Very distressed Mum - advice needed please - Page 2

broadbandking · 09-04-2009, 19:45

If the tech finds out the calls have been made from her line then a £75 call out charge will be added to the account and the calls will be charged and not refunded, if there is a fault the tech will be free and the fault will be fixed and calls will be refunded

moaningmags · 09-04-2009, 19:48

I thought this fee had went up to £99?

Peter_ · 09-04-2009, 19:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by moaningmags

I thought this fee had went up to £99?

CMC make it up as they go a long

Toffeewoman · 10-04-2009, 00:21

Hi again

Well, the engineer turned up and checked the box outside and made sure the call bar was in fact operational. He said he couldn't find a fault per se. The only thing wrong was that they had her down for being on line 2 in the box but she was actually on line 6 apparently. I don't know what this means - does that count as a fault? The operator she spoke to after the warning call (who sent out the engineer) said he would be calling her back on Saturday with the decision after he'd got the feedback from the engineer.

She said the engineer was a lovely bloke so the service in those respects has been good as far as I can tell. Still have to wait though to see what the outcome of their enquiry into this will be.

Given that it was Virgin who initiated sending out the guy to check, I'll be absolutely appalled if any more unfair charges are levied on her! I told her to call me straight after she gets the call on Saturday.

Thanks again for the replies - it makes me think there is some hope here. I really appreciate it.

T

frogstamper · 10-04-2009, 00:57

Hi Toffee, from what you've just said about the engineer looking in the green box and saying your mum is on line 6 and that VM had her down as line 2 surly that sounds good news, the premium rate calls must belong to the other line.
Hopefully when your mum heard this its stopped her worrying, as much.
As regards mums monthly bill being about £90 that does seem excessive, unless she has the VIP package, which would be the top TV, broadband and phone package at £87pm.
I seem to remember you saying that mum didn't have BB, so the above seems unlikely, even if she had the XL-TV package, all the channels except Sky movies and sport that's only £22pm, add the XL-Phone and that's £18.95pm so her bill does seem large.
Hopefully you can have a word with CS and save her a good few pounds.

Toffeewoman · 10-04-2009, 08:42

Hello froggie

Yes, I'm hoping that's so. If the lines were changed over just before last weekend it would make sense, because previous bills were correct. She's noting down every call she makes from last Monday so she can check from now on. A true Virgo..!

Re the package - she has virtually every channel including sport and films. She's housebound so that's her only source of entertainment. It does need pruning though because there are lots she doesn't watch. And of course the ruddy phone. I added in an earlier post that I think the monthly bill includes phone call charges too, so it's probably about right. When I'm next up there I'll go through the channels with her and see if we can cut some.

Cheers!
T

Toffeewoman · 13-04-2009, 23:23

Well things have got from bad to worse.

She's now had her TV service cut off. The advisor didn't ring her back as promised on Saturday. Because it was late she thought she'd leave it until after the bank holiday to ring them...until tonight. Her channels suddenly disappeared and the 'you have not subscribed' box has come up on ALL of them! She called and got through to India, spoke to a 'supervisor' who said she had 'gone over her limit' and owed 11 quid so this is why. Also, that she'd recently moved house! She also said she'd get the TV service back on and it would take 30 mins, after Mum explained all her bills were paid up, the next direct debit not due to come out until 24th April (totals adjusted by VM each month so no 'limit' to go over!). Conveniently, this took it up to 10pm, when you can't ring back and speak to a human. It's not come back on so she's stuffed now till at least tomorrow. Smacks of lying to get her off the phone to cover their impotence... I really hope this is not so.

She was crying on the phone, so a chain reaction of distress going on here now! Jesus, what is happening there?? And still there are these bloody premium calls she didn't make to resolve.

Is it possible that from a week ago when the VM rep rang her to alert her to this unusual activity on her bill, that the lines (2 and 6) have been switched and the other customer didn't pay and is now merrily enjoying Mums TV package at her expense?

It really appears that the left hand doesn't have a clue what the right is doing. Probably the system, but utter, utter crap for the customer. She's never owed (first Telewest then) VM a bean in ten years, the next bill due to go out is for 111.99 on 24th April. This is a typical amount monthly just for TV/phone so VM have had more than their pound of flesh. I'm beginning to feel rather bitter and it ain't even my dosh!

She's going to call them in the morning and I should know the latest by 2-ish tomorrow when I'm back in.

Sorry for the rant. She's based just outside Liverpool if that makes a difference.

