Virgin Media contractors *$"£%*Y$

Synclare said:
Every week i get junk mail from them and store it up to decide how to find Mr Bransons island address to send it all back. Three plus years worth now. Would never deal with them due to the endless junk mail alone.
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Not sure Branson has anything to do with VM nowadays.
I stored up all their paper mailings and next time I was passing the Hook Office (which is listed on the paperwork) I shoved the whole lot at Reception with bloody big letters telling them to remove my address from their mailing list. I also threatened them with the Mailing Preference Service with which I am registered.
To$$ers.
 
GazHyde said:
Thames Water have confirmed they are going to repair the damage and bill the contractors directly for the costs. Which of course is exactly as it should be!

However, the trite email I got from Virgin Media telling me all this (even though I contact Thames Water myself directly) mentions that the contractor is the contractor I phoned last night who said they weren't doing the work. So that was a barefaced lie I was told on the phone last night by their supervisor, who incidentally couldn't come up with a reason why their signs were displayed on the barriers not 10 foot from the damaged drain.

One thing I can't stand is being lied to... fuming mad....
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Grr go get em tiger.....
 
It’s no excuse. But there is enormous downward pressure on sub-contractors in the telecoms industry. And field maintenance/civils work is one of the worst areas due to the amount of competition and cut throat pricing.

Pay peanuts and you get monkeys. Of course VM will blame their own competition for needing to drive costs down.
 
Well it gets better now I'm home. The water utility guy who came out today took photos and notes, but hasn't arranged for the drain to be at least cleared. So now everything is backing up so not long till we won't be able to use the toilets now or let the drains flood on to the drive and patio...

Is it really this difficult? Now on the phone again in a queue to get the water board out to clear the bloody drains like they could have done first thing this morning.... FFS...
 
GazHyde said:
Well it gets better now I'm home. The water utility guy who came out today took photos and notes, but hasn't arranged for the drain to be at least cleared. So now everything is backing up so not long till we won't be able to use the toilets now or let the drains flood on to the drive and patio...

Is it really this difficult? Now on the phone again in a queue to get the water board out to clear the bloody drains like they could have done first thing this morning.... FFS...
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I presume the problem drain is on the public road/pavement. Is it definitely a foul drain and not a surface water drain?

It is the responsibility of the water utility provider to fix it and having been informed are responsible for any consequential damage I would have thought. They will charge VM for the work.

An open sewer is also a health hazard which you should report to the local council. The should be made aware anyway that VM have broken their streetworks licence.

Time to have some fun....
To raise the heat - tweet VM pointing out that they caused the problem and created a potential health hazard, failed to re-attend today to fix it and also failed to report it to the appropriate authority. Tell them they have a few hours to respond and attend and if they don't then email them and copy your local paper (if you have one) and MP telling them how many households are potentially affected.
Reporting their behaviour to OFCOM - they won't like being dragged in front of their own regulator. Tell VM that's where it's going....

Did VM make the area safe and adequately cordoned off? If not, another failure.
I expect the first step will get some action. :thumbsup:
 
GazHyde said:
I’ll explain why it’s sewage in a bit, have two very nice men from Thames Water sorting stuff...
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That's saved a trip down to Tesco for some long sleeved rubber gloves....:grumpy:
 
This all seems to be an age old Brit problem.
You would not even know the roads or pavements had been dug up over here after they have finished what ever they were doing.
But I suppose they have had a lot of practice though, cable TV has been used over here since the 70's.
If you do see an old TV aerial on a roof, people gasp and say 'Oh, look, an antique'.
 
@Redline... basically it's a really old house and the bathrooms water & sewage goes through to a manhole at the back of one side of the house, it then flows to another manhole the other side at the back (which is now in a conservatory). It then flows from the back of the house under the kitchen to the manhole just outside the house on the pavement, which in turn then goes in to the mains sewage system. Old house problems basically!

This was the crews second "incident" caused by VM so far on their shift.

Incidentally this is what they pulled out by hand, it's about 18" high the pile of rubble. No way that is just the collapsed part of the cistern wall. It looks almost like they dumped a barrow load down the hole, rather than cart it away... The wall on the left is the kitchen wall, all the houses along our road sit directly on the pavement.

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Redline said:
An open sewer is also a health hazard which you should report to the local council. The should be made aware anyway that VM have broken their streetworks licence.
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I shall add them to the list... good call!

Redline said:
Reporting their behaviour to OFCOM - they won't like being dragged in front of their own regulator. Tell VM that's where it's going...
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They've already been told that's happening by email earlier today ;)
 
GazHyde said:
@Redline... basically it's a really old house and the bathrooms water & sewage goes through to a manhole at the back of one side of the house, it then flows to another manhole the other side at the back (which is now in a conservatory). It then flows from the back of the house under the kitchen to the manhole just outside the house on the pavement, which in turn then goes in to the mains sewage system. Old house problems basically!

This was the crews second "incident" caused by VM so far on their shift.

Incidentally this is what they pulled out by hand, it's about 18" high the pile of rubble. No way that is just the collapsed part of the cistern wall. It looks almost like they dumped a barrow load down the hole, rather than cart it away... The wall on the left is the kitchen wall, all the houses along our road sit directly on the pavement.

View attachment 76102

View attachment 76104
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That's some dump :whistle:
 
Not good advertising for virgin media.
 
Slam said:
Not good advertising for virgin media.
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Maybe a re-branding of their super fast broadband. One hiccup out in the street and it all turns to s**t!
 
Did you get this properly sorted Gary?
 
Redline said:
Did you get this properly sorted Gary?
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Eventually repaired by VM rather than Thames Water for some reason, but it's now physically repaired. Work has been mad so haven't had chance to carry the argument on as yet!
 
GazHyde said:
Eventually repaired by VM rather than Thames Water for some reason, but it's now physically repaired. Work has been mad so haven't had chance to carry the argument on as yet!
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Am sure Thames Water will be talking to VM. Far more effective doing it B-2-B rather than a powerless member of the public.
 
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