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View Full Version : No show engineer call outs are just not acceptable!


Rimmer100
13-08-2009, 19:25
This goes back to issues I was having with hot weather (http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/12/33650863-probable-overheating-street-cabinet.html) these issues went away (as did the sun) but since the sun has been shining again my internet has started dropping out.

I arranged for a previously callout from a month ago (which I cancelled as the problem had gone away and I was busy) to be reinstated for today. That part of the process went brilliantly, all credit to the nice Scottish lady I was talking to. I had an 8:00 - 13:00 slot so it meant I could do something else in the afternoon and not waste an entire day of leave. As I was burnt a few months ago by VM not telling me that my installation had been cancelled, I wanted to make damn sure that it was still on for today.

Firstly I had a message on my VM voicemail (which I didn't realise I had until I stumbled upon the book the other day). An automated message had been left on Tuesday telling me that the Thursday appointment was still going to happen. When it got to about 10:30ish I called up VM to check that I definately still had an appointment. I did.

2PM rolled round, so I knew that I was probably stuffed for the day. I phoned up and was put through to another department. This was the longest wait I had, about 15 minutes in the queue. I was told that the team leader would be calling me. I have heard nothing.

I rang back at 6PM and was told that it is still down on the system that the team leader is meant to be calling me. That could be any time up to 8PM. I can't hang around any longer. As it is I got my Mum to come and flat sit for 5 minutes at about 3:30PM so I could nip to the shops to get some food.

It really is unacceptable that no shows happen. Especially when customers are given no notice. If I had been told earlier in the day it at least means that I don't have to hang around here and can go and do something else. Annual leave is fairly precious to me and I don't mind taking it if the people that are meant to show up do, but when they don't it really isn't on.

Has anyone taken a company like VM to court to recoup the loss of their holiday? Anyone know what the legal standings are on service companies that don't keep to their appointments? After all the crap I've put up with from Virgin with the absolute farce of moving my services earlier in the year I've half a mind to take them to the small claims court just for the fun of it!

Although as they tend to not be very good at keeping appointments, I might win by default ;)

Rimmer100
14-08-2009, 00:56
It's 23:53 and no-one has phoned me. Granted I did go out at 6:30PM but 1471 informed me that I haven't had a call since Tuesday.

On a positive note, if my calls today were anything to go by, I won't have too long to wait in telephone queues tomorrow when I phone to complain!

Ben B
14-08-2009, 01:49
Hi Rimmer100,

It's unbelievable after so many confirmations that one is coming that a tech hasn't turned up. Make sure that when you phone them tomorrow that you get a credit for loss of service and ring early and try to get one out for the best time for you. Other than that i'm not sure what else you can do :(.

Ben :)

Welshchris
14-08-2009, 03:48
Virgin are known for techs not turning up, i myself in the past twice have had no shows. A friend of mine in London had a tech booked to come and fit a second V+ box at his home. Not only didnt they show to do the fitting, they charged him for the box and fitting and it never happened.

Rimmer100
14-08-2009, 19:39
So I was on the phone to Virgin by about 9:15. I'd had a McDonalds breakfast and it was good that I had as the call lasted for over 45 minutes. I am getting fairly bored of the two Michael Jackson songs that are playing on loop...

I got through promptly to customer services who put me through to faults. I hung around on the phone for a fair amount of time until I got to the front of the queue. After retelling my story I was put through to a manager (after being on hold again). After telling my story again I was put on hold while he rang various people.

I was told that he had spoken to the Team leader for construction in my area and that he would be contacting me. Would I be able to go home if I was given an hours notice? To which I replied 'No, I'm at work that's why I took the day off yesterday'. He also said that the person who he had spoken to had come to my flat yesterday and I wasn’t in. When I pressed him for what time, he said that he hadn't been told.

I will admit that I did leave my flat yesterday at 18:30. I had been stuck in there for 10 and a half hours (not including my brief 'lunch break') so I wasn't going to stay any longer. Anyway I had been told that I was going to be phoned. As my parents house (which is where I was) is less than 3 minutes drive away if the VM engineer had turned up I could have been there pretty quickly.

Next time I might rig up a webcam and leave it recording when I go out. I wouldn’t dare suggest that someone could be telling porkies!

Anyway it was left that I would arrange with this team leader when they could come and do the work. I had pointed out that as it was a cable re-pull and it was all outside of the property I didn't really need to be there (I suppose they would need to check signals again once it was done though).

Anyway it is now 18:35 and I still haven't been phoned by this person. It is getting so ridiculous now it would be funny. I haven't been home yet but as it is a nice warm day out I suspect my internet and ondemand is not working again.

Guess someone is going to get another serve tomorrow!

lawe
14-08-2009, 19:54
I have a booking for next Saturday for a V+ fault but the lady said that there is a charge if we are not in and they have to go away.
Wonder if you could charge Virgin the same? I think it's a £25 charge.

