News: "There's an issue in SO20 6BA"

Everyone enjoys a sunny afternoon, unless you are a Virgin Media customer working from home. At 3pm, instead of a cup of tea and a biscuit, you are a staring at the message on your phone from their system status page - “There’s an issue in SO20 6BA”.

Many Chilbolton residents have had serious problems with their Virgin Media broadband over the last month and a half. It started on hot afternoons at about 3pm when browsers would suddenly display “Hmmm. We’re having trouble finding that site”, or some similar message.

Those who called the Virgin helpline were often told that the problem was within their own equipment. Later though, when talking to friends and neighbours they would find that they were not alone.

Initially Virgin said that the problem was not temperature-related, and that it was not a village-wide issue. Some villagers have had engineer visits to their property, often though this has not resolved the problem.

Within the last week Virgin engineers seem to have admitted that there is a heat-related issue within their system. More specifically, they talk about a failing component within equipment which may well be near the bottle bank at West Down.

They have also said that there have historically been heat problems with some household outside boxes, and that these will be replaced by indoor units at some point.

The latest information is that a fix will be in place by end-of-day, 3 Jun 2025.

What about compensation?

So, is compensation available for the people who have suffered these problems? So far villagers have received payments for poor service during a period of time or the failure of an engineer to arrive.

At least one resident has been told “Wait until the problem has been resolved, then call Virgin Media and ask for compensation for the problem days”.

So far compensation amounts have been £25 to £50. But some residents who have been affected were working from home, and might expect more to cover the inconvenience.