[gherkin]

Well this is a little strange.

After all that saga I had a call this afternoon from a VM technician asking if I was free for my installation today within the next ten to fifteen minutes. First I'd heard of any installation appointment and anyway I thought it was just not possible. I told him what they had said to me about the survey visit. He said that is unusual and he insisted on having a look himself.

Ninety minutes later we had Virgin broadband! He's done it by taking a cable from the neighbour's existing junction box on the side of their house (their cable connection has been dormant for many years now) and hooking it up to our house by running it across the front of their house (they had no problem with this - there's already a multitude of wires there). That old junction box and cable run under their concrete has essentially become our cable and junction box, except it is on their property.

Only problem is I suppose I can't get Virgin TV in the future as I don't want to put more cables across the front of their house. Still, all I wanted for now was the broadband so I'm happy with that!

I can't believe the solution was so simple after all that. All I wanted was for a technical guy to come over and discuss the options with myself and my neighbour and exactly where any digging/work would take place and I was sure we'd find an agreeable solution or have final closure.

I'm glad its sorted now. Much credit to the local reps who insisted it wasn't a problem and pushed through the installation and the technician who came round today. Everyone else unfortunately has been most unhelpful and the whole experience has been filled with vague miscommunication. I'll be providing feedback to Virgin shortly.