Dear Virgin Media

I am writing to complain about breaks in our Virgin Media broadband service, which have been frequent since the summer. You will have access to records of these disruptions so there is no need for me to lay out the entire list. I will mention only the three most recent incidents:

During the first of these, having been informed that there was no prospect of reconnection until the following week, I told your helpline worker that I would like to make a complaint. That would be fine, he said. Someone would call me back. I waited. The call never came.

When, a couple of weeks later, the service cut once more, I was informed that there was no chance of help getting to us for 4 days because: “Our engineers don’t work weekends.” Again, I said that I would like to make a complaint. I wanted to speak to someone more senior than a call centre worker. Again I was told to expect a call back. I waited. The call never came.

You will perhaps see it as a triumph of hope over experience when I tell you that today, on being told that our broadband would remain cut until some time next week, I once again asked to be allowed to make a complaint.

This time I was told that no one could call me back. Instead I was given a telephone number. You will understand that since the summer I have become something of an expert in navigating your help lines. I have listened to literally hours of music through the telephone. On the occasion when one of your engineers took a pair of pliers to our telephone cable, this had to be on a mobile phone at my own expense.

It was therefore with little joy that I set about calling to make my complaint. After enduring another half hour of music, I finally got to speak to someone who listened to my story and responded by telling me how very, very good Virgin Media’s broadband service is. He felt proud of it. He would love to have a service like mine. The area he lives in, he said, has no broadband at all. Clearly I should be grateful. At last he admitted that the only thing he could do for me other than praising the service was to give me the postal address of the complaints department.

So here we are.

I would like to believe that corporate sleep is being lost over Virgin Media’s record of shoddy service. I would like to believe that extra effort is being exerted to make sure there are no further disruptions. Unfortunately I see no evidence of this.

I am therefore registering this complaint with you and look forward to your early response.