Compensation for delayed activation

[Mattias]

Hi,

I've ordered broadband with installation date on 8th Oct confirmed ( which did not mention any 3rd party permission issues etc.) However they only let me know in the morning of the installation day they were not able to activate the service, and pushed it to the 20th Oct.

I received my first bill today without any compensation.

I believe I'm eligible for cancelled appointment with less than 24 hrs notice (£26.24) plus £5.25 a day from the 9th Oct till 20th?

Just to get the service working it's been a nightmare dealing with VM on phone and chat they're mostly useless, I couldn't even file a complaint on VM as it just shows ' no complaints record' ... so I'm putting my hope on the forum.

Thanks

[jem101]

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@Mattias wrote:

Hi,

I've ordered broadband with installation date on 8th Oct confirmed ( which did not mention any 3rd party permission issues etc.) However they only let me know in the morning of the installation day they were not able to activate the service, and pushed it to the 20th Oct.

I received my first bill today without any compensation.

I believe I'm eligible for cancelled appointment with less than 24 hrs notice (£26.24) plus £5.25 a day from the 9th Oct till 20th?

Just to get the service working it's been a nightmare dealing with VM on phone and chat they're mostly useless, I couldn't even file a complaint on VM as it just shows ' no complaints record' ... so I'm putting my hope on the forum.

Thanks

---

And you would be right in your assessment for compensation, in fact 8th Oct. also counts but not 20th if it was all installed and working before 11:59pm on that day. So that's twelve days at £5.25 plus the £26.24 for the missed appointment. Now, I suppose to be fair, it might be best to hang on until your next bill is generated and see if it appears on that - if not then we have to conclude 'so much for the automated compensation scheme, which OFCOM expects all suppliers to have in place' and you'll have to go down the office complaint route.

As you may have discovered, submitting a complaint is not particularly easy especially as the VM website has been broken for months and tends to just cough up **** as a complaint reference, the complaint itself just vanishes into the aether - this in itself is a breach of the OFCOM conditions and is likely to mitigate in your favour.

So what I would do, is hang on until your next bill arrives - I'm not hopeful that any compensation will be on it, but stranger things have happened, if it isn't then make a formal complaint in writing to the address on the VM website. This complaint will, almost certainly be ignored or fobbed of with a 'resolution' which resolves nothing at all and bears only a tangential resemblance to what the complaint was about - but such is they way they  seem to work! You reply rejecting this resolution and demand a 'deadlock' letter. Armed with said letter (or after eight weeks if they decline to send a letter, again another breach of OFCOM regs, you escalate it to the industry adjudicator CISAS which costs you nothing (VM have to pay all the costs regardless) and their decision is binding on VM. But we can cross that bridge as and when.

Of course a much better and less painful way for VM is for a member of the forum staff to intervene and expedite matters - so fingers crossed - eh!

[Andrew-G]

If you're not connected then you shouldn't be being billed at all yet, so you're due both a refund for any payments taken AND the Ofcom compensation for a delayed install and missed visit.  Be aware that VM have bad form for trying to evade their obligations under the automatic compensation scheme.

On the plus side, some of these delayed installs have gone on for many months (the record of which we know in this forum is thirteen months), so there could be a nice payday when you eventually force VM to pay up.  On the other hand, if you're reliant upon VM installing promptly and quickly, then you perhaps chose the wrong company.

[Mattias]

Thanks for the info guys, it's very helpful.

I'm definitely luckier than other guys here to have the service activated on the 20th Oct evening. I only wanted to confirm the compensation from the 8th - 19th.

Just to clarify my first bill has arrived this week with 2 months fee (£30x2) and the credit section is showing 0. Do you mean I shall wait for one more bill after this one?

[Andrew-G]

"Just to clarify my first bill has arrived this week with 2 months fee (£30x2) and the credit section is showing 0. Do you mean I shall wait for one more bill after this one?"

I couldn't say - VM's billing appears cobbled together from bad ideas and computer code retrieved from builder's skips, so there's little logic or transparency.  

[Adri_G]

Hello Mattias, thank you for posting on our help forum and a warm welcome to our community.

We are sorry to hear about this issue with your bill and install delay compensation, we'd love to have a look and help further with this.
Could you please confirm whether this first bill you've received from us was issued before or after your install took place on the 20th of October '22?

Also, have you received any communication from us in regard to a complaint raised due to this or anything to state we've assessed this account for compensation etc?
Please, also tell us if you've had any updates since you last posted here - glad to assist further if needed.

[Mattias]

Hi Adri,

I received my first bill after the 20th of October '22, bill date is 16th November.

I've tried to use online chat to raise this issue didn't receive any helpful reply. They said it's all automatic and I should receive it if I'm eligible, I doubt if there's any action actually taken. Same as other people mentioned the complaint session on VM website has been 'broken' so I wasn't able to file any complaint. (It'll only show no complaint to track). 

Please see my bills breakdown:

First month's package: £30.00

Your services were installed on 20th October, so that is the day your charges start. We finalised this bill on 16th November, so your 'First month's package' includes all standard monthly costs from activation up until this bill, through to the remainder of your first calendar month of service.

Next month's package: £30.00

Usage charges: £0.00

Other charges & credits: £0.00

Thanks,
Mattias

[Kain_W]

Thanks for the response Mattias,

Also just to clarify with this, has our team advised that the compensation would be applied to thi bill?

Secondly was the appointment cancelled and then rescheduled?

Let us know,

[Mattias]

Hi Kain,

They didn't confirm it'd be applied to this bill only said it'll be automatically applied.

My original activation appointment on 8th October got cancelled, received an email in the morning of the day and got rescheduled to the 20th October (not by my choice). These communications were all less than 24 hrs notice of the appointment.

Broadband service was activated by engineer in the 20th Oct evening, and I received my first bill on the 16th Nov with no compensation.

[Jodi_S]

Thanks for coming back to us Mattias.

We will be more than happy to look into this further for you and see if you are eligible for compensation. I will pop you over a private message to take some details from you.

Please click on the purple envelope to accept the chat.

Kind regards Jodi.