Business

TEETHING PROBLEMS FOR VIRGIN MEDIA?

By Dave Lowther ⋅ December 10, 2007 ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment

STUDENTS REPORT POOR SERVICE AND PREMIUM RATES

Those of you who are tempted by the Christmas special offers of broadband for under a fiver, beware. Virgin Media, the biggest cable providers in the UK, have left hundreds of students unhappy with the costly and poor level of service they have received.

Commission-driven door-to-door Virgin salesman have hounded students calling at houses in Liverpool, enticing customers with offers of broadband, phone-line and digital television for as little as £20 a month. However, students have been largely unsatisfied with service and have faced premium-rate phone calls to rectify problems.

Tom Howlett, a second year JMU drama student, complained: “I don’t mind paying for support but I had to call six times in one week when we got the package. I spent £20 of credit just on sorting out our telly.”

The company who recently reported a net loss of £115 million, after clashes with rivals bSkyb, raised phone call rates during the summer, blaming it on a large amount of irrelevant calls.

Customer care Managing Director Steve Stewart explained: “Over half the calls we receive are general enquiries, rather about than the broadband connection we supply, so we can’t sustain our award-winning service with the existing local rate charges”.

If you’re not already seeking alternatives, don’t be put off from buying, when Virgin do deliver it really is a good package for a cheap price. Services like catch-up TV are useful for the hectic student lifestyle. Just be warned, if you want to save money use the free email support service if you experience problems.

If you’ve suffered because of a company, please contact us at business@lxnews.co.uk