Formal Complaint Regarding Persistent Internet Outage and Appalling Customer Service

[SzPekala]

I am writing to express my extreme dissatisfaction with the handling of my recent internet and service outage, which began on 16 February 2026. What should have been a straightforward resolution has turned into a nightmare of incompetence, contradictory advice, and complete failure to restore my services or provide any reliable information. As a long-standing customer, I find this level of service absolutely shocking and unacceptable.

To provide context, here is a detailed timeline of events:

On 16 February 2026, my internet and associated services went down unexpectedly. I promptly contacted Sky and booked an engineer visit for 18 February 2026.

On 18 February 2026, the engineer failed to show up for the scheduled appointment. When I called to inquire, one advisor assured me that Sky would follow up to determine why the engineer did not attend. However, in a subsequent call that same day, another advisor contradicted this by stating that no engineer visit was necessary and the issue would be resolved remotely.

On 19 February 2026, I called again for an update, only to be told by one advisor that I needed to book yet another engineer appointment. Shortly after, a different advisor provided entirely conflicting information, claiming that Openreach would attempt to resolve the issue on 20 February 2026.

On 20 February 2026, I was informed that Openreach had been unable to access the manhole and would reattempt the repair on Monday, 23 February 2026.

Today, 23 February 2026, I phoned Sky once more for an update and was told that the issue had been escalated to Openreach. Despite this, there is still no meaningful update, no resolution, and my services remain completely down.

This sequence of events highlights a profound lack of coordination within your team. I have been passed from advisor to advisor, each providing wildly contradictory information, which has only prolonged my frustration and inconvenience. Not once has anyone been able to offer a clear explanation for the delays, a definitive plan to fix the problem, or even a realistic timeline for when I can expect my services to be restored. This is not just poor customer service—it is negligent and has left me without essential internet access for over a week, impacting my work, daily life, and overall well-being. To make matters worse, I have a severely autistic son who relies on the internet for his routines and education, and he simply does not understand why it is not working, leading to significant distress and disruption in our household.

I demand immediate action to resolve this outage without further excuses or delays. Additionally, I expect a full explanation of what went wrong internally at Sky, appropriate compensation for the downtime caused (including any applicable credits or refunds), and assurances that such failures will not recur. If this matter is not addressed satisfactorily within the next 48 hours, I will escalate my complaint to the relevant regulatory bodies, such as Ofcom, and consider terminating my contract with Sky.

I look forward to your prompt response and a swift resolution.

[Daniel0210]

@SzPekala 
You may not be aware but you haven’t contacted Sky by posting on here. This is a customer ▶️ customer discussion forum where we try to help other customers.

Once aware Sky usually quote 2 WORKING DAYS as a potential fix time due to the service level agreement in the UK between ISPs and Openreach for fixing a fault. Openreach claim to be successful within that timeframe in about 85% of cases.

Some repairs take longer, for example when a pole or cabinet has been damaged or Openreach / City Fibre need to dig the road up (after getting permission from the local council).

▪️

This link explains the Ofcom agreed auto compensation scheme which Sky operates for when there is a TOTAL loss of Sky Broadband or Sky Talk for UK customers.
https://www.sky.com/help/articles/auto-compensation

If you have a total loss of service and it isn’t fixed after two full WORKING days from when Sky are notified of the fault, you will become eligible for it.

From Ofcom’s website:~
If your broadband or landline service stops working, you will have to report the fault to your provider. If the service is not fixed after two full working days, you would not need to ask for compensation or contact your provider again, as your provider has systems in place that mean you will start receiving compensation automatically if the repair takes too long.

This auto compensation is applied 30 days after the fault has been repaired and will come in the form of a credit appearing on your Sky account (from 01/04/25 the rates are £9.98 per day)

▫️There is no equivalent scheme in place for customers in the Republic of Ireland.
▫️There is no automatic compensation for TV services affected by a broadband problem.
▫️Sky broadband being discussed here is a domestic service therefore whilst it's fine for customers who work from home to use it for that purpose they won't receive additional or quicker support.

Personally I think it's a bit early for a formal complaint but this link explains the methods of making a complaint.

https://www.sky.com/help/articles/how-to-make-a-complaint 

Sky will then have up to 8 weeks to resolve it or you can then request a deadlock letter.

[TimmyBGood]

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@SzPekala wrote:

I demand immediate action to resolve this outage without further excuses or delays.

Demands really don't work here, or most places.  While you've undoubtedly been unlucky, domestic broadband subscription rates don't come close to providing anything 'immediate'.

Additionally, I expect a full explanation of what went wrong internally at Sky,

That's not going to happen.  A business broadband provider might have post-incident reporting on an account costing twenty times domestic rates, but it's essentially only a thing for corporate-level customers.

appropriate compensation for the downtime caused (including any applicable credits or refunds)

@Daniel0210 described the ISP industry compensation scheme, paid at the fixed daily rate which Ofcom considers 'appropriate'.

and assurances that such failures will not recur.

No ISP could meaningfully give any such assurance: the topology of the UK network creates numerous single points of potential failure, as do the logistics of repairs by the monopoly national network maintainer.

If this matter is not addressed satisfactorily within the next 48 hours, I will escalate my complaint to the relevant regulatory bodies, such as Ofcom, and consider terminating my contract with Sky.

Unfortunately you appear to be significantly overestimating what a domestic broadband subscription with any ISP covers: there's absolutely no guarantee of uninterrupted service and fault resolution is on a limited 'best effort' basis with no degree of priority or particular service level agreement apart from the target  time-to-fix and success rate meeting it noted above (which Ofcom accepts as being reasonable).  Where connectivity is considered essential by the household I'd suggest looking at providers who offer automated failover to cellular data for an additional monthly cost.

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