Can I invoice BT for my lost earnings?

welshboyo86

So i upgraded to BT Infinity 2 in October and up to Monday (5th December 2017) the internet connection was terrible and well under the guaranteed minimum.

Today BT called and offered me £20 in compensation as a gesture or 'goodwill'.

I am self employed and i think I've lost around about 5-6 hours of work trying to deal with this issue. Based on my hourly rate I've lost about £120-£150 worth of wages so £20 seems like a smack in the face.

When BT asked what I would like I suggested they refund the last two months as a gesture of goodwill as it would then all equal out.

I've been told that one of the Mangers will call me back on Monday but having looked on here at some of the complaints about BT I don't hold out much hope for an increased offer of compensation.

My question therefore is can i invoice BT for the loss of earnings?

spadoosh

You can invoice anyone for anything you want. Its getting them to pay it you will struggle with.

Its extremely unlikely they will compensate you based on your hourly rate. What happens if they had an issue with Richard Bransons internet and he had to ring them up.

Negotiate as best you can and then drop it. Anything else will just take up more of your time, give you more of a slap in the face and cost you more money.

ETA, you should concentrate on work in work time and do things like sort out the internet in your own time, when its free.

I think the 2 months refund is unrealisitc seeing as there was at least some service.

iniltous

If you have a regular 'residential' broadband , and are paying residential level rental, then you don't have any rights as far as consequential losses are concerned, anything they offer is just a goodwill gesture, (it probably says this in the T&C's,) business contracts may include a better level of compensation if the service fails, but you pay more rental for that in the first place

onomatopoeia99

If internet connectivity at your home is crucial to your livelihood, then:

1. Use a business service. You still won't get consequential losses re-imbursed but you should get good quality support that will fight your corner with the wholesale providers if there's a fault.

2. Consider redundancy - have two providers using two lines so you have a backup and can keep working if one fails.