Arbitration

[minstral]

I had total loss of broadband service from 1st September to 14th September 2021.

In their conditions of service Virgin say they will compensate 8 pounds per day for loss of service.

In their conditions they say they will compensate 25 pounds for broken appointments.I had 4.

I have tried going to complaints and over the phone but all I am being offered is 15 pounds which is half my monthly bill of 31 pounds.

I have tried for the whole of October to find a solution but Virgin refuse to budge.

How do I start the arbitration?

[goslow]

You need to wait 8 weeks after you made your VM complaint or get a deadlock letter from VM. CISAS info below

https://www.cedr.com/consumer/cisas/complainnow/

but before doing so, if you have not already, check out the small-print of VM's T&Cs for compensation

https://store.virginmedia.com/the-legal-stuff/terms-and-conditions-for-fibre-optic-services/automati...

VM can wriggle out of paying via a whole bunch of different means.

Key points are you have to contact VM via one of the approved means (phone or online via the automated testing processes) in order to start the compensation count running.

VM also has two clear working days to fix the fault before the compensation starts (which can cause a delay if you log the fault just before a w/e or bank hol etc.)

[Hayley_S]

Hello @minstral,

Welcome to the community page, thanks for posting.

I am sorry for the loss of service recently, we know this is not an ideal situation for anyone.

I located your account and can see the complaint is still open, have you check our code of practice to see the steps you can take with your complaint?

Many thanks,

[minstral]

Hi 

I have gone through the complaint procedure whose email  told me to phone and get a settlement but all I was offered was 15 pounds.

Your conditions state that for every day with total loss an 8 pound compensation is payable and that is done automatically and that is without missed appointments.

It's a long protracted saga I went through for which nobody listened and so I believe the best way is arbitration.

[goslow]

Have you gone through the T&Cs link at #2 and calculated exactly how much you think you are owed? There is more to it than a simple £8 per day calculation or £25 per missed visit.

VM might cave in and apply a huge credit to your account but, more likely, you are going to have to prove to VM (or CISAS) why your view of the way the compensation should be paid is correct and VM's is wrong. That will require you documenting the story and calculation to prove your case.

Exactly the same will apply if you go to CISAS (dates, times, contacts with VM etc. etc.)

(And FWIW, the amount offered of £15 doesn't even add up to a multiple of any of the daily figures VM mention so, that alone, suggests something is not correct with VM's calculation).

[minstral]

VM way of calculating the 15 pound credit is they agree the broadband was down for 14 days.My monthly charge is 31 pounds so they have allowed half a months payment to be offset against my bill.

I have kept a diary of every contact made.My phone log shows that.I have proof when the line was cut as believe it or not BT did it whilst servicing their telegraph pole.A plaque showing the exact time and date is attached to the pole.

This brings me a to another point.Instead of being buried 2 foot under the road in conduit our cable was buried  with no conduit protection in the verge next to the road.This cable was run right next the telegraph pole and buried only one inch below the surface.As soon as BT started to excavate around the pole to inspect it they immediately cut the cable.We mentioned that BT had been working outside our property but we were told it was impossible to get anywhere near the fibre cable.Little did they know that VM had run our cable in an illegal way.

No one seemed to know why the broadband was down and so every time an appointment was made the engineer read the report about the job and then gave it a miss. all  the usual tests of junction boxes in our property,in the verge and the cabinet down the road drew a blank for them and so they didn't know what to do.In the end they had to engage their subcontractor Kelly's. Once on site they traced the fault within an hour.If they had done that immediately it would not have ended up a 14 day saga and I would not have had to claim.

The report about the missed appointments was verified by one of VM engineers but he refused to be quoted.

[Hayley_S]

Thank you for coming back to me @minstral,

I would love to speak with you privately and discuss this further. I will be taking ownership of this complaint once we have passed security.

Please look out for a purple envelope at the top right of your screen.

Many thanks,

[goslow]

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@minstral wrote:

VM way of calculating the 15 pound credit is they agree the broadband was down for 14 days.My monthly charge is 31 pounds so they have allowed half a months payment to be offset against my bill.

<snip>

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That's a bit of a sorry story. VM incompetence in cable installation leads to VM inability to acknowledge or find the broken cable fault.

There have been past mentions on here of poor or incorrect advice being given over the phone regarding the compensation scheme. This would appear to be another example. Sometimes 'goodwill' gesture payments might be based on monthly payment figures but for the compensation scheme, the terms are clearly laid out in the link provided but you need to go through and put together your own cost calculation showing what you think you are owed based on those terms.

You need to check the T&Cs for cancelled technician visits to see how they apply to your situation.

VM should then agree (or not) with your claim. The scheme is not quite so automatic as the name suggests, especially when VM have bungled the repair process and sub contractors have also been involved. The outage information/times may not have been recorded correctly.

On what date did you originally log the outage with VM via phone or via the online systems? On what day did you get your service back on again?

You should get better advice and help from the forum team now @Hayley_S has picked this up again.