SKY'S THE LIMIT
Sky TV outage – can you claim compensation? We explain YOUR rights
Read about how to complain to the TV provider
THOUSANDS of Sky TV customers will be wondering whether they can get compensation after a huge service outage left them unable to access shows.
Customers of the subscription TV service were unable to access TV on the Sky Q box due to a technical issue that began at around 10:30pm last night.
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DownDetector, a website that monitors outages, showed that more than 60,000 people have encountered problems with Sky TV.
The vast majority of complaints were over Sky’s TV service, although a small number also reported problems with the internet service.
Some customers even experienced a total blackout.
A Sky spokesperson told The Sun: "We’re sorry some customers had trouble accessing Sky Q last night. The issue was quickly resolved, and service has been restored.”
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Industry regulator Ofcom told The Sun that customers who are affected by the outage should contact Sky directly.
As with any complaint, it will assess on a case-by-case basis, whether customers are due any compensation.
Will I be compensated?
Only broadband and landline services are covered by Ofcom’s automatic compensation scheme.
The scheme means broadband and landline customers get money back from their provider when things go wrong, without needing to ask for it.
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Providers including Sky, NOW Broadband, EE, Plusnet and BT are signed up to the scheme.
Are you owed cash from an outage?
If you lose service and there is a delay in repairing your connection then you could be compensated.
Your service must have stopped working and is not fully fixed after two full working days.
You will get £9.98 for every calendar day that the service is not repaired.
This means that if your internet connection stopped working last night and is not fixed by tomorrow night then you could receive automatic compensation.
Sky TV outage
Here is what we know so far about the Sky outage.
- Over 30,000 users have reported outage around 10.30pm yesterday
- Customers couldn't access shows on TV on Sky Q box
- Sky issued a statement that the technical issue that caused the outage has been resolved this morning
- Sky Glass and Sky stream services were not affected
- Some users are still experiencing the issue
- Customers have been advised to reboot their TV by unplugging it for 30 seconds
How do I contact Sky?
If you have been impacted by the outage then you should contact Sky directly to ask for compensation.
You can do this by phone, live chat, post or on social media.
Lisa Webb, Which? consumer law expert, said: "Understandably, some Sky customers will be incredibly frustrated that they still cannot access TV services after yesterday evening's outage.
"While some occasional technical difficulties may be unavoidable, customers should still be able to rely on the fact that a service they pay for will be provided.
"Sky also needs to provide affected customers with a simple route to claim any compensation they might be owed for being unable to access the service they paid for."
What can I do if I’m unhappy with the compensation?
Ofcom said that if you are unhappy with the response from Sky then you can lodge a formal complaint.
To do this go to ofcom.org.uk/make-a-complaint.
Although Ofcom does not investigate individual complaints from customers, it is still worth reporting a bad experience with your provider.
This is because Ofcom compiles details of customers’ complaints with individual providers.
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They can then investigate the provider if they receive a significant number of complaints.
You can call the Ofcom advice and complaint line on 0300 123 333 or 020 7981 7040 to raise your complaint.
Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing [email protected].
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