Broadband giant plots £50 fee for common blunder, leaked email reveals

AN alleged leaked internal email from a well-known broadband provider has revealed its customers may face a £50 charge.

The company may be set to crack down on a which has left some customers fuming.

Customers could be charged £50 for a missed appointmentCredit: Getty

The communication was an alleged internal email from , which suggested it is considering implementing fees for customers who miss engineer appointments.

BT is the UK’s largest internet service provider, and it includes EE and Plusnet.

While it does not plan to enforce the £50 fee immediately, the email suggests they would reserve the right to change this policy in the future.

This is because, the email allegedly claimed, around 10 per cent of fibre broadband installation appointments are missed on the day by customers, even despite reminders having been sent.

It seems BT were hopeful the fee could discourage customers from missing these installations.

The alleged internal email was reported in ISPreview .

It said: “The ‘possible’ charge is being advised to encourage customers to re-book appointments if they cannot meet it.

“At this point we won’t be adding the charge while we work through the finer details and impact of the charges, but we do reserve the right to charge and may do so in the future.”

The broadband provider’s terms and conditions already state “if you need to change or cancel an appointment, you must tell us at least two working days beforehand”.

This does not specify any fee for missed appointments, though.

The charge would also bring customer fees in line with .

Currently, BT’s policy is that customers automatically receive £31 compensation for an appointment missed by an engineer within 24 hours notice.

The majority of engineer appointments are carried out by Openreach, which runs the UK’s digital network, and is owned by BT.

No-show charges have already been implemented by some other broadband providers.

Virgin Media introduced for missed appointments in 2022, which was met with fury.

The alleged plans have divided customers, with some tearing the broadband giant apart for the “doorbell-tax”.

One positive commenter on ISPreview wrote: “It could be a good idea – especially where the customer does this frequently.”

Some customers disagreed, pointing out that it can be frustrating to wait in for an engineer during a long appointment window.

An alleged internal BT email reveals they may toughen up on feesCredit: Reuters

Another commenter wrote: “This isn’t workable when so many Openreach engineers never show up and mark it as missed.

“I’ve had 3 engineer no shows out of 5 for my full fibre installation, and I’ve had to fight them listing it as ‘customer not available’.”

BT emphasised that they are not threatening customers, making them aware of a potential charge if they are not available for their engineer appointment.

While the broadband giant did not wish to comment, it did indicate it doesn’t consider the fee to be a new charge, as no-show charges have always been at their discretion.

It added that it is in its interest to connect our customers as soon as possible and avoid any delays.