Royaly screwerd by Virgin Media - beware!

[jason4656]

Saying that most sp are totally useless, sky messed me about for a month last time i moved and only the threat of legal action in writing got some response.

I work online, need fast internet have never bought a house before, so i chose a cabled area on purpose, always wanted 50mb virgin. I rang vigin, checked their website, all ok, fibre optic 50mb, rang them, they said need a site survey before they can confrim so i awaited eagerly the engineer going round, who confirmed we could have the full service.

So I paid up, v+ multi room, 50mb and phone, booked for december 9th, which was a 1 month wait and gave me time to complete the house buy and do some refurbing, in the meantime my baby was born prematurely! so its been chaos, but anyway, couple of days before the install, random note through the door, sorry you cant have virgin!!

So ive rang up and they said sorry ur house is not servicable!! but next door whos house is joined up, can have it!! how **** is that. I am super peed off I cant have it as bb thats available is just 2mb which is no faster than my dongle!! so pointless and I need something fast for work.

Virgin media have such an attitude on the phone, leave u holding, dont care. They just said we cant do it so we cant do it, tough **** basically, well refund your install and v+ box, thats it bye.

Im now left moving into a house with no net, phone or tv for at least a month due to time of year and virgin wasting my time, I am so guttted I bought the house to be honest, just wanted virgin, now i will be trying to work from a dongle due to this!

thank you virgin media, lovely people, I thought sky were bad, when virgin say they cant, i think they mean wont, as not sure how it can be in next door and not in mine!

[Peter_]

Try this link Unserviceable leads form for contacting the spotters team

http://allyours.virginmedia.com/forms/unserviceableLeads.html

[jason4656]

ok have submitted my address. ,but didnt quite get what it was for, am i just gonna get another person to explain the problem to again? for the x'th time? :)

thanks

[Peter_]

ok have submitted my address. ,but didnt quite get what it was for, am i just gonna get another person to explain the problem to again? for the x'th time? :)

thanks
No that is for a spotter to come out and check if connecting your property is a viable proposition.

[BenMcr]

The spotter won't be able to do anything.

Spotters can only check servicability before a sale if the property shows up as unservicable on the computer system, or if it isn't listed at all

For the OP the sale was agreed, but the property was deemed unservicable after, probably when they went to do the prewire from the cabinet to the Tee.

The usual reason for this is that the ducts between the cabinet and the property have been damaged or are blocked, and that the work required to fix them make it uneconomical to do so.

Unfortunately this prewire work will only be done if a installation is booked, so sometimes it isn't picked up until a few days before an install occurs.

I wish people would read the terms of service as to what exactly 'Subject to survey' means:

A12
Our and/or Virgin Media Entertainment's obligation to provide the services is also subject to survey. If a survey shows that the services cannot be installed or connected at your home , or if a non-standard installation is required, we may cancel any installation date we have given you and terminate these agreements . You will be notified of this as soon as possible after the survey. Neither Virgin Media Ltd nor Virgin Media Entertainment shall be under any liability whatsoever to you for any failure to provide the services in these circumstances but will refund you for any payments you have already made to Virgin Media Payments for installation or the services

[on in an hour!]

if a spotter identifies a swept tee at said property,and lets face it in this case the co-joined property has VM services, they can change the address to serviceable via centralhouse files (which will then show on badger as serviceable) and any construction issues can be dealt with up to a value of £350 per house.
even if there are construction issues,if cables can be jointed off next doors drop box (with said subs permission,and no trip hazards left) then a temp service can be provided to the OP until such time.
only problem would be if it needs a dig and its a carriageway dig,these will not be sanctioned for new subs,irrespective of order placed.;)

[jason4656]

Its a culdesac small side street, I have or would actually even offer to pay myself to have whatever work needed doing done!! as i said, i bought the house, i need a fast service and I cannot have above 2mb adsl, which is useless to me.

I understand what tos are, but lets face it how many do you read even when you are required to tick? vw was arranged via phone, no tick boxes, no letters no anything no tos were talked about so not sure how I am supposed to adhere to them, whats being said is they can say what they want on phone...

they offered to provide me a service and then told me they have visited the property and it was able to be serviced, my mate even spoke to the engineer who said i can see a little complication but we can get that fixed no problem and we can install no worries..

then made me wait a month and then just fobbed me off... its a bad start but still want vm services

[jungleguy]

This guy may well be in a CID fed area, in which case he is doomed. Both neighbours can have it, but if its a 'multi jump cid' he can't. Or similarly a capacity issue in the duct.

