Here’s a tale of bad customer service from Virgin Media. It’s long but it might help someone else in the same situation get a result. If there’s a moral it’s to not accept what you are told can and can’t be done. If you want to contact me regarding this tale you can do so @Irexes on Twitter.
the "Super"hub
I’ve been a Virgin customer since 1996 on dial-up when Virgin’s service was called blueyonder and the Internet was mostly fields. I’ve never been blown away by the service, but it’s been steady and I’ve kept with it through several moves of house and a proliferation of connected devices (and children). On a good (or bad) day we can have a dozen devices on our little home network with ipods, ipads, laptops and pcs all competing for bandwith.
Internet life was good and if I wanted to spend the evening playing poker (winning sometimes), shooting people on Black Ops (losing most of the time), or Tweeting (talking crap all of the time) I could.
Then Virgin kindly offered to upgrade my connection from something fairly fast to something even faster. I’ll be honest and say I don’t know what the figures are as my good lady-wife read out the offer. What was relevant was the £30 price tag which seemed fair enough. So we ring up to agree and eagerly await our “Superhub” and improved connection. Actually I forgot all about it until the box arrived, but hey.
10th February 2011
So the Superhub arrives and looks very nice in shiny black with a blue light when it’s plugged in. I did this according to the instructions which for a change I actually read before doing anything. We ring the number as instructed and talk to the man at the other end. He asks for the Mac Address I tell him, he tells me that the address hasn’t been assigned yet so it won’t work. We have to wait 2 to 24 hours to be contacted by a different team. But it’s ok he’s just sent them a form.
So the Superhub arrives and looks very nice in shiny black with a blue light when it’s plugged in. I did this according to the instructions which for a change I actually read before doing anything. We ring the number as instructed and talk to the man at the other end. He asks for the Mac Address I tell him, he tells me that the address hasn’t been assigned yet so it won’t work. We have to wait 2 to 24 hours to be contacted by a different team. But it’s ok he’s just sent them a form.
"Fair enough" I think, these things happen. “Will my old modem work while we wait?” I ask. “Yes just plug it back in.” So I hang up and plug in and no it doesn’t.
So I ring back and explain and I’m told it’s probably “confused the connection” plugging in the new one even though it wasn’t activated. I mutter something about DNS to show I’m playing along and I’m told to wait for an hour or two and it should clear. Already sceptical I hang up and watch a couple of episodes of Boardwalk Empire that I’ve recorded from Sky Atlantic. Virgin may have me for the Internet but they’re not getting me for TV money as well (I’d rather give that to the evil Sky empire thankyouverymuch).
11th February 2011
So unsurprisingly the old modem doesn’t start working and I go to work the next day. The good lady-wife gets a call to activate the Superhub and when I get in from work it’s all connected. “Is it working?” I ask. “Well yes, but it’s cut out 4 or 5 times.”
So unsurprisingly the old modem doesn’t start working and I go to work the next day. The good lady-wife gets a call to activate the Superhub and when I get in from work it’s all connected. “Is it working?” I ask. “Well yes, but it’s cut out 4 or 5 times.”
So I check the connection and it’s working for about 5 minutes before it drops off and we lose connection. Restart the Superhub and 3 minutes then it goes again. Rince and repeat. I’m on just long enough each time to find out that the phrase “Superhub problems” is one that google is very familiar with and it drops off again.
I’m starting to suspect the Superhub has been named ironically.
not so super
So I ring the also ironically named helpline. After entering my password via the phone keypad and hitting the right numbers I speak to someone who asks me my password again (presumably in case I’ve forgotten it in the preceding 30 seconds). I tell them the story and they say they’ll have a look. Their system’s down (more irony), “Can I call back later?”
So I go out for the evening, come back and ring again. I tell the story and no it’s not a problem in my area and get told to type a number in the browser and they patiently explain to me how to navigate to the notatallSuperhub’s settings. I’m then told I need to switch the automatic channel detection for the wireless connection to manual and channel 11. I point out I’ve got a wired and wireless connection and neither are working but I’m told to proceed. I do so and of course it doesn’t magically make the Internet connection work.
I restart the unSuperhub and it works. It works for the whole time I keep the guy on the other end of the phone. Eventually despite my scepticism about changing the wireless channel I say it seems to be fine and hang up. And the connection dies. Like my dreams of playing Black Ops and getting shot by 12 year olds with reflexes 50 times faster than my own any time soon.
rly?
So I ring back and go through the messages telling me that the numbers you have to press for the options have recently changed for my benefit so please could I listen and then press the number that relates to my problem and then can I enter my password’s 3rd and 4th and 1st letter using the keypad and can I agree to wasting yet more time while I try and upgrade my Internet connection from quite-fast to not-working-at-all? That was a long sentence. The stress is starting to tell.
