{"id":17508,"date":"2019-03-31T00:01:29","date_gmt":"2019-03-31T00:01:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ispreview.co.uk\/?p=17508"},"modified":"2020-09-23T07:19:25","modified_gmt":"2020-09-23T06:19:25","slug":"automatic-compensation-goes-live-for-uk-broadband-isp-consumers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ispreview.co.uk\/index.php\/2019\/03\/automatic-compensation-goes-live-for-uk-broadband-isp-consumers.html","title":{"rendered":"Automatic Compensation Goes Live for UK Broadband ISP Customers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ofcom<\/a>’s new system of automatic compensation will tomorrow be introduced, which requires major UK ISPs to compensate consumers (cash or bill credits) for a total loss of broadband connectivity (i.e. if the outage lasts longer than 2 working days), missed appointments or delayed installs.<\/p>\n

The new scheme was technically finalised at the end of 2017 (full summary<\/a>), although the regulator recognised that it was a significant change for the industry and thus allowed for a 15 month implementation period in order for ISPs to adapt.<\/p>\n

On top of that Ofcom<\/a>’s system largely overlooked the responsibility of suppliers, which became a contentious issue when considering Openreach<\/a>’s national infrastructure (many of the faults experienced by related ISPs occur on the supplier side). Happily this was last year settled through a protracted period of sometimes contentious negotiation (here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Otherwise the new system, which is voluntary but expected to be adopted by most of the markets main broadband ISPs, will compensate consumers by \u00a38 per day for delayed repairs following a loss of broadband (assuming it isn’t fixed within 2 working days). Missed appointments would also attract compensation of \u00a325 and a delay to the start of a new service would be \u00a35 per day.<\/p>\n

Automatic Compensation ISPs<\/strong><\/span>
\nBT<\/a>
\nTalkTalk<\/a>
\nVirgin Media<\/a>
\nZen Internet<\/a>
\nSky Broadband<\/a>
\nEE<\/a> (new addition)
\nHyperoptic<\/a> (new addition)
\nVodafone<\/a> (new addition)
\nPlusnet<\/a> (new addition)<\/p>\n

NOTE:<\/strong> Hyperoptic<\/a> and Vodafone<\/a> will start paying compensation automatically later this year, while EE<\/a> expects to be able to start paying automatically next year.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"broadband<\/p>\n

The new rule, which is supported by a small piece of legislation in the\u00a02017 Digital Economy Act<\/a><\/strong>, aims to benefit both residential consumers and around a third of small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) who buy domestic grade fixed line broadband services.<\/p>\n

However the system will only be applied to service outages that lend themselves to being “objectively defined and measured<\/em>” and which have not been caused by consumers themselves (e.g. you will not be compensated if you damage your own home wiring or aren’t at home when the engineer arrives), although some of these situations could conceivably be difficult to judge.<\/p>\n