Broadband - repeated faults

A case study in which the consumer didn't receive the promised unlimited broadband service due to connectivity and customer service issues.

Issue

The consumer complains that since the broadband service began with the provider, they experienced numerous connection issues.  This resulted in regular calls and troubleshooting to try and resolve the matter causing inconvenience. The consumer reports that the connection issues usually happen on a Friday and over the weekend but the customer support service does not open at weekends.  An engineer established that the speed on the line had been capped and so the consumer wants this to be uncapped to achieve a faster speed as well as compensation for the times they experienced drops in connection.

Provider response

The provider confirmed that there were connection issues reported which they escalated to engineers to try and resolve.  It is correct that the consumers line speed was capped but not below any confirmed broadband speeds at the point of sale.  The reason for this is to improve the stability of the service. The consumer is able to make use of the service and usage graphs show this to be in excess of average users.  The provider apologises for any inconvenience caused and identifies that there was an email they failed to respond to and offers a small goodwill award in view of this.

Our decision

We found that faults were reported to the provider and technical troubleshooting was given.  As the issues continued, an engineer was sent which is what we would expect to happen.  It is clear that the speed has been reduced in a bid to ensure that the connection is stable and does not drop out and we agree that this is still achieving speeds higher than those quoted at the point of sale.

We appreciate that any loss of service may be frustrating but the evidence shows that the consumer was able to make good use of the service, although did experience a number of drops in connection and slower speeds at times. 

We agree that the provider did miss a response to an email that the consumer sent, and it also failed to send an ADR letter referring the consumer to our service if the complaint was unresolved after eight weeks. For this, we considered a small goodwill award and written apology was appropriate