indisponibilidade do serviço
Published 5 November 2026, 15:07
indisponibilidade do serviço — time when a telecoms service you have paid for is not actually available
The concept your right to a refund rests on. If the service is unavailable for more than 24 hours — in a row or in total over a billing period — and it is not your fault, the operator must, without being asked, credit your next bill with an amount equal to the price of the service for that time. On a prepaid SIM the money goes onto the balance, and a customer who has left is paid within 30 days.
Where you come across it. A letter to the operator asking for the bill to be recalculated, a complaint in the complaints book, an arbitration case.
The 24 hours are counted not from when the fault began but from when the operator learned of it or you reported it — so report it on the first day. If the outage lasts more than 15 days after you reported it, you can end the contract without paying a single euro, even in the middle of a lock-in period.
Official website: anacom-consumidor.pt/faq-tempestades-e-falhas-nas-comunicacoes