VM a joke? [Archive] - Cable Forum

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Rewtor

14-12-2010, 23:16

Right, this is going to be quite long so...

I went into a VM shop on the 4th to arrange a new installation for the house I would be moving into on the 1st of Jan, as easy as you think that should be it wasn't...

The people in store couldn't find my address on the database so had to send someone out to do a spot check on the property which, came back fine and I received a call from him on the 6th to come round and sort out a package and installation date. This was all done L BB, XL TV and M phone for 29.99 for the first 6 months, free install and £50 credit which I would of gotten online.

Installation date was booked (or so I thought) for the 23rd of December with the possibility of changing to the 21st if I gave 2 days notice (according to the sales rep that came round), so I arranged with the estate agents to visit the property on the 23rd as I don't move in until the 1st which they were fine with provided I got the 1 hour before arrival phone call.

After arranging this with the estate agents I called the sales rep and he said VM needed to do a credit check due to one of my previous addresses and would call me back the next day... That didn't happen so I called him and he said he would call me the next day as he hadn't heard anything about it, didn't receive a call by the end of work so thought I would leave it a bit longer.

Hadn't received a call by 9pm so I didn't bother ringing as it was late so decided to send a text and I got a reply saying credit check went through and he would call me in the morning.. 2 days later still no call so I rang him and he said that installation won't be until the 29th because of the credit check?? Well my understanding is they should schedule the installation and if the credit check doesn't go through cancel it? It seems they did it backwards...

Obviously not happy because the estate agents are closed from the 24th to the 4th and I have already paid the £49 for my V+HD box, I have called VM 15 times today 10 of which must of been in India and I needed to repeat myself 3 times before I got any sort of reputable answer or they would just hang up (they hung up 3 times), so in the end I decided to just keep trying until I got someone in the UK who said they would call me back by 8:30pm (even though they said it was an inbound call centre)... This didn't happen no call by 9:30 so I rang them back to be told the department was now closed...

Forgot to mention that my girlfriend tried calling the VM sales rep tonight about it who just didn't have a care in the world and was extremely i-rate and rude... :mad:

May aswell just goto Sky even though I wanted VM because of the BB and On Demand... Anyone else had these sort of issues or can anyone from VM on these forums sort this mess out?

Rewtor

15-12-2010, 14:20

Went into the VM shop today to be told they can't do anything I need to contact the sales rep (and apparently they store your number from the application and ignore calls or turn their phones off...) so, been trying to call him all day and he isn't answering.. I hate to imagine what it would be like if I was a customer..

Hugh

15-12-2010, 15:42

Rewtor

15-12-2010, 15:50

Sorry to hear about your problem, but your hypothesis (apparently they store your number from the application and ignore calls or turn their phones off) sounds a little unlikely, and perhaps apocryphal.

Difficult to take sales calls, or calls from your manager, if your phone is off......

This is what both of the lads inside the VM shop said, that they take it down and ignore you or just turn their phones off, he has been ignoring me if I call from a number he knows about but not if I call from a different one...

jungleguy

15-12-2010, 17:25

The problem is that Virgin actually give their insatllers some time off over Xmas. Pathetic, personally I think they should be working all over Xmas keeping Joe public happy. (that's me trying to be funny, I am aware how hard the installers work this time of year)

I think what's gone wrong with your application is that there was some cause for concern on your credit file, so your application was delayed a couple of days, while another department looked at it to make sure your the type of customers who's gonna pay their bill. All ok now but the sales man was unaware of you credit file at point of sale, that's why a pre Xmas instal date was suggested.

Have you tried calling customer services? Maybe they could change your install date

papasmurf

15-12-2010, 18:50

Why not put 141 in front of the salesman's number?

Tijer

15-12-2010, 19:04

We cancelled Virgin and went to Sky... Recieved a bill for which we didnt understand. So phoned up, after going through the 50000 options got through to someone from india who didnt have a grasp of the english language let alone how virgin bill their customers... After 5-10 minutes of asking them to explain what the charge was, they stopped talking, put us on hold, then hung up. Virgin Media WONDER why people are leaving them in droves? The reason is they have totally incompetant people at their indian call centres. We have put in a complaint (as we managed to get through to someone in the UK who knew what they were talking about and spoke the english language) Must say this is VERY bad form for a company that is trying to compete against sky. Whenever we have phoned sky, theres 3 options, and about 5 seconds later we are speaking to a english speaking customer advisor!

