Ombudsman Services | July 2020
We know the pandemic initially forced Openreach to focus its efforts toward critical national infrastructure, essential public services, vulnerable customers and those without a service. From 23 March 2020, this impacted on Openreach’s ability to carry out routine aspects of its work such as non-priority installations and fault repairs.
Accounting for the priorities, we understand that there was still some capacity for Openreach to connect services and carry out upgrades and repair work. This was subject to this work being undertaken remotely, without the need for Openreach to visit a customer’s home. Repairs or installations involving access to a customer’s premises were not permitted. The exception being where the risk was outweighed by a vulnerable person who was left without a connection.
The situation has improved since 23 March 2020. It is now possible for Openreach to carry out many of its routine functions, and from 18 May 2020 engineers could access customer’s homes. It is not business as usual quite yet, but protocols are in place to allow engineers to carry out home visits and most work will now involve non-critical or non-priority matters.
We will apply the following principles when considering complaints about delayed engineer’s visits: We will take account of the fact that service providers may not have been able to arrange installations, upgrades or fault repairs from 23 March 2020 due to the impact of Covid-19. Where there were clear coronavirus linked restrictions to engineer involvement we will not criticise the provider for the delay this caused or for the impact this had on the customer.
Limitations were apparent from 23 March 2020, impacting installation and repair capacity. Engineers were not able to attend customer premises from 23 March 2020 to 18 May 2020. Unless to prevent a vulnerable customer from having no connection. Where lack of access to a customer’s premises caused a delay during this period, we will not criticise the provider.
The situation eased as time elapsed from the initial lockdown. After 18 May 2020, Openreach was able to visit customer’s homes to carry out work. However, we are aware that some restrictions remained – and importantly, if engineers viewed it unsafe to enter someone’s home, they were not expected to do so. In relevant cases, we will assess the reasons why work could not be completed and whether the customer experienced an unnecessary delay. Where access could not be gained to a customer’s home for self-isolating purposes, we will not criticise the provider for delays.
We expect providers to communicate clearly with customers – in particular when submitting orders or reporting faults. Where work was delayed, we expect the provider to maintain communication with the customer to help them understand the reasons for any delays and to manage their expectations. We expect to see specific reasons why work was delayed or could not be carried out. This should be backed up with supporting information not a generic reference to the impact of the coronavirus.