Better the Devil?? No alternative, no real choice....

[K Man]

On Monday I received a call to tell me my services were going to be restricted on Wednesday unless I paid my bill that was overdue from the previous month. I always (usually) pay my VM bill 2 - 3 weeks late as they always bill me on or about the 10th and I get paid on the last working on the month so this can vary from month to month.

For June's bill I'm not able to pay until the end of this month due to personal finance issues (which aren't VM's problem I accept). I won't bore you with the long version or my personal finances, but I had to pay just over 500 quid to have an over zealous baylifs clamp to be removed on the 2nd of July for a parking ticket that I'm contesting in the courts - so I'm very skint this month.

I can live without TV and even the phone but Broadband in my house is quite important. My wife uses it for her freelance arty farty startup business and I'm researching a book so no broadband would be very damaging to our lifestyle.

I spoke to somebody in accounts and explained all of this but she wasn't having any of it and we kept going round and round in circles. Me saying "...how can you help me out here I don't get paid until 31st of July", and her saying, ".....if you pay us for June before Wednesday you won't get cut off!"

So I got fed up and said, "OK.... I've had it with you guys!! Cut me off I'm going elsewhere - I want to end my relationship with VM....you have fantastic Broadband, OK Telephone, dubious TV and crap customer service skills - I've had it put me through to whoever I need to speak to I want out!!" She replied, "I can do that sir but I will tell you you have a contract and you will be billed for services until that ends" I say, "Fine put me on the smallest service until my contract is up and then I'm out of here!!" The accounts gurl says "Because your account is late and we've added July to it you can't change your services until you've settled the account" "Put me through to retentions now, I don't want to deal with you anymore you're not helping me!!!"

Then I go through to someone who could have been working for a completely different company based on how helpful and pleasant she was.
So now I'm being given conflicting information by a nice person and I'm proper dizzy....who do I believe?? What's right what's wrong here?? I'm the customer and I'm being treated like I've slept with somebodies mum or sister or something.

Monday evening comes round and I've had all day at work to screw about VM and their inabililty to help me and non-consistancy in what can and what can't be done. I'm now thinking that any assistance or customer "service" you get from VM is really based on how helpful that person is feeling and depends on what side of the bed they rolled out from and whether they've had a good day or not. So totally disenchanted and ruefully I decide that enough is enough and call BT to get them to install a line and then I call SKY for their TV service - mindful that I'll be keeping the broadband as it is the best out there IMO.

SKY - I called them and explained that I was an unhappy VM customer who wants to sign up for their TV and what can they do for me?? They asked for my address and told me that I can be dealt with a local installation company called Spectrum who they could me through to. I went through and spoke with a salesman who proceeded to tell me that I will have to pay for installation and for the SkyPlus box. He then went on to slate VM no doubt thinking that I would join in but it really came off as very unprofessional and got me thinking that only a company who felt threatened would act in such a way??? As the guy went on I asked what the actual costs were and was told install was £60 and the SkyPlus box was £199.

I queried this and checked that he understood that I was coming away from VM and wanted to be enticed, wooed dare I say seduced by Sky and that I thought it was FREE install and severely discounted boxes for ex-VM customers. Only to be told that last month (June) and that this month that is not the case. I was stunned in to silence so the sales guy came back with "What I CAN do for you sir is give you half price installation for £30 and bring the price of the SkyPlus box down to £149 which saves you a massive £80." WOW what a doo doo deal so I told him thanks but no thanks.

BT - I called these monkeys before Sky at 7pm on Monday evening and was in the queue for 40 mins and finally chose the options where I could leave a message for a call back. As far as I know they still haven't called back.

So I'm now left with the feeling that I will get the same level of lapse customer service and indifferent approach to customers form all service providers. This attitude seems to be a very british thing and exists in so many companies. The bottom line is I guess any company is only as good as the people it employs to represent them.

On a good day you can have the most helpful person who re-instills your faith in whatever company you're calling and conversely on a bad day you could have the most awkward, obstinate and incredulously unhelpful person you could hope not to have who makes you want to stop dealing with that company ever again and perhaps even go to their location with a mach10 to re-discuss your query in person.

I think I will weather the VM storm and stick with what I have, both BT and SKY have been poorly represented by their agents/staff in my recent experience and therefore the mindset of "better the devil you know" has come in to play for me.

The Great British disease of doing as little as you can get away with whilst still collecting your levee from your employer is on epidemic levels in all service providers and very noticeable not just in VM but in BT & SKY. There are no doubt some excellent and genuinely talented professionals out there who deal with customers but only a select few customers manage to be dealt with by these individuals and the majority like me seem to get the fakers or the half steppers.

