Virgin media: Complete Outage for 1 month (still not fixed) Compensation?

[dinner]

Hi there,

 

Hope someone can help

 

I have had a complete outage of my broadband service provided by Virgin Media.

 

I have been in contact with the CEO's office who have replied offering to credit our account for 1 month as a form of compensation. (As well as refund me for the days that the service was down for)

 

I do not think this is fair considering how much grief I have been through with them ,(their status checker on their website said it will be fixed at 1pm/ 6pm/ 10pm on various days then rolls on to the next day so it is useless)

 

The call centre staff are quite frankly useless and no help...

 

Any ideas on how to proceed? (I think ACUTAL cash compensation rather than credit on account is fairer.)

[unclebulgaria67]

Hi there,

 

Hope someone can help

 

I have had a complete outage of my broadband service provided by Virgin Media.

 

I have been in contact with the CEO's office who have replied offering to credit our account for 1 month as a form of compensation. (As well as refund me for the days that the service was down for)

 

I do not think this is fair considering how much grief I have been through with them ,(their status checker on their website said it will be fixed at 1pm/ 6pm/ 10pm on various days then rolls on to the next day so it is useless)

 

The call centre staff are quite frankly useless and no help...

 

Any ideas on how to proceed? (I think ACUTAL cash compensation rather than credit on account is fairer.)

 

If you are finding that they cannot meet the contract terms, then send them a recorded delivery letter advising that as they are in breach of contract, that you can withdraw from the contract at no penalty and without paying for any services not received. Then take your business elsewhere.

 

If there is a problem where you live Virgin might be stringing you along for months.

[dinner]

Thank you for your reply. Yes I think i may just have to leave if this is not fixed on the deadline the CEO's office gave (end of the month)

[BankFodder]

If you are finding that they cannot meet the contract terms, then send them a recorded delivery letter advising that as they are in breach of contract, that you can withdraw from the contract at no penalty and without paying for any services not received. Then take your business elsewhere.

 

If there is a problem where you live Virgin might be stringing you along for months.

 

This advice is absolutely correct of course. However, the advice relies on the premise that Virgin will act reasonably and will understand that they have been unable to fulfil their side of the bargain and that they will acknowledge your entitlement to sever ties with them and to go elsewhere.

 

Unfortunately, for the most part, this is not what happens. A more likely scenario is that you will complain to the CEOs office and you will tell them that you are now considering the contract at an end and that you are moving on and that you are ceasing your payments. Instead of looking at their own behaviour and seeing whether they have been a worthy contracting partner, they are more likely to treat you as somebody who is merely trying to avoid your contractual obligations and trying to escape without paying what they consider to be your debts. Once this happens, they will change gear into debt recovery mode. This means that they will blight your credit file and start sending you threatening letters and maybe even make attempts to block you from going elsewhere.

 

Vodafone do exactly the same kind of thing – and so do most of the other telecoms suppliers. They have been criticised for this kind of thing in the press and even the regulator has said that this is an area of concern amongst telephone and broadband suppliers – but despite this there is generally no improvement.

I am amazed that you have been told that the will take as long as the end of the month to restore your service. I can't imagine that there is any reason why it should take this long – unless you're going to tell me that there is a break in the cable somewhere and they have to dig up the roads. Other than that I'm sure that it is just a question of configuring something on some computer somewhere and the whole thing should lurch into action.

 

I agree with you that you should be entitled to cash and I also agree with you that where there is been a complete failure of the service, you should be entitled to move on. However, Virgin won't see it that way. They never give cash out in compensation, but it would be nice to see someone force them to do it. If you wanted to take this further then we would be pleased to help you but frankly the most rapid results will be achieved by starting a court action. I would expect that once they get the court papers they will start treating you seriously. Until then you are simply a nuisance.

[dinner]

This advice is absolutely correct of course. However, the advice relies on the premise that Virgin will act reasonably and will understand that they have been unable to fulfil their side of the bargain and that they will acknowledge your entitlement to sever ties with them and to go elsewhere.

 

Unfortunately, for the most part, this is not what happens. A more likely scenario is that you will complain to the CEOs office and you will tell them that you are now considering the contract at an end and that you are moving on and that you are ceasing your payments. Instead of looking at their own behaviour and seeing whether they have been a worthy contracting partner, they are more likely to treat you as somebody who is merely trying to avoid your contractual obligations and trying to escape without paying what they consider to be your debts. Once this happens, they will change gear into debt recovery mode. This means that they will blight your credit file and start sending you threatening letters and maybe even make attempts to block you from going elsewhere.

 

Vodafone do exactly the same kind of thing – and so do most of the other telecoms suppliers. They have been criticised for this kind of thing in the press and even the regulator has said that this is an area of concern amongst telephone and broadband suppliers – but despite this there is generally no improvement.

I am amazed that you have been told that the will take as long as the end of the month to restore your service. I can't imagine that there is any reason why it should take this long – unless you're going to tell me that there is a break in the cable somewhere and they have to dig up the roads. Other than that I'm sure that it is just a question of configuring something on some computer somewhere and the whole thing should lurch into action.

