Your consumer rights regarding fibre connection issues
If problems arise with your fiber connection, you may have several rights depending on the type of problem. It could be delayed delivery, installation errors such as excavation, or other issues that prevent you from having a functioning connection.
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If there are problems with your fiber connection, you have different rights depending on the type of problem. In case of delivery delays, you can withhold payment, demand delivery, or cancel the contract. You can also claim compensation if you complain in time.
In case of installation errors, you have the right to a free remedy. If the error is serious, you can demand a price reduction, compensation, or cancel the contract. It is recommended to apply for a deferment of payment instead of withholding it.
Complaints should be made within two months, but some cases have a limit of three years or ten years for land and buildings. The price reduction should correspond to the cheapest remedy cost.
Rights in Case of Delivery Delay
- Withhold payment (with the amount required to secure your claim). We recommend that you notify the fiber provider in writing that you intend to withhold payment due to the delivery delay
- Demand delivery (if it does not entail unreasonable cost or inconvenience for the fiber provider)
- Cancel the contract if the delay is of significant importance to you
- Request compensation.
Rights in Case of Installation Error
- You can demand that the error be corrected (at no cost to you, if it does not entail an unreasonable cost or inconvenience for the fiber provider)
- You may be entitled to various types of compensation in case of an error in the fiber connection. For example, you may be entitled to price reduction and compensation for any additional costs.
- Cancel the contract, that is, terminate with immediate effect
- Withhold payment (with the amount required to secure your claim).
Recommendation: We recommend that you primarily request a deferment of payment instead of withholding it, that is, that the fiber provider postpones the payment date until they have investigated and responded to your error report.
- To be entitled to one or more of the above points, you must complain within a reasonable time after you noticed, or should have noticed, the error. There is no stated time for what reasonable time is, but a complaint made within two months from when you noticed the error is always considered to have been made within a reasonable time. You cannot complain later than three years after the error occurred, unless it involves work on land or buildings. Then you have ten years, after the assignment was completed, to report the error. Exceptions are if there is a warranty or similar in the contract.
Important! Another prerequisite for being entitled to the above points is that you do not refuse the fiber provider to rectify the error, for example by allowing technicians to inspect on-site, unless you have a particular reason for it. Such a reason could be that the same error is completely or partially present after two attempts to rectify it.
You May Be Entitled to Compensation
You may be entitled to compensation if the provider is delayed with the fiber installation or if it has been performed incorrectly. The law distinguishes between compensation in the form of a price reduction and compensation in the form of damages. Note that personal injury is not covered by the rules below.
Price Reduction in Case of Error in the Fiber Connection
As a rule, the provider has the right to rectify an error. If the error is not rectified, you are entitled to a price reduction. Normally, this should correspond to what it costs you to have the error rectified by someone else. However, you cannot get a price reduction for costs you would have had anyway if the installation had been done without error. The price reduction should therefore correspond to the cost of the cheapest way for you to rectify the error.
Compensation Due to Delivery Delay or Error
According to the law, you have no right to a price reduction in case of delivery delay, but it is voluntary for the provider to offer. Therefore, to be able to get compensation for a delayed installation, you need to show that you have “suffered economic damage” and therefore have the right to compensation.
The provider is then obliged to compensate you for the damage you have suffered unless the provider can show that four conditions are met:
- The delay or error is due to an obstacle
- The obstacle is beyond the provider’s control
- The obstacle should be such that the provider could not reasonably have expected it at the time of the contract
- The provider should not have been able to avoid or overcome the obstacle.
The provider is always obliged to compensate you for the damage if the result of the service deviates from what the company has specifically promised.
Damage Not Due to Delivery Delay or Error in Fiber Installation
If property belonging to you or someone in your household is damaged during the installation of the fiber connection, the provider may be obliged to compensate you. However, this does not apply if the provider can show that the company (or its subcontractor) has not acted negligently. You as a consumer must also be able to prove that you have suffered damage that occurred during the work on the fiber installation.
Compensation in Other Cases
For liability for damages beyond the cases mentioned above, it usually applies that you as a consumer need to be able to show that the provider caused the damage through negligence.