My daughter is at University in Nottingham and  VM seem to be giving her the run around there was an existing cable into the house she has moved into but 2+ weeks later she is being billed for a non existent service and no guarantee of when its going to appear. With 5 students in the house all very dependent on the internet and access to the University network. Hours on the phone trying to get an answer Customer service is to say the least of it not a phrase that comes to mind.......

We have been with NTL/Virgin media for at least Eight years. The Broadband service,(2Mb in our case) is spot on,very fast, and we would'nt want to lose it ! We have never had a problem with the phone equipment. The TV package was the base pack, which we would occasionaly upgrade to for the month, to maximum pack (recorded all the films, and watched all the football) then, drop down to base pack again. Sometimes we were on the phone for 15-20 minutes waiting, though not often. When SKY spat the dummy, and suddenly we could no longer watch 24, we called Virgin Media, we were on hold for 20 mins. Eventually, a lovely, polite lady said "leave it with me a second" put us on hold and 2 minutes later we were smiling from ear to ear, she had given us a very pleasing package that appealed greatly ! When the next bill came in we got a shock, but, undeterred, we got straight back on to VM, the lady this time apologised, rectified the error,and  gave us FREE phone calls for 3months as compensation, RESULT !!   Then the next bill came, and yet another shock ! Whoever made up the following bill had'nt taken into account the previous lady's generosity ! Not to worry !! That very generous lady (still awake ?) had given us her name, and ext No, we called her, she sorted it, out and dropped the tariff again ! We've since upgraded to the V+ service, it is excellent. Also we now have 2 Virgin sim only Mobile phone packages (300mins and 300txts for £10 per month)      Yes !! we've had problems along the way, but we both think that NTL, but more significantly, Virgin Media have bent over backwards to accommodate us, and given us a very, very, fair shake of the stick !!  Virgin Mobile customer services is even better, but then, they've had longer to practice !!        10/10 for effort                              

Hiya . . I was with NTL for broadband for about 8 years then recently after the change to Virgin I signed up for thier 4 for £40 deal. An engineer came out to install the new services (phone and cable tv) and I waited for them to contact me regarding mobile. I eventually had to contact them and when doing so gave them my pac number from previous supplier. They call took forever as the girl could not get her system to recognise my flat number. Anyway it took then so long to sort things out , including a credit check even though I have a direct debit with them for years, that the pac number became outdated and I have now to wait for a replacement . . didnt stop them taking money from my account for a mobile I cant use with them yet!

My biggest complaint with them today is that when the engineer came he only allowed 3ft of cable from the box on the wall to the set top box. I now need to move the tv set to the other side of the room but cant move the box. I phoned them and was told that it would cost £75 for an engineer to come out and add more cable!!! The Indian chap said they have a standard size they install which is a load of crap as they put too much in when they first installed my broadband!

Anyone else had this problem and found a way round it without paying them a ridiculous amount. I am fuming as I am now not able to use the service.

Any advice would be welcome, Cheers, Jan

so sorry to hear your plight, I left Virgin months ago for similar problems we had. As you will see from the forum, many people have had problems, see if you can get out of the contract, I am sure there will be a clause somewhere where if they don't provide what and when they said they should, you can cancel the contract, you are one of many.

Have a Happy New Year

chris

---

chris

I'm with Virgin Media and have had no problems with them at all. They were quick to come and do the installation, they have been helpful on the phone when wanting to add/remove channels. Their broadband is extremely reliable as well. I pay £64 for Phone, Broadband and the complete TV package including Sky Sports/Setanta (setanta is free with Virgin) and also Sky Movies. Also you get Catch up TV on Demand to catch up on any tv you've missed over the last 7 days. You get TV on Demand where you can watch entire series of TV you have missed as well. Also you get free music on demand (if you take the largest tv package excluding sports and movies).

I think its excellent value and would highly recommend them.

Hi,

Been with them for just over a year but not the cable service as it's not available here. Took out the £9.99 free phone (w/e and evenings) and 1mb broadband and had no problems all year. Saved me loads. A couple of months ago after the 12 months was up, complained that on compasrison sites showed I could get upto 8 meg for £10 so they moved me onto it. Not bad speed increase for 1p per month. Very pleased with them but not had any problems sp not had to use their Cust. Services. That seems to be where all the problems are. So pleased 2 other relations have signed up and a couple at work all on my recommendation!!

