Broadband firms who provide a shoddy service will be forced to pay automatic compensation to customers under new rules announced by the telecoms regulator Ofcom.
So what can you expect? You’ll get £8 a day if a fault is not fixed, which will be paid as a refund through your bill.
Providers will also have to shell out £5 a day if your broadband or landline is not working on the day it was promised.
Finally, those annoying missed engineering appointments will mean you get £25 compensation for your wasted time.
This could be costly for broadband firms. Ofcom estimates that there are about 5.7 million cases of households losing their landline or broadband service each year, with engineers failing to show up for around 250,000 appointments.
Note that not every firm has yet signed up to the deal: Sky, TalkTalk, BT and Virgin are in, while other major players are expected to join shortly.
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Changes welcome, but watered down
The move is unquestionably a step in the right direction, but does it go far enough?
Ofcom has been drawing up these proposals for some time and has listened to counter proposals from the industry which, shock horror, felt the compensation should be far lower.
For example, Ofcom initially proposed £10 a day for a fault not being fixed, while the industry suggested £7.
Looking at the final compensation amounts agreed today, it seems Ofcom has made a partial stepdown and tried to meet the industry halfway.
It’s also frustrating that we will have to wait until 2019 to get these measures in place. That means many more millions face misery before anything changes.
What do you think? Should Ofcom have stuck to its initial compensation figures, or was it right to listen to the industry (who might ultimately pass compensation costs on to all customers)? Share your thoughts in the comments section below..