Virgin Media Tech Support - Idiots

[_Bat_]

I have just come back from a friends house where I was fixing their PC. One of their problems was their virgin media/blueyonder e-mail account. They kept receiving an e-mail saying their account space has been filled and their must delete some e-mails otherwise no new e-mails will get through. According to their e-mail, their account size is 3mb 8O.

Shocked at the small size, I phone up their customer support on behalf of my friend. I waited 10 mins to get through only to be told I'd phoned the wrong number and they'd put me through to tech support. 20 mins later I got through to a freakin Indian call center (surprise surprise). This is how the convo went:

Me: Hi my name is James and I am calling on behalf of ****** who has an account number of ******.

Tech support: Okay, what is the problem?

Me: I am phoning in regards to their e-mail account, which appears to only be 3mb in size. They keep receiving e-mails telling them their account has been shut due to reaching the account limit. I am phoning because I believe 3mb to be an incredibly small size for an e-mail account and it is no wonder they keep receiving these e-mails.

Tech support: Are there a lot of e-mails in their account?

Me: No, only five or six

Tech support: You need to delete some e-mails

Me: The point is, we shouldn't have to. The size limit is 3mb, this is too small

Tech support: You should have 30mb

Me: We only have 3mb

Tech support: Okay, can you log out of your e-mail account and back in again and tell me if that solves the problem?

Me: I don't understand. How can I tell just by logging in and out if the problem is solved? I'd need someone to e-mail the account to test it.

Tech support: Please can I talk to the owner of the account?

Me: I need to know if you can increase the size limit?

Tech support: You need to log out and in

Me: Yes and I need to know how that is going to solve the problem? What is the purpose of me doing this?

Tech support: Please can I talk to the owner of the account?

Me: Okay *passes the phone to my friend*

My friend: Hello? Hello? Okay, they have hung up...

Idiots!!!! How the heck was logging out and in going to solve this? The account doesn't list how large it is aside from the e-mails you get to tell you that you have exceeded your file space.

If I could bear the waiting time again, I'd have phoned up and complained, but I didn't have the time. I just set them up a hotmail account.

I'm about to e-mail them and complain now though. I'd better get an apology or all hell is going to break loose. I've not had a good day and that was the last straw.

[SimpleSi]

Welcome to the real world ....

They wouldn't care if they got a signed letter from a well known deity

On a scale of 1 to 10 of what they'll be bothered about his would register about 0.001.

It won't be in the script and therefore you'll get nowhere

When talking to "them" on behalf of a friend I always get the friend to go through the -"yes I am the customer - here is my secret answer - please talk to my technician friend" and then pass the phone to me OR lie - and pretend that I am the customer (but be prepared for tricky questions like what bank account is the service paid from 8O )

Best advice is to ring back and say you've been told to ring 2nd line support during the daytime - you'll have to politely insist that's what you've been told to do and maybe you'll get to speak to someone who can do something

Don't p*&& off the drones, because they are the only ones that can put you through!!! BITE YOUR TONGUE YOUNG PADAWAN!!!!

regards

Simon

[localzuk]

It is just a variation of the 'have you tried switching it off and on again'!

Obviously logging out and in will solve a recurring problem without any interference from them. Computers work by magic and all customers are morons, even the ones who are clever, ESPECIALLY the ones who are clever... You should have learnt this in techy school :P

[mac_shinobi]

Ive only got a few more months with them and might look into a different ISP but so far its worked ( I only use it for the internet ) I already have gmail so dont have a need for a virgin media email account or anything else.

[Geoff]

To be fair, it sounds like tech support was just working through a cheat sheet. If you'd put up with them and got to the end of it without fixing the problem it'd likely get passed up to the relevant 2nd line support team.

I've found the tech support newsgroups are the way to go personally.

[bossman]

Bat:
you only had to deal with one of them for one day, i had a similar encounter with the whole of India or so it seemed for three months when trying to sort my friends talk talk broadband out.

The problem was that the first line would pass it to the second line who could only ring within 9 days and at anytime between 9 - 5 mon - friday.

So my friend would get the phone call and then pass it on to me so that when i went round and rang the number she had been given i got the first line again and had to go through all of the same questions again and then they would pass it on to the second line and so forth.

In the end we gave up and cancelled by writing a letter to them. Then she got BT involved by going with them which took another 3 weeks but in the end they sorted what I had told them was the fault in the first place, it was at the exchange end (apparently some work had been done prior to my friend losing her broadband of which an engineer had inadvertently unplugged her).

Anyway it's friday so enjoy the weekend all of you who read this.

[limbo]

I have exactly the same problem with my Virgin email account (evolved from a telewest rather than NTL account).

I think the problem is because the address I chose as the friendly on (as opposed to the account number) was previously owned by someone else - I know this by the huge amount of spam that has come through since day one - and it includes quite a few account details for different websites too - good job I am not vindictive.

We have had problems with the v+box we signed up for a couple of months ago to and so far they have reformatted the hard drive a few times and replaced the box. It is only a minor problem with recorded programmes getting corrupt very occasionally so I have told them not to bother trying anymore and got them to admit it was just because the software was cr*p - not currently paying for the service until they can sort the software out.

