By Will Sturgeon, 9 March 2007 15:50
NEWS
Virgin Media is expecting an increase in customer complaints as formerly disenchanted customers of NTL:Telewest test the newly rebranded company and its claims about improved customer service.
A senior Virgin staffer admits many customers will have been making do with poor service to-date but may have greater expectations of the Virgin brand since they noticed the name on their digital TV start-up screen change three weeks ago.
Bryn Jones, director of business architecture at Virgin Mobile, said Virgin Trains witnessed a three-fold increase in complaints when it took over the running of two rail franchises in the UK - the West Coast mainline and the Cross Country link.
He attributed this not to a dramatic dip in service quality but a greater expectation upon the Virgin brand from consumers.
And he said he is expecting to witness similar increases with Virgin Media. NTL customers in particular were bedevilled by famously bad service.
Jones added: "Under NTL they might have ignored bad service but the Virgin brand has set a higher bar."
Jones said Virgin demanded higher standards of customer service in particular than NTL had provided before it licensed its brand to the NTL:Telewest joint venture. SLAs had to be met and extra customer service agents employed, he said, speaking at this week's Gartner CRM Summit in London.
He added: "You've got to get resourcing right. Customers don't like waiting."
Around the time of the rebranding last November customers and former customers of NTL certainly weren't confident things could ever improve at the cable giant.
One silicon.com reader wrote at the time: "Whatever they are called they will still have the same awful customer service that drove me away from them."
She added: "If they spent as much on their customer service as on this rebranding and their PR, then they might be a half decent organisation."
Comments
There are 35 comments. Join the discussion
1. anonymous
I don't see how 'higher expectations' would explain Virgin Media's seemingly calculated decision to hike rates from £18 to £25 for users of the most basic 512k connection as a standalone service, without even notifying the customer. If you look at the Virgin Media website explaining these new prices, the bundle aspect of the new tariffs isn't even mentioned. Virgin Media simply assumes that you want TV and fries, when you only want Virgin broadband and to keep your BT line.
Let's say one fifth of Virgin's appoximately 4.9 million customers are using just a 512k connection alone.
This would mean that Virgin Media has made something like £7 million by automatically 'upgrading' 512k customers (incidentally without increasing the speed to 2MB) in just one month, knowing that most of these customers will not bother to challenge such a huge company and push for a refund.
2. Rob
I left NTL as soon as they became Virgin Media because in my experience Virgin are generally useless. My experience with NTL broadband was excellent, great customer service, I doubt that will hold true now though.
My bouycot on all Virgin brands still holds.
3. anonymous
Do we all still love branson then?
As a self made man who portrays honesty and integrity, The Virgin brand always creates customer confidence and happy to purchase or puchase from.
Then they go and merge with probably one of the worst customer service based organisations, and then to top it all off, instead of hiding behind the NTL name which nobody expects anything from anymore, plaster their own brand over it.
As the report suggests, people expect more from Virgin and if its not delivered and delivered fast, Virgin will soon become synonomous with the same loathing as NTL had.
What can I say richard, love the marketing, love the hype its just the company you chose to get in bed with stinks
4. anonymous
Well I have complained to Virgin via web before with regards there train service and again since they took over telewest and they haven't bothereed to respond to either.
I would wager NTL had a better customer service ethos then virgin
5. Andrew Lewis
You have to admire Brason> I wish I had just a fraction of his entrepreneurial instincts!
However on this occassion I feel sorry for him. Who would want NTL and their terrible customer service. If Branson is bright then he will dump the UK call centres in favour of Indian call centres.
I am not a keen advocate of offshore call centres but in the case of NTL I make an exception!
6. anonymous
My experience of NTL broadband is generally good, but their billing is atrocious.
THey recently failed to collect 1p of a bill by direct debit, sent me a letter with threatening phrases like 'your credit rating may be affected', then subsequently collected the 1p plus a £10 'late payment fee' with the enxt bill, which was already twice what they had told me they were going to charge.
I filled in their complaint form, and I also posted a copy of the complaint to Sir Richard, with a recommendation that he could find typical merger-driven savings by closing down NTL's billing department.
So far I have received:
- An email telling me that although they have received my complaint they were unable to send out any email replies doe to technical difficulties!
- Two identical letters by post telling me they are sorry I am unhappy and will get around to answering soon.
7. Richard Pike
My ping to gaming servers has be awful since virgin media took over. I spend £35 per month on a 10mBit connection to be told "it's peak time congestion" and "it will get better on it's own" and "have a nice day". So far, i've lost Lost, 24 and a stable connection. Well done Virgin.
8. anonymous
From what I can deduce from Virgin, they appear to be catering for the under 15's.
Come on Virgin, grow up! Some of us are over 17 and need a home page and services to reflect this.
9. anonymous
That's a smokescreen. VM will have a massive number of customer complaints as they have increased prices and dropped channels at the same time.
VM are good at media relations. I give them that!
