Internet firms must pay you more for missed appointments

The compensation that internet providers must pay you for missed appointments and their service being down has increased with inflation.

The new costs, introduced on 1 April, mean that you’re entitled to £8.40 a day for a service not working (if not fixed within the first two days); £5.25 per day for a delay to the start of a new service after you’ve switched; and £26.24 for missed appointments.

These rises are around 4.2 per cent, and are up from £8.06, £5.04 and £25.18 respectively. They’ve been introduced by Ofcom based on the CPI rate of inflation as it was on 31 October, 2021.

The compensation scheme, which began in April 2019, is voluntary, though most providers have now signed up to it (see list at www.snipca. com/41571). Vodafone was the latest firm to sign up, in November, but only for customers on the Openreach network.

Plusnet is the biggest firm not to have joined the scheme, triggering complaints from some customers.

In December, one customer wrote on Plusnet’s forum (www.snipca.com/41572) that after Storm Arwen knocked his internet offline for 11 days, the company offered him one month’s credit (£22.99) – a decision that “staggered” him.

He claimed that if Plusnet had been part of Ofcom’s scheme he would have been entitled to £88.66. A member of Plusnet’s support team replied to say that it has its own compensation method that pays £8 per day, after the first 48 hours.

Any compensation you’re owed under Ofcom’s scheme is paid to you automatically, so you don’t need to chase your provider for it.