View Full Version : VirginMedia Cowboys and help BADLY needed!!
ECW_Original
15-05-2007, 22:00
In the last 2 weeks I have had to call up various VM departments at least twice to complain about stuff and all I get is lies, and them saying they have booked engineers when they dont.
I called up retentions the other day to complain about the V+ box n them giving me an IP address which would have appear to have been blocked by nearly every site I visited (HTTP 403 Forbidden Error), spoke to a woman called Joanne Davey, and she promised me that she would definately get it sorted and she "booked" two (2) engineers for tuesday morning between 8am-12pm (today) but around 12:10pm I called up customer services to see where the engineer was, and I was told there was no engineers booked for me, and I explained the whole thing about what Joanne had said and how Ive been jerked around so much in the last 6 months, but still no joy, so asked to speak to a manager.
Robert (Snr Advisor) answered and I told him the whole story from start to finish, by this point I was at boiling point, sympathised with me and agreed that this sort of bull**** is NOT acceptable, and the best he could do was transfer me to India but couldnt have an engineer out today, at this point I told him if I didnt have an engineer out by the end of the day then they could collect the 2 Set Top Boxes AND the cable modem from off my front doorstep in the morning, where I was warned if I did this then I would be liable to be taken to court for Criminal Damage, so reverting back to his offer, I accepted him to transfer me to India, where she said the only appointment for the next 2 weeks is Saturday, can when she said that was the best she could do, I hung up on her n vowed Im never gonna call them again as Im fed up with all their bull****.
Ive already sent them a letter of complaint as they 'stole' money from my partner's bank account, but thats a different matter!
The probs Im having with the V+ box were (wasnt half this bad since an engineer came out last thursday to it, really ballsed it up by the looks of it, now I wasnt at home when he came round, mom called me to tell me he was here, and I thought he'd wait, but oh no, he was up in my room doin stuff when I got back, flip knows why, but he restarted my PC, messed around with my PVR and then disconnected it all and said it was the my PVR that was causing the V+ box to fail on recordings and made program clashes occur, which is total crap!!) 50hrs of recordings that I couldnt watch, cos I got the 2056 error on each 1, then a reset would only make it respond, every time I had to reset it, previously deleted programs would re-appear, no matter how many times they get deleted, intermittent picture and audio screw-ups on all channels, especially when the box, or anything else around it moves (not good cos the floorboards are a bit weird), the pic freezes, blocky patches, audio stops and takes a few seconds to come back to normal, I have told them I need a new V+ box, but being as they dont have any record of an engineers app booked, I havent got 1, and I had to reformat the bloody HDD again for the 4th time since Ive had it, havent reset it yet, dont wanna tempt fate!!!
I sorted out the IP thing on PC, but in the evening time, my speeds are still maga ****e, at the moment under 3mb, and I am not being "traffic managed" either, so there is STILL a problem, nearly a year after I got 10mb installed, I have been told a few versions of why Im gettin slow speeds, the UBR I'm on (UBR02, Card80) is way over-subscribed, the cable from the street cab to my house is faulty and even the cabling running through the house is faulty, but when engineers come out, they check the signals and they are always "the best possible", which I guess is thanks to the HDU unit I got installed onto my bedroom wall a few weeks ago (after months of humming and ahhh'ing from em) but I know 1 thing, there IS a problem, but how do I get them to sort it out?
Sorry for this essay, but if any advice can be given, here is the place to get it!
So who is the "thicko" in the title? If it's VM staff then you really aren't doing anything to encourage them to help you lol
Best thing right now would be to wait for a team member to offer assistance as obviously something needs pushing further up the chain so to speak.
ECW_Original
15-05-2007, 22:15
there, title edited, but I am really having a hard time to be calm about them, when you have been lied to numerous times by a company, and screwed around this much, it is just the thin edge of the wedge!
UNtrained monkeys could do better IMO...
UNtrained monkeys could do better IMO...
Aw c'mon now, let's leave BT out of this..... ;) I'm sure someone will be along to offer assistance soon.
Nedkelly
15-05-2007, 22:25
So i am a untrianed monkey ?
So i am a untrianed monkey ?
Nah, you've nearly mastered the keyboard ;)
helmutcheese
15-05-2007, 22:26
No idea, but VM staff are not supposed to be on these forums and could lose jobs if found out (FACT).
