Broadband providers should have paid out close to £115 million to customers last year through the Ofcom automatic compensation scheme, new research has revealed. The study calculated the cost of compensating eligible broadband users who experienced delays to their service or missed appointments in the last year. Now, users are being encouraged to check if they should’ve received a payment.

More than 3.5 million households in the UK experienced broadband delays, either to the start of their service or while waiting for repairs to take place, according to Go.Compare broadband. Yet, 91% of UK adults had not heard of the Ofcom broadband automatic compensation scheme, including customers whose providers are signed up to it.

The study says around 1.4 million users experienced some delay in the start of a new service, equating to over £17.6 million in the last year that should have been automatically paid out as a result.

The comparison site produced the figures by applying survey data to official numbers from Ofcom and the ONS. It found that nearly one-quarter (24%) waited two days before their service was up and running, while 17% experienced a delay of three days and 6% were delayed for four. A further 18% waited just one day, and 12% said they were delayed for five.

A further 2.1 million had to wait for a repair following a loss of service in the last year, according to the survey of broadband users. This equates to a huge £40.6 million owed to customers who experienced this issue.

Approximately one fifth (21%) of eligible broadband users experienced a repair delay of one day, and nearly a quarter (24%) waited two days for their service to be fixed. It took three days for 18% of users to receive a repair and one in 10 waited for five days, while 6% waited three.

Meanwhile, compensation owed for missed appointments amounted to more than £57 million in the last year. Around 5% of broadband users with providers signed up to the scheme reported experiencing this – equal to a whopping 1.2 million households.

The Ofcom scheme offers £30.49 in automatic compensation per each missed appointment for eligible customers. Half of those who say they experienced this reported just one missed appointment, while close to a third (30%) had to deal with two missed appointments in the last year. A further 13% of these users experienced between three and five missed appointments.

Matt Sanders, broadband expert at Go.Compare, said: “The Ofcom automatic compensation scheme is great for users as it promises money back for any problems without having to claim for it yourself. When comparing broadband providers, it’s a good idea to check which ones are signed up to the scheme before committing.

“For some customers, issues and delays can drag on, with users waiting weeks or even months for repairs or the start of a new service. So, in these cases especially, we’re urging everyone to check that they have been fairly compensated for any issues with their service.

“You should have been automatically compensated, usually via a credit to your account within 30 days of the problem occurring. If this hasn’t happened, you should raise this with your broadband provider, and as a last resort, you can use the Ofcom-approved alternative dispute resolution (ADR) service.”

More information about the automatic compensation scheme can be found on Go.Compare’s website.