April 30th, 2010 by J

For the last 10 years I have had an account with Virgin Media (from before it was VM and was Telewest) and from the most part I have had little or no problems with the service.

It is quite another thing when it comes to their customer service dept. I have had issues with the CS dept at Virgin Media before but for the most part have managed to sort it but this time it has gone beyond a joke.

Background:

I have always had the same username with VM and have accessed my email using pop3 and via webmail using the username and password. In February this simple arrangement changed when VM upgraded their email and changed to a Google backend.

At this point I lost all access to my webmail so I called and the guy at the end of the phone reset my password and said he would look into the issue and get back to me.

Due to work and the fact I still had pop3 access I didn’t chase it up until now……..

Below is a list of events to serve as a warning of what can happen when you call Virgin Media for help.

17th Apr -

• Call VM to try and sort webmail issue. Speak to CS1 who tells me that the problem is being caused by my emails accounts not being moved from dial up when I moved house (5 Years ago) and there being a broadband email account on there as well.
• Raises issue to 2nd line for a transfer and move.
• Advised that email would still be accessible and would take approx 5 days to move.

Total call time: 1.5hr

19th Apr -

• Call from CS1, While 2nd line transferring they have managed to delete my whole account and I need to reset modem etc.
• Lost access to pop3 and webmail.
• Called 151 to report total loss of email told by adviser that he could sort it by re setting password, When I told him there was a bigger issue he assured me that it was just a password issue and would be sorted in 24hrs

Total call time: 30mins

20th Apr (AM)-

• Call to speak to CS1, Cannot be transferred
• Ask CS2 to speak to a manager, Non free, Offered call back. Agreed to call back and advised that it would be in the next 4-6 hours
• No Manager Call-back

Total call time: 30mins

22nd Apr -

• Call 151 and speak to CS3, Advised work order closed on 19th, no one looking at problem.
• CS3 speaks to CS4 in IT and raises issue, Going to take 5 days.
• Speak to manager1 who raises complaint for me.

Total Call time: 1.5hr

26th Apr -

• AM Call from Complaints Dept, Email being sorted will be fixed by Thursday.

5.30pm -

• Call from complaints dept Issue all sorted, many apologise, £15 credit for all the problems. Advised to reset my password as may need it.

6.00pm -

• Call 151 and reset password

6.30pm -

• Still no access, Call 151 and ask for a manager, Call-back arranged for within 1 hour.

8.30pm -

• No Manager call-back, call 151 and speak to CS4, CS4 speaks to CS3 in IT and tells me they are working on it and someone from IT will call me in the morning.

Total call time: 1.5hr

27th Apr -

• No AM call back

12.00 -

• Call 151 ask to speak to a manager, Hung up on.

12.20 -

• Call 151 ask to speak to a manager, explain the situation and manager says he is going to speak to the IT dept, put on hold for 20mins.
• Taken off hold by a different manager asking if he can help.
• Previous manager has gone of to another part of the office without bothering to tell me.
• New manager tells me they are waiting for a call from IT and will call me back by 5pm

Total call time: 1hr

10.00pm -

• No Call back
• Call 151 speak to a manager, Manager speaks to IT still being dealt with
• Complaint 2 raised
• Asked for AM call back from Complaints dept and IT/manager to tell me what is happening.

Total call time: 1hr

28th Apr -
11.30am -

• No call-backs
• Called 151 to speak to Customer relations. Speak to someone who calls IT and Tech support, £15 credit to account for all the problems. Passed to CS5 in Tech Support. 1/2hr on hold while he speaks to CS3 in IT, The issue is still open and will be sorted by Thursday.

1pm -

• Call from manager to say the same.

Total call time: 1hr

30th Apr -

• 14.40pm – Text message from Virgin Media saying Email issue has been resolved.
• 15.30pm – Try to log in, No access
• 19.00pm – Reset password online
• 20.00pm – Call 151 and speak to Jenny, Talks to her manager and 2nd line team.
• 2nd line team are unable to login still and are raising it to IT dept AGAIN and could take another 5 days.

Total call time: .5hr

TOTAL TIME WITHOUT EMAIL SO FAR       = 13 days
Total time spent on phone to VM so far         = 9 hours

Keep your eyes peeled for part 2 of this saga.