Virgin users want compensation as broadband goes down but bills go up

Virgin Media suffered one of its worst broadband outages in years yesterday with thousands of users left unable to access the web. The first issue hit customers around breakfast time with a second failure taking users offline again last night. The gremlins affected most parts of the UK and left many fuming with some now demanding compensation for the issues.

Twitter is awash with disgruntled Virgin customers with one named, Luigi saying: “What you gonna do for compensation for the past 2 days of no internet? This is your fault not the customers any other establishment where you haven’t provided a service would require compensation. I hope you do something as I pay nearly £55 a month just for internet alone.”

And another user called Tom added: “My broadband has been down for the majority of the last two days. How do I claim compensation?”

Sadly, if you were hoping for some cash back in your bank account that seems highly unlikely.

As reported by The Mirror, Virgin has signed up for Ofcom’s automatic compensation scheme which means broadband and landline customers will get money back from their provider when things go wrong, without having to ask for it.

However, this £9.33 per day penalty only kicks in if a service has been offline for more than 48 hours. With Virgin restoring things by the end of last night it won’t face any fees.

Speaking after fixing the second outage a Virgin Media spokesperson said: “We’ve restored broadband services for customers but are closely monitoring the situation as our engineers continue to investigate. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.”

The loss of service couldn’t have come at a worse time for Virgin users with the Internet Service Provider recently hiking prices by a record amount.

In fact, some customers have seen their broadband and TV bills go up by an average of 13.8 percent with the hike being enforced from April 1.

Meanwhile, others will be hit by the record-breaking rises in May.

Speaking about the hike, a Virgin Media spokesperson said: “We know that price rises are never welcome, particularly right now, but like many other businesses we are experiencing significantly increased costs while investing to keep pace with growing demand, as broadband usage rose more than 10% last year and speeds increased by 40%. We’re committed to supporting customers in this tough climate and are freezing prices for vulnerable customers including those taking our social broadband tariffs.”

If you’re unhappy with paying more then it’s worth shopping around for a new deal or calling Virgin to see if they will reduce the cost of your current plan.

Don’t forget, if you’re claiming benefits them you can also opt for social tariffs which offer much cheaper prices and no long term contract to sign.