Comments on: Four kinds of failure (for Richard Branson) http://www.disambiguity.com/four-kinds-of-failure-for-richard-branson/ pretty design pending Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:16:45 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: sian rolfe http://www.disambiguity.com/four-kinds-of-failure-for-richard-branson/#comment-28054 sian rolfe Tue, 07 Aug 2007 20:35:35 +0000 http://www.disambiguity.com/four-kinds-of-failure-for-richard-branson/#comment-28054 God help me, my phone hasn't worked for 6 weeks and I have had 3 engineers appointments the last one today. Unsurprisingly they haven't turned up. I have open 3 hours tonight on the phone and an no further forward, in fact the last person i spoke to said there were no notes on the account (despite someone repeating the previous conversation and confirming the £10 credit agreed by the last person) I asked in jest whether that person was psychic and the so called supervisor agreed that yes she must have been physchic!!! there really is no where to go based on that other than back to BT and Sky!|!! If you are thinking f awitcing all I can say is don't all is well until there is a problem and then they really couldn't care less. God help me, my phone hasn’t worked for 6 weeks and I have had 3 engineers appointments the last one today. Unsurprisingly they haven’t turned up. I have open 3 hours tonight on the phone and an no further forward, in fact the last person i spoke to said there were no notes on the account (despite someone repeating the previous conversation and confirming the £10 credit agreed by the last person) I asked in jest whether that person was psychic and the so called supervisor agreed that yes she must have been physchic!!! there really is no where to go based on that other than back to BT and Sky!|!! If you are thinking f awitcing all I can say is don’t all is well until there is a problem and then they really couldn’t care less.

]]> By: kay Bouma http://www.disambiguity.com/four-kinds-of-failure-for-richard-branson/#comment-22649 kay Bouma Mon, 02 Jul 2007 18:07:26 +0000 http://www.disambiguity.com/four-kinds-of-failure-for-richard-branson/#comment-22649 Disappointed as well with Richard Branson and his Virgin MObile company. You wonder how people like Richard get to be billionaires by telling lies and taking money for services not rendered. Disappointed as well with Richard Branson and his Virgin MObile company. You wonder how people like Richard get to be billionaires by telling lies and taking money for services not rendered.

]]> By: patrick c walsh http://www.disambiguity.com/four-kinds-of-failure-for-richard-branson/#comment-16420 patrick c walsh Fri, 27 Apr 2007 15:10:17 +0000 http://www.disambiguity.com/four-kinds-of-failure-for-richard-branson/#comment-16420 Leisa, I used to be with NTL (now swallowed up by Virgin) and they were absolutely clueless when it came to customer service. Haven't tested Virgin yet but I am not hopeful from your comments. When will a media company set up a service centre that will answer all calls within 3 minutes whatever the volume of calls? I am sure that they would get many customers from other companies just for that promise alone. Leisa, I used to be with NTL (now swallowed up by Virgin) and they were absolutely clueless when it came to customer service.
Haven’t tested Virgin yet but I am not hopeful from your comments. When will a media company set up a service centre that will answer all calls within 3 minutes whatever the volume of calls? I am sure that they would get many customers from other companies just for that promise alone.

]]> By: Gordon http://www.disambiguity.com/four-kinds-of-failure-for-richard-branson/#comment-15212 Gordon Thu, 19 Apr 2007 14:05:40 +0000 http://www.disambiguity.com/four-kinds-of-failure-for-richard-branson/#comment-15212 There is a similar article in Auto Express at the moment, focussed on the car industry, obviously. Everything breaks, at some point. It's how the company deals with you from that point that defines your relationship with, and feelings towards, the company. Swinging back to Virgin, I was with Telewest so am now a Virgin customer. I only have them for phone and broadband and as my connection hasn't failed (touches wood!) I'm hoping I don't have to deal with them anytime soon. There is a similar article in Auto Express at the moment, focussed on the car industry, obviously.

Everything breaks, at some point. It’s how the company deals with you from that point that defines your relationship with, and feelings towards, the company.

Swinging back to Virgin, I was with Telewest so am now a Virgin customer. I only have them for phone and broadband and as my connection hasn’t failed (touches wood!) I’m hoping I don’t have to deal with them anytime soon.

]]> By: leisa.reichelt http://www.disambiguity.com/four-kinds-of-failure-for-richard-branson/#comment-15145 leisa.reichelt Wed, 18 Apr 2007 09:02:23 +0000 http://www.disambiguity.com/four-kinds-of-failure-for-richard-branson/#comment-15145 @ Matthew: My experience with VirginMedia was beautiful to begin with. They didn't want any extra money to give me a phoneline on top of my existing TV/Broadband package, they organised a installation date that was on the very day we were moving in... it was all too good to be true. And, of course, it was. Starting with the installation guy not turning up on the day he was supposed to (he called through out the day up to about 8pm, then switched his phone off). @Richard: yes... the buyout. Well, depending on who you talk to at their call centre, NTL either still exists or it doesn't. Whilst they try to assure me that it's all one company now, at least twice I've been told I have to speak to an NTL person because something or other hasn't been switched over yet... and their systems are certainly not integrated. If I get a VirginMedia person on the phone and they look me up in their system, they can't even see that my phone number is one of theirs. Eitherway - I still hold VirginMedia completely responsible for managing the customer experience during the changeover, and by all accounts they've done a pretty shoddy job. @ alasdair - sounds like a good tip. Although, I have to admit, I'm paying Virgin practically nothing a month for broadband/tv/phone... assuming they all begin to work properly at some stage. @ asi - thanks for that link! I see that VirginMedia are featuring on that site already... suspect I may need to add to it in the v near future! :) @ Matthew: My experience with VirginMedia was beautiful to begin with. They didn’t want any extra money to give me a phoneline on top of my existing TV/Broadband package, they organised a installation date that was on the very day we were moving in… it was all too good to be true. And, of course, it was. Starting with the installation guy not turning up on the day he was supposed to (he called through out the day up to about 8pm, then switched his phone off).

