£8 a day if your broadband isn’t repaired

MILLIONS of broadband customers will get refunds of £ for every day that their internet connection is not repaired.

Under a scheme that comes into effect today, Britain’s biggest broadband and landline providers have agreed to automatically give customers cash back for delays and cancelled appointments that disrupt their service.

They will pay out £ for every day a customer’s service is down, if it is not fixed within two working days. They will also pay £25 per day if an engineer cancels an appointment with less than 24 hours’ notice and £5 a day if there is a delay to an installation.

Small businesses stand to benefit from the scheme as well because around a third take out a residential broadband and/or landline service.

Regulator Ofcom, which is overseeing it, said BT, Sky, TalkTalk, Virgin Media and Zen Internet had already signed up. Hyperoptic and Vodafone have also agreed to the guidelines and will start paying compensation automatically later this year.

Ofcom said this means firms representing around 95 per cent of broadband and landline customers in the UK will be following the new rules. Plusnet and EE have also committed to the scheme.