They know about your Installation problems and don't care

[laurei]

They know about your Installation problems and don't care, The real reason for your installation problems from the point of view of someone who's installed thousands - an open letter to Avonline and Virgin and Richard Branson which y'all should read before you complain - not that Sky and Bt are better, just what you've let your country become. Can I ask for comments??
Love Laurei.

[Nedkelly]

A great read any installers wish to add there comments

[sollp]

Wow, well written,(as far as im concerned). But by reading the reply from the MD avonline its getting smudged over by what should be happening but clearly isnt. As usual the MD is stating what has been agreed in meetings ect but like most companys this goes out the window, as to apply it all would mean more emplyees,more costs, ect.

Think youll find this is happening in most of the contractors and to a lesser degree within VM itself.

[on in an hour!]

Originally Posted by laurei

They know about your Installation problems and don't care, The real reason for your installation problems from the point of view of someone who's installed thousands - an open letter to Avonline and Virgin and Richard Branson which y'all should read before you complain - not that Sky and Bt are better, just what you've let your country become. Can I ask for comments??
Love Laurei.

first of all there are a couple of contradictory statements in there (mostly to do with time for tasks) ((but no suprise given the amount of stuff the OP had to remember))
secondly OH MY GOD,i didnt know theses draconian companies still existed!! i started installing cable for a contractor in sep 94,the conditions mentioned in the letter were exactly the same (in some cases worse..i.e. in-house fights,real fights,between installer and sups/managers,due to all of the things mentioned in the letter,and a few more!!) steadily though,from NYNEX to C & W to ntl and now VM there has been a progressive lean to making the contract partners feel part of the company they are installing for,such as branded uniforms,vans and all the benefits in-house employees get.(in the early days we had plain blue uniform,which we paid for i might add,contractor branded vehicles and the ever present threat of seeing a nice new NYNEX van and crew doing 2 am and 2 pm installs,usually on terraced houses!! while we had 8 full installs as a 2-man crew (that is cable from cab to house and everything else in the hse) up here in the N/W those companies seem to have been sussed and ( by their own stupidity/ignorance in dealing with their techs) have fallen by the wayside.we have had about 8 that i can think of in the past 14 yrs (there are more but i cant recall them,they came and went,thick and fast) techs up here now are on an achieveable bonus,if what i see posted in their yard is anything to go by,they work a standard 5 day week (tues to sat) and all seem happy with it,i expect theres a few disgruntled ones but arent there always.when i worked for cobra they were told by the government they werent classed as a 'construction company' and as such we techs couldnt be self-employed on the old SC60 scheme,as a result they dropped our price per job to compensate for the NI contributions they had to pay to match each employees contribution!! the final straw came in 98 when they were forced to give us holiday pay. their solution: we will take 8% each week from your wage then give it you back as 'holiday pay' when you take your leave!!! fortunately i came in-house in jan 99 and left all that behind,but i really do feel for the guy whos wrote this letter and commend him for standing up to the bully boys from the dark ages..but i bet it doesnt get anywhere,if you made a noise as a contractor you were out and youre name passed around all the other cable contractors as a troublemaker...'youll never work in cable again' came the cry....god how i wished that were true edit: me i mean,not the letter writer!

[Jonnymeg]

Originally Posted by Nedkelly

A great read any installers wish to add there comments

Well, how do you answer that?

At the end of the day there are issues with ALL businesses and working practices. I have never been 100% happy in any job? Have you?

Each contractor employs different methods of operation and i can say in my personal experience i have little to warrant such a tirade.
Of course there are plenty of issues i would like to see addressed but it the main most things are OK as far as it can be taking into account the balance required between what the business needs and what the workers need.

My customers always get the best service i can deliver. And if i can't meet their expectation i make sure that i pass them on to someone who can.

[sollp]

Originally Posted by Jonnymeg

Well, how do you answer that?

At the end of the day there are issues with ALL businesses and working practices. I have never been 100% happy in any job? Have you?

Each contractor employs different methods of operation and i can say in my personal experience i have little to warrant such a tirade.
Of course there are plenty of issues i would like to see addressed but it the main most things are OK as far as it can be taking into account the balance required between what the business needs and what the workers need.

