Virgin brand tackelling the TV/Internet market. (virginmedia.com)

Member Name: LoolooMe

Product:	virginmedia.com
Date:	23/07/09 (26 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Seems competitivly priced.

Disadvantages: Hiccups in service.

I have used virgin media for three different houses using two of there products. 1. Internet only 10pounds per month 2. Internet, Phone and TV (Freeview) package 28 pounds per month.

Service.
Overall I have found there service very good with no problems during the service. The problems I have found are irritating phone calls (we used to get called up three times a week for the same survey), canceling the service and irrational differences.

The phone calls which annoyed me for so long were ironically for customer service and although each one told me that they were going to take the name off the list it didn't stop until I started just hanging up on them. I then presume that my name got a red mark against it so no one bothered me.

Canceling the service. This happened with the internet package. We finished our 12 month contract got a certificate to show our landlord that we had no outstanding payments due. Then six months later we received a notice that we owed for the last six months! We then had to send a copy of the end of service certificate to them to sort it all out. Although it all got sorted out (eventually) and the people were polite it was still a headache to sort it out.

Irrational differences in service. This is what really annoys me with the service. I have the same service for two different houses. House A receives different service from House B. In that some channels eg. E4+1 are not available at House A.
There is also a friends house which receives Sky 1, 2 and 3 on the same virgin package where as House A and B only receive Sky 3 (which frankly isn't worth it). I haven't contacted virgin about the inconsistencies mainly as I don't want any extra services taken away.

With the service I am happy and nothing appears to go wrong. When it does got wrong then they are polite although it is still annoying.

Hardware.
The set-top box for TV does not have an off switch so to save energy you must turn it off at the plug which is annoying for when you switch it back on as it takes a couple of minutes to boot up. This is annoying if you're like me and hate missing the beginning.

The remote does start to break after about 18 months, as in the buttons start to stick or don't work. I have yet to contact Virgin about a new one, but a quick web search it appears that you have to buy a new one!

Range of packages.
The good thing about Virgin is like most provides you can tailor the package so get movie channels, or just internet. Of course extra channels all come at a cost.

Price.
They seem to be competitively priced and you can get good packages if you combine services.

The pay-per-view movies are more expensive than renting for a shop, although more convenient as you just press buy. The bad feature is that they are very easy to buy and in a shared house it is a nightmare to keep track of. Although quite funny when the bill comes and it has "Additional Content 18+" which not only made our house laugh, but has been cause of humor for the whole country.

Summary: A good service.