Bit of fun and games contacting VM to get a billing issue sorted in relation to the recent upgrade. Hold on tight, it's a bit of a ride
I upgrade from 200 to 350 as mentioned in my earlier post. Get offered a loyalty discount rate so new monthly bill is £44 a month from £42 which I was paying for on 200Mb. This means no £3.50 a month price increase so I am now paying less for more. for the next 12 months. Fine by me.
I phone back to change the "engineer attended install" to a quick self install package as I didn't realise the engineer booking is by default. I don't need someone to come out and plug a modem in. I also use modem only mode and trying to explain my set-up to even these engineers is tasking enough going by past experiences.
The lady on the phone changes the package to a quick self install one and confirms new delivery date.
I then get a new automated email saying thank you for the changes, but the email also states my new monthly bill will be £49 a month???
I phone 150 and after 27+ minutes on hold get through to "Marge" who is clearly not a Marge, but nevertheless...
Marge wants me to email them (
[email protected]) the original automated email stating £44 a month so that they can verify and make changes through the accounts team .
The call took over 35 minutes.
I leave it at that thinking all is well.
I am wrong^ I call back chasing up as I have not had a new automated email confirming the return to the £44 price.
I get nowhere as the wait times are too long getting through to VM customer services who are NOT UK based.
I phone again and get through to 'Swapnil' who actually sounds like a Swapnil. He gets me to email them the same thing. I email the same thing.
Guess what?
I tweet to VM my disappointment, that I've tried 5 times to also get through to the activations line but can't reach anyone.
VM social media person replies to Tweet saying they cannot arrange a callback from said team, I'll just have to call back and try again.
I reply back saying if VM want happy customers then they really need to have UK based support that is efficient.
VM tweets back saying they will pass on my feedback to the tea,
Marge calls me back later that day which is a surprise. Marge confirms that either my bill will be adjusted once the new equipment is activated, or my bill will be credited each month to reflect £44 a month. Marge also promises to call me back the day after activation to confirm everything is in order.
Fast forward to day after activation. No call back from Marge. Marge is a breaker of promises. SAD.
I fire up the Twitter hamsters once more to re: the above.
VM tweet back saying they are so sorry, they recommend using webchat to get retentions to call me direct.
I reply back saying the link they posted is invalid. So close.... so close.
They reply with a new link which works, they are #confused as all they did was copy the same link as before (which isn't the same link lol):
Hi Robbie, I have just clicked
https://virg.in/smwc it did open the page however it does say they are busy at the moment, I would try later or us the method you just found. ^PDe
Anyway, I finally get webchat launched up and chatting away to a 'Mark' who definitely doesn't text like a Mark. Mark arranges to call me direct then pass me through to retentions. He doesn't sound like a Mark either at this point.
Steve at Retentions who clearly sounds like a Steve picks up. I explain the issue, Steve says he needs to get his line manager to authorise it so needs me to email him direct with the original £44 email confirmation. I do this three times and they bounce back as user not found. #Confused
I fire up webchat again and Ericka picks up the other end of the series of tubes. I state the above but she's so confused and says "so sorry you got cut off from Steve I will put you through to Retentions now"
Ok!
This time round a very friendly lady picks up called Hazel. last name won't be mentioned for privacy. Anyway, Hazel has a bit of a cough and is due to go home shortly anyway but is eager to hear me out. I explain the situation with Steve's line manager not getting my emails due to bounceback and at this point I get a great idea. I ask to email hazel the £44 email and this time I'll use my Gmail account as the from address. It gets through. So Virgin media systems won't accept emails sent on behalf of your own personal domain email account but will from Gmail it seems.
This discovery is no longer important though because Hazel spots something and says "I think I can sort this for you right now!"
"IMPOSSIBLE!" I think....
She says there's a stop on one of the offers applied to my account which unless you disable, won't apply the correct offered price and instead apply the default price. She says it looks like it has been a human error all along. All the people previously didn't spot this and all it took was a keen eyes Hazel with a cough and imminent home time to tick a damn box to sort it within minutes?
I get a new automated email confirming the £44 price.
Virgin Media need more people like Hazel and a support desk located in the UK only.
I don't expect anything with support will change in the next 12 months. This has always been VM's major stumbling block. I have never ever had a smooth support experience getting in touch with VM support to get administration tasks that should be simple completed efficiently. They have always resulted in needing to speak to the CEO office or finding ways round the tedious support desk to get through to UK based retentions people who can make changes on the fly.
I am expecting to repeat this process in 12 months time when I phone back for the next offer.
BQM is decent, mind.
