Broadband and landline customers will automatically recover money back from providers when they suffer from delayed repairs or installations, and missed engineer appointments.
The new scheme, enforced by Ofcom, could see customers benefit from £142m in payments – around nine times the amount they receive today according to Ofcom.
For each day that a service is not repaired £8 will be paid. For missed appointments it will be £25 and £5 for each day a new service is delayed. Prices for monthly broadband and landline packages start from £15 per month.
The UK’s largest broadband and landline providers have signed up to the new rule. Already giving out automatic compensation since April 1 are: BT, Sky, TalkTalk, Virgin Media and Zen Internet.
Hyperoptic and Vodafone will start compensating automatically later this year. EE will begin net year and Plusnet is to be confirmed.
Ofcom says the counted providers account for 95 per cent of broadband and landline customers in the UK.
According to the regulatory body only one in seven customers who suffered a drop in quality service received compensation. Those who did see compensation only saw “small amounts”, says Ofcom. The regulatory body receives 7.2 million grievance cases every year where only £16 million was paid out to 1.1 million cases.
Ofcom chief executive Sharon White said: “It’s unacceptable that people should be kept waiting for a new line, or a fault to be fixed.
“These new protections mean phone and broadband firms will want to avoid problems occurring in the first place. But if they fall short, customers must be treated fairly and given money back, without having to ask for it.”