Virgin Media have now totally lost a customer who was with them for almost 20 years due to their cost cutting exercises of out-sourcing their customer support to india!!!

Flyboy

15-12-2010, 19:14

This is what both of the lads inside the VM shop said, that they take it down and ignore you or just turn their phones off, he has been ignoring me if I call from a number he knows about but not if I call from a different one...

Is this the shop or the call centre?

---------- Post added at 19:14 ---------- Previous post was at 19:10 ----------

We cancelled Virgin and went to Sky... Recieved a bill for which we didnt understand. So phoned up, after going through the 50000 options got through to someone from india who didnt have a grasp of the english language let alone how virgin bill their customers... After 5-10 minutes of asking them to explain what the charge was, they stopped talking, put us on hold, then hung up. Virgin Media WONDER why people are leaving them in droves? The reason is they have totally incompetant people at their indian call centres. We have put in a complaint (as we managed to get through to someone in the UK who knew what they were talking about and spoke the english language) Must say this is VERY bad form for a company that is trying to compete against sky. Whenever we have phoned sky, theres 3 options, and about 5 seconds later we are speaking to a english speaking customer advisor!

Virgin Media have now totally lost a customer who was with them for almost 20 years due to their cost cutting exercises of out-sourcing their customer support to india!!!

I am not so sure that is the case.

I do agree with your sentiment regarding the Indian call centre, they do seem to be law unto themselves and it is something that VM need to address, but I don't believe that, "people are leaving them in droves." They are subject to the vagaries of poor customer service, just as much as any other company. Not is not excusing poor customer service, but Sky are no different, in my experience. I would imagine the "churn" to be a net gain for VM.

Rewtor

15-12-2010, 19:24

@jungleguy: like I said in my first post even though this did happen they should have scheduled the installation for the agreed date and if anything untoward came up in the results then re-schedule/cancel not the other way round... I also tried CS last night (mentioned in first post) 15 times and all the indians were useless wasn't doing anything I was asking for when I did eventually get through to an english speaking person they said they would call me back before 8:30 and didn't... rang back a bit later and was told the department I need was now closed

@papasmurf: my girlfriend did that last night and was spoken to very poorly... If I spoke to anyone like that at work I would be out the door as soon as I started

@Tijer: I agree, outsourcing the CS is completely stupid, they have no idea what they are talking about and I was hung up on 3 times alone last night

@Flyboy: that is what the shop said to me about the sales reps that come to your door after a spot check

Jonnymeg

15-12-2010, 19:34

Rewtor

15-12-2010, 19:55

I know its not the answer you really want but you really should have just waited a little longer and got VM installed in Jan.

Sky TV is fine but the BB is not good. ADSL simply does not compare to cable and you may find this out a month in to a year long contract....
I would not live anywhere i could not get VM internet.

I would of done this originally if I had agreed to it without a problem, but that fact is the level of service (if you can call it that) I have been given and the way we have both been spoken to is appalling not to mention false promises..

I would like to still get VM as it is also my favourite but this is just shocking

Flyboy

15-12-2010, 20:09

Have you never had reason to interact with VM customer services before this?

Rewtor

15-12-2010, 20:15

No, I am a new customer (still waiting for installation but have already signed contract)

agoodtech

21-12-2010, 19:08

I would not live anywhere i could not get VM internet. I second that!

Apparently when you ring, if you choose the options for disconnections from the automated menu you get through to someone that talks English. I've never tried this personally but heard that it works. Give it a go maybe.

I spoke to an area manager for VM about the call centre issues after many of my customers were bitching about em. It's down to cost.

I put forward that perhaps if they did have UK only call centres then many potential customers like you would not get the hump and go to alternative providers. I think that in keeping the custom of said customers would go to help meet this cost and providing some much needed jobs here. + Make customers happier/less stressed. + portray a better company image.

It just got rubbished....Hell, what do I know,,,