No idea, but VM staff are not supposed to be on these forums and could lose jobs if found out (FACT).
So whom is going to spill the beans?Not me for one as I appreciate all the help they have offered me in the past on these forums.:)
ECW_Original
15-05-2007, 22:58
lol @Ned:
Have you ever been 1 of the engineers that comes to Pboro because of speed issues or have you been to me for my V+ box? have you ever spoken to me on the phone? (hehe, feel sorry for ya if u have :) )
I doubt it, so as far as I know, no ur not, but there are a lot of VM employees that ARE! :(
As a side note, a mate of mine actually knows the person in Retentions and he said he'd nudge her to do something about it, so well done that chap :tu:
helmutcheese
15-05-2007, 23:29
I dont appeciate the few dumb staff who used to come on and tell others to change modem upstream channels and end up with all users saturating 1 channel, they can do more harm than good, if you have a fault call the 150.
lol @Ned:
Have you ever been 1 of the engineers that comes to Pboro
Well that explains a lot. I would tend to agree with you in the fact that SOME of the engineers in the Peterborough area are useless (one in particular), epecially after the debacle that was my mothers V+ install. However they are not all the same as in all the years we have been on cable in Peterborough (we joined when it was first rolled out by Peterborough Bell cablevision) we have only ever had one bad experience with the engineers and that was recently.
No idea, but VM staff are not supposed to be on these forums and could lose jobs if found out (FACT).
So your back FACT, that post just told me who you are.
And your wrong i can and will post on here even if you dont like it what ever your name is at the moment or was ;) . I think a pm is in order to the staff here.
If VM didn't want staff posting here then I would expect that they would pay a lot more attention to posts than they do. Staff have helped here since the "birth" of NTHW and no doubt will continue to assist as and when they can.
papa smurf
16-05-2007, 07:22
Originally Posted by helmutcheese
No idea, but VM staff are not supposed to be on these forums and could lose jobs if found out (FACT). wots that smell ? its bu** ***t FACT
MovedGoalPosts
16-05-2007, 08:46
Can we please avoid generalisations that all VM staff are poor - that is unjust. In deed making blanket statements is unlikely to gain posters some of the assistance that staff might have been prepared to offer.
A few years ago, it may have been that VM staff were discouraged from posting on forums, but that attitude has changed, provided company confidentiality is not broken. Indeed VM recognise the value that forums can offer in assisting customers.
The insults against staff members or any of our members stops NOW.
No idea, but VM staff are not supposed to be on these forums and could lose jobs if found out (FACT).
Actually, from what I have heard , in the past, NTL did ban staff from this forum. NTL did change that stance though, and while they never really seemed to encourage it, they did not ban it. I believe this is still the attitude.
After all, the contacts we have with Virgin Media are officially sanctioned.
The insults against staff members or any of our members stops NOW.
I seen the original title and from that instance I'd offer no help.
Actually, from what I have heard , in the past, NTL did ban staff from this forum. NTL did change that stance though, and while they never really seemed to encourage it, they did not ban it. I believe this is still the attitude.
After all, the contacts we have with Virgin Media are officially sanctioned.
Besides this Stuart, so long as I help on my own time and not VM's; lunch time and breaks, this is assuming I don't need any system tools. I'll do as I please on my own free time at home and VM will not and can not tell me different.
And so this is clear also.
I will not book you a tech via forum diagnostics
I will not change your password via forum contact, (even if you tell me your CVP)
Infact I'll tell you nothing about your account.
I think we have DPA covered there
prawncocktail
16-05-2007, 11:22
well high level of management know that i post on here and are more than fine with it, in fact they ask me at periods whats going on on here so no its not banned
and as for the thread starters attitude, they're getting no help from me and im in a very good position to help at the moment
spankysmagicpian
16-05-2007, 12:23
Just because the OP has had a problem with VM contacts, it doesn't make them all bad. I had one fool out for a tech problem but I have also had 3 top techies who really knew their stuff. The last one couldn't help but he explained what the problem was, why it was happening, what they were going to do to fix it and the timescale which was great.
It's the same in all areas of work.
Oh, and a top tip - (slightly OT)
I have had a lot of problems (PQ / VOD & Billing.. especially billing to the point where I am now £105 in credit after only 2 months)
I've phoned many times and it seems I always got through to ex Telewest who said it would be solved for the next bill run. It never happened until I finally got through and the guy I spoke to explained that as they were ex-Telewest they didn't have all my details as I was ex-NTL.
