Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think Virgin Media are being vile?

33 replies

StiffyByng · 26/06/2012 19:12

Short version: we were meant to move, date got changed, Virgin's home move service didn't tell me I needed to cancel installation and disconnection separately and we were therefore disconnected on the original move date.

Ten days later and still no broadband as they managed to cock up the reconnection.

We have a severely disabled child of 12, a 9 year old and a baby. Our childcare is arranged to the split second and we exist under permanent pressure. We rely on working from home at evenings and weekends to get our work done.

So the last ten days have been chaos. We had 2 of our 15 annual hospice respite days booked and my husband had to spend them in the office. It has made an already difficult life a lot worse.

Virgin say only business customers get compensation and have offered me £50 as a 'goodwill gesture'. I have been a customer for 12 years and paid them thousands, and £50 is less than our monthly bill. That is their 'final offer'.

So IABU to think that Virgin don't give a toss about their customers and the effect that their mistakes have on their lives? I am furious. If I were a business I'd get compensation but the lost hours of our family life are worthless.

OP posts:
gettingmyrewardinheaven · 26/06/2012 22:43

YANBU. Virgin Media are eeeviiil! Customer service is an alien concept to them so don't even waste your breath trying to explain to them how crap they are.

kelly2525 · 26/06/2012 23:03

Fuckers. Can you get a dongle? I know it means paying £30 when you shouldn't have to, but in the short term it would help.

CouthyMow · 26/06/2012 23:06

You can get PAYG dongles now, so you could just top it up when Virgin are being cunts.

sashh · 27/06/2012 05:02

It's not just me then?

They lie, they lie again, then someone else tells you something different.

I have two of their boxes in the hall waiting for collection. We had aranged a date but when I phoned to ask why they had not been collected in the 5 hour slot - apparently they could not collect because they 'didn't have a mobile number' - wtf - I have a door and a doorbell.

The person 'owning' my complaint phoned me yesterday - actually he phoned my exhousemate, who happened to be arround because they didn't have a number for me.

Anyway I am currently tethered to my blackberry and watching Sky. The Sky installer was lovely, phoned me the day before to tell me what time he would arrive. When he arrived he introduced himself by name, went through the controls and left me a card with both his mobile and his manager's phone number.

If you have a blackberry or smart phone you can use that to get on the internet - a smart phone can be used as a wifi hot spot.

Original poster
StiffyByng · 27/06/2012 07:35

I used my neighbour's Wifi to work in the end (with her permission) and my other half just went to work.

But what I am really fuming about is the lack of value they place on our lives. 15 fucking nights a year of time to spend purely with the other kids, and each other, with no meds, no aggression, no constant demands, and they're out the window, and £50 is the total. Less than we even pay them a month.

OP posts:
MrsPnut · 27/06/2012 07:40

Contact the chief executive, I did over a complaint regarding virgin mobile and it was resolved quickly and very reasonably. I can give you the email address when I go on the computer later or find it on google.

SnakePlisskensMum · 27/06/2012 07:47

Exactly the same happened to me when we moved and we didn't have the added worries that you have! I was fuming, we both work at home and we didn't have iPhones then so had to go to Starbucks and drink loads of lattesGrin
I cancelled them immediately and went to Sky. No issues with them and we've had them 4 years now.

SofaKing · 27/06/2012 08:03

Progress your complaint as far as possible. Often if you threaten to leave they will become magically more helpful as the people in disconnections have more discretion. We had our bill reduced by 18.50 a month for a year as a goodwill gesture so they can certainly do better than 50. The compensation reflects how much you complain rather than how much you are inconvenienced sadly.

They are better than sky, our broadband stopped working and their system crashed when they tried to fix it, so they didn't bother and fobbed us off for 3 months. No compensation offered at all, and not even an apology. Can't imagine how you feel, we were annoyed enough and it didn't have the impact on our lives which your broadband loss did. Hope you get enough compensation to have a treat for you and DC to enjoy.

HecateHarshPants · 27/06/2012 08:04

Can you vote with your feet and switch to a different provider or are you tied in to a contract?

GnocchiNineDoors · 27/06/2012 08:06

If you use twitter, thats the place to name and shame. Seems to reap results..

Original poster
StiffyByng · 27/06/2012 08:24

I've tweeted them and despite getting 'eek, that shouldn't happen' got told that domestic customers don't get compensation. I complained to the Chief Exec and got a fairly quick response but that's where the £50 comes from. I went straight back to them as I was so insulted by that and they will be contacting me today from the Chief Exec's office but they've said that really if I'm not happy I have to go to the Ombudsman.

I'm not tied to them and certainly if I don't get a better response then I'm off. I don't want to leave really as we've got a whole unwatched series on our V+ box!

OP posts:
Original poster
StiffyByng · 27/06/2012 08:25

And thanks for your messages. Sorry others have had a bad time. I'd always thought they seemed better than Sky.

OP posts:
SoleSource · 27/06/2012 08:29

YANBU

15 nights a yea respite? Ask for more, keep asking.

