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-   -   General : Botched upgrade to Vivid 300 from Gamer 200 (https://www.cableforum.uk/board/showthread.php?t=33705529)

Hexxeh 17-10-2017 16:50

Botched upgrade to Vivid 300 from Gamer 200
 
I upgraded to Vivid 300 via the website last week, the new Hub 3.0 arrived yesterday. Upon plugging it in and activating it, it failed to register. Status pages were showing a 350mbit config had been setup.

Phone support insisted on an engineer visit, which was booked for today. Engineer phones as the 4 hour slot is about to end, says he's not coming, and he knows what the problem is: I can't actually have 300mbit. He's downgraded me back to Vivid 200 to get me back online, and advises calling CS to sort out the incorrect billing (now being way overcharged for a lower package).

Long story short, I'm now stuck on Vivid 200 and they refuse to give me my Gamer 200 back as it was before the botched upgrade. Worse still, until July of this year, I was out of contract, and only took a new one because I was forced to to upgrade from my old Vivid 200 onto the Gamer 200. So I'm now back in contract with a worse connection than I started with.

Seem to have hit a brick wall talking to CS, is there any other route I can take to get this resolved? Is it really not possible to put me back on Gamer 200 as I was before so I can have my 20mbit upload and no STM back?

Before the Hub 3.0 I had a 2AC with 8 DS + 2 US, with the new hub I'm seeing 10 DS + 2US. Assume this is why I can't get 300mbit?

kalleh 17-10-2017 18:34

Re: Botched upgrade to Vivid 300 from Gamer 200
 
Use the CEO complaints procedure.

General Maximus 18-10-2017 11:04

Re: Botched upgrade to Vivid 300 from Gamer 200
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by kalleh (Post 35920530)
Use the CEO complaints procedure.

yup, you can argue that they have defrauded you etc by knowingly drawing you into a contract for something which they are unable to provide.

The fact that there are only 10 downstream channels available in your area will be why 300mbits+ isn't available. Although it is a bit of an odd number, I thought they had to go in 4's.

Ignitionnet 18-10-2017 12:25

Re: Botched upgrade to Vivid 300 from Gamer 200
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by General Maximus (Post 35920639)
yup, you can argue that they have defrauded you etc by knowingly drawing you into a contract for something which they are unable to provide.

The fact that there are only 10 downstream channels available in your area will be why 300mbits+ isn't available. Although it is a bit of an odd number, I thought they had to go in 4's.

After 8 most areas, BSR and 10k alike, went to 10. The 10k was stuck at 10 until it received a new line card, the BSR went up to 12.

Hexxeh 06-11-2017 12:20

Re: Botched upgrade to Vivid 300 from Gamer 200
 
Had a call back from customer relations at last today: removed me from contract and applied a bill credit as a gesture of goodwill, but reiterated that giving me the 20mbit upload speed was "impossible as it's not on the system anymore". Surely not if people are still on it, as I was?

BenMcr 06-11-2017 16:34

Re: Botched upgrade to Vivid 300 from Gamer 200
 
Services that are withdrawn from sale are protected from any changes.

This means that people who are on it stay on it, but there is no way for someone to be moved onto the withdrawn service.

General Maximus 06-11-2017 18:41

Re: Botched upgrade to Vivid 300 from Gamer 200
 
The confusing thing for me (and maybe Ben can help out with this) is that afaik a real person is the only barrier in stopping you from having a new tier. As an example, when I rang up for 350 in August they told me it wasn't available yet and there was no way they could put it through and I would get 300. When the upgrade came down though I was on the 350 tier. The thing which I don't understand is why you had the problem you did to start off with. As far as I am aware the cmts does not pick and choose which tiers it accepts. If the correct config has come down for the shub 3, even if your area hasn't had any upgrade/extra capacity added to support it (which is why they say your area hasn't been enabled yet), you should still be able to connect and do your stuff and you will get whatever speed you can and that is it. I may be wrong and hopefully Ben can provide some clarity. This is the first time I have heard of it happening.

Hexxeh 06-11-2017 19:00

Re: Botched upgrade to Vivid 300 from Gamer 200
 
The "correct" 350mbit config showed up on the shub 3, but the CMTS refused any connection using it. The errors shown on the hub were as if the hub wasn't activated for my account, even though it was.

---------- Post added at 19:00 ---------- Previous post was at 18:56 ----------

It's particularly frustrating because the 20mbit was about the only part of the offered speeds that I was getting: utilisation issues mean that I never see much above 60mbit unless it's the early hours of the morning. I was only taking the 300mbit upgrade thinking the extra channels on a shub 3 might improve my speeds a bit, but no such luck.

