Automatic compensation not applied after over 2 months

[MichaelCh]

This is a bit of a rant. Around 2 months ago I lost my broadband service for about 4 days. The live chat told me that I’d get automatic compensation applied to my next bill. It wasn’t, so again I contacted support who assured me that the compensation would be applied to my next full bill. It wasn’t. 

Earlier today I again contacted live chat support who told me that I’d have to apply for the compensation myself and that it was not automatically applied, which goes against what I’d been told by previous support staff and against the information provided on the help pages/what the live chat bot tells you. 

The support person then gave me a link to apply for the compensation, which was a 404 page not found. I eventually found the compensation page… and all it says is that it’s automated. They gave me a number to call and told me to choose option 1, which is billing. No matter which sub option I chose it hung up the call and sent me a text with links for viewing my bill, viewing direct debit etc. There was no option to speak to an actual person. 

I have submitted a formal complaint because now I don’t want the compensation applied to my bill, I’d rather it be refunded directly to my bank account as I’ve been promised before that it’ll be applied to my next bill. 

I’m hoping that this forum will bring visibility to this as I’m being fobbed off through every avenue I attempt. 

[goslow]

When exactly did the outages take place and when was your service restored?

The compensation scheme allows VM two full, clear working days to fix any fault before any compensation is applied so the exact timing is critical to work out what (if anything) you might be due.

There are also a few other get-outs which VM may use to avoid paying.

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

https://www.virginmedia.com/legal/fibre-optic-services-terms-conditions/automatic-compensation

[MichaelCh]

The outage took place around the 17th of June and was definitely fixed on the 21st as I have the update emails, so it was definitely more than 48 hours. Several different chat assistants said I will get compensation, which is logged and I was also told on more than one occasion that it will be applied to my bills. If they’re going to go back on what they’ve said they’ll do then I won’t be impressed at all. 

[goslow]

The exact dates are important as they determine what payment you get but, for sake of argument, if you reported the fault on Mon 17 June, VM would have all of Tues 18 and Wed 19 June to fix the fault before any compensation applies.

If VM had not fixed the fault by end of 19 June you would qualify for an initial payment of £9.76 for the 'Payment Trigger Time' (which covers the first few days of the outage which is VM's fix time). If you were still not fixed for all of Thurs 20 June and the service was restored on Fri 21 June then VM would owe you 2 payments of £9.76.

£9.76 for the Payment Trigger Time and £9.76 for the whole of 20 June, so £19.52 based on the above timescale.

Adjust those dates/times/payments up/down as required if they turn out not to be correct.

VM is supposed to credit your account within 30 days of the service being restored. The default means of payment is by account credit, AIUI. I think you are refunded in actual money if you are leaving/no longer have an account.

VM routinely tries to avoid paying (full) compensation as described in complaint topics on here. You may find VM tries to claim you did not have a TLS (and had an intermittent fault). Also the manner of reporting the fault may be relevant as per para 14 below

https://www.virginmedia.com/legal/fibre-optic-services-terms-conditions/automatic-compensation

usually phoning in or using one of the automated tests in 'My Virgin Media' or service status on the website and getting a confirmation of a fault should start the compo clock running. If you used chat, VM may try to use that as a non-payment excuse.

You should get a reply from the VM forum team on here, usually within a few days who may offer to assist.

[Ashleigh_C]

Hi there @MichaelCh 

Thank you so much for your post and welcome back to the forums. 

I am so sorry that you have faced this issue with the Automatic Compensation Scheme, this should be an automatic process so I am so sorry that this has not been the case, but I would be happy to take a closer look and see what we can sort for you via a private message. 

I will pop you a PM across now, please keep an eye out for the envelope at the top of your screen alerting you to a new message.