Virgin Media makes customer spit feathers

Saw this in another group, and I thought I cud use it to see if havin
Virgin in the subject was now gettin through )


> Am I turning into Victor Meldrew or does anyone else think this is
> unacceptable bullying?
>
> Sometime last month Virgin Media changed their support service for
> broadband problems and instead of just ringing 150 from a Virgin phone
> now you have to dial a premium rate number. 25p/min + 10p connection
> charge. No letters or emails to notify customers of this change in the
> package they were offered, just happened overnight.
>
> Yesterday I had a fault with my modem which refused to show ready, so
> I
> rang. Same call centre in India that it always was, but now they spend
> the first minute telling you that the call is chargeable, asking if
> you're the billpayer, over 18, confirming name and address etc. But
> hang
> on, says I, you cant really be charging me to report a fault with your
> equipment? No, assures the call centre, if the fault is at our end
> then
> we refund the call. After ten minutes of diagnostics, he agrees there
> is
> a fault with the modem and decides to book an engineer visit, which of
> course takes him another ten minutes. Finally, visit booked for
> sometime
> today, and I *must* agree to be home because if he comes and I'm not
> in,
> I'll be charged £10. Naturally I asked if the reverse applies, i.e. if
> the engineer fails to arrive (not uncommon!) will they pay *me* £10?
> Unfortunately the irony doesn't seem to translate well and he is
> confused before saying that no, of course that wouldn't be the case.
>
> Later last night I noticed the modem lights were back on so I tried to
> connect and was successful, so I phoned to cancel the engineer. No way
> of doing that without ringing the same premium number, so as soon as
> he
> answers I interrupt his warning spiel and tell him I only want to
> cancel
> an appointment, as the fault has been corrected. I can hear him
> industriously tapping away on his keyboard and five minutes later, hey
> presto, appointment cancelled. So I ask the obvious question, I'll not
> be charged for this call either, right? Ah, no, says he, you will be -
> you're cancelling an appointment. I'm dumbstruck! So what should I do
> then, *not* cancel an appointment and when he shows up simply tell him
> he's not wanted? No, says he, that would apply the 'failed callout'
> charge of £10. Just to rub salt in, the earlier call I'd made will now
> *also* be chargeable, because as there is no fault there now the
> engineer has no way to prove the fault was at their end. I spend
> another
> two minutes arguing the stupidity of that and then suddenly realise
> I'm
> paying 25p/min for the privilege of arguing with someone who doesn't
> care, so I hang up and dial Customer Services.
>
> They refuse to refund either call, and tell me that because I didn't
> disconnect when I got the warning about the call charge, I 'accept'
> the
> charges applied. But how do I report that there is a fault, then?
> Well,
> you cant, you have to pay to do that and then hope that Virgin accept
> the fault is with them later, something over which you have no control
> and which they have a vested interest in not being truthful about. I'm
> being icily polite but firm and insist that I wont be paying those
> call
> charges, sorry. Paraphrasing them "tough, its already on your bill".
> "well, I'll cancel the direct debit then and just pay the bill minus
> the
> two calls". "then we'll charge you £5 per time for not paying by
> direct
> debit". "okay, I'll continue to pay by direct debit, but 'cap' the
> forthcoming bill to reflect the two calls". "then we'll disconnect you
> and apply charges for *that*". And then a direct quote "we'll put the
> bill in the hands of our debt collection agency and you will find it
> difficult to arrange credit in the future. They will call at your
> house
> and take goods to the value of your debt".
>
> At that point I admit I lost my cool and told them that their
> statement
> was a deliberate and intimidating lie, as their debt collector had no
> legal rights, and that I now wanted to speak to a manager, who simply
> stated that they could not waive those charges and if I wanted to
> appeal
> against it I should call technical support who were the only people
> with
> the power to do that. But that costs me *another* call, which they'll
> not refund, to try to get a *previous* call refunded says I. Sorry,
> says
> the manager, thems the breaks.
>
> How on Earth can such a process be allowed? Surely the unfair contract
> terms act doesn't permit Virgin to unilaterally change the charge for
> technical support and insist that you pay something you never agreed
> to
> at the outset of the contract? And wouldn't the same act prevent them
> from applying a 'new' charge and preventing the customer from any way
> of
> disputing it? We're talking about a total cost of about £3 here but
> that
> isn't the point - Virgin are intimidating their customers into
> accepting
> charges to report that *they* have a fault! Where the hell do you go
> with a company who insist they are always right and that the customer
> has no redress?

