Virgin Media – Customer Control?

Well, Virgin Media launched today with a big old shout: a full wrapper of the Metro and putting Richard Branson in a box in Covent Garden (as only he would do).

I like the way they’ve simplified some things, and all their talk of customers in control is admirable.

And as it happens I’m a customer, I used to be a Telewest customer, so by default I’m now a Virgin Media customer. This, in itself, doesn’t make me unhappy. What does make me unhappy is when I call up to make an enquiry about whether my broadband speed is going to be cut (as it looks like it will) they tell me the hold wait is 15 minutes.

So I go to the website to try to login and find out some stuff, and….

I’m a bit of a geek and it still reads like nonsense to me. What’s the registration server? And what did my browser request that was denied?

So I binned the website and stuck it out on the phone only to have some guy lie to me about a bunch of stuff then transfer me through to a department that was closed. Perhaps better to put Richard in a call centre rather than a celeb-filled box?

technorati tags:, , , ,

13 thoughts on “Virgin Media – Customer Control?”

  1. What is it about mobile companies that makes them brand-thick? Maybe we should ask Richard Dawkins… He might have some insights on how survival of the crappest works. ;-)

  2. I saw the Uma Thurman ad last night on TV. Yes I did. On TV. I’ll say it again ad…on….TV.
    The one where she is close to the screen with weird lighting that makes her lips look funny. The one where she pauses mid sentence. It’s simple, it’s different. It made me sit up and pay attention.
    This is me as a consumer.

    With my übercynical professional advertising hat on I couldn’t quite decide if I liked the ad or if it was a bit crap.

    Reading Ian’s experience I decided it is crap, money better spent somewhere else.

  3. Oh god. I was so happy that blueyonder had finally settled down to a pretty good service as long as you didn’t need to speak to anyone. It’s a shame broadband is used as a form of lock-in for all these triple / quad play deals. Signs so far are this is going to be a car phone warehouse fiasco.

    Blueyonder home page: some fireworks including the market fluff

    “Best of all, we’re bringing our customers the value they’d expect and the service they deserve.”

    Unfortunately, the page doesn’t re-direct and link takes you to a dead page:

    “The server at allyours.virginmedia.com is taking too long to respond.”

  4. well I am a virginmedia customer too. I didn’t know the broadband speed will be cut down.. That really sucks.Why is this to happen?

  5. hi i came home tonight only to find my pc guard and email doesn’t work anymore and apparantely i’m a virgin customer with no choice if i want to be or not a bit condescending
    don’t you think plus since the take over 24 hour support doesn’t exist anymore thanks ricky

  6. Get this,my phone has not worked for about two months.I know it’s not the handset cos i bought another to check.I’ve contacted their support twice.The last time i got the usual canned response,’we’re busy right now and will get back to you in a few days’.I told them that i an very ill so could someone contact me as i wasn’t able to get to a phone to contact them.Nothing.I went onto the website to contact them again and all i get is a blank page.I am apalled and disgusted,this is virgin ffs!I could understand it with a new company but not in this case,there’s no excuse.I want to get my mac code but how can i do that if i can’t contact them?There are much better/cheaper services out there,just look on moneysavingexpert[dot]com.

  7. day 1: virgin media installed by a good lookin but a very rushed guy who came 4 hours before i arranged.

    day 2-10: slow net and phone line not working

    day 13: net stops working for a week, called virgin persistanly but as we have no phone line workin we have to go to the phone box 15 mins away !- call charges £7

    day 20: they send an engineer again before the time i requested he comes in fiddles a bit and bham its fixed …. i ask him what the problem was an he vaguly says sumthing about singlal failure bt wont happen again, i ask him about he phone line and he says we need to call AGAIN and arrange for a phone engineer to come out ! -call charges £8

    day 25: the internet cuts out for the whole day ! call charges £3

    day 32: the internet cuts out all evening ! call charges £3

    They are so shit i mean they are cheap (£15.50 month) but they are still suppose to provide a service. and if i hear another “your speking to the wrong department ill have to transfere you” i will kill sumbody !!

    changing asap just hunging for a good deal bt for few complaints by exsisting customers! virgin suck big time

  8. Yes Virginmedia is shit!!

    The past six months i have an average speed of 59.09 Kbps ( 0.1 Mbps ) download speed on a line that can handle 4.9Mbps on a 8Mbps package.

    I now “steal” my next door neighbors unsecure Talk Talk connection, and they’re 400yrds away from me!! and I get 3913.86 Kbps ( 3.8 Mbps ) download!!
    (I have now told them that they have an unsecure line and sorted it for them)

    I’m now currently recovering all my payments for the past 6 months from VM and canceling my service.

    OFCOM’s Customer service & quality of service department, CISAS (Communications & Internet Services Adjudication Scheme) which Virgin Media are a member and OTELO (Office of the Telecommunications Ombudsmen) have all been a great help.

    What has also been to my benefit was the tests I did every day from http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest.html, i have 4 months of saved tests from random times of the day and these Virgin Media cannot escape from. I showed that I was getting a slower connection than a PAYG modem connection!!

    Look In Virgin Medias Terms & Conditions, (you would have received these with you package in an email) Section D sub-section 4 and 5, I basically proved that they were not abiding to their own Terms. It is helpful to read these, even though it’s mostly dross.

    Last but not least, having tried to contact them through so many means and not being able to find email addresses I ripped apart the hidden Javascript contact form code they have on there site and uncovered these emails that you may or maynot use to contact them

    freespace@virgin.net
    support@virgin.net
    broadbandsupport@virgin.net
    allcontentfeedback@london.virgin.net
    credit@virgin.net
    abuse@virgin.net

  9. I would like to query my bill. i was told when i first set up with virgin the offer was £7.50 for the first three months then £15.71 there after. i have been notified via email that £15.71 is about to come out of my bank. could someone please explain why this is either through email or calling me on 07704014169, thank you.

  10. The idea of friend upstairs is reasonable, maintaining a healthy body is very important, I bought a few pieces of XX particularly recently,it can help keep our body healthy, let us feel fit as a fiddle every day, I was alight it in this store!! http://www.canno-tmake.com/

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.