Virgin Media unauthorised works - you couldn't make this up...

[Fruitbat]

Hi all,

A couple of months ago I was in the process of selling my house (of which I was the owner-occupier).

My buyer at the time had presumably informed Virgin Media that she was moving to my address and Virgin Media were surprisingly keen to install their services at my former house.

Virgin Media workmen subsequently initially attended my former property on 6 January. They knocked on my door, but I wasn't in so they asked my neighbour's permission to excavate the tarmac in front of my house. My neighbour obviously denied them permission and let me know. My buyer was informed and complained to Virgin Media. As a result they assured her that they would return after the house sale had actually completed.

But Virgin Media didn't wait. They returned a week later on 12 January and knocked on my door. I was in, I answered, and I sent them away. They apologised that the information re returning after the completion date had not been communicated to them. I thought that would be the end of it.

However, on 17 January Virgin Media returned and knocked on my door again. A relative that was staying with us and doesn't speak English answered the door. The Virgin Media workmen were pointing at our bins, which they had moved to the centre of the front garden in order to make space for installing the cable, and logically she assumed that they were bin men. She gave consent for what she thought was them taking the bins away and what they clearly thought was drilling into the house wall. When she re-entered the property they started drilling into the front wall of the house. They hadn't even been inside the house to see what they would be drilling into or whether it would have been safe to do so. As it turns out they would have drilled into the middle of the internal skirting board and caused damage. When my relative heard the noise from drilling she had to call my wife at work on the phone, and pass the phone onto the workmen to ask them to cease and desist.

On the same afternoon I attempted to complain to Virgin Media by telephone. They wouldn't accept my call as I wasn't a customer. They wouldn't pass me onto a manager because apparently their managers don't speak to people. They asked me to lodge my complaint online, which wasn't possible because in order to lodge a complaint you need to be a customer. So I had to write a formal complaint by post.

So on 17 January I wrote the letter of complaint and dispatched it with a certificate of postage. They ignored it.

On 5 February I wrote a follow up letter that was sent with Recorded Delivery. They ignored that too.

I complained to the Ombudsman in March, but apparently investigating this is outside of their remit because I was never a customer.

I'm pretty outraged by the whole chain of events. My former property was physically damaged, we were harassed on several occasions and Virgin Media have failed to even acknowledge either of my letters to them.

It beggars belief that my only recourse here appears to be litigation. My queries relate to which legislation I would be relying upon in pursuing a claim? And if so the likely prospect of being awarded damages for their unreasonable behaviour?

Many thanks
Fruitbat

[echat11]

I would send them a SAR - Shortcuts on the right-hand side. So you get info on 'they shouldn't start work until the transaction has been completed'. Also they didn't carry out a site survey before they started work. The only thing is they asked and were given permission.

You need to follow CPR protocols, i.e. send a letter before action.

I'm sure further advice will follow:

des8 atticus

[Fruitbat]

Many thanks echat11. I'll send them a SAR. Please would you clarify where the text in quotations i.e. on the transaction having been completed, has come from? Was this from their T&C? Could they not argue that information in respect of the installation is a) not personal to me, b) protected because it's personal to my buyer...?

Also, I was hoping they'd having a hard time arguing valid consent from someone that didn't speak English, didn't own or rent the property and looks under 18.

[echat11]

Many thanks echat11. I'll send them a SAR. Please would you clarify where the text in quotations i.e. on the transaction having been completed, has come from? Was this from their T&C? Could they not argue that information in respect of the installation is a) not personal to me, b) protected because it's personal to my buyer...?

Also, I was hoping they'd having a hard time arguing valid consent from someone that didn't speak English, didn't own or rent the property and looks under 18.

Transaction = 'I was in the process of selling my house'.

What do you estimate is the cost of fixing the damage caused by Virgin Media?

[atticus]

trespass, perhaps. Have you contacted your insurers?

I hope the guy is still buying your house and has not pulled out.

[des8]

Other than damage to your feelings, have their actions cost you anything?

It would seem your house sale was completed without problems.
Whilst there might have been damage that needed repair if the sale had fallen through, it is difficult to see where there is any actionable claim

Requesting permission to start work, even three times when told they could not, although maybe unreasonable, is hardly harassment.
It may have even been stressful, but the courts tend to view stress as part of daily life.

IMO you are best forgetting about the incident, and putting your energy into your new home.

[Fruitbat]

@echat

[atticus]

OK, so the house is the OP's former property.

Move on.

[echat11]

Write a Formal Complaint, mark it as such. Explain what's happened, why it's caused you stress and what you want them to do, i.e. compensate you etc.