Gonz wrote:
> Saw this in another group, and I thought I cud use it to see if
> havin Virgin in the subject was now gettin through )
>

Happens with quite a few DSL ISPs as well.

I personally had one recently where I phoned the non local support
group number, went thru all the spiel & gave them a contact number
(obviousely my home number) & waited for them to return the
call.............................................. .............................

Next day I got an email saying that they had phoned me but I didn't
answer so it was my fault & back to the back of the queue you go....

Hang on they didn't phone me on my home number I did some checking &
found that they had phoned my works mobile....der....

Tried to arrange another callback, sorry no slots open & you'll have
to wait because you didn't answer our last call etc etc yes despite
the fact that they had called me on the incorrect number anybody can
see where this one went. They certainly don't like being reminded
that they are paid to give support to their users, not excuses why
they can't do so....

"kráftéé" <kraftee@b&e-cottee.me.uk> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Gonz wrote:
>> Saw this in another group, and I thought I cud use it to see if
>> havin Virgin in the subject was now gettin through )
>>
>
> Happens with quite a few DSL ISPs as well.
>
> I personally had one recently where I phoned the non local support
> group number, went thru all the spiel & gave them a contact number
> (obviousely my home number) & waited for them to return the
> call.............................................. .............................
>
> Next day I got an email saying that they had phoned me but I didn't
> answer so it was my fault & back to the back of the queue you go....
>
> Hang on they didn't phone me on my home number I did some checking &
> found that they had phoned my works mobile....der....
>
> Tried to arrange another callback, sorry no slots open & you'll have
> to wait because you didn't answer our last call etc etc yes despite
> the fact that they had called me on the incorrect number anybody can
> see where this one went. They certainly don't like being reminded
> that they are paid to give support to their users, not excuses why
> they can't do so....

As I've got older, I've come to realise that even the shop keeper is
startin to treat me with contempt now, too )

On Sat, 22 Sep 2007 14:10:19 UTC, "krßftΘΘ" <kraftee@b&e-cottee.me.uk>
wrote:

> Gonz wrote:
> > Saw this in another group, and I thought I cud use it to see if
> > havin Virgin in the subject was now gettin through )
> >
>
> Happens with quite a few DSL ISPs as well.

Just had that with Orange mobile billing too. They now charge for an
itemised bill, so I get it online. The online billing system is broken
and doesn't show a bill issued two weeks ago (and has the wrong account
balance). No contact details on the site at all. Ring CS (which is free)
and they say I have to email (E-Mail Removed) as they can't do
anything.

I get an automated reply saying that bill related queries will be
ignored. Ring this number to get technical support on billing - at
50p/minute.
--
[ 7'ism - a condition by which the sufferer experiences an inability
to give concise answers, express reasoned argument or opinion.
Usually accompanied by silly noises and gestures - incurable, early
euthanasia recommended. ]

"kráftéé" <kraftee@b&e-cottee.me.uk> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Gonz wrote:
>> Saw this in another group, and I thought I cud use it to see if
>> havin Virgin in the subject was now gettin through )
>>
>
> Happens with quite a few DSL ISPs as well.
>

It happens with a lot of companies that are going bust.
They economize and get rid of the staff that know what they are doing and
replace them with kids reading scripts.
The management is incapable of understanding that they will annoy their
customers and that they will go elsewhere.
If it was a monopoly they might get away with it but if it was they would
have just put the price up.
VM are now going to regret having cable as it appears to be more expensive
for data than dsl and Sky offer a better TV package.
Their phone service is suffering at the hands of mobiles and voip just like
BTs is except they aren't as reliable as bt.
Its probably too late for Virgin media to fix it now so don't buy any of
their shares unless you like to gamble.

"dennis@home" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:fd3pia$va8$(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "kráftéé" <kraftee@b&e-cottee.me.uk> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Gonz wrote:
>>> Saw this in another group, and I thought I cud use it to see if
>>> havin Virgin in the subject was now gettin through )
>>>
>>
>> Happens with quite a few DSL ISPs as well.
>>
>
> It happens with a lot of companies that are going bust.
> They economize and get rid of the staff that know what they are doing and
> replace them with kids reading scripts.
> The management is incapable of understanding that they will annoy their
> customers and that they will go elsewhere.
> If it was a monopoly they might get away with it but if it was they would
> have just put the price up.
> VM are now going to regret having cable as it appears to be more expensive
> for data than dsl and Sky offer a better TV package.
> Their phone service is suffering at the hands of mobiles and voip just
> like BTs is except they aren't as reliable as bt.
> Its probably too late for Virgin media to fix it now so don't buy any of
> their shares unless you like to gamble.

