Ofcom compensation on installs

[Barkey1988]

Reading up on here u can see people talking about loss of service compensation but not for any installation compensation which I was told I apparently was eligible for but 3 months in I have still not seen any credit.

My internet was supposed to go in and had an initial install date of 12th of May then got moved by virgin to the 7th of July then finally again to the 10th of July

 

It is now October and I am still getting billed as normal.

What is needed to get this rectified?

[goslow]

(Almost) inevitably you have to go to arbitration to get paid the compensation if you have ended up posting on here.

Much will depend on the information you were given along the way about the installation date(s).

The OFCOM minimum requirements document (para 9)

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0026/216962/Industry-Code-of-Practice-for-Automatic-...

refers to the 'date initially confirmed in writing' when VM said it would 'activate' your service.

So far so hopeful, that looks like 12 May 2023 from your images. However, VM's version of the compensation scheme it has come up with a range of self-authorised get-out clauses which aim to reduce or eliminate paying out the auto-compensation (chief of which is the 'provisional' installation date)

Past adjudication cases which have made their way back onto here suggest that the info you were given along the way may influence the decision-making of the adjudicator. In this past case

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/QuickStart-set-up-and/Compensation-awarded-by-CISAS-after-faile...

the adjudicator ruled in favour of the customer as VM never made clear the dates given were provisional. In another case VM kept issuing installation dates which could not be achieved because no cable was in place.

In this case

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/QuickStart-set-up-and/My-Install-Tale-of-Woe-Since-October-So-F...

the adjudicator did take some note of VM's excuses ref when the compensation should start from and made adjustments in what was awarded.

So, hopefully you have a collection of evidence from your installation as you went along.

A key question would be did VM ever give you any indication your original installation date was only ever a provisional one when you first signed up (or subsequently)?

[jbrennand]

Just to add to the above (some info is duplicated)....

Re. VM’s recent installation issues - see John’s excellent précis of the situation in message 18 here…

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/QuickStart-set-up-and/Multiple-Failed-Installations-zero-commun...

And then re. install compensation - see the Ofcom rules….

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-internet/advice-for-consumers/costs-and-billing/automat...

And Tony’s excellent advice in message 7 here….

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/QuickStart-set-up-and/Join-the-club-FAILED-INTERNET-INSTALLATIO...

And an example of >£1300 “bill credit” upon connection.

https://www.cableforum.uk/board/showpost.php?p=36130259&postcount=1

And, a successful Compo outcome see message 29 …

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/QuickStart-set-up-and/Help-please-to-progress-pre-install/td-p/...

[Barkey1988]

Hopefully I got a number of responses from the team along the way never any mention of the word provisional and one member of the chat said that the install team were on the way on the initial date as I had not had a response. The best is I have the below from the customer service team which I thought wouldve been helpful.

 

[goslow]

Wait for the VM forum team to reply here within a few days. They may offer to look into it for you but don't expect too much.

After that, the usual process is a formal complaint to VM first of all (a required first step but unlikely to produce any useful result)

https://www.virginmedia.com/help/complaints

Eight weeks after you first complained, or earlier with a deadlock letter, you can escalate to arbitration

https://www.commsombudsman.org/

For any compensation claim ...

You should put together a detailed record of events (dates, times of all calls, messages, texts etc. along with any missed appointments and failed appointments where someone turns up but no work was carried out). Keep the record in a timeline format with links from the timeline to each piece of recorded evidence. This will make it easy for you to forward a case to arbitration for the correct compensation, should that be necessary.

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

[goslow]

By way of an example, here's an installation message with a compensation 'get-out' tagged on the bottom of the message.

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Networking-and-WiFi/Technician-No-show/td-p/5396742

Your screenshots do not mention this which adds weight to the idea they were never 'provisional' installation dates