Like I say what's the alternative???

[Rob]

Sorry to note your having problems, but on the other hand why if you can't pay when the bill is due, do you believe it's reasonable for VM to offer you credit? After all you wouldn't be very happy if your employer delayed paying you for a couple of weeks just because he would be short of cash.

The reality is you do have a contract with Virgin Media, and that should be honoured by both sides. It will have a minimum term of 12 months. It costs the cable companies money to install your services initially, and they are then budgeting on a return and income from that installationn. Like you Virgin Media need to balance their books.

If you are having genuine difficulty, within the terms of your contract, you may be able to downgrade. Having said that if your account is locked because of unpaid sums then the average customer services person may well not be able to make changes to future services.

You are probably caught between a rock and hard place. But as you've found out, other major companies relying heavily on call centres can be just as confused about what is actually on offer.

[Ernie_C]

I agree with Rob. Companies are in business to make profit for their shareholders.

It's not their fault that you are having financial difficulties. If your finances cannot cope with paying a relatively small bill a few days earlier than you want to then they are not in good shape and you need to re-evaluate your spending.

I was always taught that you should have at least three months of your income in savings for eventualities whatever they are.

Unfortunately people in the UK today live for today and have little or no real financial planning. They will all be caught out in old age or when interest rates escalate whichever comes first.

[joglynne]

I have to agree with Rob and Ernie C.

I think your only way forward is to pay your bill, in full as soon as possible. Then you need to come down from the VIP package to one that is more affordable whilst you get your finances sorted. Possible setting up a DD for the 1st of the month so that the money comes out of your bank after pay day.

[Mick Fisher]

Originally Posted by K Man

SKY - I called them and explained that I was an unhappy VM customer who wants to sign up for their TV and what can they do for me?? They asked for my address and told me that I can be dealt with a local installation company called Spectrum who they could me through to. I went through and spoke with a salesman who proceeded to tell me that I will have to pay for installation and for the SkyPlus box. He then went on to slate VM no doubt thinking that I would join in but it really came off as very unprofessional and got me thinking that only a company who felt threatened would act in such a way??? As the guy went on I asked what the actual costs were and was told install was £60 and the SkyPlus box was £199.

I queried this and checked that he understood that I was coming away from VM and wanted to be enticed, wooed dare I say seduced by Sky and that I thought it was FREE install and severely discounted boxes for ex-VM customers. Only to be told that last month (June) and that this month that is not the case. I was stunned in to silence so the sales guy came back with "What I CAN do for you sir is give you half price installation for £30 and bring the price of the SkyPlus box down to £149 which saves you a massive £80." WOW what a doo doo deal so I told him thanks but no thanks.

That's strange.
I have, just this minute, signed up for a Sky DTV install. The terms were SkyPlus Box £99.00, Install (Rooftop) £30.00. Total £129.00. This was without negotiating for discounts although I did mention that I was an existing VM client. There was absolutely no discussion of the merits or not of VM.
The agent I spoke to seemed efficient and professional. Hopefully the install will proceed in a similar vein.

[chickendippers]

I rang last month, I was anxious that the free Sky box and installation offer ran out at the end of June and I'd have to pay because I don't move into my house until September. The lovely lady I spoke to created an account for me but didn't add any services, so in theory I will be able to ring up at the end of this month to arrange an installation date (as they couldn't book that far in advance) and won't have to pay a penny.

Now that seems like going the extra mile to me, obviously I haven't needed to ever ring VM sales so I can't compare - but I am currently very happy with Sky.

[cmatt]

sticky situation i know, but i aggree with these guys

i have been a student for 4 years - and have been in similar situations as yourself. But i know full well, if i havent paid a bill, i havent paid a bill - and i have to pay the consequences!

companies arent in it to give you an easy time - just to make money.

[lostandconfused]

i think there are good un's and bad un's in all companies. The people you speak to that seem unhelpfull are probably just towing the company line and saying what they had been told to say. You do sometimes get some people for whatever reason do try to help and do things like reconnect services that the company policy says they shouldnt, and that leads to inconcistencies which ultimatly leads to a poor customer experience.

Ultimatly even though its sounds nasty if you dont pay the bill you have to expect your services to be restricted. In your case it sounds that there are genuine reasons, but i can tell you after only working in customer services for less than 3 years you would be surprised how many excuses/reasons people come up with to get their services back on. So the only fair way is to treat everyone the same.

[K Man]

Well, it's very gracious of you all to focus on my not paying my bill on time.

