virginmedia

[mick094m]

Just thought I would let people on here to be aware of the latest ripp off at virginmedia,after various problems with them I downgraded all of my services to the bare minimum as a protest.To get back they seem to have in my opinion broke certain rules of "fit for use " and "sale of goods ". I am on the "medium broadband" last week I ended up without a connection to my service over certain periods, it was as though the modem had a built in clock as it switched off and back on at certain times of the day and night.this seemed rather strange to me at first I thought it was a fault so rang the usual "waste of time " customer service, first call reply was it may be a fault in your area if it persists get back in touch ,as it came back on later in the day thought OK maybe it was a fault.Next day same thing happened this time was told it was afault with the modem would have to book an engineer to call, my reply was don't bother it is not a fault with the modem . Sevice came back later on but same thing happened ,this continued for the rest of the week and I kept getting the same reply will have to send an engineer out to check the modem as it is faulty.As I am a retired BT engineer having worked in the fieldand also inside on digital provides etc. my knowledge told me that it was an outside fault nothing to do with the modem(more about this later) So in desperation decided to send an e-mail to the CEO's Office ,this brought a responce and after a long winded conversation with a tech found out that it was in fact they who were shutting down my service because of usage of badwith ,as I was only on 2 mg I was going over the limits of "upload" and "download" so therefor was being shut off in order to satisfy the users of the larger broadbands.This to me seems to be not right as they state and this is what I signed up for unlimited downloads 24/7 and my contract was with Telewest not Virginmedia,since the takeover I have not recived any new contract to sign with Virginmedia so I expect that this is the same contract,but I bet they have made some hidden changes without informing us,as seems to be so in this case. I have had phone calls from the CEO's office and it was agreed thhat I was correct in refusing to agree to an engineers visit as the engineer could not have solved the issue,Thus my actions saved virginmedia a lot of money in wasting engineers time as a result of this problem I have they have awarded me a £10 credit to my account (big deal).All I am interested in is having the service provided that I signed for. Today I am writing to the CEO informing him af the incompetant customer service and will be reporting this to the Trading Standards (though I realise I will be wating my time) as they are all in this ripp off together. But would be interested if anyone else has had a similar experience ,or if anyone has any other suggestions of what action to take if any.I know what I would like to do, is stick two fingers up to them ,but all these suppliers of broadband are much the same and it about time something wa done to force them to clean up their acts and provide what the advertise.
sorry if this has been a bit long winded I have tried to keep it as brief as possible,also to apologise in advance if I am bit slow in replying to any answers as I am expecting the clock to kick in any minute and be switched off.

[MARTIN3030]

Hello Mick,I know you are not new to CAG so will have read many stories.
I recal VM sending out revised terms and conditions when they took over Telewest NTL.
After this they sent out more stuff about reserving the rights to terminate the services of customers illegally downloading....it was well reported in the media VM being slated for imposing their own Policing-could it have had anything to do with Bransons music business losing money from music downloads ??

I was previously with Telewest for 12 years and didnt sign a contract for 10 !!

A tactic used by many is to offer additional services or a better package-which automatically changes the terms and conditions and hence starts the contract again !
Talk Talk are famous for this one.

VM will no doubt tell you that your limits are set out in the terms and conditions,and so is actions for exceeding limits.
Problem is that the terms and conditions are written so small it takes a bloody magnifying glass to read them -I know cause I recently looked.

Despite their telesales customer services not being brilliant,I think you will find that at CEO level you should get a response.
Incidentally,I was on to the CS by phone last week making a complaint.Yesterday I got an email asking me to fill out a satisfaction survey form !!!

Would be nice if they resolved the complaints BEFORE asking to fill one of these out......ah well-I suppose they have to start somewhere.!

[MARTIN3030]

Oops forgot-
Have a read of this;

Virgin Media ADSL (Non-Cable) Broadband Throttling

[mick094m]

Martin
It seems as though I may be forced to eat humble pie, as it now stated that it is a faulty modem that is causing me toget dis-connected ,don't ask me why as it works ok after 4.00pm then goes off late/night early morning comes on again just after 7.00am then goes off again.I am expecting an engineer out on Saturday to replace the modem said it is old and past its sell by date will see if the modem is the source of the problem ,but I am very suspicious and think it is just a ploy,because I have been pestering the CEO via e-mails so will see what happens ,looked at the threead you linked and very interesting,incidently Neil Berkett said that Virgin is the best provider etc. etc. my reply was if you think so take a look at this Forum ,it may change your mind when you see the number of threads complaining,will keep you informed.
Incidently I "never " recived any new contract to sign with the merger with Virginmedia,even if I did from what is on the other thread there is nothing refering to this, never know you may end up having the CEO a member of GAG soon..............Not holding my breath on that one.
Nearly forgot to mention this after I posted the above thread later on I tried to get into CAG to see if there were any replies,could not get in,but all my other links saved as favourites were ok,,,,,,,,,bit of a coincidence I e-mailed Neill perkett and he said not us ,will get one of my team to look into it .later on I managed to access the site.......strange or what......or was the site down for awhile yesterday

[MARTIN3030]

Yes Mick there have been some server issues on and off for the last week or so.I understand that its being sorted (If not already done)

Might be an idea to offer VM a chance to respond to some of the issues raised here time and time again.

Its a good step forward to encourage CSAs to come on here and be allowed to put over their explanations and maybe routes to resolve things.
We have a couple of forums where this has shown positives.I will look into it.