Virgin Media launches UK-based specialist customer support team

Based in Manchester, UK, Virgin Media have set up a specialist customer care team to handle complicated cases, like bereavements, complaints, and for vulnerable users.

The new team will be made up of 500 skilled customer care agents and early feedback from customers has been positive.

The launch of this 'complex cases' team follows the announcement last month from CEO Schüler, that Virgin Media plans to transform their customer service.

Credit: Sharaf Maksumov/Shutterstock.com

UK-based specialist care team

Virgin Media has set up a specialist customer care team in Manchester to handle the most complicated and sensitive issues, including bereavements, complex complaints and to support telecare and vulnerable customers.

The team will handle calls from fixed-line broadband, TV and landline customers, as well as O2 mobile customers.

Made up of a total of 500 care agents, Virgin Media has hired 250 new team members along with 280 existing care agents who have received additional training.

This new specialist care team will be available between 8am and 8pm Monday to Friday, as well as 9am to 6pm over the weekend. Agents will be able to handle multiple contact methods including over the phone and via digital, as well as deal with issues from both Virgin Media and O2 services.

So far, Virgin Media say the team is delivering high customer satisfaction scores, with vulnerable customers in particular praising the team's efficiency, honesty, kindness, helpfulness and compassion.

As well as handle customer issues, the new team will also be responsible for testing and providing feedback on trials of new products and services before they're rolled out more widely.

Alan Stott, Virgin Media O2'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."

Customer service improvements

The launch of this new customer care team comes one month after Virgin Media O2 CEO, Lutz Schüler, announced the provider wanted to make improvements to their customer service.

"Our goal, which we're already backing with increased investment, is to provide consistently exceptional service and give all our customers greater confidence that if an issue does arise, they will be able to contact us easily and we'll be able to provide a speedy resolution. Basically, if there's a problem we'll fix it quickly, simply and with no hassle."

Schüler set out four ways Virgin Media O2 intends to transform their customer service, including:

1. Doubling investment in customer service, boosting care agents to 9,000 and recruiting into specialist teams to handle the most complex queries
2. Creating a single customer services function to support all Virgin Media and O2 customers together
3. Providing additional training to over 9,000 customer care agents
4. Analysing previous complaints to identify root causes of problems and improving these areas, for example how they handle fraud issues, or ensuring field agents have WiFi boosters to hand to install when needed

Virgin Media haven't been known for having the best customer service in the industry for several years, and their most recent complaint spike was in the third quarter of 2023 when they received 32 complaints per 100,000 customers to Ofcom, more than double the industry average of 15 for the period.

The reason for the spike was down to the investigation into Virgin Media by Ofcom due to customer complaints on the difficulty of cancelling a contract and complaints handling by the provider.

While complaints for Virgin Media have steadily improved throughout 2024, they remain higher than the industry average, with the latest quarter reporting 12 complaints per 100,000 customers for fixed line broadband, compared to an average of 10.

O2 mobile complaints have also been higher than average, with the latest set of results for Q3 2024 revealing O2 generated 5 complaints per 100,000 customers, the highest of all major mobile providers.

In addition, Virgin Media also gathered the most complaints about its pay TV service, with 9 complaints per 100,000 customers, compared to just 2 complaints for Sky TV, their main service rival.

While Virgin Media do already have some UK-based customer service agents, the majority of calls are still answered by offshore advisors in India and elsewhere, which can sometimes increase the frustration felt by customers trying to resolve issues.