Sky Mobile outage: Can I get my money back?

Thousands of Sky Mobile customers complained about outages on Tuesday afternoon

Following complaints about major outages from Sky Mobile customers, the company has launched an investigation into the causes of the issue.

The problem seemed to begin around 2pm on Tuesday afternoon, with both Sky and O2 services receiving thousands of user reports via online outage monitor Downdetector.

As customers took to social media to voice their concerns, the Sky Help Team confirmed that it was looking into the issue. O2 outages have since been linked to users being unable to reach Sky Mobile customers, rather than a specific problem with the O2 network itself.

Sky Mobile appeared to suffer a major outage on Tuesday afternoon, with thousands of complaints flooding in (AFP via Getty Images)

A spokesperson for Virgin Mobile O2 told The Independent: “We’re aware of the issue that is impacting Sky Mobile customers. Whilst they use the O2 network, this issue is impacting Sky Mobile services only and our network is working as usual.”

Likewise, on Tuesday evening Giff Gaff reported that some of its members could also be experiencing “intermittent” issues with their mobile data.

So, is it possible to receive a refund if you have experienced outages?

Yes, but the level of compensation and how you can claim it depends on the problem.

In April 2021, Ofcom introduced a piece of legislation called the Automatic Compensation Scheme, which entitles both broadband and landline customers from selected providers to money back if they do experience outages.

Sky Mobile customer complaints appear to be centred in London, Manchester and Glasgow (Downdetector)

BT, EE, Hyperoptic, Plusnet, Sky, TalkTalk, Utility Warehouse, Virgin Media, Vodafone and Zen Internet all comply with the scheme.

In line with the Ofcom code, Sky Broadband customers are entitled to £9.33 per day if they experience a complete loss of service, but only if this fault isn’t fixed two full working days after it was reported.

In this instance, compensation will be paid automatically and customers will not need to file a specific request for the refund specifically. However, it does need to have been reported to the provider, and this compensation scheme only applies to broadband customers.

This money should be paid within 30 days of the problem being resolved and will typically be issued as a bill credit unless agreed otherwise.

From a technical perspective, a total loss of service means being unable to make or receive any calls, or for broadband customers, being unable to use the internet on any and all devices. However, today Sky customers reported issues with mobile internet as well as calls.

Sky Mobile customers, however, are not covered by Ofcom’s automatic compensation scheme as this is a broadband-only policy.

Where there are faults, customers could be entitled to credits on their account. If there are persistent service issues, the customer could have a right to exit the contract.

Note: This article was amended on 19/05/2023 to reflect that only Sky Broadband is covered by the Ofcom Automatic Compensation Scheme, not Sky Mobile.