 

I agree with you that you should be entitled to cash and I also agree with you that where there is been a complete failure of the service, you should be entitled to move on. However, Virgin won't see it that way. They never give cash out in compensation, but it would be nice to see someone force them to do it. If you wanted to take this further then we would be pleased to help you but frankly the most rapid results will be achieved by starting a court action. I would expect that once they get the court papers they will start treating you seriously. Until then you are simply a nuisance.

 

 

Yes, that’s basically (according to the CEO's office) what has happened... what is annoying is that it took this long to be told that this is what happened and being given dates when it was going to be fixed only for them to be moved or even more annoying was being told it IS fixed and all working... so is the best thing to accept this "compensation " and leave Virgin Media ASAP?

[BazzaS]

Hi there,

 

Hope someone can help

 

I have had a complete outage of my broadband service provided by Virgin Media.

 

I have been in contact with the CEO's office who have replied offering to credit our account for 1 month as a form of compensation. (As well as refund me for the days that the service was down for)

 

I do not think this is fair considering how much grief I have been through with them ,(their status checker on their website said it will be fixed at 1pm/ 6pm/ 10pm on various days then rolls on to the next day so it is useless)

 

The call centre staff are quite frankly useless and no help...

 

Any ideas on how to proceed? (I think ACUTAL cash compensation rather than credit on account is fairer.)

 

Do you have mobile data (on the EE network) where you live?.

 

If so, why not ask them to provide you with a mobile broadband SIM (+/- mi-fi) and all the data allowance you need, until they fix it?.

Bear in mind that they'll likely say that they could provide 3G data, and whilst it is true to say their consumer mobile offering is 3G data, they do have a 4G mobile data offering .....

http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/Products-and-solutions/Telephony-Solutions/Business-Mobile-SIM-old/

 

If it is costing them, to provide you with the service you have already paid for, they might focus on fixing it, and either:

a) provide you with an interim solution, or

b) release you from the contract .....

[dinner]

Do you have mobile data (on the EE network) where you live?.

 

If so, why not ask them to provide you with a mobile broadband SIM (+/- mi-fi) and all the data allowance you need, until they fix it?.

Bear in mind that they'll likely say that they could provide 3G data, and whilst it is true to say their consumer mobile offering is 3G data, they do have a 4G mobile data offering .....

http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/Products-and-solutions/Telephony-Solutions/Business-Mobile-SIM-old/

 

If it is costing them, to provide you with the service you have already paid for, they might focus on fixing it, and either:

a) provide you with an interim solution, or

b) release you from the contract .....

 

Yes we do, this is an excllent idea in the interim thank you

[BazzaS]

Yes we do, this is an excllent idea in the interim thank you

 

Don't let them fob you off with "we can only offer you 3G" or "only X amount of data", though!

[BankFodder]

If you felt that you had the energy for it, then you could wait until the service was restored and then refuse their offer of compensation by way of credit and start claiming a proper cash refund.

 

We would be pleased to help you.

 

Of course, you would have to do have a detailed and reasonable assessment of what your losses are. It seems clear to me that the value of being without your Internet service for a month is far greater than merely a months subscription.

[dinner]

Don't let them fob you off with "we can only offer you 3G" or "only X amount of data", though!

 

thank you we won't!

[dinner]

If you felt that you had the energy for it, then you could wait until the service was restored and then refuse their offer of compensation by way of credit and start claiming a proper cash refund.

 

We would be pleased to help you.

 

Of course, you would have to do have a detailed and reasonable assessment of what your losses are. It seems clear to me that the value of being without your Internet service for a month is far greater than merely a months subscription.

n

 

oh i do! i think this is the best course of action... will keep this thread updated if/when the internet comes back on...

[dinner]

hi all quick update... still no internet! just waiting for virgin's response to my rejection of 1 month credit.... once i hear back will update.. thank you dinner

[dinner]

Is it possible someone can PM me? I wouldn’t be surprised if Virgin Media trawl these forums and I have an update, but as this might go further (small claims court...) not sure how much to post on a public forum....

[dinner]

still no internet

[unclebulgaria67]

Have you contacted their cancellation team about this and to get them to escalate this ? If they can't provide the service obviously Virgin will have to withdraw the contract and compensate you for wasting your time.

[dinner]

Have you contacted their cancellation team about this and to get them to escalate this ? If they can't provide the service obviously Virgin will have to withdraw the contract and compensate you for wasting your time.

 

nope this going to cisas... (going to request a deadlock letter)

 

They are not budging on the 1 month credit service (plus they are "willing" to paying expenses incurred e.g data top ups)

 

Should I do a SAR?

[dinner]

hi there is it possible someone could advise me on how to fill out this section of the CISAS form please?

8.4. Pay you compensation:

Yes

No

You must specify the total amount claimed in this section if you are asking the adjudicator to directthe providerto pay you in compensation.

 

The maximum amount you can claim is £10,000.

You must provide evidence to justify the amount claimed and you cannot change the amount at a later date.

 

 

It then has a table where you can can put each item. i am assuming this is where i should be putting my data top ups etc?

 

But what about compensation for stress ect.

[dinner]

anyone know can i avoid going to cisas and go straight to small claims? virgin have sent me a bill for the month that it was down i keep telling them i owe them nothing as there was no service for that month but now they say i have 14 days to pay otherwise it will be passed on to a debt collector i have recorded all calls with them regarding this