Jason4656 where do you live?

[webcrawler2050]

Its a culdesac small side street, I have or would actually even offer to pay myself to have whatever work needed doing done!! as i said, i bought the house, i need a fast service and I cannot have above 2mb adsl, which is useless to me.

I understand what tos are, but lets face it how many do you read even when you are required to tick? vw was arranged via phone, no tick boxes, no letters no anything no tos were talked about so not sure how I am supposed to adhere to them, whats being said is they can say what they want on phone...

they offered to provide me a service and then told me they have visited the property and it was able to be serviced, my mate even spoke to the engineer who said i can see a little complication but we can get that fixed no problem and we can install no worries..

then made me wait a month and then just fobbed me off... its a bad start but still want vm services


I would suspect one of the VM staff members on the forum may be able to assist.

[jason4656]

its in timperley south mancs, wa15 post code

[jungleguy]

I don't k now if that's cid fed area (a duct within a duct) Did you get a specific reason why the address was not serviceable eg. construction

[jason4656]

I got the main guys number, who i tried to contact a couple of times via mobile but got no reply, so wasnt able to act, i do remember ducting being mentioned and being told it was 10s of 1000s of pounds to fix bla bla thats why i cant have it.

funny thing now is both houses either side of me show they can have fo on their website, but mine shows as unservicable, one house on one side of me has it the other doesnt!

[Paul K]

I work online
You did of course ask about their Business package didn't you since the standard package is residential use only.

[jason4656]

You did of course ask about their Business package didn't you since the standard package is residential use only.

6.1.4. trade or business use of the Services of any kind unless used during the course of working away from the usual place of work (“home working”). The Services are for residential use only.

I work for a business in Altrincham town centre, I manage 50 staff, they dont all come to my house all day and use the net you know! I meant I wanna be able to do the odd thing when I get home..it seems from the tos thats ok, as I was already lead to beleive, but thanks for checking my motives.

[BenMcr]

I got the main guys number, who i tried to contact a couple of times via mobile but got no reply, so wasnt able to act, i do remember ducting being mentioned and being told it was 10s of 1000s of pounds to fix bla bla thats why i cant have it.

funny thing now is both houses either side of me show they can have fo on their website, but mine shows as unservicable, one house on one side of me has it the other doesnt! Just because someone already has it doesn't change things.

It could be that the ducting has collapsed since that house was originally installed. If that's the case it's a possability that property would also become unservicable if the cabling ever needs to be replaced to that address.

[Peter_]

I work for a business in Altrincham town centre, I manage 50 staff, they dont all come to my house all day and use the net you know! I meant I wanna be able to do the odd thing when I get home..it seems from the tos thats ok, as I was already lead to beleive, but thanks for checking my motives.
Try the business arm of the company and if they say yes then you have something to show Virgin.

http://www.ntltelewestbusiness.co.uk/

[BenMcr]

Even if the business arm say yes, it's still 'subject to survey'. They use the same cables and ducts so would end up back in the same situation

---------- Post added at 10:09 ---------- Previous post was at 10:08 ----------

At this stage I would say there isn't anything the OP is going to be able to do to get it installed. If it costs too much to get the construction work cleared it ain't going to happen

[Peter_]

Even if the business arm say yes, it's still 'subject to survey'. They use the same cables and ducts so would end up back in the same situation

---------- Post added at 10:09 ---------- Previous post was at 10:08 ----------

At this stage I would say there isn't anything the OP is going to be able to do to get it installed. If it costs too much to get the construction work cleared it ain't going to happen
It would be interesting to see what Business said though as a matter of interest and the phonecall is free.

[jason4656]

I guess i will contact telewest as its my last option now, i have just spoke to the someone, he said spotter been out, but the costs include laying 15m of ducting, which would be too expensive as a business, he said they wont do it no matter what...

[BenMcr]

Sounds about right unfortunately

[jason4656]

wonder how much for the 155mb leased line, probably a few k a month!

[Kymmy]

Probably not as much as the install would cost..

BTW they do 1Gb lines now on the business side :D:D:D

[jason4656]

spoke to ntl they will do it, 2 year contract, 20mb max line + phone line 50£ a month, doesnt seem too bad they said would be charged 99£ for install + the costs of the ducting at £55 per mtr.

After the 2 years, I could then become a residential customer by cancelling and taking up vm residential services.

all seems a bit mad eh

[pabscars]

thats £825 for the ducting, I'll do it for a 20 spot and a packet of mini cheddars.

