Eircoms 'Options' rip off !

Puteq

Hi all,

is anyone else finding practically everything Eircom does as being a rip off or totally incompetent? i wont go into the past experiences of problems i have had with them as i dont want to bore you all but i want to warn you about Eircom Options.

my fiancée is French so that means that we make a lot of calls to France. back in June I received an unsolicited phone call from Eircom suggesting i move to their 'Eircom Options' whereby i would save on calls to France. so fair enough i did so, only to find a few months later that Vartec were offering cheaper calls to France (8c per min and same rate all day!), they were approx 6 times cheaper than Eircom even with their 'Options' so we used Vartce for all our calls to France.

I then noticed nearly half a year later that Eircom were fining me for not spending enough to qualify for their 'Options' !!! there was a tiny little message on the side of my phone bill to this effect, which was phrased in such a way that i wasnt even sure if this is what it meant. the actual amount was only approx €12 per bill but still, their basic charges are enough without supplementing it with these hidden charges, and i notice that they were quick enough to phone me to suggest i go on Options but said nothing when they were fining me for not being on the correct Option for me.

I am going to send them a complaint e-mail but I know they wont reply or do anything about it, they never do, i just wanted to warn any other potential 'Options' users of this potential down side if your calling pattern changes.

Sleipnir

Jesus, just change from Eircom!!!!!

Why do people give out about them but do nothing to help themselves.

Go to Esat, Cinergi anyone but eircom and you will save a bunch.

Puteq

well i have started to use Vartec because of their superior rates, but while i dont know about Cinergi, Esats cherry picking of the lucrative customers meant they wouldnt take me on as a customer, i looked into it before. and since Eircom have a monopoly on the landlines (as far as i know) i have no choice but to stay with them in that respect

but my point is more that (as an admittedly un-knowledgeable user) i got suckered by them and i wanted to make sure it didnt happen to anyone else.

Lissavane

Why not try CPS to UTV and save about 25% on all calls with no catches and/or use Dome Telecom's Century Home for international calls.

Dome's current rate for France is 6c/min at any time. It's a prepaid service where you can top up by credit card or cheque. You dial a five digit code followed by the desired number. If you top up your A/C by €35 they give €40 call credit thus bringing your cost per min to France down to 5.25c/min - a saving on Vartec of 34%, I think.

Dome have a website which you'll find on Google no doubt.

GerardKeating

Originally posted by Lissavane
Why not try CPS to UTV and save about 25% on all calls with no catches and/or use Dome Telecom's Century Home for international calls.

UTV are not the cheapest for local/national calls, ok they are cheaper than eircon, but DirectDial Telecom and RyanAir are even cheaper for most calls...

Lissavane

UTV are not the cheapest for local/national calls, ok they are cheaper than eircon, but DirectDial Telecom and RyanAir are even cheaper for most calls...

For my calling pattern UTV are cheapest overall for local & national calls. I make many calls evenings & weekends. Only way to be sure what's right for you is to analyze a few old phonebills against the various operators' tariffs. Should have mentioned this in my earlier post.

shoegirl

Afraid this is part of the t&c. You are allowed one payment holiday a year and if not then you have to pay the minimum charge.

There's a very easy way out of the options scheme.

Log onto the eircom website
Order "Circle of Friends" - you'll get an option to cancel options

Ta da! No talking to bull****ters on the phone either