Aye Up
31-10-2007, 14:25
Hi
I really don't know where to begin on this, as it's a wee bit long winded. About a month ago maybe 6 weeks, I noticed our XL service had started to down hill. So I posted in the news group (4th October) advising of the issue, they said at the time that there was a fault in the M14 area. So overnight I waited and no improvement, posted my signal stats and apparently downstream power level was very low.
A tech was booked to come vists on the Tues (9th Oct), he had a look and noted my signal was so low it was practically non existent as he so put. He check out the varying cables and said I needed a new RG11 cable fitted to the property to supply me with a much stronger signal. Construction/Engineer was booked for the following Wed (17th Oct), they arrived and said that RG11 was in short supply so apparently to increase the signal strength they disconnected unused points to boost the signal. They agreed however that another RG11 was needed to the property as the current one was feeding to many homes.
I noticed no difference to the speed what so ever, the speed was still in the low 2 meg mark, wasn't hitting the levels it should be at least for that time of day and I noticed the signal was little if at all improved. So I decided on the idea of phoning Tech Support.....what a pointless exercise it was, he made me go through all these diagnostics to try and fix the problem. I had already said it was a signal issue, yet apparently according to the gentlemen based in india it was a modem problem. I tried to explain so many times it's a signal problem. So I complained about the cost of the call, he said he would reimburse me for that and also the loss of service (more on which later).
Another tech was booked for that Friday (19th Oct). The tech came out and I explained everything in short and he had a look at the current RG11 feeding the property, he explained that it is not just feeding one block of flats but two, who ever had done it previously, to save on the work leached off the connection from a separate property. Along with that, there are two splitters feeding the connection into my property which is causing the further degradation of the signal. So he checked everything, I just come out and said it "we need a new RG11 cable fitted to the property don't we?". His reply was a simple yes and he booked another Engineer to come out the following Thursday (25th Oct). I asked would it definitely get fitted this time, as the other two didn't even attempt it. His reply was to just say that they had to get called off on a job or something, it's to save them fobbing you off. Fair Crack I thought......
The two lads come and have a look, I explained the issue this time without beating about the bush and said an RG11 needs fitting to the property, they had no issue with it they knew it needed to be done. So they tried to find the green cab, they found it but they couldn't do the job as there was apparently someone blocking the access bay? They advised I wouldn't need to be in while the job was getting done......Great I thought it means I won't lose any more time for work and studying. So they went away and said they would get the job done tomorrow (Fri 26th Oct) as it "shouldn't" take long.
I came back friday evening, to see if there was any change to the service, and what do you know......there wasn't. I went outside had a look at the cable and nothing had been changed. There still in place was the shoddy cabling work from before, nothing had been touched. I rang customer services they advised that I needed to speak to Broadband Tech Support regarding a broadband cabling fault. I rang tech support in india only to be told it was a fault that billing has to deal with. All this going round in circles has ran up charges in excess of 30 quid for me now, since I don't have a landline (low and behold I am told it is not serviceable at my property when engineers clearly say it is, with the fitting of some new pairs!).
So on Wed 17th Oct, tech support promised me a refund for the call and also a refund to the value of 17 pound odd would be credited to my account. I recieve my Broadband ebill this month and how much are they taking from my account? Full price of £37. I am supposed to be getting it for £18.50 a month due to a previous problem I had with virgin media.
So after the last engineer visit, I lost my patience with the phone support and went back to the newsgroup on Fri 26th:
Hi
I am now getting to a point of annoyance that I am considering jacking
in this service and going with another provider.
To cut a long story short, I have had two tech visits and two engineer
visits, the problem? they all agreed the power being sent to my cable
modem was too low, so I needed a new RG11 cable fed to the property.
Has that been done? 3/4 wks down the line? like heck it has, I am
finding myself having to take time out from work and study so I can get
this problem sorted. There is nothing wrong with the modem, tech support
has already comfirmed that, it's the shoddy work of your engineers with
the cable on the outside of this property.
I have been going round in circles this evening trying to get this
sorted, I had a visit yesterday from an engineer who knew a further RG11
cable needed to be fitted to supply the property, he advised that he
wouldn't be able to do it then due to the fact someone was obstructing
the parking bay where the street cab was located. So I was told he would
come today, have they been? NO!