My customers always get the best service i can deliver. And if i can't meet their expectation i make sure that i pass them on to someone who can.

I wouldn't call it a tirade more like he has written down in great detail how he see's the problem.

How many times have you heard someone say, "this is cr*p", only to be told, "explain yourself and give me a solution". Well i think this person has gone beyond that and put it down in great detail, something you need to do when complaining on this scale.

[WHISTLED]

Open cabinet, testing for flammable gases (5min or 30min without keys).

Thats the best bit - The 30 mins is the time it takes to kick teh door off and leave it hanging on its hinges

[sollp]

Originally Posted by WHISTLED

Thats the best bit - The 30 mins is the time it takes to kick teh door off and leave it hanging on its hinges

Oh yes!! We've put brand new doors on some of our mux cabinets, which have a different key, and within weeks of these being fitted they are busting the locks and doors already. Even though they have the new key, or had it and have lost them already.

[WHISTLED]

Thats what shoes are for, stop complianing haha

[foreverwar]

Yes, but unfortunately the local toe-rags then have fun inside it, enhancing connectivity.

I speak from experience (victim, not perp).

[WHISTLED]

I have to be honest, every time i see one open I want to pull all the wires out and take the labels off.

BUT I DONT THINK PEOPLE SHOULD NOR DO I DO IT!

[laurei]

As for contradictions, that´s the point, the contradictions are all part of an atmosphere where you can´t do anything right: I´ve spoken to Virgin and Avonline area managers who all agree it´s the case.. and I too was was told by my supervisor that I would never work for Virgin Media again. Ripping wires out of a mux, let´s be honest who hasnt felt like it, but as much as the british public suck for ever letting all of their contact with the outside world go through one questionable company (& such dodgy looking cabs)... think of the old grannies that will lose those emergency pagers, (and it could probably result to manslaughter).

I tell you what theres nothing worse than it being dark, cold, raining/snowing on the last install, busting to do a p**s and having to break into a cab, or even bending over to do a jumper on the bottom strips with a broken krone/sid/pouyet tool.

I spent some time in Wales with the guys and they seem to think it´s all right but in other areas theres a constant turnover of guys, in Crawley everyone walked off site! (but because Avonline are so big they just sent crews from other sites) Seriously I think installers should get together, if everyone got together and fought it none of the stuff would happen, I mean there´s not even a single union with complete representation throughout virgin media installaions, thats the recipe for this disaster. I´m not saying a union´s going to work at the moment, not everyone´s going to pay 5 quid a month for a union with dim chance of recognition (and doesn´t recruit), but everyone needs to come together as one for free, to talk about what to do next, and that way there will be stronger numbers for any action that does get decided.(even if its deciding to all join the same union) So I´m asking for everyone who´s an installer to PM /email me/whatever your details, we´ll keep it private, tell me your experiences (any good?) and we´ll build something that´ll work. What say you?

[Bad Cable]

Laurence,

When did you EVER get up a 5 a.m. to get to work in Guildford? (10-15 mins from you!!!) more like 8.30 - 9 a.m. or when someone called you...

[laurei]

With Avonline losing Birmingham and Midlands on May the 1st I can't say I didn't tell you so that Avonline jobs are badly done... Don't blame the techs all the time, everyone gives up for a reason (and that includes coming to work early). Love Laurei

[PS1]

that article is outstanding and ABSOLUTELY spot on. i worked for avonline for 5 years and on many occasions wanted to write something like that( but didnt have time lol).i totally agree with every single word.

there wasnt one single person working there when i did that wouldnt totally agree with everything mention, but many were not prepared to speak up about it, as the few that did soon became unemployed.

the mentioned strike would be a great option ,providing the WHOLE team stuck by it,
we tried it once(after threatening it about a thousand times aweek),and all we got (from the powers to be ) was a phone call saying, they were on the way from bristol to our yard and any engineer still there when they arrived would be out of a job.

and on any other occasion an issue was raised, the old, IF YOU DONT LIKE IT , LEAVE!!!! response was given to us.

luckily i ve got a great job now that im very happy with(and all aspect of), however, i do sympathize with anyone working for avonline(especially mates i still know there) as i know what they have to put up with and some of them deserve a lot more.