....and they are now traded on the New York stock exchange, I've got 7 and a
dividend cheque for 1p :-)

Peter

>> Am I turning into Victor Meldrew or does anyone else think this is
>> unacceptable bullying?
>>
>> Sometime last month Virgin Media changed their support service for
>> broadband problems and instead of just ringing 150 from a Virgin phone
>> now you have to dial a premium rate number. 25p/min + 10p connection
>> charge. No letters or emails to notify customers of this change in the
>> package they were offered, just happened overnight.
>>
>> Yesterday I had a fault with my modem which refused to show ready, so
>> I
>> rang. Same call centre in India that it always was, but now they spend
>> the first minute telling you that the call is chargeable, asking if
>> you're the billpayer, over 18, confirming name and address etc. But
>> hang
>> on, says I, you cant really be charging me to report a fault with your
>> equipment? No, assures the call centre, if the fault is at our end
>> then
>> we refund the call. After ten minutes of diagnostics, he agrees there
>> is
>> a fault with the modem and decides to book an engineer visit, which of
>> course takes him another ten minutes. Finally, visit booked for
>> sometime
>> today, and I *must* agree to be home because if he comes and I'm not
>> in,
>> I'll be charged £10. Naturally I asked if the reverse applies, i.e. if
>> the engineer fails to arrive (not uncommon!) will they pay *me* £10?
>> Unfortunately the irony doesn't seem to translate well and he is
>> confused before saying that no, of course that wouldn't be the case.
>>
>> Later last night I noticed the modem lights were back on so I tried to
>> connect and was successful, so I phoned to cancel the engineer. No way
>> of doing that without ringing the same premium number, so as soon as
>> he
>> answers I interrupt his warning spiel and tell him I only want to
>> cancel
>> an appointment, as the fault has been corrected. I can hear him
>> industriously tapping away on his keyboard and five minutes later, hey
>> presto, appointment cancelled. So I ask the obvious question, I'll not
>> be charged for this call either, right? Ah, no, says he, you will be -
>> you're cancelling an appointment. I'm dumbstruck! So what should I do
>> then, *not* cancel an appointment and when he shows up simply tell him
>> he's not wanted? No, says he, that would apply the 'failed callout'
>> charge of £10. Just to rub salt in, the earlier call I'd made will now
>> *also* be chargeable, because as there is no fault there now the
>> engineer has no way to prove the fault was at their end. I spend
>> another
>> two minutes arguing the stupidity of that and then suddenly realise
>> I'm
>> paying 25p/min for the privilege of arguing with someone who doesn't
>> care, so I hang up and dial Customer Services.
>>
>> They refuse to refund either call, and tell me that because I didn't
>> disconnect when I got the warning about the call charge, I 'accept'
>> the
>> charges applied. But how do I report that there is a fault, then?
>> Well,
>> you cant, you have to pay to do that and then hope that Virgin accept
>> the fault is with them later, something over which you have no control
>> and which they have a vested interest in not being truthful about. I'm
>> being icily polite but firm and insist that I wont be paying those
>> call
>> charges, sorry. Paraphrasing them "tough, its already on your bill".
>> "well, I'll cancel the direct debit then and just pay the bill minus
>> the
>> two calls". "then we'll charge you £5 per time for not paying by
>> direct
>> debit". "okay, I'll continue to pay by direct debit, but 'cap' the
>> forthcoming bill to reflect the two calls". "then we'll disconnect you
>> and apply charges for *that*". And then a direct quote "we'll put the
>> bill in the hands of our debt collection agency and you will find it
>> difficult to arrange credit in the future. They will call at your
>> house
>> and take goods to the value of your debt".
>>
>> At that point I admit I lost my cool and told them that their
>> statement
>> was a deliberate and intimidating lie, as their debt collector had no
>> legal rights, and that I now wanted to speak to a manager, who simply
>> stated that they could not waive those charges and if I wanted to
>> appeal
>> against it I should call technical support who were the only people
>> with
>> the power to do that. But that costs me *another* call, which they'll
>> not refund, to try to get a *previous* call refunded says I. Sorry,
>> says
>> the manager, thems the breaks.
>>
>> How on Earth can such a process be allowed? Surely the unfair contract
>> terms act doesn't permit Virgin to unilaterally change the charge for
>> technical support and insist that you pay something you never agreed
>> to
>> at the outset of the contract? And wouldn't the same act prevent them
>> from applying a 'new' charge and preventing the customer from any way
>> of
>> disputing it? We're talking about a total cost of about £3 here but
>> that
>> isn't the point - Virgin are intimidating their customers into
>> accepting
>> charges to report that *they* have a fault! Where the hell do you go
>> with a company who insist they are always right and that the customer
>> has no redress?
>

