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Following the lessons of this thread Virgin Media - Legal Beagles (Thank you Amy) I sent an email to Neil Berkett due to the issues my mother-in-law has been experiencing. I cancelled all services with Virgin Media last year after losing patience with their breathtaking incompetence, but for some reason, she is unwilling to do that - probably because she thinks I will continue to deal with them.
I won't - the next time this happens, she is on her own.
Within a few moments of sending this, I got a reply - although, knowing Virgin Media, I rather suspect that this will turn out to be merely a triumph of hope over experience.
I won't - the next time this happens, she is on her own.
Dear Mr Berkett
“We want to make things easy for our customers. Not just by cutting through the jargon and explaining our technology in simple terms. No, we want to make it easy for them to contact us, to get hold of our products and services, and to sort out their problems too. And it’s our Customer Care, telephone support and sales teams that do just that.”
I wonder, have you ever actually tried calling Customer Services? They do not do as it states above. Take Craig for example, with whom I had the miserable experience of a conversation earlier today. Apparently, he is the most senior person with the Virgin Media group who customers are able to speak with, yet he utterly failed to offer any kind of customer care whatsoever. He was rude, impertinent and hostile.
I am contacting you because my mother-in-law still has an account with your company. Several months ago, she made some changes to her account in order to remove the broadband service that was no longer being used, since the relatives staying with her had moved out. She now lives alone and does not possess a PC and therefore had no further need for it. She contacted “Customer Services” and was told that she needed a new account because her husband had died – something that had in fact happened in early 2006. Being elderly and easily confused – and not to mention unable to understand the accent of the person on the other end of the telephone - she finished that telephone call the proud owner of a new account and an XL TV package – neither of which she wanted or had asked for.
When she began to receive much larger than normal bills, I offered to help and several times I telephoned your foreign call centres – none of the operators could resolve the issue and on each occasion I was promised a call back.
I have never once received a telephone call.
Then, her set-top box malfunctioned and an engineer visit was booked.
The engineer never turned up, despite the dire warnings given to her about the fact that she needed to make certain that she was present when the engineer was due to call.
Two or three times now, her services have been restricted – indeed, right now she is unable to make any telephone calls, despite the bill having been paid in full. Notwithstanding that the bills were incorrect due solely to the incompetence and greed of an opportunistic call-centre worker more interested in selling upgrades than actually dealing with the issues that were requested at the time.
I am sick and tired of dealing with your company, for the avoidance of doubt, I am not a Virgin customer any longer and, due to my experiences as a Virgin Media customer in the past, I will never knowingly purchase anything from any company within the Virgin group again – ever. My encounter today has further cemented my resolve that I have made the right decision. However, for whatever reason my mother in law would prefer to remain a customer of yours, despite my advice that she ought to cancel her contract and move to Sky and BT.
Given that she wishes to remain loyal, the bill is paid in full and now, thanks to the intervention of Phil Lamb from your customer billing team, the bills should now be correct, why can she not make any telephone calls and precisely how does the opening paragraph of this message relate in any way to either her or my dealings with your company?
I look forward to hearing from you – if you, or an assistant would like to speak with me directly, I can be contacted on xxxxx xxxxxx.
Regards
“We want to make things easy for our customers. Not just by cutting through the jargon and explaining our technology in simple terms. No, we want to make it easy for them to contact us, to get hold of our products and services, and to sort out their problems too. And it’s our Customer Care, telephone support and sales teams that do just that.”
I wonder, have you ever actually tried calling Customer Services? They do not do as it states above. Take Craig for example, with whom I had the miserable experience of a conversation earlier today. Apparently, he is the most senior person with the Virgin Media group who customers are able to speak with, yet he utterly failed to offer any kind of customer care whatsoever. He was rude, impertinent and hostile.
I am contacting you because my mother-in-law still has an account with your company. Several months ago, she made some changes to her account in order to remove the broadband service that was no longer being used, since the relatives staying with her had moved out. She now lives alone and does not possess a PC and therefore had no further need for it. She contacted “Customer Services” and was told that she needed a new account because her husband had died – something that had in fact happened in early 2006. Being elderly and easily confused – and not to mention unable to understand the accent of the person on the other end of the telephone - she finished that telephone call the proud owner of a new account and an XL TV package – neither of which she wanted or had asked for.
When she began to receive much larger than normal bills, I offered to help and several times I telephoned your foreign call centres – none of the operators could resolve the issue and on each occasion I was promised a call back.
I have never once received a telephone call.
Then, her set-top box malfunctioned and an engineer visit was booked.
The engineer never turned up, despite the dire warnings given to her about the fact that she needed to make certain that she was present when the engineer was due to call.
Two or three times now, her services have been restricted – indeed, right now she is unable to make any telephone calls, despite the bill having been paid in full. Notwithstanding that the bills were incorrect due solely to the incompetence and greed of an opportunistic call-centre worker more interested in selling upgrades than actually dealing with the issues that were requested at the time.
I am sick and tired of dealing with your company, for the avoidance of doubt, I am not a Virgin customer any longer and, due to my experiences as a Virgin Media customer in the past, I will never knowingly purchase anything from any company within the Virgin group again – ever. My encounter today has further cemented my resolve that I have made the right decision. However, for whatever reason my mother in law would prefer to remain a customer of yours, despite my advice that she ought to cancel her contract and move to Sky and BT.
Given that she wishes to remain loyal, the bill is paid in full and now, thanks to the intervention of Phil Lamb from your customer billing team, the bills should now be correct, why can she not make any telephone calls and precisely how does the opening paragraph of this message relate in any way to either her or my dealings with your company?
I look forward to hearing from you – if you, or an assistant would like to speak with me directly, I can be contacted on xxxxx xxxxxx.
Regards
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