General Maximus 06-11-2017 19:04

Re: Botched upgrade to Vivid 300 from Gamer 200
 
yeah, it is going to be because there are only 10 channels available to you but I still didn't think the cmts was capable of blocking certain tiers. The shub must have been activated and registered on the network for the new config to have come down.

pip08456 06-11-2017 19:06

Re: Botched upgrade to Vivid 300 from Gamer 200
 
No-one suffering from congestion will ever get around it by upgrading to a higher tier.

Your part of the network is still awaiting upgrade.

rtho782 07-11-2017 11:26

Re: Botched upgrade to Vivid 300 from Gamer 200
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by pip08456 (Post 35923533)
No-one suffering from congestion will ever get around it by upgrading to a higher tier.

Your part of the network is still awaiting upgrade.

Surely upgrading from Hub2 to Hub3 could be of some small help, simply because rather than fighting for a share of 8 channels, he is now fighting for a share of 10, but yes the tier upgrade itself doesn't help.

pip08456 07-11-2017 11:41

Re: Botched upgrade to Vivid 300 from Gamer 200
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by rtho782 (Post 35923587)
Surely upgrading from Hub2 to Hub3 could be of some small help, simply because rather than fighting for a share of 8 channels, he is now fighting for a share of 10, but yes the tier upgrade itself doesn't help.

That's what I was saying, however if there is congestion whilst CTMS or Hub end is awaiting upgrade you could still see no improvement with 10 channels over 8. It's called clutching at straws.

Kushan 08-11-2017 13:47

Re: Botched upgrade to Vivid 300 from Gamer 200
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by rtho782 (Post 35923587)
Surely upgrading from Hub2 to Hub3 could be of some small help, simply because rather than fighting for a share of 8 channels, he is now fighting for a share of 10, but yes the tier upgrade itself doesn't help.

In my experience from watching this forum, upgrading the modem makes little difference. If there's congestion, there's congestion across all channels.

Quote:

Originally Posted by General Maximus (Post 35923527)
The confusing thing for me (and maybe Ben can help out with this) is that afaik a real person is the only barrier in stopping you from having a new tier. As an example, when I rang up for 350 in August they told me it wasn't available yet and there was no way they could put it through and I would get 300. When the upgrade came down though I was on the 350 tier. The thing which I don't understand is why you had the problem you did to start off with. As far as I am aware the cmts does not pick and choose which tiers it accepts. If the correct config has come down for the shub 3, even if your area hasn't had any upgrade/extra capacity added to support it (which is why they say your area hasn't been enabled yet), you should still be able to connect and do your stuff and you will get whatever speed you can and that is it. I may be wrong and hopefully Ben can provide some clarity. This is the first time I have heard of it happening.

In a sense you're right, ultimately a human somewhere decided to stop offering that code on the system - but it's not the agent's fault, they genuinely are limited by what they can do on the system.

Hexxeh 08-11-2017 14:23

Re: Botched upgrade to Vivid 300 from Gamer 200
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Kushan (Post 35923838)
In a sense you're right, ultimately a human somewhere decided to stop offering that code on the system - but it's not the agent's fault, they genuinely are limited by what they can do on the system.

So who can put me back on the correct code? Presumably /somebody/ can, even if a first line agent/sales or whoever can't.

I was promised an email by the complaints manager putting it in writing that I'm no longer held to contract since they're not providing the appropriate service, but that hasn't materialised.

Also my direct debit was taken for the new plan amount, and the cost of a new Superhub 3, even though they were credited back and changed back. So a £72 direct debit taken even though I'm £90+ in credit. Madness... of course, nobody on the phone seems to know what to do and there's no way to actually get hold of somebody in the complaints department who called me.

BenMcr 08-11-2017 14:59

Re: Botched upgrade to Vivid 300 from Gamer 200
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by General Maximus (Post 35923527)
The confusing thing for me (and maybe Ben can help out with this) is that afaik a real person is the only barrier in stopping you from having a new tier. As an example, when I rang up for 350 in August they told me it wasn't available yet and there was no way they could put it through and I would get 300. When the upgrade came down though I was on the 350 tier. The thing which I don't understand is why you had the problem you did to start off with. As far as I am aware the cmts does not pick and choose which tiers it accepts. If the correct config has come down for the shub 3, even if your area hasn't had any upgrade/extra capacity added to support it (which is why they say your area hasn't been enabled yet), you should still be able to connect and do your stuff and you will get whatever speed you can and that is it. I may be wrong and hopefully Ben can provide some clarity. This is the first time I have heard of it happening.

There are two parts to any broadband service. The provisioning that the kit will accept, and the code that bills you for the service.

For those tiers that are no longer sold, the billing code is protected to stop anyone being moved onto that code. If you already have the billing code on your account, then the system will correctly provision compatible kit (and any replacement kit) for that service. That's until such time as Virgin Media completely withdraw that tier of service and decommission all codes for it.

In this case, the OP has been moved off a billing code and associated provisioning, and as it's no longer sold, they can't now be moved back on to it.

