How accomodating are Virgin Media Engineers?

Mike1983

Mike1983

Mike1983

Associate
Joined
16 Nov 2007
Posts
811
Hi

I have been with Virgin media for a couple of years and on Friday of this week they'll be coming round to upgrade me with 2x TiVo boxes and swap my 50Mb connection to 100Mb.

At the same time I'd like the following odd jobs doing

1) Professionally reterminate a chopped TV cable (coax). I temporarily (about 4 months now!) patched this up using screw on F plugs. Their compression type connectors seem so much more secure and professional than my B&Q specials.
2) As above for my broadband cable (coax), I had to extend it (again, with screw on F plugs) when moving my modem around.
3) Fit a new external wall box as the current one doesn't secure down properly.

How accomodating are the engineers? Do you think plenty of biscuits, toast, tea etc will entice him to do the above? What about cash in hand?? Any first hand experiences of such things?

Just trying to avoid excessive fees from VM especially considering these are just "nice to have" as opposed to something affecting performance.

Thanks

Mike
 
Anything that isn't standard you'll have to pay cash for.

Last time one was round he tried to deny me the wireless adapter I was entitled to, clearly with the intent to sell it on eBay or whatever later. When I asked for it he even had the cheek to ask me what I needed it for seeing as my PC was hardwired to the router.
 
very accomodating, back when i used to work with NTL telewest and just before i left VM engineers were known to be very accomodating, to the point of selling hooky boxes and modems :)

where u based Mike? sure theres a few people on here can help you if if you dont get "friendly" engineer
 
I'd say it depends where you live and who you get.

I've had engineers been more than helpful. Offered me extra coax, reterminated stuff for me, all sorts. All for the price of a smile and the offer of a cuppa.

Having said that, you're not the first person to mention the unhelpfulness of some VM engineers. I guess that here in West Essex, we're lucky.
 
Getting my Tivo tomorrow :)

Is it a case of just plugging in the box and doign something at the terminal? Or do i need new cable installed?

Got the V+ HD downstairs.. which will go upstairs and the standard box taken back I assume.
 
mine wouldn't even do what he was supposed to be doing let alone extra jobs. he did say that he gets paid per job so he was in a rush to get them done asap. they will quite happily leave dirty footprints on your floor and walls though! (i don't think i got charged for that part).
 
So a mixed bag of experiences then :) I'm based in the Wigan area by the way.

Well I'll have my fingers crossed for a friendly engineer but if not I'll be on the lookout for a reasonably priced compression tool / connectors.
 
I was waiting for that, I came into the thread when there was only one reply, thinking "Should I post saying how long I wonder it takes the the uptight "engineer" brigade to get here" and low and behold it only took till post #6 :p
 
It really does depend on the person, I've had people turn up to fix faults, run a couple of software checks on the PC and go 'dunno' - promptly buggering off leaving me to chase Virgin about the issue.

However the last guy I had out was an absolute legend. He couldnt find the fault at first, however he checked damn near everything - ended up climbing into my loft in the middle of summer, moving about 3 tons of crap out the way to find a Virgin cable TV cable that hadnt been capped off and was now picking up signals from our baby monitor which was causing the interference. I really was impressed that he went so far above and beyond the call of duty, wouldnt even take a tip off of me as a thank you.

Truth is, it all depends on who you get, but I'd be prepared to part with a small cash sum just incase.
 
The 2 engineers that came to my house nearly had a heart attack when I told them they were not allowed to run a big thick cable along the skirting board and over 4 doors. Would have been far too visible for my liking.

I wanted them to run it along the guttering at the front of the house and into the pc room at the side. They eventually did what I wanted but they were not happy. All depends who you get I suppose.
 
Most engineers are paid pro-rata (contractors mostly) or per job basis (if full time), usually if you give them a back hander - say £30 - £50 depending on the work they will definitely do it for you. :)

Common sense applies though; be nice, polite and don't ask for it done straight away. i.e. don't stand at the door waving your dosh - usually spot check jobs usually do these. They do happen on rare occasions.

For the work I would definately say £50. VM, BT engineers are usually interchangeable on these tactics too. Beware of short term contractors though, usually they do not drive branded vans or branded uniforms and are complete house bashers. :O
 
Up to 3 years ago VM 'engineers' would fit you a dodgy box for £100 and a mug of tea.
VM have got rid of that many people that they are usually on a tight schedule so don't be surprised if they say no.
 
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