A elderly Bristol couple have told of their frustration at their landline not working properly for four months - and they were still charged for it. This was despite having had a package deal with Virgin Media for 'many years'.
Michael Belt and his wife, Mary from Downend have enjoyed their deal which includes TV, broadband and a home landline. But that all changed four months ago when the landline stopped working for any incoming calls.
The 78-year-old said: “My landline has not accepted incoming calls for the past four months and it has gone on for so long and we’ve had so much frustration, we are at our wits' end as to what to do. Going through the rigmarole of passwords every time, I find the Virgin Media helpline to be extremely unfriendly and it has been no help at all.”
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He said around the same time the line stopped working, they had had a problem with their internet and an engineer came out to fix it. Mr Belt said: “They said it needed a new cable and came and put one in and we have had no use of the phone since then.
He added that they are able to make outgoing calls. But as an elderly couple, not having a fully-functioning home landline leaves them in a vulnerable position.
He said over the last few months, he made numerous calls to Virgin Media to resolve the situation where promises were made that the line would be working within 24 hours of a call. Even another visit by an engineer had also not solved the problem.
Mr Belt said: “Virgin Media are happy to take my money for a service they are not providing.”
After Bristol Live contacted Virgin Media for comment, the line was finally fixed. On Monday, Mr Belt confirmed that his landline had been fully restored to working order.
A Virgin Media spokesperson said: “We’ve contacted Mr Belt to apologise for the delay in restoring his services. The issue has now been fixed and we've offered a gesture of goodwill which he has accepted."