At least you got a resolution, hope it works out for ya

[Kymmy]

Just note that the 20Mb line doesn't come with sticky IP's and it also has a form of STM..

Make sure that you go for the combined 20Mb BBB and line (unlimited calls) at £49 and not the Business BB at £50 which comes with an optional phone line :rolleyes: (gawd knows why they still have both packages up..

Also remember that those prices are EX-VAT so it'll cost closer to £60 a month

[Digital Fanatic]

spoke to ntl they will do it, 2 year contract, 20mb max line + phone line 50£ a month, doesnt seem too bad they said would be charged 99£ for install + the costs of the ducting at £55 per mtr.

After the 2 years, I could then become a residential customer by cancelling and taking up vm residential services.

all seems a bit mad eh

Great result... Moldova was right to advise you to try Business in this case. :)

[Peter_]

spoke to ntl they will do it, 2 year contract, 20mb max line + phone line 50£ a month, doesnt seem too bad they said would be charged 99£ for install + the costs of the ducting at £55 per mtr.

After the 2 years, I could then become a residential customer by cancelling and taking up vm residential services.

all seems a bit mad eh
Good to see that calling the business arm got you a positive result.:)

[jason4656]

thanks guys, great advice, the only problems are that it takes 6 weeks to get anywhere wiith it, and I am wondering how much its going to be, I wouldnt mind if it was gonna be reasonable, the way it works is, sign up now, pay 99£ deposit wait for survey, get costings for installation, then choice on if you can cancel or not.

I spoke to my neighbour, asked if we can share a 50mb connection and i will pay his bill, and Ill get sky tv, thats my first option really as it would be a little better, if he doesnt go for it, will go down the ntl route.

[jungleguy]

Business accounts have a 3 hour SLA for faults, and UK call centers. Much better service than anyone else can offer.

[jason4656]

where r vm call centres for tech problems? india?

[Peter_]

where r vm call centres for tech problems? india?
Liverpool, Swansea, Airdrie, Delhi and Pune and the business arm have their own callcentre, these are just the technical support centres the are many others dealing with other issues both here and offshore.

[jungleguy]

uk and bangalore

[Peter_]

uk and bangalore
Not quite Bangalore, see above.:D:D:D

[jason4656]

your dammed if you do, dammed if you dont, sky have a great service when moving house, they cancel your phone and tv within 10 days of asking to move, then they connect up your new house 30 days after that! wtf sorta service is that!

vm, probably (from reading all the other threads) just couldnt be arsed connecting up my connection, they probably didnt even turn up, like someone else said, who would have thought its so hard to give your money away, specially since I was going on the biggest package on vm, surely as a business long term, that would be something worth doing..

[jungleguy]

your dammed if you do, dammed if you dont, sky have a great service when moving house, they cancel your phone and tv within 10 days of asking to move, then they connect up your new house 30 days after that! wtf sorta service is that!

vm, probably (from reading all the other threads) just couldnt be arsed connecting up my connection, they probably didnt even turn up, like someone else said, who would have thought its so hard to give your money away, specially since I was going on the biggest package on vm, surely as a business long term, that would be something worth doing..

with VM yuo can take you modem from one address and plug it into a cable tv wall socket at a different address and it'll still work. No 30 day wait....no other supplier can offer that. Cable rules when it comes to moves. I had one cable customer complain cause it took 3 days to get him connected at his new address, and your bragging about 30 days,

[jason4656]

lol, I think you need to read a bit better, I was saying it was bad, not good!!

[jason4656]

I have had the spotter round tonight, he checked all over and said didnt see why I couldnt be connected, he has reordered it, and said he will try and push it through, so once again, vm have took my money, will see what happens this time.

[Peter_]

I have had the spotter round tonight, he checked all over and said didnt see why I couldnt be connected, he has reordered it, and said he will try and push it through, so once again, vm have took my money, will see what happens this time.
I said it was worthwhile filling that Unserviceable leads form out.;)

[jason4656]

I said it was worthwhile filling that Unserviceable leads form out.;)

you certainly did, appreciate the info anyhting is worth a go I didnt expect to hear from them again to be honest, guy was nice enough, just if he can get the construction crew to sort it out or not i guess

[jungleguy]

A spotter will put pressure on installs to get the job done.

Wow I thought it took ages to get a spotter out from other feed back on this site. Seems like if you fill in the right form, and don't rely on telesales to forward on your information to spotters things get done.

