CEDR and complaint resolution

confuseddesi

Hi guys, new on the threads here so be nice please
Has anyone got any experience with CEDR or complaint resolution in general? When it's worked and when it hasn't?
Got a complaint with a media company which fell literally on deaf ears so checked out online and went to CEDR
They've gone through the complaint and given their resolution in our favour, given the company a deadline which passed, I went back on the system to let them know nothing had come about and both have now gone completely quiet - not got anything from CEDR either now so I'm left wondering what is the point in the Ombudsman service if they have no power over these big corps
Anybody had any luck with them and anyone in the same boat?
Is there anything we can do?
TIA

MattMattMattUK

HSingh1 said:

Hi guys, new on the threads here so be nice please
Has anyone got any experience with CEDR or complaint resolution in general? When it's worked and when it hasn't?
Got a complaint with a media company which fell literally on deaf ears so checked out online and went to CEDR
They've gone through the complaint and given their resolution in our favour, given the company a deadline which passed, I went back on the system to let them know nothing had come about and both have now gone completely quiet - not got anything from CEDR either now so I'm left wondering what is the point in the Ombudsman service if they have no power over these big corps
Anybody had any luck with them and anyone in the same boat?
Is there anything we can do?
TIA

CEDR are not an ombudsman, they are a dispute resolution service and it is entirely at a company's or individual's discretion if they follow the results of mediation. They can refer you to the official ombudsman or regulator for a specific complaint if one exists, but in those situations you would be dealing with the ombudsman or regulator directly.

If you can let us know more about the complaint people on here may be able to assist you, or point you in the right direction.

confuseddesi

MattMattMattUK said:

HSingh1 said:

Hi guys, new on the threads here so be nice please
Has anyone got any experience with CEDR or complaint resolution in general? When it's worked and when it hasn't?
Got a complaint with a media company which fell literally on deaf ears so checked out online and went to CEDR
They've gone through the complaint and given their resolution in our favour, given the company a deadline which passed, I went back on the system to let them know nothing had come about and both have now gone completely quiet - not got anything from CEDR either now so I'm left wondering what is the point in the Ombudsman service if they have no power over these big corps
Anybody had any luck with them and anyone in the same boat?
Is there anything we can do?
TIA

CEDR are not an ombudsman, they are a dispute resolution service and it is entirely at a company's or individual's discretion if they follow the results of mediation. They can refer you to the official ombudsman or regulator for a specific complaint if one exists, but in those situations you would be dealing with the ombudsman or regulator directly.

If you can let us know more about the complaint people on here may be able to assist you, or point you in the right direction.

Hi Matt, thanks for your response, so in regards to the ombudsman is that someone CEDR should be referring me across to now?
So the complaint is in regards to Virgin Media (phone, fibre, tv) and I'll try to summarise as short as possible:
- should have been getting 100Mbps but was barely getting 10Mbps, they looked into the issue and said we should be getting 100Mbps and even after "fixing" any issues still wasn't getting adequate speed
- complaint submitted online back in July but no confirmation received
- Phoned them a week later and went through the issues on the phone and explained we've got vulnerable and elderly people at home and my only contact to them when I'm out (and during the whole pandemic working away from home) is through Video/phone calls - advisor said should be listed as their "priority customer" and they'd put in an emergency line as well just incase the existing went out for any reason - promised call backs which never came and they wouldn't provide me with actual complaint reference at this point "because the system doesn't give that out until the tech team look at the problem"?!?!
- couple weeks and still facing issues so rang again and they raised to second line, after me pushing i received a complaint reference this time. "complaints team will contact you within a few days to confirm receipt" - nothing
- engineers had been called out and after months of trying to get it resolved finally the speed increased to an adequate level and wasn't falling off every hour
- I never received anything back from the complaint, not even a contact from the dept to say they had received it and looking into it or anything. Never had the emergency phone line installed - despite the advisor telling me this would be marked as one of their "priority customers" due to the age/vulnerabilities.
- in November CEDR completed their checking back and forth with regards to what I raised with them in Sept. In conclusion they found "company broken their terms of contract and failed duty of care to customer" so provide an emergency phone line as initially agreed, send an engineer to fix the fibre issues, a written apology and 400GBP compensation for all the costs and aggravation incurred - I confirmed my agreement to the decision and Virgin Media was given 21 days to have this all done.
- January and nothing received so chased with CEDR as I wasn't sure what the next steps were meant to be - "we've sent another email to the company requesting an update/evidence for the compliance status to relay to you. CISAS will continue to chase the provider until the redress is honoured and we have extended the deadline pending the company's response" 
- if a consumer pays late they incur late payment fees, interest, default charges etc but nothing of the sort for companies?
- a week after the next deadline had passed I wrote again saying I've not heard anything since - no response from either party
- it's now March and I've put another chaser to CEDR but I'm wondering whether there's any point and whether there's anything that can actually be done - £400 for my retired father given that he's paying so much for a service he wasn't even receiving is quite a large amount and would help him out