My experience has been mixed. Joined Cable & Wireless about 10 years ago and found the service provided to be fault free - broadband excellent, phone service fine and television always available. Billing and customer service has been another matter - ntl made the odd mistake in billing and it was sometimes difficult to get hold of them but they were adequate. Changed to Virgin and they started charging me for things which I hadn't ordered, asking for additional money for services I had had for years and were very quick to blame me ... for not realising they had made mistakes! Apparently it's my job to ensure they billed me correctly not theirs!

I've changed most of my phones (work related) to another provider but we've stuck with Virgin for the home phone, tv and broadband - cable seems to me to be less troublesome than anyother form of broadband. Having read the posts on here I phoned them yesterday to see if I could get a better deal ... monthly payment of £71.50 (with no call charges) is now reduced to £53.00 by taking an extra service. Illogical or what? Part of me glad we are now paying less but most of me B*****y angry that I have been overcharged by £20 a month for so long.

I would recommend that everyone phones Virgin retention and negotiates a better deal - I got through to a great chap really quickly with no waiting. Maybe their customer services really have started to improve?

S

In 2005, I was a Virgin dial-up customer. When I got a new pc, I gave my old one to my disabled younger brother – who lives 100+ miles away. He can’t work, lives on disability allowances, etc, and has two carers with him each day to help him. I rang Virgin to ask how I could arrange for him to get Virgin broadband. I explained that I would be paying and managing the account as so doing was beyond the scope of his capabilities. I was advised that the service would need to be taken out in his name, since the BT line at his address was in his name and the necessary broadband setup could not be completed if the names were different. I therefore took this advice and set up a new broadband account in his name. I gave his address and my card details, set up the security information on the account, the service was installed and I paid each month via direct debit using my debit card.

In February 2006, I logged into the account and tried to update my card details as it was due to expire at the end of that month. However, this was not possible because upon entry of my cardholder address, a presumption was made that the broadband service was to be discontinued at my brother’s address and transferred instead to my address.

I e-mailed Virgin’s Support Team for advice. An exchange of e-mails followed, the outcome of which was that I should telephone Customer Services “… to arrange to have the bill sent out to your home address or any other available option.”

I telephoned on four separate occasions between the 14^th and 20^th February 2006 and on every such occasion, was advised that “someone” would need to call me back; though a note was taken of my telephone number, no call came. (I should say that we have had an answering machine and BT’s call waiting for several years now so it is not easy to miss a call.)

When my brother mentioned around this time that his computer was not working very well and that he therefore rarely switched it on as he was able to access his hotmail account and the internet from a college pc, you can probably imagine how much less urgent it became to me to communicate my new card information to Virgin Net, particularly as we had also suspended our home dial up account in favour of a new broadband account via another provider during 2005. He had stopped using the Virgin account so I imagined that, rather like an unpaid telephone or utility bill, delivery of the service would not continue once payments had stopped — which they surely would, in the absence of current card information — and sent a final e-mail stating that if they did not want my new card details, then we did not want the service and to cancel it.

How wrong I was. I was horrified when my brother mentioned in December that he had received a telephone call “… saying I owe Virgin £300 or something…” Of course, he had no name or contact details of the person from whom this call came, nor (he assured me) had he received any written communication about it.

I e-mailed Virgin and included the previous e-mail correspondence and a brief outline of the history, and requested information about the status of his account. They replied saying that no information could be disclosed since the account is not held in my name and I should telephone Customer Support… I continue to await the return of my call made on 27^th December 2007.

In January, my brother received a letter from Garlands Debt Collection and Credit Management Services which stated that he owed £329.78 in respect of his Virgin Media Account. I immediately telephoned Garlands and, after confirming the account security information, and explaining the circumstances, was told that the current situation is nobody’s fault but mine and was offered a discount of 50% on the sum owing if I would settle immediately via credit card. I declined.

Once again, I telephoned Virgin’s Customer Support and explained all of the above. The chap listened patiently, then advised me that he could not discuss any aspect of this account with me since it is not held in my name. He put my call through to a more senior member of staff who further confirmed that although I am the person who set up this account, I am the only person who has ever made payments in respect of it, and I am the only person who is in a position to settle it, it was “…more than my life is worth to discuss it with anyone other than the named account holder.”