A good spotter will project manage your inastallation.

fingers crossed for you

[jason4656]

The guy did seem like he really wanted to help, but you just never know if hes one of them jimlfixit type guys who can do anything or if he really is, but I will report back to you guys if it goes ahead, or no doubt i will scream if it doesnt :)

btw I did simply submit my details when it was posted in this thread

[Digital Fanatic]

Keep us updated... hope everything gets sorted :)

[jason4656]

spotter has been back on said he was looking at the cable map for my culdesac and apparently its already laid outside my house!! makes me wonder if the team who came out were just lazy or there is maybe just a problem with the map, i still think ill end up in same situation, we will see, will continue to update as i get progress

[BenMcr]

It's already been said that the house itself is servicable, otherwise they wouldn't have take the order in the first place.

The issue is with the ducting (as you agreed you were told), which no amounts of looking at the pavement surface or at maps will identify (which is what Spotters mainly do)

[jason4656]

It's already been said that the house itself is servicable, otherwise they wouldn't have take the order in the first place.

The issue is with the ducting (as you agreed you were told), which no amounts of looking at the pavement surface or at maps will identify (which is what Spotters mainly do)

exactly why it clearly says in my post, I fear I will end up in the same position, however when someone from VM comes out and you tell them clearly everythign that has happened including the fact the construction people told you you cannnot have it, and they say, dont worry, I will sort that out, you can have it, you have to at least try

the address was not serviceable on the system and they still took the order, due to next door having it, some people just love the internet for venting eh

[BenMcr]

They couldn't have booked the order on in the first place if the address wasn't marked as servicable.

[jason4656]

its not serviceable, its on the website as not able to get service, where as either side shows up as available

[Kymmy]

Their records of if there's a cable there for this property isn't the question, by the sound of it the existing cable is damaged by the collapse of the underground conduit..

---------- Post added at 17:03 ---------- Previous post was at 17:01 ----------

its not serviceable, its on the website as not able to get service, where as either side shows up as available

Perhaps a previous occupier or person in the street has forced a rethink and taken the last undamaged cable loop, if so then the rest of the properties (without cable in the vicinity) will be marked as unservicable ??

[jason4656]

the reason its marked as unserviceable is in the start of this thread, when i first tried, it was serviceable on the website, now its not, the guy took my order on paper

[Kymmy]

And you;ve also explained about the broken ducting and the need for new ducting so I don't understand why you keep revisiting the issues??

Have you had anything back yet from ntltelewest business??

[jason4656]

I followed the advise I was given on this forum,

did you read the thread? Someone suggested earlier i submit my address to a webpage for the spotters, in the meantime the rest of the crap was going on, I dont know if no ducting or collapsed ducting, i wasnt given a full explanation.

Randomly a guy called me from virgin yesterday so I went to meet him, he wanted to see, he told me to sign up regardless of what anyone else had said and he would get it sorted out, are you the teacher around here? im just following the advise i was given, do you often come on and question why people follow advise they were given on teh forum?

[Kymmy]

Not a teacher at all, but you're the one asking for information and we can only go on what you've mentioned (even though you've mentioned many contradicting things including ducting and the fact that you were looking at the business install ;)

Anything else you wish to change or contradict whilst we're at it??

[jason4656]

why is that contradicting?????????????????

why do you feel the need to question me? wtf are you anyway?

im asking for advise, read back the thread, I came on here, asked for advise, some guys gave me some good info, one of them was, 'why dont you try the spotters' in the meantime the crap with vm was going on, and someone else suggested i contact ntl, so i contacted ntl, they said i could sign up but it would take till mid-end jan, and then the spotter contacted me, i hadnt/havent signed up for business yet, thats my next step.

The spotter came yest and said he could work it out for me, can i sign up right now, so i did.

No idea why im explaining myself, nothing is contracdicting your just not following

[Kymmy]

Oh what fun mainly as I doubt if the spotter would have bothered to look at the conduits but the existing cables, the fact that there's a loop there and that next door has cable (oh and his wonderous map ;) ) so all that's probably gonna happen again is that the Spotter says YES, they again take your order, the same pre-installs teams comes out and again says "Nope sorry but the conduits collapsed" and again the installation is cancelled..

