Do Virgin Media read email support requests?

[Worldlife]

I will not point a finger at Virgin specifically to suggest they are the only ADSL broadband supplier who in response to customer complaints send complex A4 pages of instructions on what needs to be done before they will investigate what could be a simple issue.

My previous ISP did nothing about slow speeds until we had a break up of our voice use of the phone line! It was then found we had an intermittent line fault and the broadband service was fine after this repair.

It is clear that support emails are not properly read as all you get are standard replies implemention of which would be very, very difficult for the newcomer to the internet. Not sure if the the email support staff have good command of English or merely categorise complaints and send out stock replies.

I have a feeling that these emails could be designed to thwart customers getting a proper investigation done. What elderly person wants to get up between midnight and 4.00 am to conduct tests especially on behalf of Virgin Media?

It could be that Virgin had genuine problems in my area. If so why not confess and avoid causing stress to customers and risk of corrupting their connections by issuing these complex instructions.

I'm glad to say that Virgin were finally able to sort out things from their end and I now have the highest ever speeds achieved on my phoneline via the BT speedtest :-

Test1 comprises of Best Effort Test: -provides background information.
IP profile for your line is - 5500 kbps
DSL connection rate: 448 kbps(UP-STREAM) 7040 kbps(DOWN-STREAM)
Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was - 5116 kbps

Followed this up using Speedtest Net http://www.speedtest.net/index.php and got results of:- 5314 kbps down, 238 kbps up and 101 ping (London) and two results of 5343, 379 and 59 ping (Maidenhead)

I suspect that priority for solving email support gets escalated with each reply you provide and as reference numbers are added to the email heading!!!!

Hope these line speeds continue and have no cause for future email war!!!!

[madman]

im well fed up with virgin, i signed up and was told that an engineer would be out to my house on 18/3/2008 between 1.00 pm and 6.00pm well after a few phone calls they got here at7.45 pm not happy, from there on down hill, i was told from the guy i signed up with not to tell my old supplyer i was ending contract and virgin would do it all for me.......wrong i later recieved a bill from my old supplier and after phoning them was told im still in contract, i got rite on the phone to virgin only to be told not there fault, then after phoning round virgin one customer care told me oh yes dont worry we will sort it out wrong again after promised phone calls i was ment to get and being put through to india they now have mucked up my phone number, my partner has had a majour heart attack and we need the right number but that does not seem to matter to virgin is there anyone who can help as i feel that if anything happens to my partner and she no longer is with me i will be charging virgin for her death. incompedend bunch of idiots

[madman]

just to update you all , i have phoned virgin 7 times since my last post, and still nothing has been done if we all stood up and complaind at the same time then perhaps vm would get there customer care working properly and for that matter the whole services they provide they are a shambles, so now today im going to the solicitor and perhaps the might take notce seems to me there all bransonites as he doesnt listen to no one and is up his own you know what.

[silver]

raise a complaint at http://www.ispa.org.uk/cgi-bin/complaints.cgi - usually it will get someone from the ISP to call you and it won't be a call center script reader either

[madman]

thanks mate for the info, sent them a complaint so hopefully it works, and will keep you all informed.

[silver]

it usually works - at least it has for me in the past with tiscali (who are really really poor if you try to contact them directly!)

let us know if it helps

[Worldlife]

Yes the complaints by email have eventually worked.

Very pleased to record the constant good speeds. Tonight 4867 down 377 up and 66 ping via Speedtest Net

Knocks spots of the service I was getting from Eclipse and is half the price!!!

[madman]

well not worked yet, was told by someone at head office in manchester it would be taken car of, here i still am waiting as was told a security hitch on my contract funny as my first bill was paid and ive not done nothing wrong, but this is someone of management and they are hitting a brick wall well hit a bit harder if they are mangement as this is not helping me and my wife, same old thing teid to a contract and its good we will take your money but if you have problems tough.
madman now at breaking point

Complete waste of time phoning Customer services, I've learned the hard way.

Yes do phone customer service, make a complaint but whatever you do do not lose your temper, keep the date and time and make it as comprhensive as possible sticking to the truth.. then simply go to

http://www.ispa.org.uk/cgi-bin/complaints.cgi

fill in the online form... sit back and wait. The IPSA have representatives (click on members in the link) at all major ISPs and Virgins one of them.

What stinks is, the new customers are getting better deals than those already signed up.... more customers means more Internet traffic, what narks me is the only time they offer old customers a deal is when they threaten to leave.

Ever tried phoning the cancellation department? They are always very busy, twenty minutes is not uncommon, meaning either a lot of folks leaving VM or moving house - makes taboo of the housing market!

[madman]

yep done all that but virgin have still mucked up , and still not resolved a thing it seems that there is too many chiefs and not enough indians at virgin, unless you get passed to india when trying to get things done then they get things wrong too. its now been a week since contacting ipsa looks like i will have to again, and bbc, itv newspapers and radio stay tuned i could turn this into a film wheres steven spielburgh.

[Worldlife]

Methinks madman is contradicting himself. Perhaps too many Indians and not enough Cavalry? :

Leave it to the cowboys?

Seriously service much improved after email campaign.

Saw BT working and they are relaying about half a mile of old cable from the exchange to a point half a mile from us. Perhaps this will improve results too.

Seems all ISP's put you through a treadmill of escalating complaints and barrages of complicated instructions when they probably suspect line or service problems are really the cause. It is also well documented that ADSL speeds of 8Mb are seldom achieved and lower speeds are reduced proportionately

From the "engineer" visit am I correct in thinking madman is on cable and not ADSL?

[madman]

me thinks you cant read and we still have no phone service virgin media what a joke and i still say too many chiefs and not enogh indians as everyone at virgin seems to be able to do things to your account and as for cowboys yes virgin are all abunch of cowboys

[Worldlife]

Ha .....contacted Virgin Talk today as I was concerned that Premium Call Bar may not have been transferred from our previous phone company.

Very helpful and explained that if I barred premium rate calls I would not be able to speak to Virgin Technical Support which is a Premium rated number.

Stated I considered it an absolute priority to have a premium rate bar and would I still be able to contact technical support by email.? This was confirmed as a valid alternative to premium rate call.

Stated that other ISP's did not charge premium rate calls to technical support and requested that my concerns should be logged as a complaint.

When I did this I was informed that the call charges to technical support were under review and the premium rate woud probably end in about a months time.