They gave me the Ex-Ntl phone number and it was all sorted within 10 mins.
I think the main problem with peoples bad experience is the lack of info and the yet to be resolved Accounts billing harmonisation.
helmutcheese
16-05-2007, 12:50
So your back FACT, that post just told me who you are.
And your wrong i can and will post on here even if you dont like it what ever your name is at the moment or was ;) . I think a pm is in order to the staff here.
Hey Mr Columbo , I have no clue what you are on about, and it WAS a FACT TW-BY would sack staff who posted here, backed up on phone to them about staff members getting everyone to use a certain upstream channel making it full, I cant speak for NTL but the MOD just backed that up but added it may have changed since VM took over (still NTL).
I dont care if staff come here and risk their jobs so long as its general info not the kind I said above that makes the network a mess, I had to be changed to another channel because of it, the one I was on for years was full and all the others had too few users on them, now I let TW-BY staff do it from their end as they can see the stats where as I would be doing it by trial and error.
I have deleted two posts.
For the billionth time ... DO NOT discuss moderation issues in threads. If you have a problem or a question, pick a team member and send a PM. We are all approachable and happy to help. But we WILL NOT TOLERATE disruption to the forum.
Ignore this warning and the infraction points start to flow. And as one or two of our repeat offenders are just a couple of points shy of a permanent ban, they (and they know who they are) had better be careful.
Hey Mr Columbo , I have no clue what you are on about, and it WAS a FACT TW-BY would sack staff who posted here, backed up on phone to them about staff members getting everyone to use a certain upstream channel making it full, I cant speak for NTL but the MOD just backed that up but added it may have changed since VM took over (still NTL).
Actually, I can't speak for TW, but in NTL, it changed over 3 years before VM took over. In fact, they even bought the predecessor to this site (nthellworld.com) and set up a special customer liaison team to post on it.
rockabillybass
16-05-2007, 16:28
Actually, I can't speak for TW, but in NTL, it changed over 3 years before VM took over.
I thought that NTL bought Virgin Mobile and the right to use the Virgin name and logo. The company is essentially NTL using the Virgin name isn't it?
Or has there been a change at Board Level?
I thought that NTL bought Virgin Mobile and the right to use the Virgin name and logo. The company is essentially NTL using the Virgin name isn't it?
Or has there been a change at Board Level?
A bit of both. The Beardy One is the single largest shareholder of, and Virgin Group does exercise a significant level of influence over, the direction of The CableCo Formerly Known As NTL:Telewest.
TheDaddy
16-05-2007, 16:37
Actually, I can't speak for TW, but in NTL, it changed over 3 years before VM took over. In fact, they even bought the predecessor to this site (nthellworld.com) and set up a special customer liaison team to post on it.
I have often thought that their attitude changes like the wind with regard to their staff and this site, sometimes it's encouraged, sometimes they are dead against their involvement, if I am mistaken, it's due to the impression I got reading between the lines of some employee's post's here
I thought that NTL bought Virgin Mobile and the right to use the Virgin name and logo. The company is essentially NTL using the Virgin name isn't it?
Or has there been a change at Board Level?
NTL purchased Virgin.Net some time ago. NTL/Telewest then purchased Virgin Mobile and the rights to use the Virgin name. they are still NTL/Telewest with just a change of name.
No idea, but VM staff are not supposed to be on these forums and could lose jobs if found out (FACT).
dont be gay its a cable tv company not hitlers youth party.
VirginMedia Cowboys and help BADLY needed!!
i havnt warmed to you and if any techs read this in your area and get a call out if you ever get one dont expect any favooooooooo...................
i havnt warmed to you and if any techs read this in your area and get a call out if you ever get one dont expect any favooooooooo...................
Sexual favours? :)
ooooohhhhhhhh paul you are cheeky.:naughty:
MovedGoalPosts
16-05-2007, 17:37
I'm wondering if there is still a topic buried in this thread somewhere?
Indeed I can't believe how many posts have been needed from the CF Team. Any more will see closure.
NTLVictim
16-05-2007, 17:47
Attempting topic recovery..ah, yes.
If someone came 'round your house, messed about and talked kak and left, what else are you going to call him but a Cowboy??? why shouldn't the OP have this preconception after what has gone on??
