Shocking customer service

[DarylS]

Not ideal having a rant as a first post but hey, thats life!

Already have broadband with virgin media, been great and cant fault it. Wanted to add in a V+ box as I was getting abit bored with standard freeview.

Called into virgin about two weeks ago and took advantage of the V+ offer that is currently on (or so I thought). Had to take phoneline with it even though i didnt really want to as this made it cheaper.

So today was my installation date between 1-6pm. Took the afternoon off work, rushed home to get my daughter from nursery and get back in time. The engineer turned up about 1.15pm and said that he only had it down for a standard non recording hd box.

So then he said that he could install the box and if i called in that I could get the v+ box installed, now little did he know that I used to work for virgin (in house) not a contractor. And this was a commonly used blag, if I had let this go ahead I would have to probably wait another two weeks for the v+ box.

So he left the property at about 1.45pm, he left me with no box and said that an engineer would be round later with a v+ box.

So now as it stands im on the phone to virgin for the 5th time after the engineer leaving and I have no phone line or digi box either!

Now I understand why the customers where so ****ed when I worked there as a service technician!

All I want is my V+!!

Oh and by the way, good afternoon to anybody who bothered to read my rant :)

[jb66]

Welcome to the forum.

The installer only has the equipment he needs for that day, he wouldn't have any "extra" boxes. I think you did the right thing by refusing the box as i bet you'd never get one after. You'll probably have to re-arrange a new appointment, the installer wont waste any time as they are paid for the job, so no point hanging around getting a phone line to work if he wont get paid for it.

If it were a service tech it'd have been a bit easier as he could upsell you to a v+

[DarylS]

He said he didn't have any spare boxes which is fair enough.

Managed to get it sorted in the end though! Luckily I'm still good friends with a bloke who I used to work at virgin with. Gave him a phone call and he had just finished his last job, he came over to mine and got his manager to put my job into his work pool.

He also said that the installer who came round earlier had put my phone line into a faulty pair in the cab and also connected me to the wrong E-side. So basically the first guy that turned up was a blagger who didn't actually really know how to do his job probably, not that I would like to be slanderous on the forum or anything :)

So I had my install done and he got paid an extra bonus job.

I still have not received a call back from anyone at virgin after calling into them for a total of 8 times on my mobile, I dread my next bill!

So I only actually managed to get sorted today because of a favour off an old mate and not because anyone at virgin had actually been helpful.

On the plus side though the new V+ box looks pretty good and its a lot faster than the first ones to come out I remember installing.

Oh and the guy I originally booked this with two weeks ago told me I would be paying £37 a month but its actually £47, you can't have everything though hey!

Cheers :beer:

[Jonnymeg]

He also said that the installer who came round earlier had put my phone line into a faulty pair in the cab and also connected me to the wrong E-side. So basically the first guy that turned up was a blagger who didn't actually really know how to do his job probably

Well that sounds strange as you just finished telling us that the original installer didn't install your phone line.
Even if he did then why would he bother checking it seeing as he wasn't being paid for it?
It is possible that he hooked up the phone prior to arriving at you property ready for testing (as i do) and he could have detected a problem and corrected it when discovered.

It sounds to me that you are unfairly pinning blame on a guy that can only do what he is sent to do. If it wasn't on the work order then it is not his fault.

You should maybe think twice before slagging him off.

[DarylS]

Ive slagged him off because he used every blag going so that he could get away from the job, he was from liverpool and he told me that I was his last job and he was going back to liverpool after, so you can see why he wanted to get away so quick! Plus he mentioned that he wasn't use to working on the network in leicester, more reasons as to why my telephone wasn't working maybe....

When I moved into my property the previous owners had broadband so only the catv had been connected, not the telco. So I asked the engineer to make it live to the omnibox because I will put the socket in myself.

The cabinet and DSA are both at the end of my road and when he arrived I was on the front, he drove straight to the house so definately didn't connect the telephone first. Plus the engineer who actually sorted the job said there was no tags on the drop cable so how would he have known which was my cable if he was planning on working backwards anyway?!

And I haven't mentioned anywhere previously that the telco was not on his work order? He showed me his work order sheet and it stated telco and tv. Before the first engineer left he gave me the phone guide with my new number on it and said that the phone line was working, so that was a lie. He used his toners on the drop but never tested it at my house with his test phone, so even if he had got it working, he would have never known!

Having been on both sides of the fence now, working for virgin, and now as a customer I can see why so many people get ****ed off with the customer service on the phone and also the installation part.

But like I have said previously, I am more than happy with the products that they provide. They would be pretty much 100% in my eyes if they could just improve the parts of the company that let them down.

I've thought 3 times about slagging him off now and yep he's still a see you next tuesday in my eyes. Working for virgin may not be the best job in the world but if your getting paid to do something then do it, and do it honestly.

[royaltiger]

Welcome to the forum.

The installer only has the equipment he needs for that day, he wouldn't have any "extra" boxes.
If it were a service tech it'd have been a bit easier as he could upsell you to a v+

Surely he should carry spares incase of faulty goods, and whats the problem carrying a spare V+ or V, it used to be called good preperation.

[alyross]

Have waited 2 weeks for an install, engineer arrives shakes his head and says he can't install cause he won't lift any bricks from my drive to lay the cable then got into his van and left. 2 hours later after many phone calls I was told that to get cable I must lift the bricks and phone for a new date. Guess what stuff cable!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[DarylS]

When I worked for virgin as a contractor before I went to work for them in house, we only got given the amount of stock needed for the day. Also because he was from another site and didn't normally work in leicester, I doubt they would have given him any spare stock.

When I worked on service and did a split install and service roll, I always had a few spare boxes just incase.

I knew that he could have rung around and organised either picking a box up (seeing as it was about 1.15pm and I was his last job for the day!) or getting one dropped off.

And to alyross,

If only one engineer turned up and you needed to have a cable pulled through the ducting in the pavement, plus laid under your driveway. You should've had a two man team turn up. One engineer on his own wouldn't normally be able to do all that work involved, unless they decided to give out one job a day!

It sounds like you had the same experience as I did trying to chase up info after the engineer had left.

[morph178]

[QUOTE= The engineer turned up about 1.15pm and said that he only had it down for a standard non recording hd box.

[/QUOTE]

Why is that the engineers fault, he can only install what is on the work order, or what's on his pda, it's down to whoever books the job on, not the tech!!!

[DarylS]

At no point in my post did I blame the fact that the work order was down for a standard box on the tech.

It was the fact that he said if he installed the box there and then I could call in and get the V+ installed after. I didn't order the standard box so did not want it installing. That problem was probably due to the ***** in india who took my original call to book the work.

[Kymmy]

Can I remind people that if they can't be civil in their posts then it's better not to post at all.

[terry stevens2]

At least someone arrived to 'try and install'. I recieved all the packs, emails and text messages suggesting that an installation engineer would be at my house to install virgin, but no one arrived. I call virgin today (1 week later) and they were extremely rude saying that I had previously used virgin in 1997 and there was a bill of £169 that hadn't been paid. But I only moved into my house about 10 years ago, and have always used sky... Anyway they decided that they would cancel the install and not tell me. The Virgin support team are a joke, they then realised their mistake and tried to arrange for an engineer. I said NO, I wouldn't use your services, and remain with Sky. Subsequently Sky have halved my subscription fee for 6 months...