Plusnet automatic compensation 60 day cutoff what legal grounds do they have?

karljt2014

Plusnet joined the automatic compensation scheme in May 2022 at £5.25 payable per day.  I was due to be switched on June 7th 2022.  I have now just been informed by Plusnet that BT openreach won't have completefd their "Dig work" which needed council permission until October 28th and I won't be switched on until November 11th 2022.  That is 157 days since I was contractually supposed to switch me on.

Can somebody please explain what legal grounds Plusnet has to cut off the daily compensation payments at 60 days and is this something I could take to arbitration?  

 

 My time period without contracted broadband is 157 days.  (June 7th - November 11th 2022)

The BT Openreach compensation is set at £8.00 per day.    Also does anybody have any clue what this BT Openreach "Dig work is" and why I have had to wait FIVE MONTHS for them to get permission for it for it?

Neil_Jones

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-internet/advice-for-consumers/costs-and-billing/automatic-compensation-need-know - "Providers can put a cap on the amount of compensation they pay out. After 30 days of an automatic compensation payment occurring, they can serve a cease notice to let you know that automatic compensation payments would stop after a further 30 days."

brewerdave

karljt2014 said:

  Also does anybody have any clue what this BT Openreach "Dig work is" and why I have had to wait FIVE MONTHS for them to get permission for it for it?

Presumably they need to replace a cable under a road which requires a full road closure and/or diversions ? Or a duct may have collapsed - we have just had an excavation on a road to our estate due to a complete section of ductwork falling in - took about a week to sort.

DullGreyGuy

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-internet/advice-for-consumers/costs-and-billing/automatic-compensation-need-know

Ofcom confirms that there is an effective 60 day cap as it states they can give 30 days notice after 30 days 

BT Openreach (https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/NI687438) is a small company formed this year in Northern Ireland and presumably will get a cease and desist letter before too long.

Openreach (https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/10690039) is the company you are thinking of, they happen to be owned by British Telecommunications PLC but do not have "BT" in their name. Openreach was formed in 2005 and as far back as 2006 you can see its name wasn't BTOpenreach as per this OfCom article https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/latest/bulletins/competition-bulletins/all-closed-cases/cw_889 



As to the underlying problem, I have sympathy as I went through exactly the same for months when moving into a new build but the whole case was full of lies... from our front door you could see 3 green cabinets, one on our block, one across the main road we lived on and one across a side road that gave access to a GP's car park. Both road and side road had been resurfaced as part of the deal to build the 12 houses.

Openreach told us that they had applied for permission to connect us to the green box on the other side of the road but the council had declined it because it was newly surfaced. The council stated they had no application from Openreach but had there been one it probably would have been declined depending on the mechanism for putting the ducting in. 

This went on for weeks and eventually randomly one day woke to find the pavement being dug up to put in ducting to the green box on our block. 

Unfortunately that was the end of the trouble as when they then sent someone to connect it up the instructions was to cable it to the cabinet on the other side of the side road but the connection number/port (or whatever it is) they'd been told to use for the FTTC was in the box on the other side of the main road. 

Took another 2 visits to finally get them to connect it up to the one they put the ducting to.