Virgin Mobile to offer free data or day's refund after outage

Thousands of customers were unable to make calls, send texts or use mobile data for several hours on Tuesday – with many finding out about a 2.4% Virgin Mobile price hike during the outage.

Now the firm's said that affected customers will be given 5GB of free data on Sunday, or the cost of a day's airtime for those with an unlimited SIM, as it includes unlimited mobile data.

For help on cutting your mobile costs, see 30+ Cheap Mobile Tips.

What will Virgin Mobile customers get?

This will depend on what type of plan you have:

• The price of one day's airtime for customers with unlimited SIMs. This will be credited to your account on your next bill.

• 5GB of data for all other affected customers. You must use this on Sunday 19 May.

Virgin Mobile says affected customers will be told about the compensation by email or text today.

You'll get the compensation automatically, so you don't need to do anything.

I've been left out of pocket by the outage – can I claim?

If you incurred additional expenses as a result of not being able to use your mobile data – for instance, if you had to pay for a more expensive train ticket because you were unable to access your Railcard app – you may be able to claim more. Here's what to do:

• Gather evidence. Make sure you have and keep any evidence relating to the extra expenses you ran up or the charges you faced – for instance, screenshots or receipts.

• Complain to Virgin Mobile. You can make a complaint by calling 0345 6000 789 or by writing to Virgin Mobile, The Team, PO Box 333 Matrix Court, Swansea, SA7 9ZJ. Make sure you include copies of any relevant evidence to make your case.

• Escalate your complaint if necessary to an alternative dispute provider. If the complaint's still unresolved after eight weeks or you're unhappy with the outcome, you can escalate it to the Communications & Internet Services Adjudication Scheme, which will assess your complaint independently.