Because geek is cool and clever

More Virgin Media shenanigans to try my patience February 23, 2009

Posted by David in Comment.
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I’m following with interest BBC technology reporter, Darren Waters, and his experiments and experiences with Virgin Media’s 50Mbps cable service.

Results so far have been mixed, which you might expect, with some sample tests getting an almost maximum speed right down to relatively poor connections coming, bizarrely, from Virgin Media’s own FTP server.

I’d love to conduct similar experiments on Virgin’s 20Mbps service after finally biting the bullet and signing up to it on February 4th.

The online sign-up form is well structured, being simple and relatively quick to complete. Part of the process is stating when you would like the Virgin Media engineer to come and install the line. This appeared most useful and I chose a convenient time on the following weekend.

Having submitted the form I was immediately sent an automated email thanking me for my custom, welcoming me to Virgin Media and, predictably, telling me that they couldn’t manage the installation date I had requested.

This is a scam. They could easily tie in their engineers’ diary with the online booking form but they want your custom and to appear as efficient as possible from the outset.
Immediately put out, I changed my installation date to the next available date of February 17th, already a full two weeks after my initial booking.

I was given an afternoon timeslot but having sat patiently waiting, at 5.45pm I rang the information line only to be told the installation had been cancelled. Apparently they had tried to call me but there was no reply and no answerphone.

The only number of mine they have is my mobile (I don’t have a landline) so this sounds unlikely.

Forced to reschedule, I was given the earliest date of February 25th, now a full three weeks after signing up.

I asked if I could get a guarantee on this date only to be told that wasn’t possible. I have to call them the day before and check that the installation is still going ahead.

Throughout this I’ve felt like I’m doing them a favour when all I want to do is give them my hard-earned money!

This is being written before the 25th so I don’t yet know if they’ll bother turning up but you can follow my progress on my blog where you can also ask me questions.

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