Jux · 27/06/2012 08:30

Keep going higher up the chain. Don't waste your time with the people who actually answer the phones and then go off to "talk to my supervisor......"

Tell them you want to talk to the supervise, then the manager,mthe his manager and so on and so on. Be a complete PITA and don't take no for an answer. Keep calm (take deep breaths ) as they'll use the slightest excuse to put the phone down, but keep demanding to speak to the person who is the next level up, u til you get the person who says yes and can deal with you satisfactorily. Factor in compensation for your time spent dealing with them and the length of the phone call..

DH does this all the time. He just got £50 for our energy supplier, and in the past £50 from Barclaycard as a result of a cold call - we didn't even have a BC!! And loads more. Virgin need to buck their ideas up.

Original poster
StiffyByng · 27/06/2012 08:34

I'm already at the Chief Exec's office! That's what makes me most cross. This crappy £50 comes from them.

But I'm back in the fray today.

OP posts:
horriblefilagain · 27/06/2012 08:39

Can't comment on virgin media but virgin as a whole are horrific. Virgin trains are evil. My friend was thrown off a virgin train at 7 months pregnant, as she had forgotten one part of her ticket. She still had the receipt part but not the ticket. She couldn't afford the £110 for another ticket so was made to get off at Warrington, meaning she would miss a really important meeting for the charity she worked for. She was actually in tears but they still made her get off. Their customer service dept did not give a fuck when she complained and said that they stood by and supported the ticket collectors actions. Don't travel with them, they are utter cunts.

Jux · 27/06/2012 09:10

Oh boy, sorry! They really are crap, aren't they? Is Branson himself the next one up?

Jux · 27/06/2012 14:28

Ombudsman or MP. That's all I can think of now. Good luck.

lizbee156 · 27/06/2012 16:14

Yes, Virgin are terrible.
We had huge customer service problems with them so we moved to Sky who have been thoroughly brilliant so far (and the tv channels are better too).

As soon as we told Virgin we were leaving we got 3 retention calls offering us all sorts of discount etc but for us it was too little too late.

StuntGirl · 27/06/2012 16:47

With regards to the old boxes, if you have a Virgin shop nearby you can take it to them.

Well, technically you can't take it to them, but when I worked in a Virgin shop one incredibly irate woman came in, yelled at the shop staff for no one coming to collect the old box when they said they would (it's absolutely nothing to do with the shops), dumped it on the counter and walked out. My manager just sent it back to head office with our weekly returns. At least you could get rid of one problem!

LittleWhiteMice · 27/06/2012 18:06

Ha i cant stand them.
They told me that "virgin media dousnt have a bank account". I said "you are a bank"
They also told me that my bank had cancelled my DD. I told them they had to be extra careful they were sure my bank had done this as it was illegal.

The rest of my conversation was with this women who kept taling about the 7ft shark floating above her head.

There is far more, but i wont go into it.

ThatVikRinA22 · 27/06/2012 18:16

horrible that is shocking, and OP take heart from the fact you are doing your bit by advertising how shit they are, i like to know who to do business with and who not to....all noted. I hope you manage to get somewhere with them.

Primafacie · 27/06/2012 18:23

They are shite.

We were without broadband or tv for a month when we moved last year. They made me wait for 12 hours, never showed up, lied to me. When they finally said they wouldn't show up, the nearest date they could come to connect us was another 3 weeks later. I asked why they couldn't come the very next day; they said they couldn't as they were fully booked and "we can't cancel appointments"! Hmm I had a redrum moment when the customer service person actually used the words "it's not my fault". I had to explain she was representing the company, and it was bloody well their fault.

We switched to Sky the same day.

SleeplessKnight · 27/06/2012 18:41

I HATE Virgin!

We were with them for 2 years and moved. 5 months later, and numerous calls and emails, they had got as far as leaving a massive cable reel in the front garden. When I called to complain again, I was told I should be grateful for the help I was getting from the woman on the other end of the line!! That was the final straw, contacted Sky and it was all installed within a week. Sky have been brilliant ever since.

Original poster
StiffyByng · 28/06/2012 07:59

I was offered £100 and I took it, as I have enough in my life without adding ombudsman troubles. Interestingly everyone I spoke to at Virgin told me to complain to Ofcom if I wasn't happy and Ofcom isn't the ombudsman. Bit surprised a complaints department doesn't know the name of its own ombudsman. But I have no idea what the ombudsman might have awarded me anyway. What sort of compensation. I pointed out that it would cost us over £550 to buy the care to replace the respite we lost.

I'm so sorry to hear the moving stories. We are off next week and I'm giving Virgin a shot as I want a TiVo. But they are on their last chance. I have been told if anything goes wrong I should go back to my named contact in the CEO's office so we'll see.

I am still not particularly happy. I had to push them and push them to get £100, which is still nowhere near really compensating us. Presumably if I'd not had the nous to go to the CEO and the stubbornness and articulation I've got in complaining, I'd have got nowhere. So the most vulnerable people lose out.

OP posts:
Swipe left for the next trending thread