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Now I don't actually have 10 reasons, but I know that blog entries that start 10 reasons ... tend to get picked up more by different search and registration engines. Don't let this stop you reading, because Virgin Media really do suck. First they take over two reasonably crap companies (NTL and Telewest) to form one rather over trendy and under competent entity. That sucks a bit, but hey - cheaper is better right? So, here in the UK we have several different ways of getting the same TV channels. There are a few channels that are especially good (since they play the popular shows first) - these are only available by paying. So, I sign up for V+ - an equivalent service Sky+ (the main vendor of the channels). 1) It's damn expensive for what you get. V+ is slow and clunky. The menu system feels like it was written by a first year student and responds like it's running on a ZX spectrum. Next, a month into my contract, Virgin have some legal wrangle with Sky - essentially Virgin don't want to pay as much for the channels they're reselling. This means Virgin stop offering customers the channels they're paying for. 2) They don't have the right channels. Worse they don't have the channels they originally advertised. Virgin also offer a phone service, it's a good deal if you're getting the other services like TV anyway. The quality of this phone service is terrible. Calls drop. Audio quality is crap, calls outside of the expected are really really expensive. 3) Their phone service is shockingly bad. Especially given that it's meant to be over cable. 4) They can't work out how caller-id works. I pay for caller ID each month. As yet it's hasn't actually worked. I've tried to cancel it several times but the people who work the call center don't seem to be able cope with the concept (more on them later). They have attempted to indicate that it must be the phone at fault, however the phone has supported caller ID on several other vendors system quite happily. Virgin Media also offer an internet service. It's very good - it's cable. Thats great. However, it's no where near as fast as it's advertised to be. It's cable - it's meant to be what it says on the tin. It's not. 5) The internet service is slow. Not to mention they try to install a bunch of crap on your machine. Not to mention their technical support don't know anything. Not even their own names it seems. "NTL can I help you...". Customer service is terrible. Virgin (as in all virgin services) appear to think that playing recorded messages by some faintly sexy sounding northern chick is good enough to solve all problems. 6) They use recorded messages for everything. Even when the message tells you you're about to be put "straight through" to an operator, don't expect to be. 7) When you finally do get through to an operator, most days they're in India. They have no idea what they're talking about and have no power to do anything. Organization - they don't have any. I'm about to move house, which is what spawned this rant, so I've attempted to cancel my services. I've given them plenty of notice, 2 months. I've only been in my 12 months contract 6 months, so I'll have to pay the rest of the contract off - a whopping 180 quid. Even though Virgin have failed to deliver their contractual agreement, I'll honor mine. 8) Even given Virgin haven't given me the TV channels I'm paying for, or a reliable phone service they are still going to charge me for 6 months contract that I don't want. Can't complain too much about this one, it was part of the contract but I still think it's a bit off. Anyway, so I eventually arrange for contract to be canceled at the end of this month (July). Surprising, they can calculate instantly how much I'll have to pay off my contract - 6 months - 180 quid!. Well, ok. Fair enough. Business is Business. So we're agreed, service ends at the end of July. You'll send me a bill. I wake up this morning to find both my TV and Phone not working. I ring up to determine the fault, and after listening to the northern chick for a 15 minutes I get through the guy in India. He asks me some "security questions" - as always things that I could read off my bill and then tells me that all my services have been canceled and hence disconnected. Well, theres a surprise. 9) They're money grabbing bastards. Where the money is concerned they can get it right straight off, however where the practical side is concerned they can't organize shit. Even better *all* my services have been disconnected - yet I seem to be using the internet just fine. So, he tells me I need to talk to the sales/customer department. I've been through this loop before so I preempt him "let me guess, the customer department isn't open on a Sunday - so there's absolutely nothing I can do". The reply "The customer department is open 9-4 Monday to Friday" - wanker. 10) Customer Focus - they have none. The goal seems to be to screw customers out of every penny, provide sub-standard or non-existent services, when questioned or held accountable send out the under trained under paid brain dead tossers to act dumb and misdirect. So, I get my hair off, tell the guy he can stick his company, thank him very much and put the phone down. Now I'm here, expecting my internet connection to drop any moment, trying to relax and vent my anger. It's not working. I want a physical form of virgin media I can take it out on. I might just destroy their set top box. Heh! It turns out I do have 10 reasons, how convenient. I would strongly advise anyone to steer clear of Virgin-Media. Their service is poor, their customer care is useless and they're low quality for high cost. |
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