I am at my wits end with the diabolical service I have been recieving
from the company, what on earth do I have to do, to get the FULL service
I PAY FOR??? This one wire where my connection is fed off, is feeding
two blocks of flats. My neighbour who again has broadband with
yourselves is complaining of the same issue, not getting full speeds and
constant disconnections. So I know I aint imagining things here.
Cable Modem Downstream
Downstream Lock : Locked
Downstream Channel Id : 6
Downstream Frequency : 586750000 Hz
Downstream Modulation : QAM64
Downstream Symbol Rate : 6952 Ksym/sec
Downstream Interleave Depth : taps12Increment17
Downstream Receive Power Level : -21.0 dBmV
Downstream SNR : 25.8 dB
Now as you can see the levels are low....or as one Tech put nonexistent.
The engineer I has yesterday advised that the Recieve Power Level should
be between -3 and -12.........I am constantly sick of being spoken to
like I am slow and haven't a clue what I am talking about, I have ran up
30 pounds worth of call charges trying to get through to someone in
customer support, technical support or any other department I try to get
to deal with this.
The one thing I do is pay attention, and I have done with every engineer
that has visited the property and they have all said the same thing, the
signal is too low and an RG11 cable needs to be fitted to the property.
So if you can kindly arrange for your construction team to come out by
monday and do this as agreed!
Regards
John
Their standard reply being is that they are sorry about the inconvenience caused.
So the reply I got from them the following day was this:
Hi John,
I've just spoken to the area manager about the issues you've been having and
I've passed on your details. He advised that he'll look into this on
Tuesday. If you don't hear anything on Tuesday, please post back so we can
chase this up with him. We're sorry for any inconvenience caused in the
meantime.
--
Kind Regards
Katie Howe
Virgin Media Technical Support
http://status2.virginmedia.com/
Then this today:
Hi John,
We are sorry to hear that you are still having problems. You should have
been contacted yesterday (30/10) about this issue. Were you contacted? If
not, please let us know and I will chase this issue up for you.
Thanks,
--
Kind Regards
Ryan Leahey
Virgin Media Technical Support
http://status2.virginmedia.com/
So my short answer was.......No.
Can someone help me out with this, it is really doing my head in. I am losing money right left and centre due to this. I now have to ring them up to get the half price thing sorted again. I really wouldn't have anything to complain about if the service just worked, but it doesn't.
Can anyone help?
Thanx
John
I really don't know where to begin on this, as it's a wee bit long winded. About a month ago maybe 6 weeks, I noticed our XL service had started to down hill. So I posted in the news group (4th October) advising of the issue, they said at the time that there was a fault in the M14 area. So overnight I waited and no improvement, posted my signal stats and apparently downstream power level was very low.
A tech was booked to come vists on the Tues (9th Oct), he had a look and noted my signal was so low it was practically non existent as he so put. He check out the varying cables and said I needed a new RG11 cable fitted to the property to supply me with a much stronger signal. Construction/Engineer was booked for the following Wed (17th Oct), they arrived and said that RG11 was in short supply so apparently to increase the signal strength they disconnected unused points to boost the signal. They agreed however that another RG11 was needed to the property as the current one was feeding to many homes.
I noticed no difference to the speed what so ever, the speed was still in the low 2 meg mark, wasn't hitting the levels it should be at least for that time of day and I noticed the signal was little if at all improved. So I decided on the idea of phoning Tech Support.....what a pointless exercise it was, he made me go through all these diagnostics to try and fix the problem. I had already said it was a signal issue, yet apparently according to the gentlemen based in india it was a modem problem. I tried to explain so many times it's a signal problem. So I complained about the cost of the call, he said he would reimburse me for that and also the loss of service (more on which later).
Another tech was booked for that Friday (19th Oct). The tech came out and I explained everything in short and he had a look at the current RG11 feeding the property, he explained that it is not just feeding one block of flats but two, who ever had done it previously, to save on the work leached off the connection from a separate property. Along with that, there are two splitters feeding the connection into my property which is causing the further degradation of the signal. So he checked everything, I just come out and said it "we need a new RG11 cable fitted to the property don't we?". His reply was a simple yes and he booked another Engineer to come out the following Thursday (25th Oct). I asked would it definitely get fitted this time, as the other two didn't even attempt it. His reply was to just say that they had to get called off on a job or something, it's to save them fobbing you off. Fair Crack I thought......
