Current mood:

irate

Virgin Media: ineffectively supplying TV and broadband
National Customer Liason Center
Virgin Media,
PO Box 333,
Matrix Court,
Swansea.
SA7 9ZJ.

Dear Virgin Media,

On Tuesday 11th September, at about five past nine in the evening, I rang 150 to report what seemed to be a problem with the cable TV box. I have two: neither one seemed to be working.

The person I spoke to, having got me to switch the boxes on and off at the wall, tried to re-send a signal to restart both boxes, and then said the only thing to do was to send a technician out: I booked an appointment for Friday morning.

On Friday 14th September, at about 8:30am, the technician arrived, and told me within minutes that the problem was that I had accidentally switched both boxes off on standby, and so whenever I switched the TVs on, the boxes did not switch on with it: I got no signal. The problem could have been resolved in minutes on Tuesday evening, if the person I spoke to on the phone had known to advise me to try this. (Why were Virgin Media employing a person to answer queries about TV faults who didn't know that boxes could be switched off on standby and this will result in no signal?)

I want a refund for this week, 13-20th September inclusive, 8 days off my bill.

I am unhappy with the service I received when I rang 151 to report the fault: the person I spoke to should have been able to advise me that the problem might be that the box was on standby. For this, I want a refund for four days off my bill.

I am unhappy that when I rang 150 to make a complaint about the fault service at 151, I first got through to someone who told me to ring 0800 953 1800 (I did, and discovered that residential customers who call that number are simply directed back to the 150 line); then I got through to someone who told me her system was down so she couldn't help me and I should ring 150 again: then I got through to a third person who told me that Virgin Media does not accept complaints over the phone and I needed to write a letter to them. Each call to the 150 number, each time, involved jumping through a number of "press this option" hoops - and I had to make four calls, rather than one, simply to be told at the end of this chain of calls that I needed to write a letter. I want a refund for a further four days just because of the aggravation of trying to deal with reporting a problem. (Why are Virgin Media employing people to answer customer queries who do not know that the only way Virgin Media will accept a customer complaint is by letter?)

I am asking for these refunds because I realise it is pointless asking for effective customer service: that's evidently not something Virgin Media chooses to supply. However, you can at least give me my money back.

Sincerely,


[my real name]