Virgin quote for broadband fix - 1 month!

agnes · 1 Sep 2011 at 11:11

Ok, so my broadband has been up and down for the last couple of months and is normally sorted by a router reset... I work from home some days and today i struggled to get a connection at all. So i ring up and have just been told that my area has a fault and the quote to fix it is by the 28th September...

I was then asked to ring back this evening to see if they have any more information...

Where do i stand if this is the case? Losing out on a whole month of my plan? Should i kick up a dust storm to get more info or is this normal? The chap on the phone was just as shocked as i was as he said its normally a 24 hour thing if a area is at fault!

Little bit annoyed at Virgin right now, nothing but headaches.

Ags

Calgar117 · 1 Sep 2011 at 11:19

Me personally,

I Would demand compensation for the loss of services up until the point they get around to fixing it as it is a bit unacceptable to pay for something you cant use..

when ringing make sure you go through to the scotland call centre and politly request to speak to a manager to save hassle

dirtychinchilla · 1 Sep 2011 at 11:20

I had a similar issue with Virgin. I lived in a student area where their server was overloaded and they took 3 months to fix it. I rang up loads of times and complained and eventually got through to the customer relations dept (which is who you should speak to) and managed to get them to pay for our internet for the whole of the 3 months. The internet was shocking but it was free....cheaper than changing provider.

Efour · 1 Sep 2011 at 11:53

ive been waiting 2 and a half months for a fix on my home broadband. (no doubt it will be 3 months sooner than later)

Its understandable but its complete and utter BS that could be avoided by some foresight.

You must complain to get any money back and they wont back date it so sooner the better, its pathetic

dirtychinchilla · 1 Sep 2011 at 12:27

I believe they have to fix it within a month otherwise offcom step in. They waited til the day before offcom would step in to do ours.

RoachycaL · 1 Sep 2011 at 12:35

dirtychinchilla said:
I had a similar issue with Virgin. I lived in a student area where their server was overloaded and they took 3 months to fix it. I rang up loads of times and complained and eventually got through to the customer relations dept (which is who you should speak to) and managed to get them to pay for our internet for the whole of the 3 months. The internet was shocking but it was free....cheaper than changing provider.

I had the same issues when I was living in a Student area in Newcastle.

It took them from the problems arising in September of last year to fixing them in January this year. I got compensated for every month the Internet was knackered though. When I say knackered - in the evenings it was literally completely unusable (web pages timing out, download speeds less than 10kb/s). It drove me crazy at the time and there was nothing I could do about it but wait!

weringo · 1 Sep 2011 at 12:51

Calgar117 said:
I Would demand compensation for the loss of services up until the point they get around to fixing it as it is a bit unacceptable to pay for something you cant use..

That goes without saying...

I'd kick up a fuss and ensure you get several months of free/discounted broadband for the incovenience this has caused you.

ps3ud0 · 1 Sep 2011 at 13:20

dirtychinchilla said:
I believe they have to fix it within a month otherwise offcom step in. They waited til the day before offcom would step in to do ours.

Do you have a source for that?

Its my understanding that its standard policy to refund any rental charges as goodwill, though I guess when its intermittent the agreed refund is something youll have to argue about. Regards inconvenience, again thats their discretion as it is a residential contract and not a business one so doubtful it has SLAs and the like - good time to check the T&Cs...

Cant see you not getting a refund of some sort and wouldnt be surprised if it covers the period in question...

ps3ud0 :cool:

Substance · 1 Sep 2011 at 13:26

My parents have had nothing but trouble with the internet and tv, after months of complaining they got a new cable from the house directly to the exchange box, Because of all the troubles they have managed to get 3 months free and a free tivo box from them,

Not bad really as they were considering paying for the tivo box anyway

Stretch · 1 Sep 2011 at 13:41

weringo said:
That goes without saying...

I'd kick up a fuss and ensure you get several months of free/discounted broadband for the incovenience this has caused you.

This, and don't stop until you get it.

