PDA

View Full Version : More no shows from VM Installations


Handfom
27-02-2010, 14:24
I am reading this forum with sinking heart. Having been repeatedly told that my case was unusual, what I am reading bears a sickening similarity to my case.

Having signed up and paid for my triple package (TV,Broadband,Phone, with 2x V+HD boxes £200+) on Dec 23rd, I was a little disappointed that Jan 20th was the earliest date, but as it was a Saturday, fine. What you've read elsewhere, ditto. Come the long awaited day, no show, despite numerous calls, "Yes the engineer still has you on his list" up until 20:00. But no show. Despite the fact that a neatly coiled black cable appeared on my front lawn a few days before the 20th, connected to the box on the pavement, no show.
The very apologetic Customer Services (CS) girl rebooked me the next earliest date but that was Friday Feb 5th, meaning a day off and a days lost income, or a March installation date for a Saturday. Reluctantly took the Friday.
On the Monday, when I phoned the Installations team, they told me the job had not been entered into the system correctly and although they thought the engineer had it still to do, the engineer knew nothing about it. I was assured, repeatedly, that it was all entered correctly now.

The alarm bells should have been ringing.

On Friday 5th Feb, you guessed it. No show. Numerous phone calls to all sorts of people, made NO diference. They weren't coming because THIS time the job had been marked as complete. But I was also told, by one of the numerous people I spoke to, that my installation was a 2 man job and they hadn't alocated 2 men to it(?) Thats a whole new avenue for complaint but I really don't have the heart to pursue it, yet. And Yes, I did receive the Welcome Pack again confirming my new date, etc, etc...

This time job rescheduled to Friday 26th Feb, or wait until end of March for a Saturday. Even more reluctantly took the Friday option though it meant yet another days lost income. So this time I made sure that I called to confirm everything was set for this installation. Its a 2 man job you know, are 2 men allocated to it? Was assured that this was the case. Added the by now familiar Welcome Pack to the growing pile. Sat back and waited.

Answer machine message from Virgin Media on the Thursday 25th, the day before the scheduled installation, stating CONFIRMATION of the installation, but just needed to confirm a couple of details .... can you hear those alarm bells?

8:00am Friday 26th February, called VM CS to double check. Was told my installation has been rescheduled to MARCH 18th!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!

What followed was pure Victor Meldrew, in the "I DON'T BELIEVE IT" that leapt forth from my mouth. The CS girl, to whom apart from raising my voice to (NOTE: Not shouting or being rude to her), did her best to try and explain to me that it needed to be rescheduled because it was a 2 man job. WHAT?!?! I know that, because THAT was the excuse you used LAST time?!? You said that weeks ago when I rebooked LAST time? She went off to speak to the Area manager for installs and when she came back, proceeded to tell me that they were also awaiting permission to connect my cable? It would be illegal for them to connect me without this permission. Asked her to check exactly what that was and when she said they can't connect my cable to the street until they get permission from VM dept that deals with this in Wales(?) So what about the black cable on my lawn that is already connected under my garden wall to the box in the street? Silence at her end.

She has raised a complaint to the installations team (why does that not fill me with confidence) and they are to respond to me with in 48hrs. (36hrs in and no call...)

Does it mean I will get my install done? Can you hear those alarm bells?
Does it mean that on March 18th 2 men will turn up to carry out the install?
Does it mean you can believe anything you are told by any of the depts you get passed on to?
Does it mean I can invoice VM for lost earnings due purely to their ineptitude?

Where else can I get 2x HD connections, iPlayer on the TV, broadband and phone at a reasonable price?

Trust me, these are just the highlights, or perhaps low lights, as I have wasted many hours and expended wasted effort trying to get this sorted.

Any helpful advice gratefully received.

End of rant.:mad:

Chris
27-02-2010, 14:34
Ouch.

There is another avenue you can try - we have an escalation route via contacts in Virgin Media who are very good at getting things sorted when their own processes have gone so badly wrong as seems to be the case here.

I can forward your contact details to them if you like - if you want to do this, send me a Private Message with your real-world name and contact details. I will forward this to them via email and hopefully they will be able to do something for you this coming week.

:welcome: to the forum by the way.

fireman328
27-02-2010, 17:11
Dont you just feel good when it all comes together like a well oiled machine LOL

tvtimes
27-02-2010, 20:12
I hope it gets sorted OP that is disgusting! What a first impression!

Handfom
05-03-2010, 17:24
Update

Following on from Chris escalating this issue, I got two phone calls from the CEO's office at the beginning of the week gave me a glimer of hope that his might get resolved. Still awaiting confirmation at the end of the week that I will get an installation appointment on March 13th. I appreciate there are some external factors (like co-ordinating the swap over from BT for the landline), but radio silence since Tuesday does begin to play on the nerves......

Will provide a further update in due course.

Chris
17-03-2010, 10:53
Further update ... I had an email from our contact advising me that this issue was sorted. If the OP is is still around, an update from your end with further details would be useful for other forum members who may have similar issues. :)

g0at
20-03-2010, 14:03
Have my install booked for April 17th (earliest Sat slot)... reading this thread has me worried..

Hope that you get this resolved in the end bud.

What can you do for recouping your 2 days of lost earnings? Is there not some legislation that entitles you to a payment for your inconveniences in the event of no-shows?

Chris
20-03-2010, 17:14
Don't worry about your install. This forum naturally attracts a lot of stories about things going wrong, but that makes it unrepresentative of the experience of the majority. In all likelihood, everything will be fine for you.

Handfom
22-03-2010, 16:09
Left it a week to post this update as I did have a few issues setting up the home broadband on the wireless router. However that was nothing more than teething problems and I have now resolved it.

The two enginneers turned up as expected at 8:00am on the Saturday and in all fairness, despite the fact that this was the 4th time it had been arranged, did a pretty good job. They were courteous, took their outside boots off when coming in, did a neat job of running the numerous cables around the house (2x V+ HD boxes, telephone and broadband) and did it in the 2 hours they said it would take. What more can you ask?

But then the issue was never with the engineers that turn up, more the processes that sit behind the organisation that have some serious gaps in. It still grieves me that I lost 2 days income, and whilst I know I am a well paid contractor, that was a serious amount of money to loose due to someone else's ineptitude. I have been compensated one month's fee's, so effectively have 3 months free. But if they'd compensated me the lost income, that'd be a couple of years free.

I am very grateful to this forum for the help you gave, as without this I would definitely be watching Sky now. This should give hope to those who find themselves in a similar situation in the future.

I am now off to offer my services to VM to analyse and remediate those poor processes.......

schuey100
24-03-2010, 14:49
I had a similar issue. I had an initial install in November 2009. They didn't do it properly and there were all kinds of issues. So they booked an engineer. He didn't show, and another, he didn't show, and another...he didn't show. This went on and on and on 2until finally I blew my top. At the start of MARCH, I decided to make a formal complaint. Guess what? Engineer out that day, virgin bills paid for since November and the personal details of someone that I could call should I ever have problems again.

Funnily enough BB is down right now, wondering whether to go straight to him or wait a few minutes and see if it's a temporary error.