Being a man who doesn't drink, or smoke and or has any "recreational" addictions I normally do pay my way either on time or within 2 weeks depending on when the bill was issued.

To reiterate I had an unexpected situation where some heinous inbred coward of a Bayliff came and clamped my car at 5am one morning. Sods law it was on the day that my wife needed to go with our newborn for a hospital appointment, so we had to deal with it immediately. That bill/rip off was just over a monkey (500 nicka) and so my ability to pay my other bills was stumped. My other service providers were all understanding, they appreciated my predicament and allowed me to settle at the end of this month. But not VM!!!

To be fair I have normally found VM one of the more helpful of companies out there - BUT what tipped me over the edge on Monday was this womans rank attitude and absolute inability to be empathetic and the coldness in which she blasély dealt with me despite my obvious difficulties to pay and my assurance that I'd be settling in full at the end of July.

My actual point people, that I was trying to make originally is that a company is only as good as the people it employs who in turn represent the company that they work for. As an 8yr+ customer of Telewest/VM I would've liked to have been given a little bit of room in this instance. I didn't expect my bill to have been wiped off or anything like that just a bit of flexibility.

To take the point that somebody made about my employer paying me a few weeks late.....well that ones not reallly gonna fly here as I am the employer but I still have to pay myself and my staff irrespective of whether we have been paid by our clients/customers, so I do understand the point in essence. But if one of my customers who is known to me explains they'll be paying me a bit late for whatever reason I allow it - I don't like it but I let it go for they have contacted me and told me about it. Some of these herberts try to play the whole 30 days end of month game or more and we don't have any of it. I pay all my business bills upon purchase or demand and do everything cash or cheque or on the company debit card - we have very few credit accounts with any of our suppliers apart from Apple where even so it's 14 days. If my company is owed money I still pay my staff whether I'm in the black or not - that's what business overdrafts are for.

But moving on, in these days of financial whoring where customers jump from provider to provider for the "best" deals I would like to think that VM could be a bit stronger on the customer retention side of things rather than making a man so vexxed that he was willing to cut of his nose to spite his face and go with other "lesser" providers which I would have done had these other providers had either bothered to call me (BT) or been interested in my business (Sky).

I don't need to be schooled in obvious financial commitments either thank you people. I am a Director of an Apple Mac IT Support company where I pay my employees more than I do myself as I'm still building my business and in year 5 so I don't want to choke my business by appointing myself a huge salary - which would be easy to do. I did give myself a loan however in order to deal with this matter until the end of the month - which I hated doing but had to be done.

I do feel jaded towards VM now but as always feel that they are the best BBSP out there despite reports like Which? and various other industry journals.

Once again the bottom line for me is if you get hold of a VM operative (or any CS from any company) who's having a bad day then you're not going to get the kind of assistance that you'd like. The actual skills of the UK workforce in general leaves a lot to be desired and that comes from both sides as an employer and as a customer.

Please don't reply to this or my original post rattling on about paying on time as it won't really be apprecited...

[lauzjp]

Originally Posted by K Man

...Please don't reply to this or my original post rattling on about paying on time as it won't really be apprecited...

okaaaay.. well um, I just wanted to say that I understand where you are coming from - I have been very lucky with VM - they have only once cut my bb when I've been late with bills (quite often - a bit of one bill merges into the next one ) - you just seem to have really got some grumpy customer services person on an off day.

They will usually just put a note on your account that you are going to pay the bill on a certain date. BB will get taken off if your bill is over your credit limit, which usually two months bills together will be... a nicer customer service person might say to you 'if you can pay x by z date then you can keep bb on'

- I hope you get things sorted.

[tweetypie/8]

Originally Posted by K Man

On Monday I received a call to tell me my services were going to be restricted on Wednesday unless I paid my bill that was overdue from the previous month. I always (usually) pay my VM bill 2 - 3 weeks late as they always bill me on or about the 10th and I get paid on the last working on the month so this can vary from month to month.

For June's bill I'm not able to pay until the end of this month due to personal finance issues (which aren't VM's problem I accept). I won't bore you with the long version or my personal finances, but I had to pay just over 500 quid to have an over zealous baylifs clamp to be removed on the 2nd of July for a parking ticket that I'm contesting in the courts - so I'm very skint this month.

I can live without TV and even the phone but Broadband in my house is quite important. My wife uses it for her freelance arty farty startup business and I'm researching a book so no broadband would be very damaging to our lifestyle.

I spoke to somebody in accounts and explained all of this but she wasn't having any of it and we kept going round and round in circles. Me saying "...how can you help me out here I don't get paid until 31st of July", and her saying, ".....if you pay us for June before Wednesday you won't get cut off!"