So I explain again that the moreclarkkentthanSuperhub is not working and no it’s not a problem in my area and that I’ve been trying to fix things for a while now. I’m put on hold and then “I’ve ordered you a new Superhub” (I couldn’t detect any irony) “It will be with you in 4 to 5 days”.
sad
“Ok” I say, “but can you make my original modem work”. The one that was working fine before I was offered this “Opportunity” to “Upgrade” my Internet connection. It wasn’t perfect and it certainly wasn’t Super but it connected to the Internet for more than 5 minutes at a time and had a reassuring orange light, not like the mocking blue gaze of the pooperSuperhub.
“Of course. I’ll do that right now.”
So after some debate about which of the 2 MAC numbers on the bottom of the old modem was the right one (I suspect he thought I was making one of them up to spite him), he enters it into their “system” and...
... “I can’t reactivate that modem as it’s been deactivated.”
Firstly, if it hadn’t been you wouldn’t be trying to reactivate it.
Secondly, you are kidding me.
So I patiently, and calmly explain that I’m not prepared to be without the Internet for a possible total of 6 days and can I speak to someone who can either 1) reactivate my old modem, or 2) courier me a new reallynotSuperhub tomorrow.
The exact words “There is no-one here who can do that”.
it's a big country
“I’d like to make a complaint" I say. And I’m put through to the complaints lady and apparently credited with £15 on my account. Whoopee, though I’d still rather have the service I’m paying for.
I tell the whole story and say that either 1) reactivate my old modem, or 2) courier me a new mytrousersaremoreSuperhub tomorrow and she says “I will do that sir.”
“Do what?” I say.
“Send you a new Superhub in 4 to 5 days”
“No”, I say, “You can courier it to me tomorrow.”
We go back and forth a bit and the flowchart of responses obviously ticks into the dowhateveryoucantogetridofthem section and I’m told I'm going to receive a new youcallthisaSuperhub tomorrow.
My optimism that I will receive anything tomorrow or that “Superhub II – this time it’s personal” will work any better than the first one is to be frank low. I’ll update tomorrow with the outcome. Possibly by carrier-pigeon.
12th February 2011
It was long gone midnight when I got off of the phone last night so the good lady-wife rang Virgin this morning to check that the Shitehub (I’ve run out of things to put in front of Super) was going to arrive today.
You will be unsurprised to hear that it will not. It will take another 2 to 3 days. Supercustomerservice.
So I am roused from bed to phone again and to again listen to the chirpy voiced woman tell me which number to hit and which characters from my password to painfully enter on the numeric keypad.
I open with “I’d like to make a complaint” to save time and tell James (very helpful) the bones of the story. I finish with “So I’d like my old modem switched back on again.”.
“That can’t be done.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s been deactivated. There’s no way it can be switched back on.”
I explain that while it probably can’t be switched back on via the interface he has there for security reasons, it’s still a functioning piece of equipment and the MAC Address still exists so it must be possible to bring it back online.
“No it can’t be done.”
I explain that I have written up everything that’s happened so far and will be posting on all the technical, customer services and broadband forums my experience to date. I also explain that I am responsible for a large network in my job and could I have a technical explanation as to why the old modem can’t be reactivated. I feel I can cope with something more technical than “it can’t be done”.
So James puts me on hold to talk to someone. I choose classical music to listen to while I wait.
When he returns the explanation is that because of the upgrade “to the Ethernet” my old modem won’t work. I’m not sure what this means but ok. I then finally work out the right thing to say.
“I would like to cancel my upgrade.”
So James goes off again and does just that. Less than 5 minutes later my old modem is working and I’m back on line.
though technically just back where I started
I’m not entirely clear whether the new Shitehub is still being sent or whether they’ll pick up the first one. I don’t know if I’ll try again to upgrade at some point or if I’ll manage to cope with fast rather than very fast internet. I do know that Virgin’s customer service and approach to these things is all wrong.
So Virgin if you are listening, here’s where you went wrong
- You sent me a new Shitehub that wasn’t ready to work and by following your instructions my working internet connection was disabled before you worked this out
- When by following your instructions my Internet connection was disabled, your processes consider it more appropriate to make the customer wait for several days to get back online rather than try and restore a working connection
- The technical support from the call centre was bad with some nonsensical advice given. On several occasions I was given advice clearly designed to get me off the line and to call back later
- If your customer demonstrates they have some technical knowledge please don’t continue talking to them like they are IT illiterate. It’s annoying
- Don’t lie about what can and can’t be done. I was told the old modem could not be reactivated several times. It can and it has been. Yes you had to switch back my connection to its old setting but it could be done. Clearly this policy is to stop people from backing out of the upgrade
- Cutting the internet off for a few days unnecessarily is not an acceptable approach to customer service in this day and age. Aside from leisure activities there are a number of reasons I need access at home. Please change your approach to reflect this
- From reading various forums the Superhub is clearly not working as well as intended. Don’t release products that aren’t ready or have a higher than acceptable failure rate.
That’s it, thanks for reading, I can be contacted at @Irexes on Twitter or post a comment below.
