I’m having one of those glorious consumer mornings.
It began with an e-mail I received last night:
“Thanks for getting in touch about an issue with your Virgin Media service.
Please accept my sincere apologies for the current issue you are experiencing.
I’ve checked into your account and found that my colleague attempted to call you at 14.40 on the date you stated but that there was no answer. If you are still having problems with the services, I’d suggest you call into our broadband support line as, due to our being a dedicated e-mail response team, I’m unable to arrange a technician visit by e-mail. To do this you’d need to call 0906 212 1111 (calls cost 25p/min+10p connection fee, costs from mobiles and other networks may vary, but in the case of a Virgin Media fault we always refund the cost of the call).
If there’s anything else we can help with, please let us know.”
So this morning I tried to ring. Nobody picked up the phone. I rang again. And so on.
In frustration, I composed a reply to the e-mail I had received:
“Would be great to follow you advice and ring the broadband support line, unfortunately there seems to be nobody on the end of the line. (I started trying get through shortly after 9.00, it is now nearly 10.15. Meanwhile I have had another weekend with no broadband connection and no on-demand services on the TV.
My biggest frustration is that this has been going on for months and one of your smart, very impressive young technicians identified the problem months ago – the way we are wired up to your main box in the street means that we do not get a strong enough signal. This was confirmed by another bright young man who came last week. The problem seems to be that while you have some very able people on the ground their messages are not getting through higher up so that the necessary corrective action can be taken.
The absurdity of this is that not only do you end up with a frustrated customer, who is beginning to wonder why he is paying Virginmedia over £1200 a year for a sub-standard service, but it is also costing you money in terms of calls to support (when I can get through) and unnecessary technician visits.”
And received this reply:
“IMPORTANT – your e-mail has not been delivered.
To contact Virgin Media, please complete the contact form on our web-site http://www.virginmedia.com”
Am I surprised when I see this in last Sunday’s Observer:
“Virgin Media, in which Richard Branson holds a £240m stake, said in February that year-on-year losses increased from £88m to £163m, as a result of higher interest charges. Virgin Media’s new chief executive, Neil Berkett, who took over from Steve Burch, said the company was concentrating on improving its broadband offering and reducing ‘churn’ – the number of customers leaving.”
Not really.