As a long-standing customer of a company I’ve been loyal to for the last 25 years, I’m massively disappointed by their inability to provide even the most basic of service expectations ..... simple to access, good communication. Following a series of interruptions to my broadband over the last few weeks prompting three extremely lengthy and unsuccessful attempts to strike up a dialogue with VM at the telephone, I was pleasantly surprised to receive an unexpected call from a VM rep yesterday who offered to resolve the broadband problems I have been experiencing. At this point, feel free to suggest I was already being played and therefore a fool bearing in mind, you will recall, I never actually got through to anyone at VM to report my broadband issues in the first place. So, in the absence of intelligent thought, I embraced this opportunity to have someone help investigate my IT frustrations. I then spent 45 minutes with a very polite, encouraging and seemingly helpful gentlemen who took me through an exhausting series of, what seemed to me, very technical leaps from one drop down window, website and download page to another. Believe it or not, I’m quite IT savvy, familiar with routine technical programmes and enquiries so I did not find the situation unusual when the IT engineer eventually gained remote access to my Computer. It wasn’t until we arrived at a point where I read on screen that I was to be offered a free router upgrade..... and a generous £404.65 goodwill payment in recognition of my patience and loyalty that I started to feel uncomfortable. I subscribe to the adage “if it sounds to good be true... etc”. When next asked to enter the name of my Bank into my Internet Browser I was immediately on red alert. He then told me I needed to open my online bank account in order for the “goodwill payment” to be validated. I refused to comply at which point the polite young man became slightly hostile and warned me that if I didn’t proceed with his instruction, my broadband issues would deteriorate further (which he had previously informed were due to poor security resulting in several attempts on the part of hackers). Also, should I continue to refuse access to my bank account then I would be asked to personally visit VM’s London Head Office taking with me two forms of photo ID. OK, so it becomes slightly farcical at this stage and I didn’t hesitate to disconnect the call. For peace of mind I then changed each and every PC maintained password within a matter of minutes following this call. BUT, and despite what you may now assume to have been a clever attempt at scamming yours truly, I still had a nagging doubt about the authenticity of this call. I knew Virgin Media would step up to the plate and quickly confirm this for me; a simple phone call would suffice. So far I have waited a total of 2 hours whilst being left on hold and awaiting human contact. No success to date. From their website I have triggered an enquiry/complaint; a “quick” response informs me that a full reply will be forthcoming within 28 days! I have decide to seek an alternative broadband provider; patience, perseverance and loyalty count for nothing nowadays. As a leading light in the field of global tv and telecommunications, their own communication systems with regard to customers are sadly lacking. Lesson learned.