The two lads come and have a look, I explained the issue this time without beating about the bush and said an RG11 needs fitting to the property, they had no issue with it they knew it needed to be done. So they tried to find the green cab, they found it but they couldn't do the job as there was apparently someone blocking the access bay? They advised I wouldn't need to be in while the job was getting done......Great I thought it means I won't lose any more time for work and studying. So they went away and said they would get the job done tomorrow (Fri 26th Oct) as it "shouldn't" take long.
I came back friday evening, to see if there was any change to the service, and what do you know......there wasn't. I went outside had a look at the cable and nothing had been changed. There still in place was the shoddy cabling work from before, nothing had been touched. I rang customer services they advised that I needed to speak to Broadband Tech Support regarding a broadband cabling fault. I rang tech support in india only to be told it was a fault that billing has to deal with. All this going round in circles has ran up charges in excess of 30 quid for me now, since I don't have a landline (low and behold I am told it is not serviceable at my property when engineers clearly say it is, with the fitting of some new pairs!).
So on Wed 17th Oct, tech support promised me a refund for the call and also a refund to the value of 17 pound odd would be credited to my account. I recieve my Broadband ebill this month and how much are they taking from my account? Full price of £37. I am supposed to be getting it for £18.50 a month due to a previous problem I had with virgin media.
So after the last engineer visit, I lost my patience with the phone support and went back to the newsgroup on Fri 26th:
Hi
I am now getting to a point of annoyance that I am considering jacking
in this service and going with another provider.
To cut a long story short, I have had two tech visits and two engineer
visits, the problem? they all agreed the power being sent to my cable
modem was too low, so I needed a new RG11 cable fed to the property.
Has that been done? 3/4 wks down the line? like heck it has, I am
finding myself having to take time out from work and study so I can get
this problem sorted. There is nothing wrong with the modem, tech support
has already comfirmed that, it's the shoddy work of your engineers with
the cable on the outside of this property.
I have been going round in circles this evening trying to get this
sorted, I had a visit yesterday from an engineer who knew a further RG11
cable needed to be fitted to supply the property, he advised that he
wouldn't be able to do it then due to the fact someone was obstructing
the parking bay where the street cab was located. So I was told he would
come today, have they been? NO!
I am at my wits end with the diabolical service I have been recieving
from the company, what on earth do I have to do, to get the FULL service
I PAY FOR??? This one wire where my connection is fed off, is feeding
two blocks of flats. My neighbour who again has broadband with
yourselves is complaining of the same issue, not getting full speeds and
constant disconnections. So I know I aint imagining things here.
Cable Modem Downstream
Downstream Lock : Locked
Downstream Channel Id : 6
Downstream Frequency : 586750000 Hz
Downstream Modulation : QAM64
Downstream Symbol Rate : 6952 Ksym/sec
Downstream Interleave Depth : taps12Increment17
Downstream Receive Power Level : -21.0 dBmV
Downstream SNR : 25.8 dB
Now as you can see the levels are low....or as one Tech put nonexistent.
The engineer I has yesterday advised that the Recieve Power Level should
be between -3 and -12.........I am constantly sick of being spoken to
like I am slow and haven't a clue what I am talking about, I have ran up
30 pounds worth of call charges trying to get through to someone in
customer support, technical support or any other department I try to get
to deal with this.
The one thing I do is pay attention, and I have done with every engineer
that has visited the property and they have all said the same thing, the
signal is too low and an RG11 cable needs to be fitted to the property.
So if you can kindly arrange for your construction team to come out by
monday and do this as agreed!
Regards
John
Their standard reply being is that they are sorry about the inconvenience caused.
So the reply I got from them the following day was this:
Hi John,
I've just spoken to the area manager about the issues you've been having and
I've passed on your details. He advised that he'll look into this on
Tuesday. If you don't hear anything on Tuesday, please post back so we can
chase this up with him. We're sorry for any inconvenience caused in the
meantime.
--
Kind Regards
Katie Howe
Virgin Media Technical Support
http://status2.virginmedia.com/
Then this today:
Hi John,
We are sorry to hear that you are still having problems. You should have
been contacted yesterday (30/10) about this issue. Were you contacted? If
not, please let us know and I will chase this issue up for you.
Thanks,
--
Kind Regards
Ryan Leahey
Virgin Media Technical Support
http://status2.virginmedia.com/
So my short answer was.......No.
Can someone help me out with this, it is really doing my head in. I am losing money right left and centre due to this. I now have to ring them up to get the half price thing sorted again. I really wouldn't have anything to complain about if the service just worked, but it doesn't.
Can anyone help?
Thanx
John