Compensation for Breach of Contract

Brian_s

eskbanker said:

Brian_s said:

CISAS said that they do not deal with this side of the case - the non-tangible issues - and I was wondering if Small Claims would be an option!

IMHO no, small claims would generally be for recovering quantifiable debts, not resolving customer service disputes.

OK Thanks. So, if you were in my position, you'd take the CISAS compensation and leave it be?

eskbanker

Brian_s said:

eskbanker said:

Brian_s said:

CISAS said that they do not deal with this side of the case - the non-tangible issues - and I was wondering if Small Claims would be an option!

IMHO no, small claims would generally be for recovering quantifiable debts, not resolving customer service disputes.

OK Thanks. So, if you were in my position, you'd take the CISAS compensation and leave it be?

Yes, albeit with gritted teeth - they're the industry arbitration service and should be expected to deliver realistic resolutions for problems in accordance with all their experience and the evidence in front of them (from all parties).

If you had a compelling case that a provider should be legally or contractually liable for consequential losses (which would be unusual) then you might be in a stronger position to take things further, but personally I don't see it from what you've posted.

And I agree with the other post about contingency - if you have a critical medical device that's completely reliant on internet connectivity then a single bog standard consumer-grade broadband product isn't going to be adequate, so you need to consider how you might achieve better resilience....

Aylesbury_Duck

Brian_s said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

I agree, I can't see what you'd claim for in a court claim.

And no, I wouldn't like to give up my internet access for a month and receive the monthly cost in return, but internet access isn't a right either, so if for whatever reason a provider couldn't or wouldn't supply to me, that's just my problem to deal with.  While I can see how important access is to your household for the medical reasons, that also means it would be sensible for you to have some sort of contingency for those occasions where the connection may fail or be intermittent.  Whether that's a system that can operate on a copper line if needs be (an elderly relative of mine has such a back-up), or a dongle with a carrier that does have some connectivity in that region, I suggest you look into it.  It sounds like you're in a rural area, so even with a connection, there's a risk it might be fragile.

Thanks for the advice. 

I understand that internet access isn't a right, but as a paying customer in a 'supposedly' legally binding contract, I thought I should be paid compensation relative to the consequences arising by the breach of contract. The contract stated that I should receive 30 days notice before cancelling. If the service disconnects, the provider has to do all they can to get me reconnected as soon as possible. In our case, this should have been to pay Openreach to finish what they started. They didn't. BT however could and did - albeit 4 weeks later!! 
As it was a supposed 'Technical error' in providing Openreach with a Cessation Order for  our Copper line without first making sure the Fibre was installed first, they should make up for it as soon as possible. They didn't do this either.
Our contingency plan for when broadband went down was to have our mobile phones connect to the Medical Device. Unfortunately, all our mobile phones were with the same provider - Vodafone Mobile! When we asked Vodafone Mobile to release us from our contract to move to a very slightly better signal provider,  Vodafone said no unless we pay £378 in early release charge. They eventually said yes after contacting CISAS!! 
We are in a very rural area and being down a bit of a dip doesn't help! 
The copper line is no longer viable as I mentioned Vodafone placed the order to have this line ceased and removed! This was apparently an Openreach plan to have all copper replaced by Fibre by 2025!!

So, finally, with regards to my original question, you would agree with the decision of CISAS and that I should accept the £200 compensation for the TLOS and its consequences and think it would be pointless to continue it further?

Yes, I would. 



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ArbitraryRandom

Brian_s said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

I agree, I can't see what you'd claim for in a court claim.

And no, I wouldn't like to give up my internet access for a month and receive the monthly cost in return, but internet access isn't a right either, so if for whatever reason a provider couldn't or wouldn't supply to me, that's just my problem to deal with.  While I can see how important access is to your household for the medical reasons, that also means it would be sensible for you to have some sort of contingency for those occasions where the connection may fail or be intermittent.  Whether that's a system that can operate on a copper line if needs be (an elderly relative of mine has such a back-up), or a dongle with a carrier that does have some connectivity in that region, I suggest you look into it.  It sounds like you're in a rural area, so even with a connection, there's a risk it might be fragile.

Thanks for the advice. 

I understand that internet access isn't a right, but as a paying customer in a 'supposedly' legally binding contract, I thought I should be paid compensation relative to the consequences arising by the breach of contract. The contract stated that I should receive 30 days notice before cancelling. If the service disconnects, the provider has to do all they can to get me reconnected as soon as possible. In our case, this should have been to pay Openreach to finish what they started. They didn't. BT however could and did - albeit 4 weeks later!! 

They are required to do everything 'reasonable' - and it's CISAS who will judge what's reasonable... but I suspect the issue would be the costs of paying Openreach to continue were disproportionate (aka commercially unreasonable), hence terminating the contract. 

And yes, your compensation should be directly linked to the consequences (injury done) by the breach - hence other posters saying you can't sue on the basis of 'what might have happened' - you have to identify and quantity the ACTUAL consequences/losses you sustained. 

CISAS, as an arbitration service, can take a more flexible approach when it comes to compensatory vs monetary damages than civil court. You can see the CISAS report (and if it's interim or final) so only you can make a judgement as to if they've not considered any specific element of your evidence etc to support an appeal. 

And, while I understand why you might not be happy with £200... fundamentally the issue you are having is actually quantifying your losses in a way which would result in a 'better' award via small claims, so unless you are able to do this it's unlikely to be worth your time or the cost of filing.