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On Virgin Media's page, if you answer "no" to the "is it helpful" question, you apparently get the support forum and chat with us options.




Yeah, you do. It's still pretty unfriendly imo - you're forcing a user to express disapproval to get something useful, without telling them what useful thing they're going to get by clicking it.

It's par for the course with Virgin Media. I've been with them for years as the cheapest way to get genuinely fast broadband (though that seems to be changing) but the service is dire. Some of the patterns:

* When your package contract ends, you always get a much better renewal deal by ringing them up and threatening to leave. The deals you can get online are up to 50% more expensive. This tactic is straight out of the noughties and I can't believe it's still working for them.

* However, you often have to keep calling back until someone offers you a good deal. I'm guessing that there is some sort of incentive structure behind the scenes that basically makes it random whether each individual call will pay off.

* About 8 years ago they messed up my direct debit so badly for three consecutive months despite multiple lunchtimes wasted on hold to their support line, that I eventually sent a strong email to my best guess of the CEO's email. The next day I was contacted by a very capable technician who immediately sorted it out.

* Not so related to their support, but they've recently instituted a price-rise of £4 every year.




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