Grrrrrrrr!!!!

[smcaul]

Well, 50mb was great...................................when it works!

For the last 2 weeks I have had constant disconnection issues which seem to be related to high upstream levels(58db), finally got a tech out on Wednesday who tweaked it a bit, but dropped out again last night.

has been off most of the day and is still off now (as is VOD), called support to be told earliest visit is Tuesday!!!! So if you have a problem unresloved you go to the back of the pile!!!!!

Well, well peeved about this, and to top it all it seems managers at the call ctr's are not customer facing so to speak to one to vent your anger you have to wait for 24 hours for a call back!!!!!!!!!!

VM have a great product portfolio but is very sadly let down by the the lack of management who will take ownership of a problem.

Glad I got the dongle now, but if it goes over the 1gb limit they will be paying the excess not me!!!!

[Peter_]

Phone again after 0800 tomorrow morning, and ask if the are any cancellations and again ask to speak to a manager.

But just be aware that a engineer slot for Tuesday is within Virgins 48 hour service level agreement as ratified by OFCOM as Saturdays and Sundays do not count.

[smcaul]

Well the 48hr thing went out the window this week, I called last Friday and got an appointment for Thursday just gone, it was only by calling again that I got it bought forward by 1 day to Wednesday!!

And if Sat and Sun don't count then why do the techs work on Sat?

They cant have it both ways, and as this was an existing problem not a new one then it should be given priority not put to the back of the queue!

[graf_von_anonym]

There are very few ways of fairly allocating a finite resource with no additional costs to the consumer. The approach that Virgin (and before them Telewest and NTL) use is best described as 'first come first served' with the (admittedly significant) caveat that it actually means when you have requested a technician while talking to someone who can book you one they will endeavour to book you the first appointment available from the quota currently on the system.

If you get prioritised because you've had a previous issue, then how would the cut-off work? An issue in the last week, month, year? What if those issues were unrelated? There's a fair few things can go wrong with a connection, as even a glimpse at this forum would suggest. What if you threatened to cancel? God knows, enough folk do. Or asked for a manager? Under Virgin's system, you'll get treated the same.

In fairness, if a tech has been and gone and the job hasn't been sorted that day then they can often get that technician back out to you, but (as should be obvious) sometimes the connection will stop working.

It's far from perfect, but it's among the least worst systems. Everyone gets treated the same. For some folk it works out, and yes, sometimes those folk who are complaining have to wait longer than they would like. Get some perspective though, eh? Yes, you're paying for something you're not currently getting, but Virgin will refund you. That's policy.

You're currently in a position where you can complain about something that costs about a seventh of global average income* not working properly, and you're not going to starve or die or have your family slaughtered as a result. It's a shame that your shiny toy isn't working, but why not use that time to read a book or watch a DVD? Don't even think of reaching for that 'I need it for business line' either.

The means of achieving the speeds Virgin can offer is complexity, and the consequence of that is fragility. Throw in a customers that don't want to pay more than the absolutely have to, and shareholders that want to extract as much as they possibly can, and things will get as cheaply as possible, and, well, you know the dictum "faster, better, cheaper; pick two" - you've got them.

* Approx $7000, which is £4260 at current exchange rates. 12 times £50 is £600, which is about 1/7.

[smcaul]

You are just the type of consumer companies love, well done to you, but I set my standards somewhat higher!

If I pay for a service I expect to get that service, not continual "compensation payments", maybe VM should compensate less and use that money to employ more techs? I will add at this point that not once did I ask for compensation, it was always offered - I just want a functioning service that I pay for, otherwise all we are is a bank for VM, we pay them money one month, they pay it back the next!!!!

There are also plenty of companies that can manage to offer tech services better then VM.

I used to run a fleet of 30+ tucks and vans, with between 10 and 90 drops on each, yet I could always manage to get a van an driver to where it was needed when it was needed, it's not as big a task as VM like to make it. The problem is they try and save money at the wrong end, by having less techs, so the techs try and rush through jobs to clear their job list and get to as many customers as possible. If they employed more and gave them fewer jobs the techs could spend the time required on each job.

As for reading a book, if I wanted to do that I would join a library! And a manager yesterday tried the "commercial" line with me, but it is not a commercial connection or for commercial use, but that just means no claiming for consequential loss, I still pay for a service and expect to get that service. Do you hire a car at an airport only to be told sorry none available, take the bus but arent we good were going to give you some money back!

I am sorry but your arguments above are really non starters in my book. If you offer a service and take money for that service then provide it - if it is not reliable then don't put it to the market until it is!

[smcaul]

Once again it is the guys on the ground who keep things running!! Original Tech from last week called (on his day off!) and arranged for a Network engineer, he has just been and managed to reduce the upstream by 10db. Hopefully that is an end to the problem!!!

Still waiting for call backs from 2 managers though - they really are p***poor, if they had half the dedication that the techs do then VM would not have any problems with customer service!

Fingers crossed the service stays up now!!!!