Compensation

[Norman53]

My landline was off for 5 days, the connection was checked outside no problem found there. But found that the master phone box was faulty.  Told I was off for only 3 days which was not true because of above . Told no compensation would be paid. Taken it further , been with them for 20 yrs plus ( obviously I did not learn my lesson). I have weeks of problems with one thing or another with their service,why can't I leave without paying nearly £300 to leave them .

[goslow]

---

@Norman53 wrote:

My landline was off for 5 days, the connection was checked outside no problem found there. But found that the master phone box was faulty.  Told I was off for only 3 days which was not true because of above . Told no compensation would be paid. Taken it further , been with them for 20 yrs plus ( obviously I did not learn my lesson). I have weeks of problems with one thing or another with their service,why can't I leave without paying nearly £300 to leave them .

---

Dates and times are important when claiming as is the process of logging the total loss of service (TLS)

https://www.virginmedia.com/help/billing-and-payments/automatic-compensation

You firstly have to log the TLS with VM (either by phoning in or via their online tests).

When you have done that, VM has two clear working days to fix the fault before any compensation applies.

Some unlucky customers with a fault over (say) a weekend may have an outage of several days but actually be due no compensation under the scheme.

[Robert_P · Accepted solution]

Hello Norman53,

We're sorry to hear of the landline issues experienced and the inconvenience caused, we appreciate you taking the time to raise this via the forums. Welcome to the community.

From looking at the account we can see you have spoken to the team in regards to this yesterday and you were advised the reason you weren't eligible for compensation was due to the fault not being 3 consecutive days. 

Our Auto Compensation Policy for complete loss of service over 48 hours can be found here as agreed with our regulators. 

Rob

[Norman53]

Again I will repeat myself. If the line was working to the outside brown box but the line was dead because the master phone socket was not working then that means I had loss of service till fixed. I suggested looking at the job number given to your engineer which will confirm it.

[goslow]

---

@Norman53 wrote:

Again I will repeat myself. If the line was working to the outside brown box but the line was dead because the master phone socket was not working then that means I had loss of service till fixed. I suggested looking at the job number given to your engineer which will confirm it.

---

On what date did you log the fault with VM? And on what date was the phone service restored?

[Robert_P]

We did look at the job Norman53 and your account which is where we got the information as to why the compensation wasn't due and the reason.

Rob

[jem101]

Indeed the dates and times are all important.

Consider this scenario, your phone packs up at one minute past midnight on Friday 1st and you report it immediately to VM. It gets fixed and is all working at one minute to midnight on Wednesday 6th, how much compensation is due?

Answer; none whatsoever - even if it has been apparently six days of no service.

Friday 1st doesn't count because it hasn't been a full day, albeit it was short by only one minute. Saturday and Sunday 2nd and 3rd don't count because they are not working days, Monday and Tuesday 4th and 5th well, they are the two (full) days that VM are allowed to fix the issue. Wednesday 6th also doesn't count as it hasn't been a full day, again short by one minute but still!

If the fault and reporting had happened just one minute earlier and the fix was just one minute later, then Friday 1st would have counted as the first full day, Monday 4th would be the second day, Tuesday and Wednesday then would have been counted for compensation and you would be entitled to about £18.

As I said, dates and times are all important here!