Whilst I understand that the terms of the Data Protection Act exist to protect both the privacy and property of the individual, I cannot see how my attempts at resolution could jeopardise either in my brother’s case. Indeed, if its terms have been applied appropriately and consistently in this case, how was the person from Garlands in a position to not only discuss, but to also offer to discount the sum outstanding by 50%? Is she not similarly bound by the terms of the Data Protection Act?

In the meantime, my brother’s debt has continued to escalate, despite my assertion to Virgin that the service be stopped because, of course, such instruction cannot be accepted from me, since I am not the account holder! If Garlands was happy to discuss the account and take payment from me at that time, I do not understand why it was not suspended or put on hold pending resolution of the disputed outstanding sum.

Today, Virgin has at last responded to my letter of 11^th January, some three months after I wrote to them — and it has taken many telephone calls and e-mails to get this response. The letter contains the same 50% settlement offer, but the sum outstanding is now £374.75 — £44.97 more than it was three months ago. Why is this charge being passed on to me when it is hardly my fault that it has taken Virgin three months to reply?

Furthermore, when I sought advice from customer services in 2005, explaining in some detail that, out of necessity, I would be funding and managing this account on my brother’s behalf, why was I instructed to set it up in his name if, by so doing, the account would become inaccessible to me?

Finally, if I failed to pay my utility bills, delivery of the service would not continue once payments had stopped; in such circumstances, at what point would Virgin Media suspend delivery of service or, rather, for how long or to what extent would it allow an outstanding bill to increase and escalate without customer contact?

As you can imagine, I am at a loss to know how I can progress this situation to a satisfactory conclusion. I feel particularly aggrieved because a) I sought and followed Virgin’s advice prior to setup and b) I made determined efforts to continue this broadband service when my card expired in 2006, but no-one from Virgin would return my calls. I do not want to pay even 50% of such a high price for a service that has not been used.

I should be so grateful for any advice.

What a mess - I do feel for you. As far as I can see there is no way you (or your brother) should be liable for any payment at all (mind you, I'm not a lawyer) If it's a dial up broadband then there records must show that no-one has dialed in on that service for a very long time. A couple of suggestions, which I guess you may already have tried. It must be worth finding out the name of Virgin's Head of Customer Services and getting in touch with them. Failing that, try Richard Branson and or his PA and explain it to him/her. Is there a charity/support group that your brother might get help from - it may be that they have ideas about this kind of problem. After all, you can't be the only person that pays and manages accounts on behalf of other people. Maybe speak to Citizens advice bureau.

I'm sure some other people will be along with suggestions shortly. Good luck!

I HAVE THE 3FOR £30, TV , PHONE , AND BROADBAND, IT'S GREAT , HAD NO TROUBLE

I have an ADSL broadband subscription with virgin.net from before the NTL merger. There was a promised "free" upgrade of the 2Meg service to 8Meg - it never happened - I expect the NTL merger overtook things.

I have complained of repeated slow connection in recent times - it's often down to 100K (about 20th of what it's meant to be) The worst time seems to be mid afternoon to about 9pm. I think it's because they have merged their old virgin.net servers with the cable servers and the ADSL service gets squeezed out by the kids coming home from school and switching on their digital gear - online gaming etc.

Virgin like to pass the buck. Their first response was to suggest "please make sure all you home network is functioning correctly". To get a validated test would of course cost £££. So as it's hard to show it's their side of the network you are stuck - I expect they don't really want to make any effort.

Robert

I have the telephone and cable TV package, which once up and running was fine. Customer services seem OK. Only thing was last month they took £111 from my bank as Direct Debit instead of £11 when I rang them they were brilliant, they refunded all the money and credited my account with £20. Just lucky I had the money there to cover it though or i could have had bank charges!!

Virgin are totally brilliant :):) Been with them for years - customer service are good - any issues, they always give me a generous credit on the bill.

The circuit (fibre not adsl) has been immensely reliable - and speed-wise I get much more than I should!! (4mb circuit that seems to burst at 20/30mb periodically!)