Calgar117 said:
when ringing make sure you go through to the scotland call centre and politly request to speak to a manager to save hassle

This as well. If you select the broadband fault option you get put through the India call center and they are the most useless bunch of cretins I've ever had the misfortune of speaking to. You need to call and about 6 and select the TV fault option to get through to the Scottish call center.

dirtychinchilla · 1 Sep 2011 at 13:53

ps3ud0 said:
Do you have a source for that?

Its my understanding that its standard policy to refund any rental charges as goodwill, though I guess when its intermittent the agreed refund is something youll have to argue about. Regards inconvenience, again thats their discretion as it is a residential contract and not a business one so doubtful it has SLAs and the like - good time to check the T&Cs...

Cant see you not getting a refund of some sort and wouldnt be surprised if it covers the period in question...

ps3ud0

Sorry man, I've got no source, that was what they told me when I spoke to them though. Perhaps have a look on the offcom website. They were completely unphased about paying for the internet tho. Just ask them

Calgar117 · 1 Sep 2011 at 14:52

Did some research and came across this article

Make sure that you contact your ISP as soon as the fault occurs. If it isn’t resolved quickly, your broadband provider should reduce your bill according to the length of time that your connection is down.

In most cases, if your broadband does not work for four weeks after activation, then you have the right to cancel your contract under the “termination clause”.

A case in May 2007 saw a claimant whose faulty connection had been dormant for a month have their contract cancelled and bills written off.

Be sure to inform your ISP, in writing, that you intend to cancel the contract after four weeks citing the “termination clause”. They will not automatically assume this, and if you don’t inform them of your intentions then it may affect any future claims that you make.

Check that you're writing to the correct department and targeting the right people.

Source
http://www.broadbandchoices.co.uk/broadband-consumer-rights.html

Although if im reading it correctly this is only from when the contract is activated not during the contact period i could be wrong though

ps3ud0 · 1 Sep 2011 at 16:44

dirtychinchilla said:
Sorry man, I've got no source, that was what they told me when I spoke to them though. Perhaps have a look on the offcom website. They were completely unphased about paying for the internet tho. Just ask them

Sounds more like the timescale to deal with a complaint before you can take it to an ombudsman (OTELO) for adjudication...

ps3ud0 :cool:

antijoke · 1 Sep 2011 at 16:52

when I had issues with my broadband from Virgin I got a month credit (when it was unplayable on XBOX Live) and then I got a week credit when I suffered poor speeds for a day or two, the estimated fix time was 30 days for the speed issue, it was sorted about 24 hours later, I think the month thing is to just stop you moaning everyday about it.

I would politely enquire about some compensation from the retentions team as you are most displeased with the interruption this is causing.

TNGL · 1 Sep 2011 at 17:10

Threaten to leave them, and they'll lower how much you pay.

indyskyz · 1 Sep 2011 at 17:14

you need to be abit more assertive on the phone.

asim18 · 1 Sep 2011 at 17:17

agnes said:
Where do i stand if this is the case? Losing out on a whole month of my plan?

Use this line on the phone "I'm not getting what I'm paying for" or something to that effect. They will pretty much immediately offer to credit your account with about £20 which approximately covers one month worth of internet.

crinkleshoes · 1 Sep 2011 at 17:49

You'll get the money back for the month your service is down.

But as you won't have an SLA with them, you wouldn't be entitled to any compensation.

Only way to get uptime guaranteed would be to get a business solution that offers that...

Frustrating, I know...

IndexRated · 1 Sep 2011 at 18:09

Virgin don't seem to be bad about dishing out compensation (Unlike BT) however, their reduced fee seems to be different for everyone.

I know when there was a major fault around my ends, and it took a couple of weeks, I forget which forum it was I found, but it seemed like there was a big disparity between the discount.

Pawnless Endgame · 1 Sep 2011 at 18:32

Calgar117 said:
when ringing make sure you go through to the scotland call centre and politly request to speak to a manager to save hassle

I'm interested to know how you reach the Scotland call centre, as I'm hard of hearing and not very good with some of the foreign accents but ok with English/Scottish. Is there a direct dial for this?