3 days I still didn't have my Virgin phone so called faults... to be put through to Accounts who told me that my phone has been disconnected because of my request to disconnect. That's 40+ days early! He advised that I'd need to speak to retentions again to get the phone reconnected...

I have no desire to go over to Sky (though I was with them for 8 years without (many) complaints) but Virgin seem incapable of delivering a decent service to ME.

Comments anyone?

Tim

So do you want to disconnect or stay i cannot make it out from your post.

To Quote you.

Quote:

I actually got through and spoke to a very nice man who tried to get me to keep the phone and pay a small premium to keep BBC etc etc. I didn't see the point in this as I've already got a BT phone and can get Freeview for FREE!

Then the complete opposite

Quote:

I have no desire to go over to Sky (though I was with them for 8 years without (many) complaints) but Virgin seem incapable of delivering a decent service to ME.

So from that i get the feeling you are going to Sky ? Or am i reading this completely wrong

Paul · 22-03-2007, 20:48

Some people are never happy are they Bill lol Asked to be disconnected and then was suprised when it happened......

Jules · 22-03-2007, 20:52

To be honest Tim I would just leave it as they have disconnected you as you wanted and you have (god help you lol) a BT phone anyway

22-03-2007, 20:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul

Some people are never happy are they Bill lol Asked to be disconnected and then was suprised when it happened......

Indeed

hairport · 22-03-2007, 21:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill C

So do you want to disconnect or stay i cannot make it out from your post.
So from that i get the feeling you are going to Sky ? Or am i reading this completely wrong

Don't know yet. I'm tempted to save money and go with Freeview (hence didn't want to spend Â£15 a month for Virgins phone and TV service.
But I like some channels that aren't available on Freeview...
So I'm undecided, that's why I wanted to wait until May 7th !!! Could go any of three ways.

Tim

---------- Post added at 21:06 ---------- Previous post was at 21:04 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul

Some people are never happy are they Bill lol Asked to be disconnected and then was suprised when it happened......

Asked to be disconnected in May not March! I have this dislike of paying for something I'm not getting.

Paul · 22-03-2007, 21:08

Then don't pay

You aren't getting a service (obviously) so they cannot make you pay for it.

hairport · 22-03-2007, 21:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jules

To be honest Tim I would just leave it as they have disconnected you as you wanted and you have (god help you lol) a BT phone anyway

Maybe they'll refund the Â£11 odd I'll pay them for the phone line too.

BT phoneline = 100% uptime over 3 years
NTL/Virgin phoneline = 10 days off in the last six months (not including this time)

Paul H · 22-03-2007, 21:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul

Some people are never happy are they Bill lol Asked to be disconnected and then was suprised when it happened......

But this happens a lot!
People are giving 30 days notice, and in some cases the phone is being disconnected the same day!
You pay the bill in advance so they're disconnecting a service that you've already paid for.

22-03-2007, 21:59

This happens because when the person is keying the disconnection the've entered pass the screens too fast and not changed the date for the request to be sent to the exchange. I would ring them, to have it sorted because even though the request for the line to be disconnected has been sent to the exchange, The line will still be active on the main billing system till the date you requested to disconnect.

Its a simple thing to sort, they just need to second visit the work order and correct the date.

WHISTLED · 22-03-2007, 22:11

Quote:

People are giving 30 days notice, and in some cases the phone is being disconnected the same day!
You pay the bill in advance so they're disconnecting a service that you've already paid for

As above

Paul H · 22-03-2007, 22:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by WHISTLED

As above

The 2 people I know who had it happen to them never had their line restored.
The one person always tells her story to others who have experienced the same thing, in the virgin media internal support groups.

WHISTLED · 22-03-2007, 22:24

Its happening about 20 times per day which s too many and they have tried to build a system block to stop it happening but they cant (apparently) a new report is to be distributed to everyone who makes this error requesting its corrected. Hopefully many customers wont even notice its happened.

hairport · 23-03-2007, 14:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by mattysheff

I would ring them, to have it sorted because even though the request for the line to be disconnected has been sent to the exchange, The line will still be active on the main billing system till the date you requested to disconnect.

I rang retentions today. Another very helpful person who was a lot more helpful than the last retentions gentlemen. However he wouldn't put the phone back on. Said that although I'd already been charged for the phone it would be refunded over the next two billing periods and that it had worked out in my favour as I wouldn't have to pay the 30 day disconnection period. Hope it works out that way.

He also explained that they could rejig the packages to better suit my usage, something the previous person I spoke to had offered me basically Freeview for Â£2.95 a month.

And as he said... I have 30 days to decide.

Paul H · 23-03-2007, 17:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by hairport

I rang retentions today. Another very helpful person who was a lot more helpful than the last retentions gentlemen. However he wouldn't put the phone back on. Said that although I'd already been charged for the phone it would be refunded over the next two billing periods and that it had worked out in my favour as I wouldn't have to pay the 30 day disconnection period. Hope it works out that way.

He also explained that they could rejig the packages to better suit my usage, something the previous person I spoke to had offered me basically Freeview for Â£2.95 a month.

And as he said... I have 30 days to decide.

So basically they don't give a stuff, as you're leaving anyway.
But if you do decide to stay with us we can do a good deal, and we'll be nice enough to turn the phone back on if you want.
Until you decide whether you're staying with us, your phone is staying off and we don't care if you've already paid for it.

That is really poor customer service.