No idea, but VM staff are not supposed to be on these forums and could lose jobs if found out (FACT).
May I correct you, if I may, associates are allowed on this forum, as long as they are not posting in an *official capacity* and as long as they comply with the non-disclosure agreement, they are entitled to be here just as much as anybody else is.
You may notice that some associates carry a disclaimer in their sig that state its their views they are posting and not that of their employer. Though just be sure, as there have been in the past and some still today, some managers, totally against some of its associates posting on internet forums, not just this site. In these circumstances, these associates, don't use their real name and use a nom de plume instead.
It's not really much of an issue as you paint it out to be. We have an official escallation path for issues on this board, most of the Virgin Media board of directors know we exist and I am in regular contact with one of them anyway.
simon9975
16-05-2007, 18:06
Well i had trouble with the tv when that was installed,4 enginers all differant views on whats wrong but...
i found it was all in the way you approached c/s,
yes they knew i was getting cheesed off but they did what they could,you speak correctly and sound like you know what the fault is you get alot further,
they credited my account everytime for the mistake,not asked for just done as an apology,
ever since its been fine.
so try being polite op it may just work,and the reason i say this is from the way you worded your post you without doubt just about affended every reader of it,so if you did that on here i wonder why you have got nowhere on the phone.....sits and thinks.....
NTLVictim
16-05-2007, 18:12
Well i had trouble with the tv when that was installed,4 enginers all differant views on whats wrong but...
i found it was all in the way you approached c/s,
yes they knew i was getting cheesed off but they did what they could,you speak correctly and sound like you know what the fault is you get alot further,
they credited my account everytime for the mistake,not asked for just done as an apology,
ever since its been fine.
so try being polite op it may just work,and the reason i say this is from the way you worded your post you without doubt just about affended every reader of it,so if you did that on here i wonder why you have got nowhere on the phone.....sits and thinks.....
All very good points Simon, but why should it have come to this?
Shouldn't it have been done correctly in the first place???
Yes it should, however, humans are good at screwing things up once in a while. Someone somewhere has to be in that low percentage of where things go wrong. Just think, your owed some good karama :)
Jonessie
24-05-2007, 10:16
OK... First of all there is a known issue with the software running the V+ STB whereas the channels crash and recoding is somewhat unstable at the moment. This has been addressed by myself to a senior engineer and although, nothing has been done as of yet... this is being looked into and will be sorted when they actually get around to it. The software running the TVDRIVE at the moment is probably build 20061013. Depending on which Head End your cable is going through here is the following details.
On the controls click the button “Home” and then select from the menu Settings, and then Technical Stuff and you will get the below menu.
Network ID 00004
STB Serial 00-19-68-D1-82-CF (this is an example)
Card No 08 1547 4890 80 (this is an example)
DHCP Status Return path is on
PIN Status Value PinActive
IP Address 10.179.60.49 (this is an example)
Application Version 20061013
Network ID 4
STB IP Addr 10.179.60.49 (this is an example)
CA IPPV Status (No Purchases... only shows when you have made a purchase)
SNR 31.0dB, 31.0dB, 32.0dB
Pre RS Errors 0, 0, 0 per 0.5s
Post RS Errors 0, 0, 0 per 0.5s
AGC Signal Level -6dBmV, 5dBmV, 0dBmV*
RF Chan 52
TS Stream 27
Total Servs 320
Volume +10
Return Power 44dBmV
Timers T1:-1,T2:0,T3:0,T4:1,Reset:0Sync:0
SC Serial Num 08 1347 4780 89
Credit (whatever the engineer set the credit to as default)
HW Type SA8300
HW Version 1.7
SW Version 2.1.8.1
Card Status OK
QOS no-bia.cm
Build 20061013
***WARNING TURN OF THE V+ STB BEFORE TAKING THE ATTENUATOR OFF THE CABLE***
* If all three channels are above -7dBmV or 8dBmV then take the attenuator of the cable going to the V+ STB... You don’t actually need the attenuator on the cable to the STB.
With regards to the payment coming out of your partners account, if the account is active or even suspended Virginmedia have a statutory right to carry on taking money from your bank account. I know in your eyes this is wrong and unjustified, but... in the eyes of the law they are still entitled to take payment. I personally don’t agree with it and you have a genuine enough complaint to take this up with a manager who if decent enough would give a goodwill gesture and come to some kind of arrangement with the name of the person on the account.