10. Ruth
No, there will not be an increase of complaints because customers have higher expections of Virgin but because their service is c***. Since Virgin took over I have had to ring up 3 times about Broadband Internet problems - with NTL, once the first teething problems were over, they provided me with a superb service. Email that I had purposely kept from some time ago has been cleared down - presumably due to the changeover - I have both emailed & filled in the 'so what do you think of us' comment sheet - which has not even merited a reply. I rang up about my account & it would appear that Mr Branson has already moved his daytime Call Centres overseas! Despite speaking to 3 people about a change I wanted to my phone service, it was not carried out until I rang up yet again.
11. Chris England
Just spent 20 mins waiting on the phone to add an extra service to my new Virgin Media (previously from NTL) and then passed around 3 times. Still a very slow and poor service which does not fit the Virgin brand. Hope Mr Branson sorts this lot out otherwise they will never compete with Sky.
12. Suzanne Donaldson
Terrible Service, i spent an whole hour waiting,talking then passed from Faults to Cust-Care to Home Movers to be told i need to speak to sales who had now closed.
They had switched off my phone and said the service was never set up correctly which i had been using for 5 months.
I give up!!!!
13. Suzanne Donaldson
Terrible Service, i spent an whole hour waiting,talking then passed from Faults to Cust-Care to Home Movers to be told i need to speak to sales who had now closed.
They had switched off my phone and said the service was never set up correctly which i had been using for 5 months.
I give up!!!!
14. anonymous
I have spent two weeks trying to cancel the contract with Virgin Media.
They are not responding to letters and you connot get through by phone. According to our local Sky Rep a lot of people are having the same problem.
Even if there service improves in the future I don't feel that I would like to use there services in the future, having been treated so badly.
15. anonymous
Hello Will
There are still huge problems at Virgin.
We now been waiting for 3 weeks for our telephone line to be fixed. This after making two Saturday afternoon appointments (12:00-18:00) where Virgin simply failed to show. They do not respond to the complaint, besides an automated E-mail message.
I am not able to switch out, because no other service is available in my area.
16. Caroline Day
I have had the most awful service from Virgin Media in the last couple of weeks - they installed a Virgin V+ Box on 8th March - has not worked since installation. I have been on the phone every day since (now 16th March) getting passed from dept to dept - Customer Services says it is not their problem as it is a fault. I have rung Faults and they say it isn't them. Yesterday they agreed to send an engineer out but not for 5 days - I said don't bother. I have no intention of taking another half day's holiday for them. We have taken the decision to move to Sky - much against our wishes. We agreed with Richard Branson over his stand with Sky but feel Virgin's customer services let them down badly - especially when they refuse to speak to you!
17. Alexandra Fullerton
Appalling appalling appalling. Whoever told Virgin (Branson) that he could run a communication, i have been a customer since 22/12/06, had nothing but problems and made endless calls to try to remedy the problems and hours of my time waiting to just hear a human voice, what would be even better, someone who knows what they are talking about, despite this I have paid my bills even though they are invariably incorrect, this I have done to make sure i have not breeched my side of the contract, however Virgin are now in breech of their contract.
If you have had problems please be aware that it is not offcom that you need to go to it is CISAS, ring Virgin, hopefully you will get through before your 12mnth contract ends, and ask them for their registration number and send your complaint to them.
18. julia didriksen
We won't even bother with Virginmedia tv as it is absolute rubbish!! What happened to the so called great tv channels, and all the choice?? There is no choice, and quite honestly we are not happy losing certain sky channels. Now have nothing!! Richard Branson had better sort his rubbish service out!!! We don't need the rubbish choice or disruption!! We were NTL customers before Virgin interfered!! All customer service says is,"it will improve" They know nothing, and don't seem to know what the other is saying!!! Frustrating and annoying!!
19. charles johnston
Ever since Virgin took over, the service has gone rapidly downhill, my advice is go to sky.
20. anonymous
I too have received a terrible service from VM. I've just received my bill and noticed an increase for my Broadband from £14 to £18. I was never informed about an increase in charges. When I contacted their customer service it was quite clear that it was overseas. When I asked where they were based I was told Scotland!! If VM want to hold onto their customers they should at least be honest and not try to pull the wool over our eyes.
21. anonymous
I have had an awful time of it with NTL/Virgin. I wrote to NTL, phoned and emaied them to clode my account as I was moving home and could not take ntl with me. They confirmed this verbally by phone but I did not get written confirmation as requested at new home or old home.
They have since been taking monies out of my account every month without my permission (especially as I had no direct debit or payment plan with them - I paid by cheque for years). They have taken monies in Nov, Ded, Jan, Feb & March despite my writing, phoning , emailing them again.....
I have also asked for their complaint procedure to no end. I am at a loss with them but will pursue this to my satisfaction. I have wasted countless hours on trying to rectify their problems with them , but there is only a black hole their end. Jane
22. Gary
Well it has been a few weeks now and absolutely nothing has changed but the name.
They still cannot seemto charge me the same service charge two months running, the staff still have a bad attitude and I still have to hold for (so far) 20 minutes to speak to someone.
