Happy yet annoyed and confused-VIRGIN ARE USELESS!!

[allsorts111]

After having intermittent connection problems since June I have been in contact with Virgin Media about the issues and generally phone once per week.
My initial call led me to suspect a fault with my own hardware and connection setup and I therefore established a direct connection with three of my computers and the modem (not at the same time :P), rebooted my modem, tried a new Ethernet cable and other possible solutions which I could think up. Unsurprisingly, these changes brought no end to my problem.

My next step was to, yet again, call Virgin Media and go through the same procedures as I previously did and yet again I was assured that Virgin Media had no problem their end. So, after one month of intermittent connection problems, I was told once more that it was a problem my end. I then took myself and my perplexed brain to Google, here and various other places which could shed some light on my issue.

Yet again any attempts which I made to solve the issue were, quite frankly, useless,- nothing could be done here by myself- to rectify the issue.

More recently I called and managed to get through to a few chaps based somewhere within the UK,- and after the usual tests and rebooting I was finally made aware that another 29 people were experiencing the same thing problem. Apparently since June and Virgin were resolving the issue and it should be sorted within 2 weeks. I was then given a ticket number of "731564". Now I was satisfied and thankful that my problem was finally being recognised- or so I thought.

This evening I called Virgin and got through to, India and presented them with my account number and fault number only to be told that the problem was resolved. I then explained that my service is still not usable and when it is its slow. After 30 minutes I was cut off...fantastic! Again, I redialled and got through to India; I read out my account number and ticket number and problem and the phone went quiet- so after 10 minutes of no speaking I said "hello" and was reassured that he was still there. To my surprise he was still reading about the issue some twenty minutes later and had no spoken since I asked, again, if he was still there! After roughly thirty minutes the line went dead and I heard "the other person has cleared".

Now, confused and perplexed I made one final attempt this is when it gets interesting. Damien, based somewhere within the UK informed me that the ticket number is old (what, i was issued it last week) and infact the case was still open/"assigned" (what, India told me it was "resolved"). He then told me that the case had not been updated for weeks and no further comments were made on it!!! I was then told that he had no idea what was happening and informed me that, hopefully, something would happen soon- either upgrades or a "re-segmentation?" Apparently this area is suffering from a high "TX load". This was good, atleast he was honest and helpful so many thanks to him!!!


SO....

WHY WAS I TOLD TIME AND TIME AGAIN THAT IT WAS MY HARDWARE AND NOT VIRGIN.
WHY DID INDIA TELL ME THE CASE WAS RESOLVED WHEN IT WAS NOT.
WHY WAS I CUT OFF TWICE.
WHY WAS I NOT TOLD, BY SOMEONE IN INDIA, WHAT HE WAS DOING WHEN HE SEEMINGLY PLACED THE PHONE ON THE DESK FOR TWENTY MINITES?
WHY HAS THE CASE NOT BEEN UPDATED FOR WEEKS WHEN 30 PEOPLE HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM?

And...

WILL UPGRADING THE AREA TO 10MB CAUSE YET MORE PROBLEMS?

I would also like to thank all those Virgin support workers in the UK who have helped me endlessly and who have been honest, frank and supportive. ALTHOUGH THE ISSUE IS STILL NOT RESOLVED AND I AM REALLY "****ED"

I would also like to add I have been nothing but polite on the phone :D

[whydoIneedatech]

Sorry you had to put up with all that, especially from our offshore call centres, also I am happy to see that we are not all tarred with the same brush.:handshake

[allsorts111]

Sorry you had to put up with all that, especially from our offshore call centres, also I am happy to see that we are not all tarred with the same brush.:handshake

Not at all, im currently talking to another lovely woman from the UK- I have no idea what I can do. Those in the UK are fantastic, they have a personality they are honest and above all professional. Shes now on the phone for me contacting another department to try and sort this mess out!!!

Switching providers is not an option,- im not about to go onto ADSL and get a dismal 1MB connection and im also not about to be paying more for a service which will be worse (when comparable to the working Virgin Broadband service).

---------- Post added at 21:54 ---------- Previous post was at 21:42 ----------

Does anyone have any answers to the above questions? Any help would be great as im at my wits end!

---------- Post added at 22:04 ---------- Previous post was at 21:54 ----------

**** sake, she was asked to transfer me to him and he told me that everything is fine and then hung up!!! WHAT IS GOING ON.....

URGH!!

[whydoIneedatech]

It is depends who you speak to on the phone as to what setup they use on their computer, different techs have different setups and therefore have access to different information. It what that person feels comfortable with using.

It then depends who you get answering the call and the steps they are willing to undertake to to get a resolution.

The is no easy answer as I am not on the other end of the phone.

They always have the option of escalating the fault to 2nd line or another department.

[allsorts111]

It is depends who you speak to on the phone as to what setup they use on their computer, different techs have different setups and therefore have access to different information. It what that person feels comfortable with using.

It then depends who you get answering the call and the steps they are willing to undertake to to get a resolution.

The is no easy answer as I am not on the other end of the phone.