any ideas would be gratefully appreciated
TIA

MattMattMattUK

Based on the above, I would have through your complaint should have been dealt with by Ofcom, however I do not think they would have been as generous in their award, but it would have been enforceable. In answer to your last question, CEDR can do nothing, they have no power.

You can raise a complaint with Ofcom, you might get something, you might not. My understanding would be that you might get something based on the unstable/slow/unusable service proportionate to the disruption and timescales around that issue, I do not think you would get anything for them not having installed a second line.

It might be worth reading a bit more about the Ofcom procedure and you could issue a complaint via them, but my view is that the CEDR process was/is a red herring, the £400 means nothing, your parents are probably entitled to something, but what that amount is I do not know. A final point, do your retired parents, who only use the internet for a few video calls need the expense of a VM 100Mbps service, if economy and usage is an aim there are in most parts of the country far more cost effective solutions. 

confuseddesi

MattMattMattUK said:

Based on the above, I would have through your complaint should have been dealt with by Ofcom, however I do not think they would have been as generous in their award, but it would have been enforceable. In answer to your last question, CEDR can do nothing, they have no power.

You can raise a complaint with Ofcom, you might get something, you might not. My understanding would be that you might get something based on the unstable/slow/unusable service proportionate to the disruption and timescales around that issue, I do not think you would get anything for them not having installed a second line.

It might be worth reading a bit more about the Ofcom procedure and you could issue a complaint via them, but my view is that the CEDR process was/is a red herring, the £400 means nothing, your parents are probably entitled to something, but what that amount is I do not know. A final point, do your retired parents, who only use the internet for a few video calls need the expense of a VM 100Mbps service, if economy and usage is an aim there are in most parts of the country far more cost effective solutions. 

Thanks for your reply Matt
so I've been on the Ofcom website and it says:

"If your problem is still unresolved after eight weeks, you can complain to an independent Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) scheme. Ask your provider for a ‘deadlock’ letter so that you can refer your dispute to the relevant ADR scheme directly before the eight week mark.
Ofcom has approved two ADR schemes: CISAS and Ombudsman Services: Communications" 

I've checked on the Ombudsman website and VM is not a member with them so I've only got CISAS which is CEDR right?
Ofcom says I can tell them however they don't look into individual complaints so am I back to square one?

Tell Ofcom
If you have experienced faults or delayed repairs, please let us know by filling out our short monitoring form. (Link)
Although Ofcom does not investigate individual complaints, your help in highlighting problems plays a vital part in our work and we may investigate a company if monitoring data reveals a particular problem.

In regards to the speed and cost etc my sister and I work from home using their connection when we're with them and as we both use VPNs we need something that can handle that as previously parents have said their Sky has been quite slow/lagging even for video calls on a phone - can you recommend something other than VM for this scenario? I know CityFibre and other companies are starting to roll out so there will be more options but currently VM were the only faster Fibre option available (albeit with issues along the way)

Thanks 

pmduk

Whilst Ofcom are the regulator for this industry, it does not handle complaints from individuals, but requires companies to subscribe to an ADR service. Either OS:C or CISAS (part of CEDR). As for Virgin \Media ignoring a CISAS decision, I'd be asking CEDR what happens next. I suspect the current silence probably means that both parties are arguing behind the scenes. 
Why not call Ofcom's public enquiry number for advice?

confuseddesi

pmduk said:

Whilst Ofcom are the regulator for this industry, it does not handle complaints from individuals, but requires companies to subscribe to an ADR service. Either OS:C or CISAS (part of CEDR). As for Virgin \Media ignoring a CISAS decision, I'd be asking CEDR what happens next. I suspect the current silence probably means that both parties are arguing behind the scenes. 
Why not call Ofcom's public enquiry number for advice?

Thanks PMDUK
In terms of the silence I would have thought that CEDR would pop a message back on their portal to me and say we're still following up?
doughnut moment here but I only saw the email addresses/online form filling for both! I'll give them a ring tomorrow thanks!