Does your provider owe you money for their service outages?

Providers are usually willing to offer credit to customers for internet outages, but you will need to call your ISP’s customer service number to discuss the details of your situation. 

We break down the policies of major providers and how you can negotiate your internet bill.

Can I get discounted service after an internet outage?

The answer will largely depend on who your provider is and how long the outage may have occurred. Only a handful of providers outline how outages will affect your bill and most are ambiguous as to what customers can do to address the issue. 

Providers like Cox, for example, don’t address adjustments to your bill. However, they do state that they will not be liable for outages directly or indirectly caused by circumstances beyond their control. This includes phenomena such as natural disasters and a myriad of others. Aside from calling Cox directly, it may be helpful to check out a forum thread to find more direct information about receiving outage credit.

DISH, Frontier, Mediacom and Verizon Fios take a similar approach, often stating that the provider is not liable to service conflicts beyond and sometimes within their control.

Providers like AT&T, DIRECTV and Spectrum do state in their terms of use that customers may receive a credit in the event of a service outage, but they don’t explicitly state what factors would qualify someone for a refund. In this case, it’s best to reach out to the provider directly in order to find out what qualifies for credit.

Xfinity is currently one of the only major providers that define the length of time (24 hours) that an outage must occur before any credit is considered. Your request is only valid within 120 days of the outage so be diligent about following up soon after. The amount of the issued credit is at the discretion of Xfinity, but it won’t be more than the cost of your monthly bill since you’ll be receiving a pro-rata credit for the time affected.

See how other providers handle outages in their fine print details:

• AT&T
• DIRECTV
• DISH
• Frontier
• HughesNet 
• Mediacom

How to get your service outage credit

Call customer service

Even if your provider states they aren’t liable for a TV or internet outage and won’t be crediting you in the event of one, call anyway! Many customers have noted their success on user forums by simply giving their provider a call and talking through the issue. 

Let the representative know which services you currently subscribe to and for how long they were unavailable for your use. If the time is substantial, it’s more than likely you’ll receive a credit for the length of time your services were out.

One user suggests doing some simple math of your monthly cost versus the amount of time your services were down before calling. If the outage lasted less than 24 hours, you may be calling in for a refund amount of less than a dollar. 

If you’ve experienced a service outage, locate your provider’s customer service number from the directory below and explain your situation sooner rather than later.

Service outages can be a major pain, but if you know the proper steps to take, you may be able to save some money for the inconvenience of your TV or internet outage.