Peter_
14-08-2009, 23:38
I have a booking for next Saturday for a V+ fault but the lady said that there is a charge if we are not in and they have to go away.
Wonder if you could charge Virgin the same? I think it's a £25 charge.
It is a £10 missed call out charge and it works both ways.;)

Madmartigan
15-08-2009, 17:50
Has anyone taken a company like VM to court to recoup the loss of their holiday? Anyone know what the legal standings are on service companies that don't keep to their appointments?
Although as they tend to not be very good at keeping appointments, I might win by default ;)

They charge you £10 if you're not in so would seem fair to be able to claim the same back. You wouldn't be able to claim for loss of holiday as presumably you have a residential contract and it's all covered in the T&C's that they don't cover that.

---------- Post added at 16:50 ---------- Previous post was at 16:47 ----------


I will admit that I did leave my flat yesterday at 18:30. I had been stuck in there for 10 and a half hours (not including my brief 'lunch break') so I wasn't going to stay any longer. Anyway I had been told that I was going to be phoned. As my parents house (which is where I was) is less than 3 minutes drive away if the VM engineer had turned up I could have been there pretty quickly.


This bit lost me, were you waiting in your flat all day, or at your parents house all day?

Rimmer100
16-08-2009, 13:55
I was at the flat all day. At around 15:30 I popped out for 5-10 minutes, but my Mum was at the flat during that time. So from when I went to bed Wednesday to 18:30 on Thursday evening someone was at the property Virgin were meant to be turning up to. At 18:30 I went to my parents house which is 2 minutes away. All this time I had my mobile with me that has good coverage in both areas.

£10 for a no show to the customer is frankly a bit of an insult. To an engineer, someone not being there is a mild inconvenience. They still get paid, they just go to the next person on the list. Losing a days holiday or a days work is far more valuable than £10.

I'm not surprised if it is in the terms and conditions that they aren't responsible for no shows. A company would have to be confident that they can actually fulfill their commitments which it is fairly obvious Virgin can't.

I've given up talking to the faults department as the manager from my area clearly isn't interested in contacting me. I expect that I've now irritated him by daring to moan that someone didn't turn up so I've been black listed!

I've made an official complaint which they said could take up to 5 days for anything to happen. Rather that than me sit in never ending queues waiting to be told that someone would contact me when they don't. When I called on Friday they asked me to confirm my mobile number which was right on their system.

So if I haven't heard anything by next Monday I'll be on the phone again!

I can see why people in these situations move to other providers. Unfortunately the cable based products (IMHO) are far superior than the other providers especially when it comes to broadband. So I guess I just have to put up with being treated badly if I want to use their service.

webcrawler2050
16-08-2009, 13:59
£10 for a no show to the customer is frankly a bit of an insult. To an engineer, someone not being there is a mild inconvenience. They still get paid, they just go to the next person on the list. Losing a days holiday or a days work is far more valuable than £10.

Thats the point, if you arn't in, VM have still paid their engineer and covered petrol / diesel costs. So in fairness, £10 is very little..

I don't see this the fault of Virgin, if you wern't in when they came, why complain? Granted you've got issues but is there a need to moan?

joglynne
16-08-2009, 14:19
Thats the point, if you arn't in, VM have still paid their engineer and covered petrol / diesel costs. So in fairness, £10 is very little..

I don't see this the fault of Virgin, if you wern't in when they came, why complain? Granted you've got issues but is there a need to moan?

Sorry to disagree with you webcrawler but I think you may have missed the point in post 1 where the OP said he had a 8:00am - 13:00pm slot and only went out at 6.30pm for 5 minutes. I not only think he should get the £10 I think when all this has been sorted he should be offered a lot more credit to his account to cover the really shoddy treatment he seems to be getting.

webcrawler2050
16-08-2009, 14:35
Sorry to disagree with you webcrawler but I think you may have missed the point in post 1 where the OP said he had a 8:00am - 13:00pm slot and only went out at 6.30pm for 5 minutes. I not only think he should get the £10 I think when all this has been sorted he should be offered a lot more credit to his account to cover the really shoddy treatment he seems to be getting.

Ah didn't see that - then - it's not fair :)

Rimmer100
24-08-2009, 10:42
This is getting frankly ridiculous. Since I first phoned up no-one from Virgin has tried to contact me at all. Virgin didn't turn up and yet I'm chasing them to get it sorted!

I made the official complaint last Sunday. I phoned up today to find out what was happening. For some reason they had booked me in for the re-install on Wednesday 26th without even asking me whether or not I was available, which I'm not.

I can't take time off during the next month as this is the busiest period of the year for me at work so I've changed it to the next suitable Saturday appointment. More to the point I don't want to waste any more of my holiday for someone to not show up again!

I don't see my inflexibility as Virgin's issue - there were earlier Saturday appointments but I'm busy - but their lack of contact is unacceptable.

Rimmer100
24-08-2009, 23:51
Someone from Virgin phoned me today! She phoned me at around 17:45 to confirm the booking I hadn't made for Wednesday. So I told her that I had already change that booking to a few Saturday's time. Her response for not knowing this was that she worked away from the office and didn't have access to that information. I don't know whether she was aware of the history or anything but she wasn't apologetic and didn't seem to like the fact that I'd already changed the appointment, nor said anything when I pointed out that the Wednesday appointment had been made without me being contacted.

Well at least I didn't have to phone them for a change!