Virgin Media O2 Boosts UK Customer Support with New Team
Broadband ISP, phone, TV and mobile operator Virgin Media (O2) has today announced that they’ve established a new UK team of over 500 “highly skilled” customer service agents, which will be dedicated to resolving the most “complicated and sensitive issues“, including bereavements, complex complaints and supporting telecare and vulnerable customers.
The new Manchester-based team, which could also be seen as a response to previous gripes about the provider’s support quality (example) – something they recently committed to improve, is still expressed as being in the “early stages” of its development. But they’re already said to have “achieved high satisfaction scores“, with particularly positive feedback from vulnerable customers.
The team itself comprised of around 250 new hires and 280 existing care agents who have received additional training. This new team – backed with unspecified new technology to help them provide customers with “seamless, bespoke assistance” – is tasked with delivering better customer support while handling some of the most sensitive issues (e.g. helping the next of kin manage an account following a bereavement, or where a customer is known to be vulnerable or a telecare device user).
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According to VMO2, the new team is already answering calls in under a minute on average and will also be tasked with testing and overseeing trials of new products and services, providing feedback before they’re rolled out more widely (we assume this will be done with a focus on vulnerable users).
Alan Stott, VMO2’s Director of Customer Contact, said:
“We’ve been clear that we’re committed to improving customer service, and while the vast majority of our customers are satisfied, we won’t be satisfied until we’re delivering consistently exceptional, market-leading customer service.
The strategy kickstarted last year, focused on investment, simplifying systems and processes, upskilling agents and removing persistent pain points, is already delivering green shoots and shows that our plans are getting us closer to where we want to be.
The launch of this new dedicated team is a key milestone for us, with more than 500 multi-skilled and fully converged agents – backed by the latest technology – delivering seamless and tailored customer service in some of the most challenging cases. The team will act as a blueprint for customer support across the company in the months and years ahead as we continue to deliver improvements for our customers.”
The team is currently based in VMO2’s Wythenshawe office, however its agents will also be among the 1,500 employees moving to the company’s new multi-million-pound central Manchester office space, Island, in late 2025. The “state-of-the-art, net-zero carbon workspace” will become their future North West HQ.
In recent months, we have seen signs of a gradual improvement in VMO2’s service and support quality (e.g. Ofcom’s latest complaints’ data), which may be at least partly attributable to the new support team.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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Unhappy poor Virgin Media 02 work together too much very busy call music I don’t understand properly.
Still flawed even if UK because management don’t empower the people to make decisions and have bad procedures and systems that don’t work properly……
When it comes to renew my contract broadband I dread it extremely when my call connets to india/out the u.k they cannot help at all with any good deal at all..I ask them to pute me to someone high. Then I hear someone I can understand and very helpful..so keeping my fingers crossed January 2026
Hmmm, too little too late. I just need broadband now, but downgrading is more expensive than I’m paying now. I wish there was competition in my area. OFCOM should allow people to get out of contracts without paying ridiculous charges. Any other providers in my area are 50Mbps maximum.
VMO2 should shut ALL overseas call centre, especially India, and open the new one in Britain.
THEY SHOULD PUT BRITAIN FIRST!
MAKE BRITAIN GREAT AGAIN !!!!
“You know, I’m surprised they are still in business. They’ve been ripping us off for years!”
Lol
Their Spanish parent may disagree. Their Anglo-Dutch-American other parent domiciled in Bermuda may too.
Spanish PARENT?
John Carl Malone (born March 7, 1941 in Milford, Connecticut, United States) is an American billionaire businessman and he created Liberty Global and is now the largest voting shareholder in it as well as chairman. VMO2 in the UK, is a “joint” venture, but Telfonica has say in the O2 side of things, hence “partnership”.
In any event, we are now longer part of the EU, and the company operates here under UK law and regulation.
Customer Service is appalling!! Can’t even log in or speak to anyone, raised a complaint due to this over 2 months ago cannot access my online account at all as all passwords have been changed don’t even get a bill sent and cannot get through security over phone! Next step for me is seeing a solicitor regarding this….. no hope at all
Hope that all customers with disabilities can use the service and not just the ones that are on social tariffs
We’ve just had another outage for the whole street on Virgin – this time lasting 4 days.
It took 2 days to even report the fault (caused by a lightning strike) as their processes instruct callers to download the app, then the app advises to call the the same tech support line. A closed loop compounded by texts with links that have expired on arrival.
