Reader question: What evidence and amounts do I need in order to specifically address my own telecommunications provider after a complete outage?
The internet connection in your flat no longer works at all. A restart does not help, you have informed the provider and are waiting for the repair. In addition to an actually usable interim solution, a statutory compensation may now become relevant. For that you need a traceable record rather than just the sentence “Everything has been broken for days”.
This article deals with your own German consumer contract for the affected service. A rent reduction vis-à-vis the landlord or a Wi‑Fi that is merely slow is not thereby automatically resolved.
Start with a documented fault report
§ 58 TKG generally requires prompt free rectification of faults, insofar as the consumer is not responsible for the fault. At the same time there is a duty to co‑operate. The provider must document receipt of the report and any agreed customer service or installation appointments. [TKG58]
Therefore secure the ticket number, confirmation of receipt, time and your factual description of the fault. Which services are completely out? What information did the provider give? Note agreed testing and access steps and their actual execution. A new ticket number the next day should not go unnoticed as the start of an entirely new matter if the same fault persists.
Determine the period and the substitute solution concretely
Statutory outage compensation requires the period described in § 58 paragraph 3 after receipt of the report and a complete service outage; there are, among other things, exceptions for own responsibility, force majeure and certain statutory measures. [TKG58] A temporarily slow connection is therefore not counted as a continuous total outage without further examination.
The Federal Network Agency also points to a provided substitute solution as a relevant point of assessment. [BNetzStoer] Note what was actually offered, when it was provided and what it was usable for. A non‑binding announced dispatch and an actually available substitute provision should remain distinguishable in your overview.
Fictive amount with two statutory tiers
For an unchanged monthly fee § 58 states for the third and fourth day respectively €5 or 10 per cent, from the fifth day respectively €10 or 20 per cent, each time the higher amount. [TKG58]
For the purely hypothetical calculation the applicable unchanged monthly fee is €80. Assuming all entitlement requirements and exactly four compensable days have already been verified:
- Third and fourth day: each the higher amount of €5 or €8: €8 each
- Fifth and sixth day: each the higher amount of €10 or €16: €16 each
- Total for the four assumed days: €48
The example does not determine your actual start of the period nor a claim for every mere day of fault. Replace these assumptions only after verification with your documented own data.
Document a missed appointment separately
§ 58 paragraph 4 also contains a compensation rule for customer service or installation appointments agreed but missed by the provider. [TKG58] Keep the specific agreement, time window and sequence. A preferred time requested by you but never confirmed will not be declared a binding appointment retroactively.
The provision also regulates set‑offs in the case of reductions or further damages. [TKG58] The same impairment will therefore not be assumed twice across multiple claim routes without examination.
Bring the claim to the correct recipient
Present the provider with report, duration, status of substitute provision and the calculation together. A complaint to the Federal Network Agency does not replace asserting your own claim; the authority does not generally enforce individual monetary claims. [BNetzStoer]
If a concrete difference remains open, you let it be clarified further legally or in the appropriate conciliation route. The repair continues in parallel. A possible compensation is not a substitute for a corrected connection fault and does not justify any arbitrary complete stoppage of payment.