Virgin Media Reviews

Possibly the worst internet provider, at least in the UK. They have too many customers for their equipment to handle, which leads to really slow speeds and horrendous packet loss when trying to play any online games. Customer services don't care and usually hang up on you.

PLEASE NEVER ENTER A CONTRACT WITH VIRGIN MEDIA.

I have moved and the Virgin Media team have lied to me repeatedly. They're not just incompetent, they are trained to lie and tell you things are happening they have no intention of doing. They contradict one another and blame every other team for failures so nothing is done but they constantly promise solutions they never plan to implement. They're forcing me to stay with them despite providing no assistance and no installation of broadband whatsoever. It's a criminal act and I will seek legal recompense.

When I did the move they said the property was ready for self installation. A lie. Technician comes, there's no plates or cables. Use the online service, they promise an installation before 6. No one turns up. I call customer service: the request was never submitted. This new person promises an installation before 9pm. No one turns up. Phone back this morning. No record of that conversation either. The installation team can't book an installation because the account is open. The calls team says an engineer is coming tomorrow. I call customer services. They say no engineer is coming. I ask can one be sent. They tell me the technician has said the property may not be serviceable. So I ask to be cancelled without charge. They say they can't because it only may be unserviceable. Refuse to help or explain.

There's no doubt that Virgin Media supply the highest widely available speeds in the UK (and probably Ireland). I have the M200 package and have consistently high speeds of 220-222mbps. Upload about 21mbps.
Unfortunately also there is little doubt they have the worst (apart from probably TalkTalk) customer service of any any ISP. The Off-shore Call Centres are so bad they deserve minus stars alone.
My suggested VM Golden Rules:
1 If buying a package, only sign up to vouchers/cashback via a third party website, never anything verbally from VM.
2 Brace yourself for the "hidden" £35 Activation Fee which appears when you have completed your order even if you have opted for "free installation".
3 Transferring an existing landline number from the Openreach network to VM is very hit and miss, even if you have opted for this when signing up. Contacting VM again after a week is recommended as it is often not actioned at all.
4 If a Hub 3 is supplied, use it as a modem only and buy a decent router, and have full control of your broadband.
5 Rectify any problems via the VM Community Forum, as the off-shore call centres are a waste of time and effort.
5 Call the Retentions Team when you contract has ended and the monthly payment has risen and negotiate a new price, this might take a few calls to get a decent discount.

Either gross incompetence or borderline fraudulent intentions: I was set up with an 18 month contract (and at a high price at that) which I never agreed to. The movers team agent confirmed I would be on a monthly rolling setup. I was also promised to have access to new customer discounts for a new contract after the move, which I didn't have access to, because all teams refused to honour the promise and would refuse ownership of a resolution. Instead I was in a catch 22 situation transferred between teams. I took 4 hours of phone calls to find out nobody would own a solution and I closed my account. Never again.

Virgin cabled my street up about 2 years ago and I was always with Talktalk on FTTC 40/10 and 80/20, on one of their 'fixed' price plans
Saw my arse when they said they were raising prices earlier this year so signed up via a Virgin rep - deal was good and promised no set up fees and a £50 amazon voucher and £50 bill credit over the phone
First bill came with £35 set up fees, rep vanished never to answer calls or texts
Had to battle with Virgin customer services to get the set up fees waived and raised a complaint about the rep as I had never received this voucher (they said it would be emailed within two weeks of going live)
Again, battled with customer service after my complaint was 'I cannot get hold of your sales rep' to which they replied 'We won't be able to either so there is nothing we can do' - madness! In the end they did credit me with another £50 after multiple calls
The service itself is generally very good - I did buy my own router as the Hub 3 supplied has poor range and my partners iPhone constantly had issues connecting. Running the hub in modem mode and using our own router is much better. I am on the M100 package and wireless speeds are consistently above 100mbps
Cityfibre are cabling our area up in the next year or so and I think we will move to another provider when the Virgin contract is up, unless Virgin have some very strong offers.