With regards to slow speeds, and please do not take this as an insult, this is the last thing I want to do... But, I here people complaining about their broadband it slow and they are not getting a 10Mb connection...? OK... first of all 10Mb as you probably know is the bandwidth allocation on a shared network, what is also needed to be noted that the throughput on the network and the threshold also need to be taken into account, for example. If the throughput threshold on the network is at 60% between the hours of 18:00 and 01:00 downloads speeds on the network are going to be slow. What you also have to take into account is that Britain is one of the highest gamers in Europe, this will cause bottlenecking on the network, basically like the “funnel affect” whereby the traffic at one end is trying to get through a small opening.
Again if the engineer put an attenuator on the end of the cable to your cable modem then take it off... Depending on the make of the modem your should be able to access the interface of the cable modem by opening up the browser and typing in the following address, Bearing in mind if you have Norton Internet Security running or McAfee Internet Security they might block the following address http://192.168.100.1 this should access the interface of the modem, Although depending on the model and make of the cable modem.
Below is an example of the interface, say for example The PL on the DWNS was -15 then the connection would drop all the time and the modem would loose sync with the network. This would force the modem to power cycle and reboot itself. Borderline PL is -8dB on DWNS and 58dB on the UPS
Downstream
Frequency 4027800000 Hz Locked
SNR Signal to Noise Ratio 36dB
Power Levels -1dB
Upstream
Channel ID 5
Frequency 25800000 Hz Ranged
Power Level 38dB
What the engineers need to do is check the PL from the HDU to the property and then from the property back to the HDU because if these do not balance, then when the network is fully loaded you will find your connection speed will drop.
FMC Fault Management Centre used to be great, now it’s run by a bunch of retards who know nothing about the network, they ask you stupid questions which has nothing to do with your problem they book you engineers when you have not even booked one...? They don’t listen to your fault when you explained it fully to them in the first place. And when the engineer comes out he does not know what to do...? If you’re lucky you will get an engineer who is switched on and knows what he’s doing, although this is quite rare these days.
I hope this helps a little and sorry of the long list of answers.
Can I just say thank you to Jonessie for this information. I have used it to check my V+ and my modem and I can safely say that I am happily within all the acceptable levels.
So thank you once again for this information, it truely was helpful for me.:)
Can I just say thank you to Jonessie for this information. I have used it to check my V+ and my modem and I can safely say that I am happily within all the acceptable levels.
So thank you once again for this information, it truely was helpful for me.:)
Seconded:tu:
It's people like Jonessie who willingness to help out with problems makes them invaluable to a forum such as this.
Do VM have an 'official' tech poster here? Some sort of tech god/liason answering questions on VM's behalf would be great. It would have to be someone with a pretty thick skin though.
ECW_Original
24-05-2007, 14:29
yeah thanks for that!
A bit of an update:
V+ quality is shocking, watching a 3hr 200MB NSV movie is much clearer and that dont take the audio off too, but the engineer saw loads of pre errors on the V+, so manager authorised a cable pull for this saturday (26th) so I really hope this works, or there will be nothing left but to part company with VirginMedia for good, guess Ill leave the net for a while till it stabalizes a bit first!
NTLVictim
24-05-2007, 15:02
Seconded:tu:
It's people like Jonessie who willingness to help out with problems makes them invaluable to a forum such as this.
Do VM have an 'official' tech poster here?
I think we do now...:D
I have nominated his post for the Most Helpful Ppost of May award.:tu:
If you ever do find a post that you find truly helpful there is always a nomination thread and at the end of the month a poll thread to be found in the Website forum. :tu:
If you find an entire thread that has been helpful then PM me.If anyone has gone beyond just being helpful (like when rdhw sent vital components to someone) then they can get another award if you PM me. :tu:
NTLVictim
24-05-2007, 17:00
I have nominated his post for the Most Helpful Ppost of May award.:tu:
If you ever do find a post that you find truly helpful there is always a nomination thread and at the end of the month a poll thread to be found in the Website forum. :tu:
If you find an entire thread that has been helpful then PM me.If anyone has gone beyond just being helpful (like when rdhw sent vital components to someone) then they can get another award if you PM me. :tu:
Links please?
Links please?
There are no set links for the most helpful post threads, and coggy tends to create them as and when needed. Do a search for Most Helpful Post.
Links please?
Just look in the website forum..they will be a stickied thread.
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