AlexInCheshire
20-03-2009, 13:49
Hi all,
You are probably all sick of this kind of thread but alas, there seems no useful help available from VM on the phone so I thought I would try here.
I signed up to Virgin before Christmas as we thought we could move on to cable after being fed up with a paltry 1Mb through the phone. All went very smoothly (and efficiently) with that installation, I even got a text message to remind me they were coming. When signing up, I said we would be moving house in 2-3 months. They said no probs with moving service (I told them which town but not the exact address). I naively assumed that if a town has cable, then you are able to get it (how wrong I was!!!).
When we knew we had a completion date for move etc, I called VM to arrange the move of the services... again they were quite helpful, but told me I would need to take their national service as we were not moving to a cabled area. I disagreed with them as I knew it was a 'cable area', they said to check for cable box on outside of property, and I said I'd call back once I moved.
We have moved now. There is not a cable box on the house but there is a 'NYNEX' cap on the pavement just outside our front garden. Nynex was the name of the cable contractor that put cable into the town about 20 years ago. I called VM up and explained this 3 weeks ago. They said that there can sometimes be a mistake in the database and said they would arrange for a 'spotter' to visit. She said that the spotter would contact me directly to tell me whether or not we would be able to get cable.
After two weeks with no news I rung them up again and the women said that they had not heard either and she emailed the spotters again.
Today, I call them, to find out what is happening. The guy I spoke to said if we had not heard anything 'within 5 days' then "you can't get cable". I didn't exactly believe what he was saying but apparently, they only get word from the spotters if a property is serviceable and nothing if not and if they had not contacted me then that means we are 'unserviceable'. I told him that I thought it was a totally ridiculous policy and he agreed with me. e.g., had they even visited the property??? There is no paper or email trail to prove that someone has been or not. He categorically stated that nothing could be done other than to provide national service through a BT line, he totally agreed with my frustration and said that they get it every day. He said they only have a web form to contact the spotters, no telephone number or email. I suggested that they just arrange for an engineer to come to install on the basis that it was a mistake but apparently that is absolutely not possible.
I've checked all of the houses on the street on the postcode checker. Many are able to get and many not. No order it seems. A quick look from the road would seem to suggest that those that can get it already have an 'ntl' box on the house.
I completely appreciate that there may well be technical issues that might prevent us getting it even if we have the cap on the pevement, but I would appreciate being called to explain that we can't get cable because of x,y or z.
Does anyone actually know if these spotters exist? How long do they take, and do they actually call you to fill you in?
I'm coming pretty close to just paying the termination fee. The way they run their business beggars belief. Are they actually trying to get new customers?
Any info/advice is appreciated! (now 3 weeks without landline or broadband!)
We are in SK12 and as far as I know this in an ex-NTL area
You are probably all sick of this kind of thread but alas, there seems no useful help available from VM on the phone so I thought I would try here.
I signed up to Virgin before Christmas as we thought we could move on to cable after being fed up with a paltry 1Mb through the phone. All went very smoothly (and efficiently) with that installation, I even got a text message to remind me they were coming. When signing up, I said we would be moving house in 2-3 months. They said no probs with moving service (I told them which town but not the exact address). I naively assumed that if a town has cable, then you are able to get it (how wrong I was!!!).
When we knew we had a completion date for move etc, I called VM to arrange the move of the services... again they were quite helpful, but told me I would need to take their national service as we were not moving to a cabled area. I disagreed with them as I knew it was a 'cable area', they said to check for cable box on outside of property, and I said I'd call back once I moved.
We have moved now. There is not a cable box on the house but there is a 'NYNEX' cap on the pavement just outside our front garden. Nynex was the name of the cable contractor that put cable into the town about 20 years ago. I called VM up and explained this 3 weeks ago. They said that there can sometimes be a mistake in the database and said they would arrange for a 'spotter' to visit. She said that the spotter would contact me directly to tell me whether or not we would be able to get cable.
After two weeks with no news I rung them up again and the women said that they had not heard either and she emailed the spotters again.
Today, I call them, to find out what is happening. The guy I spoke to said if we had not heard anything 'within 5 days' then "you can't get cable". I didn't exactly believe what he was saying but apparently, they only get word from the spotters if a property is serviceable and nothing if not and if they had not contacted me then that means we are 'unserviceable'. I told him that I thought it was a totally ridiculous policy and he agreed with me. e.g., had they even visited the property??? There is no paper or email trail to prove that someone has been or not. He categorically stated that nothing could be done other than to provide national service through a BT line, he totally agreed with my frustration and said that they get it every day. He said they only have a web form to contact the spotters, no telephone number or email. I suggested that they just arrange for an engineer to come to install on the basis that it was a mistake but apparently that is absolutely not possible.
I've checked all of the houses on the street on the postcode checker. Many are able to get and many not. No order it seems. A quick look from the road would seem to suggest that those that can get it already have an 'ntl' box on the house.
I completely appreciate that there may well be technical issues that might prevent us getting it even if we have the cap on the pevement, but I would appreciate being called to explain that we can't get cable because of x,y or z.
Does anyone actually know if these spotters exist? How long do they take, and do they actually call you to fill you in?
I'm coming pretty close to just paying the termination fee. The way they run their business beggars belief. Are they actually trying to get new customers?
Any info/advice is appreciated! (now 3 weeks without landline or broadband!)
We are in SK12 and as far as I know this in an ex-NTL area