Ofcom proposing compensation measures for landline and broadband customers

Providers would have to make cash payments or add a credit to a bill for slow repairs, missed deadlines and appointments

Ofcom is proposing plans that would require broadband and landline providers to pay automatic compensation to customers who suffer a poor service.

Customers would be entitled to either a cash payment or credit on a bill, without having to go through a potentially lengthy and difficult claims process.

The compensation payments would be set by Ofcom, which are designed to reflect the degree of harm suffered by consumers. It would work as followed:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The consultation on these proposals is open until June 5, 2017 at 5pm, with the regulator publish its decision statement towards the end of the year.

Rivals’ plan rejected

In response to the plans, BT, Sky and Virgin Media hae jointly put forward a draft proposal to introduce automatic compensation through a draft voluntary industry code of practice.

However, at this stage, it doesn’t consider that this proposal sufficiently meets our concerns, when quality of service falls short.

Ofcom said its analysis already shows that mobile companies make “significant” compensation payments to customers and estimates that less than one per cent of subscribers lose service for more than 24 hours. However, it is an area it will continue to monitor.

The regulator estimates the plans would mean up to £2.6 million additional landline and broadband customers could receive up to £185 million in new compensation payments.

Currently, there are 7.2 million instances where landline or broadband customers suffer delayed repairs, missed appointments or delays to new installations. Financial compensation, totalling around £16.3 million, is currently paid out in 1.1 million of these cases.

Improving service

Ofcom consumer group director Lindsey Fussell said: “When a customer’s landline or broadband goes wrong, that is frustrating enough without having to fight tooth and nail to get fair compensation from the provider.

“So we’re proposing new rules to force providers to pay money back to customers automatically, whenever repairs or installations don’t happen on time, or when people wait in for an engineer who doesn’t turn up.

“This would mean customers are properly compensated, while providers will want to work harder to improve their service.”

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