WHERE HAVE WE
BEEN? The story of Virgin Service....
So, have you all enjoyed your week of non Masher activity on
the Internet? ....
Yes, it all came to a grinding holt last Tuesday, when on
going through my morning switch on ritual, which is a complicated ceremony
involving coffee, finding my glasses, and making sure the track suit will be
warm enough for the chilly climes of my Office, I discovered that my little
“ready” light on the modem was out.....
Nothing strange in that on it’s own, but the modem reboot failed.
....
So leaving it for my customary four hours just to let Virgin
do any work that they may have been doing on the quiet I got on with all my
other little jobs. ....
But sadly four hours later no sign of a connection. ....
No mention of a Network issue on the Virgin hotline, so
through to a helpful young man who tried to put it right from his end with no
result. An Engineer would be called, and
I was not to be worried by the seemingly long wait for a call, Monday, as it seemed that were a number of modem failures
in my Post Code which meant that an issue would be posted, and the problem
sorted well before an engineer would get out. ....
“Call back this evening” he told me, and the situation would
be updated and I might find an earlier slot for a call if all else had failed. ....
On calling in the evening I got a young lady – and watch out
for this name if you have to call the Virgin Broadband Customer Support, Margret. The most unhelpful, unsympathetic Customer
Services person I have ever come across.
....
The conversation started with, “I hate it when operators ask
people to call back” – “look you’ve got an appointment and we are not going to
change it”. “You use the connection for
business, well read the terms and conditions, you should be paying a business
rate”. “No there is no Supervisor
available to talk to you at the moment, one has promised to call you back this
evening.” “Look I’ve just booked a
service call for someone else for six days time, they didn’t complain!” ....
Need I say that the promised call back from a Supervisor did
not occur. ....
But bright and early on the Wednesday a supervisor did
call. Good news, my Engineer appointment
for Monday had been cancelled as at 12;01 that morning someone had decided that
a Local Network issue existed. With luck
your services will be back on line by Tea time. ....
And indeed on finishing work there was a message on the
machine to inform that the local issue had been dealt with and that I was to
call the Centre if the problem had not been solved on my modem.....
No - my modem was
still dead. ....
So I called as requested and a really nice chap apologised,
then informed me that according to his screen the local issue had not been
fixed yet it would late into the evening.
Then gave, without request, a credit of £15. Nice chap.
....
In the morning though still no action on the modem. Guess what?
An engineer would have to be called.
“I’ve got a gap on TUESDAY”. So
not only did the Network repair not sort me, but my engineer would be 24hrs
after the original appointment!!! Was
I a happy a bunny. ....
He told me that it was the way the system worked. ....
A Supervisor was called.
He explained that their target was to get problems sorted within forty
eight hours – well I had already been off 48 hours and would be waiting another
five days, and besides my target was to be a millionaire by Christmas, and that
by the looks of it Virgin and I would share the impossible dream. ....
But it’s no good moaning too much to the poor lads and
lassies in the call centre, it’s not their fault that there operating systems
and training are rubbish. So I made my
mind up that I would have to wait, but hey, a couple of engineer calls had been
cancelled while we had been talking and so they could fix me up on Monday
again. WOW!! If they thought I was going to be impressed
they must have been very disappointed. ....
And so Monday morning arrived.....
And low on going into my inner sanctum I spot that my modem
is showing signs of life. ....
Boot up the computer and wey hey were at full speed and all
in the World is Peace and Love. And done
without the need for an Engineer calling as well!! How good is that then? ....
But the systems of Virgin are relentless, and at 9:00am the
phone goes to tell me that the engineer would be with me in ten minutes, and he
was. ....
His explanation for the clever trick of fixing the problem
without the visit is that there was indeed a network problem, and he had got
the system guys to check it out and yes certain modems had been switched off as
if they had not been activated and no one knows how. ....
So it took from Tuesday until Monday to establish the
Network fault!!!! ....
Would I be being too cynical to suggest that some people
knew exactly what was going on, and knew exactly how long it was going to take
to put it right? ....
There is no doubt about it Virgin Broadband is probably the
best and certainly the fastest about, but their support service is simply
appalling. They have all sorts of clever
Network analysis tools available to them, right down to one that can track your
on line speed, but unfortunately it seems that some people don’t know how to
use them to establish where problems are. ....
Oh and the business rate thing – well apparently for another
£180 per year I can be assured of a target 24 hrs service!! Please note the word Target. I wonder if it works like the 48 hr service
target? ....
Given what I pay already, it’s a big sorry guys. ....
So that’s why you’ve not heard from us for a week.....
SO WHAT? COME ON, WHAT HAVE HE MASHERS BEEN DOING. ....
Well Tuesday, and at fairly late notice we headed out to The Three Tuns at Stainton for the
monthly singers Club they have. ....
It’s always an interesting evening, with some great
performances, this month was no different.
....
And what a turn out! absolutely brilliant. It’s good to see
that some Folk Clubs are doing so well at a time when many appear to be
struggling. ....
Then on Sunday we headed out to Manchester. ....
How I hate trying to find my way around the streets of
Manchester when I don’t know where I am going, it’s a nightmare. ....
But after a few wrong turns we eventually got it
right!! Arriving at Fuel on the Wilmslow Road just an hour later than we
anticipated!!!! My how we were
laughing. Fortunately though we had
missed nothing. ....
The evening had been billed to us as an Anti Folk night, and
so it was with very innovative music and performance from Autumn Breezes and My
Shepherd Mouse. ....
As a venue Fuel is great offering a cosy, intimate
atmosphere while being big enough to hold a reasonable sized audience.....
We have to admit we felt just a bit old, as the audience was
made up of students, and it has been a very long time since we’ve been to such
a gathering. ....
We were just a little worried to, as our sixties innovation
music is hardly at the cutting edge of modern song writing. But we need not have worried, they had all
lived such sheltered lives that our songs were new and fresh to them and I
think we made some more new friends. ....
Overall, returning to Rotherham in the early hours, we felt
the trip to be well worthwhile and should you get an invite from Kyle to go and
play at one of his nights we would really recommend it. ....
And that was our week. ....
This Week – ....
We’re on the road to Peterborough, with the other half of South
Yorkshire, looks as if that might be a great Gig. We’re on around 5:00pm. ....
Acoustic Rotherham ....
The Web Site is undergoing it’s changes and you should see
one or two improvements on all pages. ....
Don’t forget 19th
November – Flat Cap Folk Club, at The Transport Club on Union Street
Masborough, Rotherham – it’s near the big First Bus depot – when we have
Charlie Barker, no, the lovely and talented Charlie Barker as our Special
Guest. Plenty of Floor spots available
– so come along for a fun evening. ....
IF YOU’VE GOT A GIG
TO PUBLICISE – GET IN TOUCH WE’LL HAVE IT UP ON THE WEB SITE IN A FLASH –
VIRGIN ALLOWING.....