They always have the option of escalating the fault to 2nd line or another department.

We'll she was asked to transfer me to him and I was told that he would assist me further. However, he asked me to download a game demo from a Virgin Server asked the speed at which that was being downloaded and then stated that there is no problem! I responded with "yes, but Im still not able to load webpages correctly- is there any chance of looking into that" he then said "uha" and then I got the "the other person has cleared". Again, he was from somewhere not in the UK...

Im still having these issues now, im having to copy and paste my text here incase it fails to load the next wepage and throws me off for half an hour!

[whydoIneedatech]

We'll she was asked to transfer me to him and I was told that he would assist me further. However, he asked me to download a game demo from a Virgin Server asked the speed at which that was being downloaded and then stated that there is no problem! I responded with "yes, but Im still not able to load webpages correctly- is there any chance of looking into that" he then said "uha" and then I got the "the other person has cleared". Again, he was from somewhere not in the UK...

Im still having these issues now, im having to copy and paste my text here incase it fails to load the next wepage and throws me off for half an hour!

Try after Midnight as Out of Hours are in then, and they are UK based.

[allsorts111]

Try after Midnight as Out of Hours are in then, and they are UK based.

What more can I say, ive spoken to three separate people from the UK technical support department and one from customer services,- all three have reiterated that nothing on the case has been updated and just told me there is a "high TX" load. Thus leading me to assume there is nothing they can do. Fair enough, if there is nothing that they can do I want Virgin to do something.

To be honest, I feel they have done all they can and I dont want to keep calling and saying the same thing over and over.

My most recent call was not to the technical support department but to customer support (or something similar) and I was then told that I would be put through to "Ricky" and he would sort the problem out,- he told me there was nothing wrong and hung up...

[moaningmags]

Contact 2nd line directly using the newsgroup support.
They should be able to give you more info or get you more info.

http://www.virginmedia.com/customers/newsgroups/setting-up.php

Shows you how to set up the newsgroups.
The group you're after is
virginmedia.support.broadband.cable

If you post the reference number, they have approx 4 hours to reply
and are there from 8am - 10pm

HTH

[allsorts111]

Thanks, the UK tech support teams and customer support and fantastic and outgoing. However, the problem comes when they try to get answers about the issue that I am facing. My last call lead to me being transferred to another department and being told there is no problem and that I should be getting full speed...

I mean I no longer know what to say to them...

---------- Post added at 14:04 ---------- Previous post was at 13:53 ----------

Just called again and told that there is still a problem in the area?

[sstainer]

what levels are the modem reporting to you downstream upstream snr etc

[allsorts111]

When I called (the first time) Signal to noise was apparently high but the rest are, according to Virgin,- normal.

Frequency 331000000 Hz Locked
Signal to Noise Ratio 40 dB
Power Level 8 dB

Channel ID 1
Frequency 25800000 Hz Ranged
Power Level 42 dBmV

[sstainer]

When I called (the first time) Signal to noise was apparently high but the rest are, according to Virgin,- normal.

Frequency 331000000 Hz Locked
Signal to Noise Ratio 40 dB
Power Level 8 dB <<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Channel ID 1
Frequency 25800000 Hz Ranged
Power Level 42 dBmV

they look normal to me too , but i'd question the power level though marked it red above
but i'm no expert

[allsorts111]

What does the power level indicate? Something still wrong in the area?

Thanks for the help too!!!

[Joxer]

Power level looks fine to me.

[allsorts111]

Just called up Scotland, the case has now been escalated to a "senior department" and my service should be back to normal soon. Yet another example of how those in the Uk really do, do their jobs as correctly and fully as possible.

Thanks, Donna in Scotland and Kirsten or Kristen from customer support for dealing with Tech Support on my behalf!

[Joxer]

Yeah Donna is good (if it is the Donna I thinkit is), knows her stuff and won't drop it until it is fixed.

[de Siem]

I was in a similar situation once, where i eliminated everything on my side, including router and computers. (Even though it was working fine before and all of a sudden i got really slow speeds without changing anything) Virgin also claimed no fault at their end, which left the modem itself. Got it replaced and everything was back to normal, so that may be something to look into.

I also agree with the suggestion to use the newsgroup instead of calling, get better and quicker help that way.

[allsorts111]

After all my recent phone calls I can say that I am fed up of the lack of professionalism, training and honesty of Virgins support staff based in India. However, the same cannot be said about those of all the departments (that I have had the pleasure speaking with) in the United Kingdom.

My internet seems to be working correctly now and I wanted to call Virgin and cancel my ticket,- as the case is being dealt with in Liverpool I wanted to talk to someone directly there about how the issue had been concluded and to thank them.

Although, my call was answered by someone in India. So, I asked if I could be put through to Liverpool and was told "80% of the calls are outsourced to here in India" I replied by informing them that I was instructed to call Liverpool if I needed any further assistance with my ticket, to my surprise "okay one second I will transfer you".

She told me she could not and once I told her about my issues she did, - why would she say one thing and do another?

So, you dont actually have to talk to people who cut you off, dont put you on hold and leave you hanging on the phone and people who simply don't have the training to do themselves justice..