Oh - and they're cheap :)

Jim

I have not experienced anything quite as bad as you with Virgin Media but they have tried to insist I pay £88 for a phoneline they disconnected over 6 months ago for some imagined infraction and the fact I wouldn't pay them £5 extra a month for paying by means other than Direct Debit. As if I would trust them to help themselves to funds in my account. The fact that I pay via BACS which costs them nothing doesn't even ocur to them. I too experienced mentally defective call staff and harassment from agressive debt collectors as you did for the last 6 months. They even had the brass balls to harass my parents and threaten them too even though they had nothing what so ever to do with the account. I can only tell you how I handled it and others have likewise succeeded with them by just ignoring them. Discontinue all communication with them and do not make any payments of any kind and the matter will be dropped by default. To be honest one department doesn't even communicate with another and so they don't havea clue whats going on in their own house to be honest. They try and keep people on their books as long as possible to cause debts to rack up and count on peoples fear of retribution and court action and the agressive and abusive threats that debt collectors employ to frighten people. As such many scared people simply cough up whatever they demand. I chose to fight them and have basically won by default as they have given up trying to screw me out of the money I never actually owed them in the first place. The £88 they swear blind I owe them is for charges they actually applied to the account and all money genuinely owed them for call charges and line rental was paid months ago and so they have no legit claim to be owed anything from me.

I can promise you your tale of woe is one of many although much more severe than most but do not give in no matter how you are threatened as they know they have no case and would be destroyed in court should it ever get that far. I know I seem to make light of this but they cannot take any action against you as so long as you retain proof and log all your calls with dates or times in a diary your case will be iron clad and they stand no chance of carrying out their threats. My advice is call their bluff and I seriously doubt they will take it any further.

Good luck and don't bend over for them under any circumstances.

Mark

bizzybee:

In 2005, I was a Virgin dial-up customer. When I got a new pc, I gave my old one to my disabled younger brother – who lives 100+ miles away. He can’t work, lives on disability allowances, etc, and has two carers with him each day to help him. I rang Virgin to ask how I could arrange for him to get Virgin broadband. I explained that I would be paying and managing the account as so doing was beyond the scope of his capabilities. I was advised that the service would need to be taken out in his name, since the BT line at his address was in his name and the necessary broadband setup could not be completed if the names were different. I therefore took this advice and set up a new broadband account in his name. I gave his address and my card details, set up the security information on the account, the service was installed and I paid each month via direct debit using my debit card.

In February 2006, I logged into the account and tried to update my card details as it was due to expire at the end of that month. However, this was not possible because upon entry of my cardholder address, a presumption was made that the broadband service was to be discontinued at my brother’s address and transferred instead to my address.

I e-mailed Virgin’s Support Team for advice. An exchange of e-mails followed, the outcome of which was that I should telephone Customer Services “… to arrange to have the bill sent out to your home address or any other available option.”

I telephoned on four separate occasions between the 14^th and 20^th February 2006 and on every such occasion, was advised that “someone” would need to call me back; though a note was taken of my telephone number, no call came. (I should say that we have had an answering machine and BT’s call waiting for several years now so it is not easy to miss a call.)

When my brother mentioned around this time that his computer was not working very well and that he therefore rarely switched it on as he was able to access his hotmail account and the internet from a college pc, you can probably imagine how much less urgent it became to me to communicate my new card information to Virgin Net, particularly as we had also suspended our home dial up account in favour of a new broadband account via another provider during 2005. He had stopped using the Virgin account so I imagined that, rather like an unpaid telephone or utility bill, delivery of the service would not continue once payments had stopped — which they surely would, in the absence of current card information — and sent a final e-mail stating that if they did not want my new card details, then we did not want the service and to cancel it.

How wrong I was. I was horrified when my brother mentioned in December that he had received a telephone call “… saying I owe Virgin £300 or something…” Of course, he had no name or contact details of the person from whom this call came, nor (he assured me) had he received any written communication about it.

I e-mailed Virgin and included the previous e-mail correspondence and a brief outline of the history, and requested information about the status of his account. They replied saying that no information could be disclosed since the account is not held in my name and I should telephone Customer Support… I continue to await the return of my call made on 27^th December 2007.

