Latest Moan From You and Me 2024

My moan for today is sort of related... companies that simply couldn't give two hoots!

A few weeks ago, we got notification that Cadent were going to replace the gas mains pipes in our street and they would need access to our meter to switch the gas off and to connect the new pipe. Fair enough.

Initially we were booked for Friday 5th, however as the week leading up to it went on, we got another note through the door saying it would be Wednesday 10th. On Monday 8th, we headed out to work (I was dropping Mrs C and Miss C to work, then returning home to work from home that day), I could feel my phone going as I was driving... our Ring doorbell. Unable to answer, I returned home, but couldn't get into the road as they had it closed off for a large lorry that was essentially a combined pressure washer and vacuum unit that they used to create the holes. I got in from the other end of the road.

On my way in, the gas guys were there and I asked if they'd rang the doorbell - they had indeed and wanted to do ours today if possible. So, I arranged something to keep our dogs out of the way and let them have access. Part of this, however meant that a kitchen cupboard (a fairly large one) had to be emptied, with cups/mugs, plates, dishes etc being placed all over the work surfaces of our tiny kitchen. The shelf was removed and they had to cut the side of the cupboard out to allow access to the meter.

Whilst all of this was going on, there was a lot of drilling out in the street, one bit of which was my neighbour's driveway - as they dug there, our broadband went off. They'd cut through the cable.

By the end of the day, we were left with a non-useable kitchen (simply no room) with the promise of a carpenter coming by Wednesday to repair the cupboard, and no broadband. I reported to Virgin immediately who said they would send an engineer the following day, but I HAD to be at home or else they would charge me, so I took a day of leave from work to accommodate. We had a Chinese on the Monday night as there was no hope of creating any semblance of order by the time we'd all finished work.

The engineer arrived on Tuesday and confirmed what I already knew "your cable is effed" (exact words) and a cable re-pull was ordered ASAP. Numerous appointments came and went for this re-pull, but no joy... the re-pull contractors told Virgin they had done it, when they hadn't. Each time they did this, we had to get another engineer out to confirm that the cable was still knackered and another repull ordered.

The most recent visit was yesterday, really nice guy, who again confirmed that the cable was knackered and needed repulled. We'd already had a text message saying that it had been rescheduled to Thursday (25th), which bluntly is not good enough.

We called yesterday to get through to cancellations (basically, I had reached the point of telling them to shove it where the sun doesn't shine), but they wouldn't pass us through asking for another chance to fix the problem. After being somewhat firm with them (not abusive) they promised that the repull team would be out on Monday, so I left it with the note that if they didn't I was holding them in breach of contract.

This afternoon, whilst researching other providers and speaking with others on social media, I mentioned VM in discussion with someone (they weren't tagged, only mentioned) and that has kicked off a conversation with them where they've now confirmed that the repull is Thursday and won't be before.

So, in short, we've had lies all round - Cadent did come back and repair the cupboard, however when they were tamping the soil into the hole outside the house, they scratched my car. I cannot give them evidence of this as the Ring doorbell that points at the car and would have caught it is offline because they knackered the cable....

 

We are at our wits end with it. We've even sat here today and considered taking a basic fibre package from someone like BT purely so we can have something as a fall-back, as a secondary line. Or, do we go for something that more meets our requirements and then ditch Virgin completely (contract is up in October) and just put up with paying double for a few months....

We've been with Virgin for 25 years or more, so not keen on leaving, not least as we've got everything linked to our email addresses that we'd lose if we changed. Virgins product is fantastic - but when it falls over, dealing with customer service is an utter nightmare.

 

The right thing to do, hopefully for him as much as it is for the country and the world.

 

Kamala Harris

 

About time. He should have put her in the driving seat two years ago