The UK workforce is more reliant than ever on fast broadband in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Sometimes, however, broadband speeds are not as fast as expected. Fortunately, new BT Broadband customers can claim financial compensation if they experience poor internet speeds.
New BT Broadband customers are now entitled up to a £20 refund if their internet speeds are not up to scratch.
If your broadband falls below the guaranteed speed we’ll give you £20
BT
Under the scheme, households using BT Broadband are given the Stay Fast Guarantee for their home, based on the estimated capability of their line.
If speeds drop below this, BT has 30 days to resolve the issue and if it can’t, customers will be given £20.
A statement on the BT Stay Fast Guarantee for Full Fibre page reads: “We want you to feel confident that Full Fibre won’t let you down.
“So if your broadband falls below the guaranteed speed we’ll give you £20.
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“It’s our way of making sure you get the download speeds you pay for, even at peak times.”
However, the new Stay Fast Guarantee is only available to customers who joined BT or renewed their broadband contract from March 1, 2019.
Compensation is not automatic, meaning customer have to run their own speed test via the MyBT app or Troubleshooter and notify BT if broadband speeds are slow.
BT will then attempt to fix the problem remotely or it will send round an engineer.
Please note, due to the coronavirus outbreak, BT engineers are prioritising repairs for their most vulnerable customers and for critical national infrastructure.
Paired with the fact BT engineers can no longer easily enter homes, services are taking longer to provide and repair than normal.
If BT can’t boost your speeds in 30 days customers will be told how to make a claim.
Compensation will be issued in the form of a pre-paid BT reward card.
This can be spent almost anywhere in the same way as a debit or credit card.
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How to test your broadband speed:
The Stay Fast Guarantee refers to the speed from the BT network to your Smart Hub.
This does not cover the speed you receive from the Hub to devices in your home.
BT checks your throughput speed to the Hub – the speed at which you can actually send and receive data.
This what you experience at home when using your broadband connection.
To reliably test your speed, you must be using your Smart Hub and our speed tester. There are three ways to test:
- Use the speed tester in the My BT app.
- Log into BT’s Broadband speed test.
- Or call BT on 0800 150 150.
When running the test, BT checks there are no underlying faults causing any issues.
BT may ask customers to switch off anything using a lot of data, such as streaming ultra-high definition TV.
This helps BT get a clear understanding of the performance of your broadband line.
Customers are required to complete all the fault checks before they can claim against the Stay Fast Guarantee.
Should the test suggest a significant underlying issue, BT may need to arrange an engineer to visit.
How to claim the BT Stay Fast guarantee:
BT customers can claim for any faults that are entirely within BT’s control, either on our network or on the Smart Hub.
The Stay Fast Guarantee does not cover anything customers are responsible for, including any damage to BT equipment or faults with home wiring.
If there is no connection at all, it means there’s a larger underlying issue and customers will be unable to claim against the Stay Fast Guarantee.
If customers do not meet either the download or upload Stay Fast Guarantee – or both at the same time – they are entitled to claim against the Stay Fast Guarantee once.
Should they qualify, BT will email a link to a website where you can make a claim against the Stay Fast Guarantee.
BT will then send customers a pre-paid BT Reward Card and a separate letter containing a PIN and details on how to activate it.
Customers can then spend this anywhere that accepts MasterCard.
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