I left for Sky in June, broadband is excellent(£10), TV (£21), and on my BT
line I get free evening and weekend calls through Sky for no monthly fee. VM
want to charge £3.45 for the free evening and weekend calls, £37 for 20Mb
and £21 for TV I think. I realise they do bundles, but that is with pathetic
2Mb broadband. They are such poor value I surprised anyone still signs up to
them, unless they have no choice.

"acdeag" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>>
>
> VM want to charge £3.45 for the free evening and weekend calls, £37
> for 20Mb and £21 for TV I think. I realise they do bundles, but that
> is with pathetic 2Mb broadband. They are such poor value I surprised
> anyone still signs up to them, unless they have no choice.

I think it's from readin posts from Carl and others when they say summat
like "go to ADSL then! but I hope you live next door to the exchange,
cuz you're not gonna get good speeds otherwise"

Why can't they just let em go? It's just childish, like they want to
leave their darts match or summat, and they're havin a tantrum cuz of it
)

Most of these people don't want high speeds, they just might want an
internet connection that is cheap enuff.
I actually think that the 'speed' aspect of broadband is not so
appealing to many anymore.
It's turned into a 'whatever' )

>>
>> VM want to charge £3.45 for the free evening and weekend calls, £37 for
>> 20Mb and £21 for TV I think. I realise they do bundles, but that is with
>> pathetic 2Mb broadband. They are such poor value I surprised anyone still
>> signs up to them, unless they have no choice.
>
> I think it's from readin posts from Carl and others when they say summat
> like "go to ADSL then! but I hope you live next door to the exchange, cuz
> you're not gonna get good speeds otherwise"
>
> Why can't they just let em go? It's just childish, like they want to leave
> their darts match or summat, and they're havin a tantrum cuz of it )
>
> Most of these people don't want high speeds, they just might want an
> internet connection that is cheap enuff.
> I actually think that the 'speed' aspect of broadband is not so appealing
> to many anymore.
> It's turned into a 'whatever' )

I was a bit worried about going to ADSL from Cable. I subscribe to the Sky
16Mb service, I actually get around 12Mb, however this 12Mb is so much
faster than the 10Mb VM were giving me. The service is far more reliable
watching videos etc, no longer does it stop start like it used to on my 10Mb
service. I would not go back to cable now.

acdeag wrote:

> >> VM want to charge £3.45 for the free evening and weekend calls, £37 for
> >> 20Mb and £21 for TV I think. I realise they do bundles, but that is with
> >> pathetic 2Mb broadband. They are such poor value I surprised anyone still
> >> signs up to them, unless they have no choice.
> >
> > I think it's from readin posts from Carl and others when they say summat
> > like "go to ADSL then! but I hope you live next door to the exchange, cuz
> > you're not gonna get good speeds otherwise"
> >
> > Why can't they just let em go? It's just childish, like they want to leave
> > their darts match or summat, and they're havin a tantrum cuz of it )
> >
> > Most of these people don't want high speeds, they just might want an
> > internet connection that is cheap enuff.
> > I actually think that the 'speed' aspect of broadband is not so appealing
> > to many anymore.
> > It's turned into a 'whatever' )
>
> I was a bit worried about going to ADSL from Cable. I subscribe to the Sky
> 16Mb service, I actually get around 12Mb, however this 12Mb is so much
> faster than the 10Mb VM were giving me. The service is far more reliable
> watching videos etc, no longer does it stop start like it used to on my 10Mb
> service. I would not go back to cable now.

There's nothing wrong with cable from a technology aspect. The problem lies
entirely with the company supplying it who simply don't have enough bandwidth to
properly service all their customers. It's pathetic.

I tried Virgin's 4 meg service and it averaged 1.5 meg. At times it was as slow
as 500k and they expect people to pay *** £25 ** for that ? That's what they
tried billing me although I was supposed to been on a free money back 30 day
trial and £8.50 a month therafter. It's taken 3 months to get a total of ~ £67
credited back to my account.

Virgin really are useless.

Graham