Do NOT use VirginMedia … this is my sorry saga.
I moved house on the 28th February and decided
(foolishly) to ditch BT and go to Virgin as my telephone and broadband
supplier. They arrived on the 8th March and connected me. On the 9th
I ‘phoned to enquire if they did a special rate deal for calls to Russia (Nelli
my wife is Russian and likes to chat with relatives and friends). They did –
for £2.00 a month they would take my call rate down from £1.00 per minute to
10p per minute. Yippee!
So all was well until yesterday evening when at 6.30 p.m. I
get a call from Virgin (I didn’t take the girl’s name) who informed me that in
the past week I’d spent £250 on international calls. Now at 10p per minute that
works out at a little under 42 hours worth of calls and whilst Nelli might like
talking to Russia but she doesn’t talk that much. I suggested to Miss X that
the preferential call rate hadn’t been put through. ‘Oh yes,’ she said, ‘but to
put the changes thru you’ll have to speak to the ‘Debt Collection Department’
(Debt Collection?). I’ll put you thru.’
TIME SPENT ON THE ‘PHONE TO MISS X: 37 MINUTES
Eventually I get thru to ‘Daniel’ who seems to know nothing
and who eventually admits that he’ll have to refer my problem to his manager ‘Kirsty
Aitchison’ who will ‘phone me ‘definitely before 9.00 p.m.’ to resolve the
situation.
TIME SPENT ON THE ‘PHONE TO DANIEL: 35 MINUTES
‘Kirsty Aitchison’ doesn’t call.
At 8.30 a.m. I call VirginMedia and am put thru to ‘Joanne’.
After a lot of toing and froing we establish that maybe, perhaps I have been
credited with the overcharges made. But when I ask for a statement this induces
meltdown.
TIME SPENT ON THE ‘PHONE TO JOANNE: 40 MINUTES
I am transferred to ‘Andrew’ in Technical Support who
explains to me that VirginMedia is so cutting edge that they don’t do
statements, they do ‘on-screen billing information’. With Andre’s help I go to
the VirginMedia website. I have difficulty logging on because no one seems to
know the e-mail address my log-on details demand. Eventually I penetrate and am
faced by an announcement that ‘no billing information is available’. Andrew
scratches his head and says he will flag a problem and will get back to me.
TIME SPENT ON THE ‘PHONE TO ANDREW: 28 MINUTES
I ask to be transferred to someone who can tell me how to
cancel my VirginMedia account. I eventually speak to ‘Rachel’. After much
huffing and puffing – and Rachel gets very exasperated that I don’t understand
Virgin-speak – I understand that:
·
I can’t see my billing information because it is
only posted monthly, and,
·
It will cost me £45 to leave Virgin.
TIME ONE THE ‘PHONE TO RACHEL: 25 MINUTES
I receive 3 identical text messages from Virgin telling me
everything will be sorted in ’48 hours’.
In sum I spent nearly 3 hours (3-fucking-hours!)
on the ‘phone sorting out something which WASN’T MY FAULT. Virgin screwed up
and I had to waste my time unscrewing it. I’m shifting to BT!
