VM have in some instances claimed that they could not install as they did not have the necessary permissions. This is a valid excuse if true, but has on occasion been abused by the company. See what VM come back with in terms of their rationale for the reduced compensation. VM are still liable to pay compensation for delays caused if they didn't promptly apply for any necessary permits, and for delays if they didn't act when they had the permits. If there's any attempt to play the "council delays" card, then contact your local council's highways team, and ask them if Virgin Media or their subcontractors applied for a "Section 50 permit" near to your property in the date range that applies from first promised installation up to the date they started paying, when that permit was applied for and when it was issued. Typically the councils are a lot more efficient than urban myth has it, and they'll take a day or two to turn these around, and it's those couple of days that VM might reasonably claim they shouldn't be liable for - in the instances I have in mind the company wilfully tried to misrepresent much longer periods of time of the delays as entirely or largely down to the council. An example of this is not installing in the first agreed timescale, only then does somebody go and take a look when that circa 2 week window has already been missed, and they conclude some digging in pavements is needed. That take a few days to sort out the permit, and then a week or two to mobilise the construction team....and then VM then try and blame the entire delay up to that date on the council, when they should reasonably have known at the outset whether the property was serviceable without the need for digging, and they had two weeks to check anyway. If this sort of situation applies to you, then there's a good chance that you'll need to take a formal complaint to VM, wait for that to be resolved or more likely fobbed off, and if you are still unhappy you reject the resolution letter and escalate the matter to the industry adjudicator, Ombudsman Services (unless the forum staff can wave their magic wand for you). As a means of accelerating what can be a slow process you might want to start a formal complaint now that VM have not paid the appropriate amount of compensation, and that complaint can then be the basis for going to the Ombudsman.
If you need to take the matter to Ombudsman Services, and the council delays card is being played, you must word any complaint carefully - if you just complain that VM haven't complied with the auto compensation scheme rules, then the ombudsman may take VM's version of events as correct. The complaint adjudicator at Ombudsman Services will be impartial and unbiased, but they have to investigate the matters your complaint raises, not any surrounding issues that seem obvious to you, but which are not mentioned in the complaint. You would need to be complaining that the delays were a direct consequence of VM's failure to know the condition of their network before setting an install date, and their failure to investigate and remediate any construction issue promptly during the typical two week window between order and promised installation, and thus the compensation should run from the date of any promised install to the date the a permit was applied for, and then restart from the date the permit was issued. You may also want to refer to the Consumer Rights Act 2015, which states that any service needs to be provided with reasonable skill and care, and that is evidently lacking in this case.
If the delays were caused by wayleave agreements (legal permissions to install in, across or under somebody else's property, eg a landlord or housing association) then that always takes a long time, and the chances of getting additional compensation is much reduced.
Let us know what happens in getting this resolved. If you need to use the ombudsman, then there will be a non-disclosure clause applying to any settlement, but you'd still be at liberty to let us know (a) if you used the ombudsman, and (b) whether you were happy with the outcome.
