Compensation from water company

Strummer22

Hi,

A (large. well-known) water utility company's tanker knocked down a telegraph pole and disconnect our internet. This happened a week ago and Openreach say it will take up to another week or two to fix the issue.

To get internet in the meantime, with the water utlitity company's agreement, we purchased a 5G router and data SIM which they agreed to reimburse us for. However, they have now requested that the router becomes their property when after the outage is fixed, and I am unsure about complying. After all, what are they going to do with a router purchased by a third party? I feel they should just compensate us for the cost of the routter and data SIM, and leave it at that, since the reason I had to purchase it was due to their negligence.

Anyone have thoughts on this, or their own similar experiences?

MattMattMattUK

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6666770/compensation-from-water-company

Whether anyone else has had a similar experience is irrelevant.

Their request is reasonable, if they allowed you to keep the router that would become betterment, what they are doing is covering the cost of mitigating the problem, which is perfectly reasonable. They may well make a "gesture of good will" once everything is covered but they will not be paying "compensation". You have two choices, accept their terms and be reimbursed, or refuse their terms and bare the cost yourself.

QrizB

Anyone have thoughts on this,

I don't think the water company was obliged to do anything to help you personally; they damaged Openreach property, their liability is to Openreach.

You, on the other hand, have a claim against your ISP for failing to provide the service you've contracted for. If they're members of the automatic compensation scheme they should be paying you £10.34 a day after the first two days.

Two+ weeks of £10.34 a day should cover the cost of a 5G router and data SIM.

iniltous

I’m surprised the water company is getting involved with your Internet outage, if you are with a reputable ISP then they should have a compensation scheme for outages of any kind that you are not responsible for ( the Ofcom scheme is a very generous one , around £10 per day ) and if it were an Openreach pole ( or anyone else for that matter ) they will claim compensation from the water company for the pole replacement costs and their consequential losses ( like paying the ISP that is compensating you and claiming losses from Openreach )

Lorian

Did you report broken plant here https://www.openreach.com/help-and-support/damage-health-and-safety

When we had a drunk drive take out a pole we reported it as broken plant and it was dealt with by a different team, they replaced the pole in 48 hours

Grumpy_chap

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6666770/compensation-from-water-company

Why should you gain a free mobile MIFI device? That would be betterment.

I am actually surprised that the water company got involved at all. Their liability to Openreach (who own the damaged equipment) will be resolved through their motor insurance.

You should have been in contact with your ISP, who may have provided a mobile dongle for the existing router or other form of remedy.

Peter999_2

Very good of the company to do this for you as they have no obligation to do anything for you. They are being very generous and are fair in asking for the 5G modem/router back when you've finished with it.

Strummer22

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81985349#Comment_81985349

Thanks, my neighbour whose service is also affected was bugging me to fight the utilities company for us to keep the router (I think he wants the same outcome) and was quoting case law etc, probably via AI.

Based on my own searches and your responses there's no case for us to be reimbursed for the router and get to keep it.

As to why the ultility company is getting involved, it's a bit more complicated than their contractor just knocked over a pole. Their contractor has been undertaking highly disruptive work just outside our property, on the only access road to our property, for the last year. We've been in frequent contact essentially to complain about how disruptive this has been. The utility company has indicated that we will receive compensation due to disturbance.