Virgin Media's Nive Little Earner?

[ichkeria]

I've been applying for permission to have the kerb outside our house lowered, to establish proper vehicular access to the front of our houuse.
Part of this process has been, on the advice of the local Highways Agency, contacting utility companies etc to ensure we are not disturbing any local infrastructure in situ.
Rather to my surprise this has turned out to be a less vexatious process than I had feared/expected. I've had prompt, polite and helpful feedback from most of the companies I've contacted and one or two, such as Orange, have supplied large amounts of info at their own expense or via websites.
Virgin Media alone, however, tried to charge us £51-60 merely to ascertaain whether they had a cable running past our house! After a fruitless email exchange with them I finally thought to consult their website to see if their were any Virgin services in our postcode (carefully wording my google search for that bit!) and discovered that surprise surprise there are noe. Furthermore, confirmation from neighbours was forthcoming that to their knowledge our road was never cabled. So much for their consultation fee then
This strikes me as a piece of pretty brazen exploitation by this company. But I guess it's why Mr Branson can afford to retire early and I cannot :-)

[Postdog]

Two minutes I won't get back....

[ichkeria]

I've never understood that expression.
When did we ever get our time back ;-)

Anyway, i wondered if anyone else had ever paid a fee like this? The Highways Agency knew of the situation although they advised me not to pay it when I complained (as if I needed any encouragement!)

[cassa333]

If dropping the curb disturbs utiity cables they haven't put them in properly.

You have to get permission from Highways authority and obviously planning permission if you intend to build a new driveway.

I believe that you cannot drop the curb yourself or get your own contractors to do it. Highways or one of their approved contractors do it and charge you a pretty penny to do it.

I think highways are dodging something here as it is down to them and their contractors if it is allowed or done.

[Buenchico]

If you'd have simply asked here, we'd have pointed out that you can easily tell if a street has cable TV available along the length of it, by simply looking for the small metal plates (labelled 'Cable TV', or something similar) set into the pavement outside every house ;-)

[hc4361]

Buenchico, there is no such plate outside my house, nor my neighbours. I have never seen such a plate and my area was cabled years ago by Telewest.

[mushroom25]

//But I guess it's why Mr Branson can afford to retire early //

mr branson currently has nothing to do with virgin media - it's a wholly owned subsidiary of Liberty Global, whose HQ is in NYC.

[Zacs-Master]

Not sure that's correct mushroom. I believe he still has a lot of shares. At least he did back in Feb of this year.
http://www.standard.co.uk/business/business-news/liberty-globals-virgin-media-move-nets-richard-branson-316-million-8483021.html

[ichkeria]

"
If you'd have simply asked here, we'd have pointed out that you can easily tell if a street has cable TV available along the length of it, by simply looking for the small metal plates (labelled 'Cable TV', or something similar) set into the pavement outside every house ;-) "

But that is my point: how can Virgin Media get away with imposing such a charge when the information is attainable from other sources?
And other companies do not make such an issue of it. Thank heaven there is no cable is all I can say because I dread to think what would have happened then. I have heard horror stories about quotes (charged at £270!) for work to move them.


As for the comments from cassa333 , yes thank you for that - it's all been seen to ages ago and a nice man is coming to do it on Monday :-)
And I'm planning a party with my £51.60 saved.

[ichkeria]

"If dropping the curb disturbs utiity cables they haven't put them in properly. "

Not necessarily. Media cables in particular can be quite close to the surface.
The process is slightly pointless so far as I can see though because the contractor's linsurance covers any damage.

I suppose it's to check on the likelihood of any damage occurring.
I was very impressed by the helpful replies I got generally: particularly from Transco and the local power distribuors, who sent hard copy maps through the post together with lots of helpful instructions.

[cassa333]

Media cables might sometimes be close to the surface but that is becaue they haven't been put in properly.

There are guidlines for utility companies usage and if they are too close to the surface they get damaged more easily. Sometimes the contractors are sloppy...

[AliFlump]

We have just had our kerb lowered and i went through the same process. All the companies except Virgin replied promptly and politely to say they had no problem with it. Virgin did reply and said I had to pay to check but like you Virgin TV is not available in my area.

So i've had it done without consulting Virgin, both my neighbours have had their kerb done in recent years and ive paid the council my £45.

I aint paying £25 for something that others provide freely

[ichkeria]

Thanks for that reply AliFlump. I'm glad you didn't fall for the Virgin scam and I hope no one else has.
We paid £150 to the Borough Council, £165 to the Highways Agency and of course we'll be paying for the actual work as well. I'm debating whether I can be bothered to contact Watchdog about the Virgin Media thing ...