29th July: Virgin Media won't give us a phone line

Well, many things have happened since the last post on this blog. I'm no longer an Oxford student, for one! In fact, I'm now living with three good friends a short walk from the centre of Oxford and from the software company I now work for. But all that can wait...

For pretty much the last five weeks, we've been trying to persuade Virgin Media to install our phone line as we asked them to. The story here is copied/pasted from our house wiki.

Installation

Originally scheduled for 22nd July, this was rescheduled and took place on Saturday 28th June. Two engineers came to install cable TV and internet access, but had not been briefed to install a phone line. I was assured they would check this for me (separate installation is not uncommon). They left with a big hole in the wall between my room and the living room (with co-ax through it).

Initial Contact

Sent via their web form 07/07/08 19:06:

Hi, I recently ordered your 3-for-£20 offer. Broadband and television
were installed without problems (though I was left with a sizeable hole
in the wall) but I haven't heard anything about when the phone line will be
installed. Please could you verify that things are correct at your end, and
confirm when the phone line will be installed?
Thanks in advance.

First Reply

Received 10/07/08 17:18

Our reference:
Account Number:

Hi James,

Thanks for your email to Virgin Media about your services.

I do apologise for the delay replying to your query and any
inconvenience this may have caused.

I do apologise but we have a record that everything was completed on
28th June. Can you please advise what part of the telephone was not
completed. Do you have telephone sockets in the house, is it the inside
or outside part of the install that wasn't completed?

I hope this helps, but if there's anything else we can help with, please
send us a letter, email or call our team free on 150 from your Virgin
Media phone. Or on 0845 454 1111* from any other phone. You can call us
Monday to Sunday from 8am to Midnight.

Kind regards,

Becky Devoy
The Customer Concern Team
Virgin Media

Second Contact

Thinking I'd then be corresponding with Ms Becky Devoy I addressed my reply to her...

Sent 10/07/08 18:48

Hi Becky,

The engineers that came round said that they had not been asked to
install a phone line, just internet and TV connection points. There is a
single co-ax cable running through the house branching to the modem and
to the set-top box for the TV, but nothing phone-related at all to my
knowledge. There are no sockets (of any kind, as it happens) but just
the single co-ax.

If you need any more information from this end to figure out what's
going on, do let me know!

Yours,

James

Second Response

...but I figured not for the IBM KANA system... Received 14/07/08:

Our reference:
Account no:

Hi James,

Thanks for your email to Virgin Media about Telephone line installation.

We can make the changes to your account or can provide any account
related information only when we receive the correct customer
verification password (CVP) from you. But don't worry -- to get things
moving as quickly as possible, just resubmit your enquiry by clicking on
the link below. Then simply enter your password again, send us your
question, and we'll get straight on the case:

[long URL snipped]

You can find your CVP on the Virgin Media welcome letter or on the
Digital Service Agreement (contract copy).

You can also call our 0800 183 1234*. We’re on hand from 8am to 8pm,
Monday to Friday, and from 9am to 6pm on Saturday, from 10am to 4pm on
Sundays.

If you've forgotten your password or cannot find your CVP on the above
mentioned documents, just send us a letter signed by you or call our
team free on 150 from any Virgin Phone. Or on 0845 454 1111* from any
other phone. You can call us Monday to Sunday from 8am to Midnight.
We'll ask a couple of quick security questions and reset your password
for you.

Kind regards,

Sonali Yadav
The Customer Care Team
Virgin Media

Incidentally, the link (as you'll note) points to a page that no longer exists, and none of the literature we have received even mentions the initials "CVP" much less gives one...

Calling Customer Services

26/07/08 17:20 - After being bounced from "customer care" to "faults" and back, Gary from India arranged for someone from the "tolls" department to call back within 48 hours... Call lasted 10 minutes on 0845 454 1111.

First Bill(!)

29/07/08 18:46 - Well, no phone call from Virgin but instead a bill for £41, including at least £11 (likely £22) for phone line rental that we are not receiving. (2 months at £20/month clearly = £41 in the Virgin Book of Maths.)

My next actions? I'm phoning my bank tomorrow to instruct them not to pay the bill, and as soon as I can (realistically Saturday) I'll be paying their new Cornmarket store a visit.

What about the services we have received so far? Well, the internet access has been decent enough (though the upstream bandwidth is pitiful). We haven't yet received a letter from them accusing us of being criminals, which is nice. The TV - well, it works. iPlayer on your actual TV is remarkably useful, even if the video is compressed to death (even more than the regular channels - admittedly I notice these things more than most, but next to the Freeview picture on the laptop courtesy of MythTV, the difference is striking). However, we're not prepared to pay £22 of line rental for a line that we don't have.

Watch this space...