So I got fed up and said, "OK.... I've had it with you guys!! Cut me off I'm going elsewhere - I want to end my relationship with VM....you have fantastic Broadband, OK Telephone, dubious TV and crap customer service skills - I've had it put me through to whoever I need to speak to I want out!!" She replied, "I can do that sir but I will tell you you have a contract and you will be billed for services until that ends" I say, "Fine put me on the smallest service until my contract is up and then I'm out of here!!" The accounts gurl says "Because your account is late and we've added July to it you can't change your services until you've settled the account" "Put me through to retentions now, I don't want to deal with you anymore you're not helping me!!!"

Then I go through to someone who could have been working for a completely different company based on how helpful and pleasant she was.
So now I'm being given conflicting information by a nice person and I'm proper dizzy....who do I believe?? What's right what's wrong here?? I'm the customer and I'm being treated like I've slept with somebodies mum or sister or something.

Monday evening comes round and I've had all day at work to screw about VM and their inabililty to help me and non-consistancy in what can and what can't be done. I'm now thinking that any assistance or customer "service" you get from VM is really based on how helpful that person is feeling and depends on what side of the bed they rolled out from and whether they've had a good day or not. So totally disenchanted and ruefully I decide that enough is enough and call BT to get them to install a line and then I call SKY for their TV service - mindful that I'll be keeping the broadband as it is the best out there IMO.

SKY - I called them and explained that I was an unhappy VM customer who wants to sign up for their TV and what can they do for me?? They asked for my address and told me that I can be dealt with a local installation company called Spectrum who they could me through to. I went through and spoke with a salesman who proceeded to tell me that I will have to pay for installation and for the SkyPlus box. He then went on to slate VM no doubt thinking that I would join in but it really came off as very unprofessional and got me thinking that only a company who felt threatened would act in such a way??? As the guy went on I asked what the actual costs were and was told install was £60 and the SkyPlus box was £199.

I queried this and checked that he understood that I was coming away from VM and wanted to be enticed, wooed dare I say seduced by Sky and that I thought it was FREE install and severely discounted boxes for ex-VM customers. Only to be told that last month (June) and that this month that is not the case. I was stunned in to silence so the sales guy came back with "What I CAN do for you sir is give you half price installation for £30 and bring the price of the SkyPlus box down to £149 which saves you a massive £80." WOW what a doo doo deal so I told him thanks but no thanks.

BT - I called these monkeys before Sky at 7pm on Monday evening and was in the queue for 40 mins and finally chose the options where I could leave a message for a call back. As far as I know they still haven't called back.

So I'm now left with the feeling that I will get the same level of lapse customer service and indifferent approach to customers form all service providers. This attitude seems to be a very british thing and exists in so many companies. The bottom line is I guess any company is only as good as the people it employs to represent them.

On a good day you can have the most helpful person who re-instills your faith in whatever company you're calling and conversely on a bad day you could have the most awkward, obstinate and incredulously unhelpful person you could hope not to have who makes you want to stop dealing with that company ever again and perhaps even go to their location with a mach10 to re-discuss your query in person.

I think I will weather the VM storm and stick with what I have, both BT and SKY have been poorly represented by their agents/staff in my recent experience and therefore the mindset of "better the devil you know" has come in to play for me.

The Great British disease of doing as little as you can get away with whilst still collecting your levee from your employer is on epidemic levels in all service providers and very noticeable not just in VM but in BT & SKY. There are no doubt some excellent and genuinely talented professionals out there who deal with customers but only a select few customers manage to be dealt with by these individuals and the majority like me seem to get the fakers or the half steppers.

Like I say what's the alternative???

the best of luck k man i genuinley hope that things get sorted for you,i think if people were honest a good few have been in the same predicament at some stage in their lives lol

[darkm]

when the service doesn't work they are slow to fix it but when its a late bill they hassle you for the money. wheres the justice in that...

[K Man]

Thanks to all the understanding people

Life sometimes gets in the way and we have to deal with it.....

Nobody's perfect.......especially me!!!





K

[Longtimeuser]

I just let em cut me off when I cant pay, I pay them when I feel like it, lets face it theirs nowt decent on TV except the same old tired repeats, and I cant get most of what I want to watch on freeview.

As for the Broadband I pay that on DD ( i had no choice) and I never really phone anyone.

[Mick Fisher]

Originally Posted by Longtimeuser

I just let em cut me off when I cant pay, I pay them when I feel like it, lets face it theirs nowt decent on TV except the same old tired repeats, and I cant get most of what I want to watch on freeview.

Sounds like a good plan to me.