As I said earlier this threads going round in circles :rolleyes: with VM saying no each time to the work due to costs (whether they tell you that or not)

[BenMcr]

the reason its marked as unserviceable is in the start of this thread, when i first tried, it was serviceable on the website, now its not, the guy took my order on paper
It would have been changed after the failed install, because they have identified it is now unservicable due to the work required - that they've already told you they aren't going to do due to cost

[jungleguy]

Oh what fun mainly as I doubt if the spotter would have bothered to look at the conduits but the existing cables, the fact that there's a loop there and that next door has cable (oh and his wonderous map ;) ) so all that's probably gonna happen again is that the Spotter says YES, they again take your order, the same pre-installs teams comes out and again says "Nope sorry but the conduits collapsed" and again the installation is cancelled..

As I said earlier this threads going round in circles :rolleyes: with VM saying no each time to the work due to costs (whether they tell you that or not)

too cynical, if only you knew what spotters can do

[jason4656]

too cynical, if only you knew what spotters can do

exactly, reminds me of my dysfunctional family lol

you have to try, if you end up in the same situation, there is nothing lost as there is nothing else i can do, but order ntl as it is, so if thats the way, so be it..some people

---------- Post added at 23:10 ---------- Previous post was at 23:08 ----------

It would have been changed after the failed install, because they have identified it is now unservicable due to the work required - that they've already told you they aren't going to do due to cost

and? I already know that, but as the other person have said, and as I am just trying whatever I can, thats how it is!

so your telling me, being in the same position, the spotter comes out to you and says,

"well I can push the construction through for you"

you would just say

"nah ill use a dongle pal, thanks all the same" ?? lol

[Ben B]

I'm a PC and Virgin Media is my broadband provider...., but seriously no harm in trying to push for residential services

[on in an hour!]

exactly, reminds me of my dysfunctional family lol

you have to try, if you end up in the same situation, there is nothing lost as there is nothing else i can do, but order ntl as it is, so if thats the way, so be it..some people

---------- Post added at 23:10 ---------- Previous post was at 23:08 ----------



and? I already know that, but as the other person have said, and as I am just trying whatever I can, thats how it is!

so your telling me, being in the same position, the spotter comes out to you and says,

"well I can push the construction through for you"

you would just say

"nah ill use a dongle pal, thanks all the same" ?? lol

VM have a set limit they will spend up to on each individual customer.ultimately if a carriageway dig is required it will not be sanctioned, its the area field managers say so,end of,and i KNOW for a fact no matter what a spotter says it will not be passed by the AFM.now,if your neighbours cable was to fail while they were active subs and a repull was required,the dig would get passed.thats how it is.;)

[BenMcr]

he dig would get passed.I'm pretty sure I have seen a situation before that due to cost the customer was informed that the account would have to be cancelled as the address was no longer serviceable

[jason4656]

well to update anyone with my contradicting story :)

I first got an install letter the other day for jan 21st, then virgin construction have been on said they have cancelled the install due to waiting for planning permission from teh council, soon as they get that, they will inform me? wtf next i wonder!, nice xmas

[webcrawler2050]

well to update anyone with my contradicting story :)

I first got an install letter the other day for jan 21st, then virgin construction have been on said they have cancelled the install due to waiting for planning permission from teh council, soon as they get that, they will inform me? wtf next i wonder!, nice xmas

Planning permission cantake up to 6 weeks as far as I am aware. Possibly longer. I think this whole situation is all going to lead to a big fat no LOL

[jason4656]

yeah maybe so, i cant help feeling doubtful also. I will make some more enquiries after new year. The construction said the work had been given the go ahead now, just waiting 2-6 weeks for permission, but apparently it was once cabled and the council had damaged the cable when laying a new driveway. Weird thing is me and the neighbour actually own the place where it needs to lay so not sure what thats about, will update more when I know

[jason4656]

well here i am, 50mb installed, v+hd up and running finished today, construction done last week.

I have to say to anyone else, dont give up, I wrote a few letters to some people I found around the net, and someone got back to me eventually quite quickly, phoned me daily, apologised for everything and got it all done , it took about a month after first call to get finalised.

have to say the wireless doesnt seem very good but i have a solid 50mb on my cabled connection so thanks for all the advice i got :)

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2010/01/21.png

[Digital Fanatic]

well here i am, 50mb installed, v+hd up and running finished today, construction done last week.

I have to say to anyone else, dont give up, I wrote a few letters to some people I found around the net, and someone got back to me eventually quite quickly, phoned me daily, apologised for everything and got it all done , it took about a month after first call to get finalised.

have to say the wireless doesnt seem very good but i have a solid 50mb on my cabled connection so thanks for all the advice i got :)

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2010/01/21.png

Brilliant... good to hear Jason :)

[Digital Fanatic]

Maybe the thread title should be changed now ;)