Virgin media help?!?!

[Gops]

Im having problems with virgin media where there hs been an apparent "fault" with my line but this has happened twice now and ive had to wait 5 days for a technition to come out to me and ive also had to be on the phone for 30 mins on a mobile!! Iver been cut off again today for no reason and have to wait ages until i get the guy out to fix it??!! What can i do guys because i want this sorted! Do you think i deserve compensation for this like money off line rental?

advice much appriciated!

Gops

 

[scottie123]

I had a similar thing. Lost service on broadband for 2 days.

I phoned them up, and kept phoning them up until I managed to get a call centre in the uk. (the foreign ones cannot do anything. They just have a sheet of answers and that is it.)

I complained BIG style, and got the months broadband for free and also a free upgrade on my tv package

It is all about getting through to a person that actually gives a toss.

Good luck!

 

[jojo]

Im having problems with virgin media where there hs been an apparent "fault" with my line but this has happened twice now and ive had to wait 5 days for a technition to come out to me and ive also had to be on the phone for 30 mins on a mobile!! Iver been cut off again today for no reason and have to wait ages until i get the guy out to fix it??!! What can i do guys because i want this sorted! Do you think i deserve compensation for this like money off line rental?

advice much appriciated!

Gops

Gops, do you not have a VM telephone line? You need to borrow someones VM telephone and call 150 I think it is, which is free, screw 30 mins on the moby!!!

 

[Good 2 B A Gooner]

I worked for Telewest/VM for 8 years as an Engineer and Manager - So i should be able to help....!

First, as Jojo says; try and use another VM phone as it's free - 150. As for compensation, they'll refund you for the time you've lost from your line - Though if you say you're off to BT and kick-up enough (Be polite though...) and they should offer you a month’s free line rental.

As for why you've had the fault again - It could be one of many things, maybe the jumper wire in in the cab between the exchange side (E side) and the distribution side (D side) as these can become very full over time - Meaning when someone’s go's into the cab, they pull a wire out by accident. Or maybe the cable feeding your house has a fault/faulty join on it?


Hope this helps.:icon_thumright:

 

[Gops]

JOJO - it is a phone line and i had nobody i know who has one so i had to do it on the mobile!!

Good 2 B A Gooner - Oooo well its happened twice and the lady said there was no recent activity on the exchange, if that helps? I have no clue tbh. Im just going to have to wait until the guy comes and diagnoses it. Im going to write a BIG letter because i pay £25 a month for phone, FO broadband and very basic TV and i atleast deserve a good service. Maybe somebody could help me with the letter? Im not too good at these things

Thanks for all your support!

Gops

 

[jojo]

JOJO - it is a phone line and i had nobody i know who has one so i had to do it on the mobile!!


Gops

Do you not have friendly neighbours? If you are around Birmingham, you can borrow mine, and I'll make you some Tea whilst you're on hold for 30 minutes!!

 

[BillTheButcher]

Are you talking about cable?

We use Virgin cable for broadband and phone and every now and again (probably about once a fortnight) the Ready light on the cable modem starts slowly flashing, sometimes dropping the connection when it does so. Virgin have sent someone to look at it 3 times and each time they say it's a fault at the exchange and they sort it. A week or so later it happens again. Sometimes disconnecting the modem for 30 seconds or so cures it, sometimes it doesn't. They've waived 2 months of payments so far because it's happened so often.

I spoke to a friend of mine who lives in a completely different area and also uses Virgin cable and he said exactly the same thing happens to him so it sounds like it's an issue that Virgin have at a national level rather than a local exchange one.

 

[jojo]

I've personally have had no problems with my Virgin Media services, been using them for years! Recent new connection at my place of work is spot on also.

 

[Gops]

No its just the phone line. Never had any other problem with them excpet that. Im sending them a letter of complaint also!! Hope they respond to it!

 

[Gops]

Oh and Jo, i'm gonna come down for that tea.. You might aswell make some dinner too hehe

 

[Audijarvis]

My Mrs used to work for The car-phone warehouse in retentions

They're the people you want to be talking to (Virgin retentions obviously)

One point though: Due to the regulations set by Ofcom they are not in breach of contract. They have 28 days to correct your fault and from your other post they have always sorted the issue within this time.

Right, you have no chance of getting out of your contract, but when you call you need to argue that they are in breach and that you want to go to a provider that can offer a better service.

Take the operators name and write this down, gives you more clout, especially if they don't deliver after offering you compensation.

After arguing (don't swear) for awhile (don't back down to easily) ask what they are going to give you for your wasted time and money, and general displeasure with their service.

Go for everything: up graded TV package, free line rental, evening and weekend calls, virgin plus box.

You obviously won't get it all but you may be surprised how willing they are to help

Good example was when they sold us a Virgin Plus box for £25.

The engineer installed it and about half an hour later I lost all connection, telephone, internet the lot.

Seems someone forgot to tell the accounts department and they switched us off as our bill had gone over the predetermined safe limit.

Big mistake

By the time my Mrs finished with them we got the unit for nothing, three months free rental and a £200 credit on our account.

Its good to talk lol

 

[Good 2 B A Gooner]

Are you talking about cable?

We use Virgin cable for broadband and phone and every now and again (probably about once a fortnight) the Ready light on the cable modem starts slowly flashing, sometimes dropping the connection when it does so. Virgin have sent someone to look at it 3 times and each time they say it's a fault at the exchange and they sort it. A week or so later it happens again. Sometimes disconnecting the modem for 30 seconds or so cures it, sometimes it doesn't. They've waived 2 months of payments so far because it's happened so often.

I spoke to a friend of mine who lives in a completely different area and also uses Virgin cable and he said exactly the same thing happens to him so it sounds like it's an issue that Virgin have at a national level rather than a local exchange one.

Bill - VM Broadband is completely separate from your phone line as it's on a coax cable and then fibre in the street - The reason it probably drops on and off is due to either a poor/border line signal incoming (Should be between +4 and -10) or a poor upstream (Should be no higher 47) these can all be found on your router page - type 192.168.100.1 into your internet browser and go to signal (Depending on which modem you have).
Unfortunately most of the Engineers/Managers worth their salt left a long time ago, taking with them knowledge of Upstreams (How your BB sends info back to the servers) Most know nothing of this - I had 14 Engineers working for me when i worked as contractor for a year (After taking VR) - They had no idea about half the stuff I’d ask them when they were stuck...! Still they know now eh!

Gops - They've given you lip service mate - They wouldn’t know how to search for who's been working at what Mux (Cab in the street, where all Phones terminate) Only 1 Engineer has access to the exchange - And as its digital, it's not like an old BT type exchange with wires everywhere... It's all done on a computer.


Sorry to bore you all to sleep....

Hope this helps - If anyone has any further issues - I'll gladly help


P.S. Gops - If they get silly, just ask to speak to the CEO's office - I had to deal with these guys often, and when you got a call from them you had to jump...

 

[Gops]

Thanks for your help Good 2 B A Gooner!! That was really good advice!! The engineer said to me that one of the exchanges down the road had been vandalised which is why i lost connection. I was abit angry with the situation but ive sent an email to the complaints department because im at uni and not at home during the week. Gonna complain my balls off!

 

[BillTheButcher]

Very helpful reply Gooner. Thank you.

The problem is/was apparently to do with the upstream being in the high 50s/low 60s IIRC. He showed me the info screen you mentioned and then showed it to me again after he'd been to the exchange to sort things out. I think the modem had a username and password on it which he left with me. They might be generic though.

If it happens again (touch wood the connection's been stable for a week now) then I'll get back to you to see if you can do a better job fixing it than Virgin have.