Before I begin - I am no lawyer, but I sure have been calling up customer services, shouting, complaining, switching providers - you get the picture. Equally, I have also been a very satisfied customer.

Bottom line is - of course there are going to be issues with your services. There might be a major or minor outage, you might call up customer services with a general enquiry and talk to the employee of the month, or you can catch the support service worker who was just told he was fired - there always will be something or the other.

However, to get support from ISPs, you have to know your rights and what you can and can't do. Often, with this information, most issues will be resolved, but there always is a minority of problems that will require you to take one step further than calling up, complaining and hanging up.

If you are not sure about what can be done - you are in the right place.

We at Simplifydigital are here to explain all that you should know when dealing with problems connected to your broadband services.

First of all - there is a number of problems you can face, you might not like the policy, there might be an error with billing, a member of the support team might be rude to you, you might encounter technical issues etc.

Company Support Departments

It's easy as that. A billing expert will not know what cable should be connected to what router. So make sure that you know the problem and you know what department to call - this often saves time and in some cases, nerve cells.

You can contact your ISP support teams via phone, email or directly via their website using a web form. However, sometimes this is not enough. If your issue is not solved within a reasonable amount of time (often estimated by support teams for you), you have the right to make your voice heard and inform the company.

Time to complain

If your voice is still not heard by the firm, you have the right to ask the company as to what are your steps in terms of filing a complaint. It is also sometimes called a "deadlock letter", which means that you have given your ISP every opportunity to repair the broken but it neglected to do so.

Once you file a formal complaint, companies should acknowledge it and respond to it as soon as they can. Providing there is a delay in their response, all respectable companies will let you know that too.

Sometimes, it can be a good idea to contact a senior employee within the company (for instance the MD or the CEO) - a lot of the time when it's them dealing with your issue, it will be resolved quickly.

However it is important to never exhaust this option, as it loses its perks. Nobody likes a chronic moaner.

Taking matters a step further?

Tried everything and nothing worked? Happens. Now you will have two options.

All broadband providers, be it business or domestic are subscribed to an Ofcom-approved Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) scheme. In other words, this is an alternative, impartial and free resolution option, which will take you one step closer to solving your problem, if not resolving it completely. However, this too sometimes doesn't work.

If you think that the case is quite serious, you might consider taking court actions, as scary as it sounds. But think very carefully before embarking on this option, as it is often costly as it will be lengthy - you might be paying court costs of up to £5,000.

Also, beforehand, you may consult with a solicitor as to how legitimate and serious your case really is - however this is an optional step, as broadband complaints are considered to be small claims by the court. However, again - take your time to think about settling the issue in court, as it may be daunting and you might be losing money while at it.

Also make sure you look at the Code of Practice, enforced by The Internet Services Providers' Association (ISPA UK) as your ISP might be a member of the organisation, so check the list of its members.

Other things that you can do:

• To prevent all the drama, you can simply check out online forums and see how others dealt with similar situations. Also consulting with a family member or a colleague might sometimes help;
• Be polite and patient. People working for your ISP are there to help and being rude will not make things better;
• Don't be lured into a package only because the price seems to be impressive, as the service might not be;
• Do your homework - have your friends used this ISP's services? What do people on online forums recommend?
• Don't delete emails or throw away letters from the company, even if these are simply bills - this is a kind of evidence if it needs to be presented at a later date.