Email it to:

Lutz Schueler
Cheif Executive Officer
Virgin Media
lutz.schueler@virginmedia.co.uk

See what they say. You'll get a response from their Executive Team.

Leave feedback on their Trustpilot, they love feedback.

[Fruitbat]

Thank you for all opinions. I was in the process of replying earlier and somehow managed to accidentally post.

Nevertheless the overall consensus seems to be that this is a waste of time, given that I've already written two formal letters of complaint, and I'm inclined to agree that the efforts of a legal claim outweigh the benefits.

[redstar]

They may have had wayleave already asking as a curastey but it's not your house new owner wanted and got what they wanted ..sorry but what's the issue you didn't want utility in place until you left even 8f it didn't affect you but helped your sale buyer let you know oddly they were wanting Virgin installed .. sorry mUbe misinterpreted but what is your complaint ??

[Fruitbat]

redstar my understanding of wayleave is that it requires the owner of the land (i.e. me at the time) to afford rights to the third party (Virgin Media) to access the land. There was no contract to that effect.

The buyer did not let me know that they wanted telecoms installed. The first I heard of this was from my neighbour, when Virgin Media turned up at my house when I wasn't in, and then tried to knock on my neighbour's door to ask permission to dig up the tarmac in front of my house. Digging up the pavement would have affected our removals process. I can't think of anyone that would volunteer to navigate an excavated pavement / pedestrian barriers on the pavement whilst moving the contents of an entire house.

My issue, however, is not with the buyer, nor with her wishing to install telecoms - I thought this was actually pretty efficient given the often slow turnaround with these companies. My issue is with Virgin Media's processes, as outlined above. Poor communication, refusing despite explanation to deal with the actual property owner but only with the person that contracted the services, returning after being sent away on numerous occasions, their laughable perception of what constitutes valid consent, and then returning and drilling into the house without knowing what they were drilling into, and then refusing to respond to complaints.

In other words, if I knew where you lived I could quite easily, without informing you, tell Virgin Media that I wanted a cable installed at your house. They would then repeatedly turn up at your house and you would send them away each time. However they would keep returning until one day you weren't at home. On that day, they would obtain "consent" from your daughter (who didn't speak English) to drill a hole at a random position in your wall, without having first entered the property to know whether the drill would come out in the middle of an electrical socket or gas pipe etc. These are things that should never happen, and the fact they have failed to acknowledge this means that they can easily happen again.

[redstar]

Fruit at that is terrible and now you have explained yes it is shocking

[mugwump083]

Unfortunately it appears to me the entire country is falling apart with increasing amounts of the same sort of rubbish you report Virgin Media inflicted on you.

Ignorant, badly run organisations of any kind, whether government or commercial, seem to be incapable of functioning & waste vast amounts of time with futile activity. And 'fob off by email' is rampant. Nothing works and my own experience is getting anything done at all now takes many times longer than it should because of all these ignorant people.

Those two words are the key, 'ignorant people'. All the individuals you have dealt with could have dealt with any of the issues you mentioned if they were not 'ignorant people'. They chose not to because they are 'ignorant people' ! I've had a big dose of exactly that today and indeed most days. My entire working day so far has been fruitless because these ignorant fools we all have to deal with force us to waste so much time dealing with them & their idiotic behaviour.

[echat11]

Unfortunately it appears to me the entire country is falling apart with increasing amounts of the same sort of rubbish you report Virgin Media inflicted on you.

Ignorant, badly run organisations of any kind, whether government or commercial, seem to be incapable of functioning & waste vast amounts of time with futile activity. And 'fob off by email' is rampant. Nothing works and my own experience is getting anything done at all now takes many times longer than it should because of all these ignorant people.

Those two words are the key, 'ignorant people'. All the individuals you have dealt with could have dealt with any of the issues you mentioned if they were not 'ignorant people'. They chose not to because they are 'ignorant people' ! I've had a big dose of exactly that today and indeed most days. My entire working day so far has been fruitless because these ignorant fools we all have to deal with force us to waste so much time dealing with them & their idiotic behaviour.

There is a 'skill' to 'complaining'.

Complaining isn't straightforward, you need to plan your complaint, because of the reasons you highlighted.

Customer Services at organisations / companies like to play musical chairs, you will find that you never speak to the same person in customer service, in that no one actually takes responsibility / ownership of your complaint. A classic example is Wayfair, I responded / addressed Jenny in Ireland via email as she was looking into my complaint, Heather responded.

I responded / addressed Heather, Katy responded. I responded / addressed Katy, John responded etc. You get the picture, nobody took responsibility, then I emailed the CEO in the US he responded personally. Also social media is great, providing you check whether they are responding on social media, they care about what they do.