[GrumbleDook]

My favourite has to be when there had been a power cut on the estate and when everything came back on the telephone, tv and broadband didn't. I dutifully rang on my mobile ... passed through to one dept after another as it was not just on product ... and finally came to one poor bloke who said

"what do you mean? You can't have a problem with your phone, you are talking to me now!"

I carefully explained that I was on my mobile.

"Why?" was his retort ...

because the phone, tv and broadband are down at the moment.

"Well ... there hasn't been any other reported faults in the area. I have just done a search of the local phones and noone has called in."

erm ... that is because none of the phones work?

"Oh ... are you sure?"

Yes ... there has been a power cut and just like the last one it has screwed up everything for the estate ... again.

"Erm ... well ... if there is no power ..."

D'oh ... I should have seen that one coming ... No, I exclaim ... there had been one but power is fine again now.

"But you have just said that due to a power cut nothing is working ... of course not if there is no power ..."

My contorted face prompts my wife to make me a cup of Camomile tea ... and breath and relax!

Ok, I calmly squeeze out of clenched teeth, I'll start from the beginning ... at the this point I refrain from quoting Genesis (the book not the band ... I would not inflict that on anyone else!) ... and tell him how power went, power came back but no NTL services work.

"Ah ... it may have done something to the local bit"

bit? BIT?!?! He can't even say exchange, circuit, hop, point of presence ...

Yes ... I reply ... I suppose that is possible. Is there any chance anything can be done?

"Oh ... well, an engineer would have to confirm the problem. I will put a call out. I will ring you back when we can give you more information."

Before my friendly helpdesk pixie can hang up I point out that he is obviously going to ring my mobile.

"Oh no ... we can't do that. It has to be the number we have registered for you."

You mean my home number?

"Yes"

But it doesn't work.

"erm .... But once it is working we can ring you"

But how long will that take? ... and then I realise that another circular arguement is about to start ...

Actually, forget that. Can your manager authorise calling a mobile?

"Yes"

Is your manager available?

"Yes" ...

...
...
..
.

Can you get her or him then?

"Erm ... I don't think I can."

Because?

"He is not accepting calls about faults unless the fault os more than 2 hours old and is also on another line ..."

I can wait ...

"erm ... he is seriously busy"

I am not ... I can wait ... the fact that I can hear a voice in the background screaming at someone about switching on and actually having a brain.

"Oh ... I think he is finishing ... but he may not respond .. there is that 2 hour thing you see."

Not a prolem. This started 2 1/2 hours ago. I have only just reported it ... see ... I can think on my feet!

"Ok"

a pregnant pause ...

"Hello, <name> here"

I carefully, but politely explain about power, no phone, tv, net ... and ask that I be kept informed on my mobile when it is likely to be sorted.

"Actually there is no need, sir ... we have an engineer on the way and he will turn the power back on ... it will be about 5 minutes."

Thank you ... how come you have that much information?

"Because I have just had to ring back the engineers to find out what was happening on behalf on another customer to be told they can't reach the local on-call guys. I pointed out that they should be calling the mobiles and the area affected is also the area where these guys live."

Thank you ... please don't ever leave NTL.

The phonecall finishes ... the cup of tea is drunk ... the set top box reboots and all is happy in the world. The fact that there is at least one switched on cookie makes me feel happy.

[mac_shinobi]

Originally Posted by GrumbleDook

The fact that there is at least one switched on cookie makes me feel happy.

All you need now is a cookie monster and all the brown stuff will hit the fan lol

[mrcrazy04]

I think now I may be lucky I don't live in a cabled area!
I know their software is bad though - at my nan's house when they reboot the box (usually after I crash it!) it shows "NLT" on the front display (that shows the channel number), which just shows the level of competence of the guys who wrote it!

[CHR1S]

Virgin Media Rule... well maybe not
I have had 6 V+ (TVDrive) Boxes so far 2 standard box's at least now I have 2 working ones (touch wood).
The customer support is appling unless you find the right people to talk to, Newsgroups are the best place.
I had my line stolen for a "new" customer which left us without a phone for almost a week, the tech was booked to come out my dad waited in all day and no one turned up! So I called back and was told I never had a tech booked out at all! So after several apologies and some £ credited to my account we were sorted!

Moral of the story, stick to your guns and dont stand for it! I now only pay £30 a month for my £90 worth of service because I made a polite complaint and thretened to leave to Sky.

[Geoff]

So I called back and was told I never had a tech booked

The newsgroups are especially helpful with this. They can't deny things when the previous thread is sat there.

[internetdemon]

Ive just this second had the power off/on lecture from virgin technical 'support'.
Im almost certain this wont fix the fact all of the buttons on my STB acting like power buttons.

The next grand idea was; "just use the remote"

Nice try, but a box that actually works would be nice...

[kmount]

Fantastic.

[lbradley]

LOL! ah god im with virgin media and to get a half decent connection at peak times i had to upgrade my broadband to 20meg because of about 10 different phone calls in a month saying im not getting anything more than 1 meg when im meant to be on 4 meg. There solution was stop downloading so much and i kept telling them i dont use my computer to download anything i listen to music on it and thats it. oh and i was getting charged 25p a minute everytime i rang for useless advice