I would wholeheartedly recommend Sky to anyone and I have never been a customer of theres. It's just they cant be as bad as NTL/Virgin
23. anonymous
Dear Sir/Madam,
I am writing to express my complete disgust with the level of service of Virgin Media (Broadband). I am at present on the line to try and cancel my policy with Virgin Media after hearing how bad their service is. I'm actually writing this whilst being left on hold. I have been on the line for approx. 45 mins in so far. I have been put through to a representative once who asked if I would mind being put on hold whilst he cancels the policy - this was about 20mins ago. It didn't take this long to set up the policy so why is it taking this long to cancel. I first called up Virgin as I was impressed with the price plan and line speed they offered but after speaking to other residents in the area who had very a intermittent service I decided to call Virgin and ask for a 30 trial and enquire about their cancelation policy. I'm a web designer and work from home so I can't be without broadband for any length of time. After being on hold for about 15-20mins I was so mad that I was just going to cancel the policy... and this is where I am now... still trying to cancel the policy... still on hold... I think they have already taken a £20 installation charge from me but I'm sure this phone call is going to cost me more than this... it's probably been about 25 mins now... I'm disgusted with Virgin and I think I'm going to make it my duty to let everyone know how poor the service is. This is completely unacceptable.
Kind Regards and hoping someone from Virgin Cancelations department gets back to me soon.
Stephen Smith
24. anonymous
The customer service a Virgin Media is absolutely disgusting. I can't believe I actually thought about becoming a customer ... but after being made to wait to speak to someone for about 25 minutes and then being passed to another department and waiting for another 20 minutes, I was told I had been passed to the wrong department!!! I simply put down the phone and thanked God that I stopped myself in time.
25. anonymous
My opinion of Richard Branson has changed somewhat. I think the PR department does a great job but the actual reality does not live up to expectations.
26. anonymous
The customer service a Virgin Media is absolutely disgusting. I can't believe I actually thought about becoming a customer ... but after being made to wait to speak to someone for about 25 minutes and then being passed to another department and waiting for another 20 minutes, I was told I had been passed to the wrong department!!! I simply put down the phone and thanked God that I stopped myself in time.
27. daren
Ripped off again. Previously upgraded to best package at reduced rate of £34.95. When they lost sky 1 and news, they then promised a further £11.50 of bill for 6 months. One month later got first bill and no discount. Phoned Virgin and they didnt want to know. Said it was my fault and they put the phone down!!! Looks like I am another customer they have lost.
28. Malcolm George
I signed up with NTL for broadband 3 years ago when I moved house. They arrived to install much earlier than they said, the installer was very helpful as I had not put my PC's in the room I intended using. The support line I had to call to activate the account answered very quickly and even rang me back on my mobile. I have not had many problems with the service that an occasional reboot of the router cant solve. The only quibble I have is since Virgin took over my account is debited £18 per month not the £17.99 under NTL, am I just lucky ?
29. anonymous
I have been trying to contact Virgin Customer Service team for over a week. Phones are not answered and emails are not responded to, except to send an automated reponse. Telewest at least picked up their phone! I can't wait to cancel my Virgin service. i am outraged by their lack of customer care.
30. Mary
When I was with NTL it was a good company with good repair times.
Since Virgin Media took over my home phone is almost not working and it is taking 6 days for an engineer to come out to fix it even though I am disabled
Mary
Dagenham
Essex
31. anonymous
virgin media customer services is a complete joke !!! have been with NTL for 5 years not the best but sorted out problems quickly and professionally - spent yet another evening listening to that annoying tune for 20 mins and was given a load of cheek from some arrogant bloke telling me that my bill was correct - well cheeky boy - learn some manners , not paying a penny till you can get my bill sorted out and i will pay for the service i have received which in my eyes is not a damn penny - you owe me for wasting my time and being so rude to me.
32. anonymous
Why do you fall for this expectation management spin? Why don't you get behind the scenes and find the truth; VM's customer service is pants; rubbish; appalling; CRAP. The staff are beligerent, high minded and intollerant of anyone who doesn't lie back and do as they tell them. try moving home. In 6 calls speaking to 8 different people and email exchange i have still not been successful in getting what i need despite agreeing things twice. They change dates with no reference to customer needs, they ignore previous discussions and agreements and they seek to blame and challenge with agressive comment and interuptions to requests. I've cancelled my payments and i'm off. If you have complaints call 08700130070 and when you get an adviser instruct them to get Kelly Graham to call you back urgently.
33. anonymous
ANYBODY THINKING OF JOINING VIRGIN MEDIA BEWARE V.POOR CUSTOMER SERVICES THE BRAND DOES NOT LIVE UPTO THE HYPE YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED
34. anonymous
What is going on at Virgin Media?? I have been phoning them all week to try and cancel my broadband service and so far my calls have only been recieved by annoying recorded messages and menu options. I think that this is really bad customer service and very very annoying.
35. Andrew Britsch
Virgin Media has been providing a totaly unaceptable service in the BN20 area for the past 33 days. Each day service drops out at least twice and sometimes more often.
It took 2 weeks from initial complaint, for them to admit it was their fault, after them blaming modems etc., but they have still not rectified problem with their service.I have a continuous email chain as every time I go to use services and am forced to turn system/modem off and reboot I email them.
Have written formally, recorded delivery, to complain but no response has been received to dtae!