I have been with Virgin since they first enabled Cable based Internet in SN12. Currently on M500 with a 36Mb/s upload this is one of the fastest ISPs and I have been treated to a number of speed upgrades over the years.

Having an IP based phone is a pain when the service goes out but I have had roughly a single outage every year and for a home service with no SLAs to speak of, it is very reliable.

Could do with a faster upload, static IPv4 address and IPv6 connectivity but hopefully this will be forthcoming.

And look at this, I have compiled a full review without using brackets!

Returned to VM (OR FTTP not in sight and CityFibre at least 18 months away)
CRAWLEY Area 18
Only 40% in my post code can actually order despite VM presence at 87.5% of addresses. Similar on other Post Codes/Estates.
With perseverance managed to get my address "unlocked by engineering"
Negotiated Oomph 360 TV, M350, phone and SIM for £41/m for 18 months
VM still issuing 360 package with Hub 3
Underwhelmed by 360 TV offering. Using it to record for my use but not for family.
Broadband worked OK for 2 days then lots of issues in Evenings.
Removed all equipment except Hub and one wired device.
Monitored speeds. 360/36 at night and early morning. Reduced to just over 100/35 during day. Drops to 6-8/35 Mbps in evening. Upload appears to remain consistent. All tests using VM web site version of SpeedTest.
Verified for 4 days (Router or Modem mode).
Reported fault to VM. They immediately went down the User/WIFI/Device route.
Call passed to a technical desk. Very quickly confirmed that there was "an outage" issue. Refused my explanation of a capacity issue. Expected resolution is 8 days time. Await outcome.
Update: Perseverance with VM appear to deliver. After monitoring service every day at set intervals and referral to a more technical help desk M350 now consistently above 300 and up around 35. All good lets see how long it lasts.

hello to all readers,
I wanted to leave a good review, but because I received a letter from bpo I can't believe how thieves I am !!! my contract was terminated for a very long time and on the contrary I told him that I don't want to continue because I am moving and I don't need it anymore. But they say one thing and do another. a few months later I woke up with direct debit payments. I called them and they said I didn't tell them to stop :))) in the end they stopped and said they would return my money ..... but from where, on the contrary, I still owe :))) and still where .... bpo collection! SHAME VIRGIN MEDIA !!!

I moved house and already had broadband setup in the new house. There's no way to cancel your account online so you have to call their callcenter. I tried to do that, and waited on hold for an hour only to be cut off. I tried sending a message using their complaints service but got no response there for weeks either.

Now they're still charging me for a service that I don't want but can't cancel! Ridiculous.

I have been with Virgin since we moved to our present address in 2001. It was NTL in those days.
Until December 2020 I had been on the M100 package.

100Mbps download. Tick
24/7 phone calls. Tick
Limited TV, excluded the sport channels now sold to Sky and BT. Tick

I wanted to be able to watch the F1 GPs live. Virgin recommended the M200 package as, so they said, they couldn't just add the TV I wanted, and offered me an 18 month contract at £68 per month, which I accepted and was due to start on 22-12-2020.

Then it went wrong, and you can quote me, by name, on Facebook or elsewhere, please.

I have never, ever, had anything near 200Mbps. I read that the minimum guaranteed rate is 107Mbps, which is easily achievable on the 100Mbps download rate. My PC is connected via a 2 metre Ethernet Cat7 cable.

I strongly suspect that their attitude is "He only really wanted the extra TV channels so give him them, and the 20Mbps upload speed, but limit him to 100Mbps download. It will occasionally go over 107Mbps so we can claim it is within contract."

My average since 22-12-2020 is actually 96Mbps and the rate has frequently been as low as 50. My grandson is on the 350Mbps package which has yielded as high as 386Mbps. It is my firm belief (quote me) is that Virgin are ripping me off because I negotiated a lower than full rate.

I would call that thieving.