@Richard: yes… the buyout. Well, depending on who you talk to at their call centre, NTL either still exists or it doesn’t. Whilst they try to assure me that it’s all one company now, at least twice I’ve been told I have to speak to an NTL person because something or other hasn’t been switched over yet… and their systems are certainly not integrated. If I get a VirginMedia person on the phone and they look me up in their system, they can’t even see that my phone number is one of theirs.

Eitherway - I still hold VirginMedia completely responsible for managing the customer experience during the changeover, and by all accounts they’ve done a pretty shoddy job.

@ alasdair - sounds like a good tip. Although, I have to admit, I’m paying Virgin practically nothing a month for broadband/tv/phone… assuming they all begin to work properly at some stage.

@ asi - thanks for that link! I see that VirginMedia are featuring on that site already… suspect I may need to add to it in the v near future! :)

]]> By: Asi http://www.disambiguity.com/four-kinds-of-failure-for-richard-branson/#comment-15092 Asi Tue, 17 Apr 2007 15:03:26 +0000 http://www.disambiguity.com/four-kinds-of-failure-for-richard-branson/#comment-15092 ooooh luckily (or not?) I'm with BT... now seriously, having moved to a new place recently I had to deal with roughly 50 different functions and services and on average, customer service in the UK is appalling. That's why I enjoyed seeing this site which I hope will be huge: http://www.callsmayberecorded.co.uk/ best A. ooooh luckily (or not?) I’m with BT…
now seriously, having moved to a new place recently I had to deal with roughly 50 different functions and services and on average, customer service in the UK is appalling.
That’s why I enjoyed seeing this site which I hope will be huge:
http://www.callsmayberecorded.co.uk/

best

A.

]]> By: alasdair http://www.disambiguity.com/four-kinds-of-failure-for-richard-branson/#comment-15088 alasdair Tue, 17 Apr 2007 14:50:14 +0000 http://www.disambiguity.com/four-kinds-of-failure-for-richard-branson/#comment-15088 I use VirginMedia at home and when it works it works OK - best tip of the moment following the withdrawal of sky's free to air channels pop over to Sky and identify the best package you can compared to what you have at the moment. Add the BT line rental - about a tenner and then armed with this ring up VM and ask for cancellations, quote the figures and you should get some money off - or better services. we got 10Mbits cable for the price of 2Mbits and a tenner off as Sky could offer 16Mbits and more channels for this price. I use VirginMedia at home and when it works it works OK - best tip of the moment following the withdrawal of sky’s free to air channels pop over to Sky and identify the best package you can compared to what you have at the moment. Add the BT line rental - about a tenner and then armed with this ring up VM and ask for cancellations, quote the figures and you should get some money off - or better services. we got 10Mbits cable for the price of 2Mbits and a tenner off as Sky could offer 16Mbits and more channels for this price.

]]> By: Richard Rutter http://www.disambiguity.com/four-kinds-of-failure-for-richard-branson/#comment-15078 Richard Rutter Tue, 17 Apr 2007 11:54:30 +0000 http://www.disambiguity.com/four-kinds-of-failure-for-richard-branson/#comment-15078 <blockquote>think really seriously before you sign a contract with VirginMedia</blockquote> Well that's easier said done if your initial contract is with NTL and then they just become VirginMedia overnight. Not that NTL were a paragon of customer service. In fact VirginMedia <strong>are</strong> NTL which explains your problems.

think really seriously before you sign a contract with VirginMedia

Well that’s easier said done if your initial contract is with NTL and then they just become VirginMedia overnight. Not that NTL were a paragon of customer service. In fact VirginMedia are NTL which explains your problems.

]]> By: Matthew Pennell http://www.disambiguity.com/four-kinds-of-failure-for-richard-branson/#comment-15067 Matthew Pennell Tue, 17 Apr 2007 08:26:08 +0000 http://www.disambiguity.com/four-kinds-of-failure-for-richard-branson/#comment-15067 Nooo, don't say that - we just switched from BT to Virgin for our broadband and phone. They've been pretty good so far, but seeing your Twitter updates I'm crossing my fingers that they don't screw up the actual switch-over when it happens. Nooo, don’t say that - we just switched from BT to Virgin for our broadband and phone. They’ve been pretty good so far, but seeing your Twitter updates I’m crossing my fingers that they don’t screw up the actual switch-over when it happens.

]]>