Synthetic 08-11-2017 15:48

Re: Botched upgrade to Vivid 300 from Gamer 200
 
Out of curiosity, is it something the Executive Office could override?

Kushan 09-11-2017 08:52

Re: Botched upgrade to Vivid 300 from Gamer 200
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Hexxeh (Post 35923850)
So who can put me back on the correct code? Presumably /somebody/ can, even if a first line agent/sales or whoever can't.

I was promised an email by the complaints manager putting it in writing that I'm no longer held to contract since they're not providing the appropriate service, but that hasn't materialised.

Also my direct debit was taken for the new plan amount, and the cost of a new Superhub 3, even though they were credited back and changed back. So a £72 direct debit taken even though I'm £90+ in credit. Madness... of course, nobody on the phone seems to know what to do and there's no way to actually get hold of somebody in the complaints department who called me.

The real problem here is the definition of "correct" code. There are other, better ways to solve your particular issue than putting you on an old code that's no longer active on the system. Believe me, you'll likely just end up with issues down the line as that code was taken off for a reason, e.g. you might get automatically moved to another one anyway.

My advice to you would be to contact the CEO's office, they'll have a lot more power to get you sorted - but it's unlikely they'll provision an old code just for yourself.

Hexxeh 09-11-2017 09:53

Re: Botched upgrade to Vivid 300 from Gamer 200
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Kushan (Post 35923986)
The real problem here is the definition of "correct" code. There are other, better ways to solve your particular issue than putting you on an old code that's no longer active on the system. Believe me, you'll likely just end up with issues down the line as that code was taken off for a reason, e.g. you might get automatically moved to another one anyway.

My advice to you would be to contact the CEO's office, they'll have a lot more power to get you sorted - but it's unlikely they'll provision an old code just for yourself.

If putting me back on the old code isn't what I should be aiming for, what is?

General Maximus 09-11-2017 10:15

Re: Botched upgrade to Vivid 300 from Gamer 200
 
a discount applied to your account for the next 6-12 months depending on how long they say any planned upgrade work is going to take until 300/350 is available in your area. You can't get 300 now, they cant put you on 200 gamer, so seeming as though you are the one losing out due to their negligence and they cant give you what you agreed to contractually (or better) and you are now worse off, the only thing they can do is compensate you for it financially.

Hexxeh 10-11-2017 11:48

Re: Botched upgrade to Vivid 300 from Gamer 200
 
Emailed CEO office yesterday, got a callback just now: all sorted, I'm back on the old 20mbit upload package. Thanks for the suggestion!

Hexxeh 29-11-2017 10:38

Re: Botched upgrade to Vivid 300 from Gamer 200
 
So I got a message from the forum team regarding the fault recorded in my area, they mentioned the network team had reported it was now resolved.

Lo and behold, I'm now connected to a shiny new Cisco CMTS with 24 downstream channels and 4 upstream channels, not the old River Delta 10/2 channels.

Does this mean I might finally be able to actually get 350mbit soon?

General Maximus 29-11-2017 10:42

Re: Botched upgrade to Vivid 300 from Gamer 200
 
if you can't then there is something very wrong

Hexxeh 29-11-2017 10:55

Re: Botched upgrade to Vivid 300 from Gamer 200
 
Web order system is still letting me attempt a 300mbit upgrade, but it did before and it didn't work. That said, last time I did get provisioned "correctly", but the CMTS was having none of it. Wonder if it's worth another go?

Only problem is I guess I'll have to go back to the CEO's office again if it doesn't work...

General Maximus 29-11-2017 11:34

Re: Botched upgrade to Vivid 300 from Gamer 200
 
yup and this time I would do it at your own risk. You are assuming it was the cmts stopping you from having the upgrade last time so if you request the upgrade again and it doesn't work out then it is your fault and I wouldn't expect the CEO's office to help you again.

Hexxeh 30-11-2017 09:53

Re: Botched upgrade to Vivid 300 from Gamer 200
 
Yeah no dice: order got flagged and set for an installation date 30 days out. Called up to query and they confirmed despite what the site continues tell me, it's still not available.

How long does it typically take after an area has been upgraded to 24 downstreams for the higher tiers to become available?

Mythica 30-11-2017 10:59

Re: Botched upgrade to Vivid 300 from Gamer 200
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Hexxeh (Post 35926922)
Yeah no dice: order got flagged and set for an installation date 30 days out. Called up to query and they confirmed despite what the site continues tell me, it's still not available.

How long does it typically take after an area has been upgraded to 24 downstreams for the higher tiers to become available?

I've been on 24 down for a while now and 4 up for about 2 weeks and still no 300Mb available.

General Maximus 30-11-2017 19:08

Re: Botched upgrade to Vivid 300 from Gamer 200
 
once the upgrade work is complete somebody has to push some buttons on the computer to say that the area is now ready for xxx tier/speed. It normally takes a couple of days but who knows with VM.


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