In January, my brother received a letter from Garlands Debt Collection and Credit Management Services which stated that he owed £329.78 in respect of his Virgin Media Account. I immediately telephoned Garlands and, after confirming the account security information, and explaining the circumstances, was told that the current situation is nobody’s fault but mine and was offered a discount of 50% on the sum owing if I would settle immediately via credit card. I declined.

Once again, I telephoned Virgin’s Customer Support and explained all of the above. The chap listened patiently, then advised me that he could not discuss any aspect of this account with me since it is not held in my name. He put my call through to a more senior member of staff who further confirmed that although I am the person who set up this account, I am the only person who has ever made payments in respect of it, and I am the only person who is in a position to settle it, it was “…more than my life is worth to discuss it with anyone other than the named account holder.”

Whilst I understand that the terms of the Data Protection Act exist to protect both the privacy and property of the individual, I cannot see how my attempts at resolution could jeopardise either in my brother’s case. Indeed, if its terms have been applied appropriately and consistently in this case, how was the person from Garlands in a position to not only discuss, but to also offer to discount the sum outstanding by 50%? Is she not similarly bound by the terms of the Data Protection Act?

In the meantime, my brother’s debt has continued to escalate, despite my assertion to Virgin that the service be stopped because, of course, such instruction cannot be accepted from me, since I am not the account holder! If Garlands was happy to discuss the account and take payment from me at that time, I do not understand why it was not suspended or put on hold pending resolution of the disputed outstanding sum.

Today, Virgin has at last responded to my letter of 11^th January, some three months after I wrote to them — and it has taken many telephone calls and e-mails to get this response. The letter contains the same 50% settlement offer, but the sum outstanding is now £374.75 — £44.97 more than it was three months ago. Why is this charge being passed on to me when it is hardly my fault that it has taken Virgin three months to reply?

Furthermore, when I sought advice from customer services in 2005, explaining in some detail that, out of necessity, I would be funding and managing this account on my brother’s behalf, why was I instructed to set it up in his name if, by so doing, the account would become inaccessible to me?

Finally, if I failed to pay my utility bills, delivery of the service would not continue once payments had stopped; in such circumstances, at what point would Virgin Media suspend delivery of service or, rather, for how long or to what extent would it allow an outstanding bill to increase and escalate without customer contact?

As you can imagine, I am at a loss to know how I can progress this situation to a satisfactory conclusion. I feel particularly aggrieved because a) I sought and followed Virgin’s advice prior to setup and b) I made determined efforts to continue this broadband service when my card expired in 2006, but no-one from Virgin would return my calls. I do not want to pay even 50% of such a high price for a service that has not been used.

I should be so grateful for any advice.

I have not experienced anything quite as bad as you with Virgin Media but they have tried to insist I pay £88 for a phoneline they disconnected over 6 months ago for some imagined infraction and the fact I wouldn't pay them £5 extra a month for paying by means other than Direct Debit. As if I would trust them to help themselves to funds in my account. The fact that I pay via BACS which costs them nothing doesn't even ocur to them. I too experienced mentally defective call staff and harassment from agressive debt collectors as you did for the last 6 months. They even had the brass balls to harass my parents and threaten them too even though they had nothing what so ever to do with the account. I can only tell you how I handled it and others have likewise succeeded with them by just ignoring them. Discontinue all communication with them and do not make any payments of any kind and the matter will be dropped by default. To be honest one department doesn't even communicate with another and so they don't havea clue whats going on in their own house to be honest. They try and keep people on their books as long as possible to cause debts to rack up and count on peoples fear of retribution and court action and the agressive and abusive threats that debt collectors employ to frighten people. As such many scared people simply cough up whatever they demand. I chose to fight them and have basically won by default as they have given up trying to screw me out of the money I never actually owed them in the first place. The £88 they swear blind I owe them is for charges they actually applied to the account and all money genuinely owed them for call charges and line rental was paid months ago and so they have no legit claim to be owed anything from me.

I can promise you your tale of woe is one of many although much more severe than most but do not give in no matter how you are threatened as they know they have no case and would be destroyed in court should it ever get that far. I know I seem to make light of this but they cannot take any action against you as so long as you retain proof and log all your calls with dates or times in a diary your case will be iron clad and they stand no chance of carrying out their threats. My advice is call their bluff and I seriously doubt they will take it any further.

Good luck and don't bend over for them under any circumstances.

Mark