T

13-04-2009, 23:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toffeewoman

Well things have got from bad to worse.

She's now had her TV service cut off. The advisor didn't ring her back as promised on Saturday. Because it was late she thought she'd leave it until after the bank holiday to ring them...until tonight. Her channels suddenly disappeared and the 'you have not subscribed' box has come up on ALL of them! She called and got through to India, spoke to a 'supervisor' who said she had 'gone over her limit' and owed 11 quid so this is why. Also, that she'd recently moved house! She also said she'd get the TV service back on and it would take 30 mins, after Mum explained all her bills were paid up, the next direct debit not due to come out until 24th April (totals adjusted by VM each month so no 'limit' to go over!). Conveniently, this took it up to 10pm, when you can't ring back and speak to a human. It's not come back on so she's stuffed now till at least tomorrow. Smacks of lying to get her off the phone to cover their impotence... I really hope this is not so.

She was crying on the phone, so a chain reaction of distress going on here now! Jesus, what is happening there?? And still there are these bloody premium calls she didn't make to resolve.

Is it possible that from a week ago when the VM rep rang her to alert her to this unusual activity on her bill, that the lines (2 and 6) have been switched and the other customer didn't pay and is now merrily enjoying Mums TV package at her expense?

It really appears that the left hand doesn't have a clue what the right is doing. Probably the system, but utter, utter crap for the customer. She's never owed VM a bean in ten years, the next bill due to go out is for 111.99 on 24th April. This is a typical amount monthly just for TV/phone so VM have had more than their pound of flesh. I'm beginning to feel rather bitter and it ain't even my dosh!

She's going to call them in the morning and I should know the latest by 2-ish tomorrow when I'm back in.

Sorry for the rant. She's based just outside Liverpool if that makes a difference.

T

I wouldn't, personally, believe anything from the offshore 'customer service' - it has been mentioned before that calling in the morning can often result in speaking to an Uk based agent due to the time differences, so I hope she gets a better response from that.

This really sounds like an appalling mistake by VM & I do hope you, or more importantly your Mum, can get it sorted out ...

Toffeewoman · 13-04-2009, 23:42

Thanks Gaz, so do I!

I said that to her too, it's just she didn't have much of a choice tonight. And it cut when she was waiting for one of her quiz programmes to come on, so double drat!

See what the morrow brings.

T

13-04-2009, 23:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toffeewoman

Thanks Gaz, so do I!

I said that to her too, it's just she didn't have much of a choice tonight. And it cut when she was waiting for one of her quiz programmes to come on, so double drat!

See what the morrow brings.

T

Please let us know how she gets on, I know if it was my Mum I would be furious ...

Toffeewoman · 13-04-2009, 23:50

Oh I definitely will - this forum is helping me keep slightly sane...

And I am!

T

danielf · 13-04-2009, 23:51

This sounds like one of those occasions where a mod needs to step in and offer to pass it on to one of their contacts in VM...

chickendippers · 14-04-2009, 12:30

It might be worth taking a look at this page: http://www.virginmedia.com/help/inte...uediallers.php

Toffeewoman · 14-04-2009, 12:38

More rubbish this morning - unable to get through to anyone, and when she did was kept holding for an age.

She called me and I told her not to speak to anyone else but ask to get put through to Customer Retentions and spill the whole sorry tale to them. She did, and he reconnected her TV there and then. He's sorting out the rest of it and is calling her back by 1pm. He said they are certain she didn't make the calls. Looks like someone got into the box illegally and swapped over the lines the weekend before last, when these calls mysteriously began. He was very good with her and she's (we've!) calmed down a bit now. He apologised for the chain of error.

I suggested she speak to him about the package price as well. Will update when I hear in an hour or so.

Reading the forum gave me the idea of asking for Retentions, so thank you very much again for getting the information out there.

T

---------- Post added at 12:38 ---------- Previous post was at 12:38 ----------

Chickendippers

Thanks for that but she doesn't have the internet. Only phone and TV.

T

Raistlin · 14-04-2009, 13:04

Toffeewoman,

If you don't get any further joy with the routes you're following at the moment please let me know.

Cable Forum has some fairly high level contacts within Virgin Media who have been able to help similarly frustrated customers to get their issues resolved in the past.

At the moment, whilst you're experiencing some progress with the official routes, it's probably best to see where that leads - however if you hit another brick wall it may be possible to get them and your Mum in touch with each other and get this resolved that way.