Virgin claim to provide fast broadband, not fast (or reasonable) service! I feel my recent experience with Virgin Media does not even deserve 1 star. Background I wanted to save some money, so I contacted Virgin Media to find out what was the best price they could offer me. They were advertising a great deal for new customers. I had been with Virgin for 10 years and was told that new customer offer was only available once per household. Despite me telling Virgin Media that I was unemployed and was looking for ways to reduce my monthly outgoings, I was twice offered a new deal that would be more than I was already paying. A clear indication that they were not listening to me. I re-requested that they give me their best deal. The ‘best’ they could do was nearly double the new customer offer I mentioned earlier. I declined their offers and said I would be looking for an alternative provider. I was out of contract and was free to leave. ‘Good’ Deals I did some research and found what looked like a fairly good deal with Plusnet. Contacted Plusnet, I accepted their deal and agreed an installation date. I called Virgin Media back to confirm that I wanted to leave. After trying again to sell me a new ‘better’ deal and then realising they couldn’t come close to the price from Plusnet. I told them I wanted my phone number transferred to the new service provider and a member of the Virgin Media team talked me through the service termination and phone number export process. I agreed to their ‘minimum 30-day’ termination clause, making my last day with Virgin Media day 13 September. I was told by Virgin Media that only live phone numbers can be exported, so they would leave my phone service as active until after the export had completed. The other services (TV and broadband) would be set to end on 13 September as agreed. I new service was due to go live with Plusnet on 11 September, so this date seemed to provide a good overlap, in case there were any hiccups. Hiccups On 29 August, my broadband and TV service stopped working. I called Virgin Media to ask for help. I was told that my service was terminated ‘as agreed’, when Plusnet issues the phone number export request on 29 August. I said that was not what I agreed and was told, but Virgin insisted that there was nothing they could do to turn my TV and broadband services back on until the previously agreed date of 13 September. Virgin suggested I ask Plusnet if they could bring the installation date forward. I called Plusnet and was told they could not move the date forward, as there were not free slots before 11 September. I called Virgin back and spoke to a more friendly individual, who did some research and said she could request a reconnection, she would need to fill in some forms and it would take up to 72 hours. 72 Hours Can and went, still not service, another called to Virgin Media, another unhelpful team member. The only option to get the service back is to if I “cancel the export and revert back to Virgin Media” as my service provider. If I do that, I get my service back in around 3 days, but I will lose my phone number, forever. I decide not to do this and the issue to be escalated. “It won’t help” to escalate my issue I’m told by the Virgin Media team member. I ask to speak with her supervisor. No that can’t be done either. I ask for a formal complaint to be raised. In a later phone call, I am told that a Virgin Media team member in the ‘Export team’ made the mistake that caused my service to be terminated 14 days earlier than agreed. No response Still heard nothing about anything except a few curt, apparently automated, emails telling me to send back their equipment or I will be charged. I sent back all their equipment 13 days prior to the most recent demanding email, so I call Virgin Media again, to be told “we know the equipment is on its way”, but the system takes 10 working days to notify them of this. I suggest they should change the tone of their emails if the biggest delay in the process is caused by their internal system communication. I was treated like it was my fault that a Virgin Media internal system takes 10 days to notify another Virgin Media team. And Virgin Media isn’t responsible if an automated email causes upset. If an email sent by Virgin Media to a Virgin Media customer causes upset, whose fault it then? It must be my fault; I mean I am the customer. Based on my previous experience this should have been obvious, my mistake. 45 Days Moving on to more pleasant things then, the Virgin Media team member I’m speaking with tells me my refund cheque with me mailed to me within the next 45 days. I ask for clarification, “Did you say 4 to 5 days?” The reply was a definite “No, 45 days”. Forty-five days to send me a refund cheque. What The ****? They have to be kidding me, right? No, it turns out I’m silly for thinking otherwise. Apparently, 45 days is normal and acceptable. The only thing The only thing that takes longer than the time Virgin Media take to respond to complaints is how long it will take them to send a refund! This is not actually true, as I haven’t received any communication from Virgin Media about my complaint yet, so don’t know how long I will have to wait for that, but I won’t be at all surprised if it’s longer than 45 days!