Small claims court, broadband

sevenhills

I guess its online these days; I had an issue with my broadband provider, Onestream, and their failure to provide me with the service that I paid them for.
I had no internet for over a month.
I know that companies signed up to BTs good provider scheme give £8 per day in compensation for no broadband, but my provider were not part of the scheme.
Onestream blocked my line, so it took me longer to change, so I want recompence.
Just because companies in BTs scheme pay £8 per day, that does not set a maximum or a minimum for other companies.
How much can I realistically ask for in compensation and for my loss of service?

forgotmyname

Ask for whatever your losses are. Plus a bit for the inconvenience.

Moved into a new build some years back and BT said the line will be in a few days after that. They were still building the road so BT couldnt put the line in. I was not expecting them to do miracles and just waited.

Nice to have a cheque for £160 as an apology for the delay, which was not even their fault. I didnt turn it down though.

waamo

Have you been to the Ombudsman? It looks like they are part of the Ombudsman scheme. Court should be a last resort and the Ombudsmen should be a lot quicker.

sevenhills

waamo wrote: »

Have you been to the Ombudsman? It looks like they are part of the Ombudsman scheme. Court should be a last resort and the Ombudsmen should be a lot quicker.

I have been in contact with the Ombudsman, but they say that I need to wait 8 weeks, and then wait for a final letter from Onestream, that will be like getting blood from a stone.
The Ombudsman website seems rather basic.

DoaM

The court will have expected you to follow the company's complaints process. The 8 weeks is for the company to respond with a deadlock letter - after that time you can take it to the ombudsman without such a letter.

Have you told the company that you're going to the ombudsman? If not then I suggest you do as this may kick them into action ... the cost of an ombudsman complaint (£500?) is typically charged to the company, regardless of how the ombudsman finds for the complaint. There is no cost to the consumer.

Retrogamer

DoaM wrote: »

The court will have expected you to follow the company's complaints process. The 8 weeks is for the company to respond with a deadlock letter - after that time you can take it to the ombudsman without such a letter.

Have you told the company that you're going to the ombudsman? If not then I suggest you do as this may kick them into action ... the cost of an ombudsman complaint (£500?) is typically charged to the company, regardless of how the ombudsman finds for the complaint. There is no cost to the consumer.

Exactly this.
From what i remember when you get a deadlock letter you used to be able to use it to escalate your complaint to CICAS (at the time i worked complaints for an ISP)
CICAS would then forward it to the ISP, and charge them approx £75 to do this.
If the ISP decided to defend the claim, and they won, they still had to pay CICAS about £500.
If they lost, they paid the £500 + what ever was decided the claimant was entitled to.

Long ago someone complained that their free email address on their non business broadband was down for 2 days.
They wanted around £250, which from out side at complaints was ridiculous. They complained to ISPA first and normally if you complain to there 3 times, ISPA will make the ISP provide a deadlock letter before the 8 weeks is up.
As it got to the 3rd ISPA complaint and we knew it was going to go to CICAS and cost us £500, even if we won we had to buckle and give them the £250 as although it certainly wouldn't have been awarded at a small claims court, defending it was more expensive. We had to follow the path of least resistance.

It's a shame the OP's ISP isn't on that list.
I'd advise to follow the ISP's formal complaint procedure and keep a copy of all correspondence.
If / when they can't come to an agreement, request a deadlock letter. If no deadlock letter is provided after 8 weeks (ask frequently if they refuse to change their position) then escalate to the Ombudsman and if you're patient and the ISP wants to save money, you should get a reasonable refund, no problem. If you don't and they choose to defend it, you still have the option of going to the small claims court afterwards if you still wanted to.