Pay peanuts for your broadband with call centres run by apes (virginmedia.com)

Member Name: marnie_moo

Product:	virginmedia.com
Date:	19/01/09 (32 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good prices, very little downtime, definetly haggle for best price

Disadvantages: Telephone customer service are useless, use at your peril

I've been with Virgin Media for 4 years on 3 separate accounts and have had very mixed experiences each year.

Year 1 - No significant problems, we signed up during the year NTL was changing to Virgin Media and were offered a deal on the basis they could offer us a 9 month contract as it was from a stall through our university. Although Virgin Media after the changeover did not honour this agreement we werent too bothered as the service had been good all year and one of our flatmates had decided to stay on and use the Virgin Media.

Year 2+3 - Service was good all year, we were meant to get free installation by being sent a self service pack but I was told this wasn't possible through the way I'd joined up (via the internet) but it was only £15 so I wasn't too bothered. It was only at the end of the contract when returning the equipment became a real pain in the neck.
I was told under no uncertain terms that if I didn't return the equipment I *would* be charged and after 8 or so times of trying to get it picked up, was told 4 months later that *actually* I could keep the equipment or even bin it as it wouldn't work outside of my old property anyway. In the meantime I had countless days of waiting in for someone to pick the box up wasted as no one turned up, been told my appointment had been moved without telling me, that I could not post the equipment as it may get damaged, that they could not pick it up because I had moved and I would have to give it to them from my old address even though new people were already living there! I was even told at points that I they did not provide a Virgin Media service at my address even though we had been connected to the service for a year!

Year 4 - Virgin Media were offering a very lucrative deal for new customers but we managed to haggle with them to get an even better deal than VM just by complaining about previous issues with the service and saying we were going to leave.

Saying this we have come back again mostly due to the price but the choice is upto you whether you want to risk not getting any help from Virgin Media when you need it.

Summary: Well priced service vs. No help when it breaks, the risk is upto you