[Kymmy]

MERGED with your original thread as it's still on the same topic

[whydoIneedatech]

After all my recent phone calls I can say that I am fed up of the lack of professionalism, training and honesty of Virgins support staff based in India. However, the same cannot be said about those of all the departments (that I have had the pleasure speaking with) in the United Kingdom.

My internet seems to be working correctly now and I wanted to call Virgin and cancel my ticket,- as the case is being dealt with in Liverpool I wanted to talk to someone directly there about how the issue had been concluded and to thank them.

Although, my call was answered by someone in India. So, I asked if I could be put through to Liverpool and was told "80% of the calls are outsourced to here in India" I replied by informing them that I was instructed to call Liverpool if I needed any further assistance with my ticket, to my surprise "okay one second I will transfer you".

She told me she could not and once I told her about my issues she did, - why would she say one thing and do another?

So, you dont actually have to talk to people who cut you off, dont put you on hold and leave you hanging on the phone and people who simply don't have the training to do themselves justice..

Probably took time to check the notes on your account, can you guess which call centre I am from?

---------- Post added at 18:04 ---------- Previous post was at 18:02 ----------

When I called (the first time) Signal to noise was apparently high but the rest are, according to Virgin,- normal.

Frequency 331000000 Hz Locked
Signal to Noise Ratio 40 dB
Power Level 8 dB

Channel ID 1
Frequency 25800000 Hz Ranged
Power Level 42 dBmV

All power levels within normal operational parameters for a EX-Telewest connection.:)

ALL;)

[allsorts111]

Probably took time to check the notes on your account, can you guess which call centre I am from?

---------- Post added at 18:04 ---------- Previous post was at 18:02 ----------



Power levels within normal operational parameters for a EX-Telewest connection.


Which one?

[Boabyboy]

Hi Allsorts111,

Looking at the Cable Modem's configuration settings that you provided shows that the signals are fine for EX-Telewest Blueyonder network. A test to see if there are issues with you line is to do a Ping test to the Default Gateway.

1. Press and hold the Windows Icon on the Keyboard (Usually at the bottom left hand side next to CTRL)
2. Then press the R key to bring up the RUN box.
3. Type in the word command.com in the RUN box and press Enter or OK.
4. A black box will appear.
5. Type within the black box: ipconfig then press Enter on keyboard.
6. Found out what is the Default Gateway is?
7. Then type in the black box: ping_-n_100_(82.121.62.1) then press Enter. (Bracket is an example of an IP address and please dont put a bracket within the Ping command and _ underscore mean a space between the letter.)
8. Watch the ping repsonses and at the end of 100 pings will give you a report on the received, sent and packet loss of you connection to the default gateway. If you are losing packets, then there is a problem with your VM cable connection providing that you dont have any open running programs in the background/spyware,etc.
9.Let us know how you got on?

Hope this helps.

Boabyboy

P.S To make it easier to copy and paste. Just when you about to type the Ping command. Type this instead: ping_-n_100_(DefaultGateway)_>_c:\ping.txt then press Enter. Once the blackbox has finish complete the request. Check your C:\ drive for the text file called Ping.txt. Copy and Paste the result when you are ready.

[allsorts111]

Hi Allsorts111,

Looking at the Cable Modem's configuration settings that you provided shows that the signals are fine for EX-Telewest Blueyonder network. A test to see if there are issues with you line is to do a Ping test to the Default Gateway.

1. Press and hold the Windows Icon on the Keyboard (Usually at the bottom left hand side next to CTRL)
2. Then press the R key to bring up the RUN box.
3. Type in the word command.com in the RUN box and press Enter or OK.
4. A black box will appear.
5. Type within the black box: ipconfig then press Enter on keyboard.
6. Found out what is the Default Gateway is?
7. Then type in the black box: ping_-n_100_(82.121.62.1) then press Enter. (Bracket is an example of an IP address and please dont put a bracket within the Ping command and _ underscore mean a space between the letter.)
8. Watch the ping repsonses and at the end of 100 pings will give you a report on the received, sent and packet loss of you connection to the default gateway. If you are losing packets, then there is a problem with your VM cable connection providing that you dont have any open running programs in the background/spyware,etc.
9.Let us know how you got on?

Hope this helps.

Boabyboy

P.S To make it easier to copy and paste. Just when you about to type the Ping command. Type this instead: ping_-n_100_(DefaultGateway)_>_c:\ping.txt then press Enter. Once the blackbox has finish complete the request. Check your C:\ drive for the text file called Ping.txt. Copy and Paste the result when you are ready.

Thanks. Although I have done Ping tests time and time again and sometimes I get packet loss but most of the time there is no packet loss. Virgin told me that there was a problem with their "server receiving a low frequency" (which someone where later established that to be porkies) and many told me that there has been "a high TX load" since June,-when I started getting these problems.

I would like to express my thanks to everyone here and the staff here but also all the customer service staff based within the UK who have helped me with this issue. It seems to be resolved now but im hoping that the issue does not resurface soon.