The call centre people when I eventually got through to them were telling me it was a problem with the router even when the whole street was offline from exactly the same start time.
How can a network the size of Virgin have network monitoring that’s so bad it doesn’t even pick up when every property connected to the same cabinet hasn’t uploaded or downloaded any data for days?
And as Openreach have just run fibre to the whole area how many customers do they expect to retain when their network is more expensive, unreliable and when they are so useless at detecting and fixing faults?
Unless it’s the main mains powered cabinet feeding many others losing one distribution cabinet at the end of a chain is unlikely to raise alarms.
Won’t knock enough devices offline, hardware in the cabinet itself not remotely monitored.
So copying what most networks did over a decade ago and passing it off as something. Ew and cutting edge. Muppets
What an utter EE prat you are. EE might be UK based. But they are useless. 10 failed orders trying to get me to switch to digital voice.
You EE fanboys are the limit.
Empowerment comes up frequently, and has got to be addressed at VM.
I called them to renew may package. I’d researched, and knew that I wanted 500/50 for £47 and that would be perfect.
OMG, they chatted for so long about, did I want mobile, did I want landline, how about this how about that, and eventually they convinced me to take the service for £45 a month. After 45 minutes of faffing around!
Just let them listen to the customer and give them what they want. A brief, chat about we can tie in with mobiles, etc if you want, would have been sufficient. But pushing hard for 45minutes! That’s poor.
Another points about them making this seem like a new thing, although loads of others have brought the CC into UK shores. VM where still consolidating in 2017. They were still working out what to do with business, becoming part of Liberty etc. Big ships turn slow.
I haven’t been a Virgin customer for around four years now. When I left it was because of the annoyance perpetually trying to haggle just to get a reasonable deal. From memory I seem to recall it took me well over an hour and being passed between at least 4 different teams.
BTW my phone suggested text just amused me. When I swiped for the word passed it first came up with the same word but an i instead of an a. That other word may have been more appropriate to describe how I felt!
Meanwhile Sky are cutting upto 2000 jobs in their contact centres, it’s great to see someone creating jobs in the UK communications industry.
I’m with Virgin as they’re the only ones offering FTTP in my area and I’ve been mostly happy with their service once it was up and running.
Meanwhile over at Sky https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdx2179klk5o
I was with virgin a few years ago and we agreed a package for 90 pounds for everything got my first bill though at 110 pounds they then said that was what I agreed to and refused to let me out of my contract absolutely disgusting. Hopefully this fixes it would rather use my data than their wifi with their customer service talktalk and Vodafone are as bad.
We’ve had their synchronous 2Gbps fibre outside for ages via Nexfibre. I still won’t go near them with a bargepole.
I’m looking forward to when Nexfibre goes wholesale, because the day I go anywhere near Virgin again will be a cold day in Hell.
…so they’re done with the Indian call centre…and the poor reputation…?
It’s owned by American Company just like Sky is now.
Sky “revamped” the NOW TV app, cutting UK jobs and taking the software instead that is used on their other networks in America safeguarding their jobs.
Expect any American companies to put America First as their priority. These jobs with VM may be in UK, but what else is going to be run from America in the future, and they still operate under guise of a British brand name instead of rebranding….
VM is 50:50 between the Spanish telco Telefonica and Anglo-Dutch-American, domiciled in Bermuda, Liberty Global.
Sky moving to Entertainment OS made sense regardless. It powers Comcast, Rogers, Foxtel, Xumo. No point in supporting two software stacks when they overlap in functionality that much, was a matter of time and extremely unlikely they’d replace Entertainment OS with Sky software.
Except the old Now software works better than the new one, so doesn’t make any sense as they have lost customers over it as things do not work properly. AFAIK, Entertainment OS is platform on Sky Stream and not Now.
The VM 50:50 thing is an odd one because Telfonica only really have say on the mobile infrastructure and service side of O2. The cable tv business is Liberty Global. John Carl Malone (born March 7, 1941 in Milford, Connecticut, United States) is an American billionaire businessman and he created Liberty Global and is now the largest voting shareholder in it as well as chairman.
Too little, too late… indian call centres have our database so scamming will continue. Such horrendous customer service is with costs is pushing people away. I left them and are paying far less and get symmetrical 950 Mbit. Alt nets are the future.
Yes, I understand nothing will be perfect, but VM have such a poor reputation.