Warning about Eircom Anytime

zozimus

I recently upgraded from Eircom Anytime to ADSL - happy as a pig in poop. So obviously I cancelled the Eircom Anytime as it wasn't much use to me any more.

But what a surprise awaited me. When the bill arrived, they had cancelled the Anytime subscription for the billing period and recharged all internet calls at the full rate.

Instead of a bill of sixty quid it was nearly two hundred.

I phoned Eircom and they were as uninterested and anti-customer as ever. They insisted that I should have been sent the terms and conditions and read them. They said tough luck.

If I had known - I could have waited a few weeks and saved 140 Euro.
When I phoned to cancel and then sent a mail - the guy on the phone sounded like his dog had just died and was as customer focused as ever.

They deserve to fail as a company.

zOz

Urban Weigl

The only thing that surprises me about this story is that you decided by reward your loyalty to Eircom by going for their own ADSL package, rather than IOL, UTV, Netsource or another reseller. I know most will go back to Eircom anyway, but as Tesco say, "every little helps". That's ignoring the bigger caps, especially since Eircom now plan to charge customers.

Ripwave

Originally posted by zozimus
I recently upgraded from Eircom Anytime to ADSL - happy as a pig in poop. So obviously I cancelled the Eircom Anytime as it wasn't much use to me any more.

But what a surprise awaited me. When the bill arrived, they had cancelled the Anytime subscription for the billing period and recharged all internet calls at the full rate.

Instead of a bill of sixty quid it was nearly two hundred.

I phoned Eircom and they were as uninterested and anti-customer as ever. They insisted that I should have been sent the terms and conditions and read them. They said tough luck.

That's pretty scummy all right. I just had a look at the T&C and there does seem to be some conflict. You have to give 30 days notice in writing to cancel. That means that they get to sting you for an extra months fee. But that also means means that you are still a subscriber for 30 days after you notify them of your intention to cancel. And they can't charge you per second rates when you are still a subscriber.

There is one thing that isn't clear from the terms, though - do you pay for the service monthly, or bi-monthly? It's clearly advertised with a monthly fee - €29.99 per month, but is your "Billing Period" every two months?. I think that if you brought this to the small claims court, you'd wipe the floor with them, but then, I'm not a lawyer.

The section about backdating the per-second charges seems to apply to situations where they cancel your subscription, not where you give proper notice.

9.3 On termination of this agreement for Flat Rate Services, the Customer will be charged eircom net Free per-second rates for all calls made to the Flat Rate Service from the end of the last Billing Period to the date of cancellation of the Service.
9.4 This Agreement may be terminated by Customers by serving thirty (30) days prior notice in writing to eircom net of the intention to terminate. eircom net Free Customers may terminate their service by discontinuing use. Customers are liable for all call charges up to the date of termination. Customers who terminate prior to the end of an eircom net Subscription billing cycle are liable for all charges up to the end of that billing cycle.

seamus

It's in there alright, and it's sneaky. But such is T's & C's.

When I worked there, I made sure anyone who rang up "just to try out this flat-rhayte ting" was aware of what would happen if they cancelled before they were billed, even though the T's & C's are sent out. Of course, such customer awareness doesn't score any points in any part of eircom, so a lot of people, particularly sales wouldn't mention things like that.

The general rule is, once you cancel the subscription, you are liable at full charge for all internet calls made since you were last billed.

Any decent company would put this fact even somewhere on the signup form. Naturally enough eircom hide it away in the Ts & Cs.

Ripwave - although the advertising can be slightly misleading, the pricing is accurate. Most people are bi-monthly billed, but even so they still pay "€29.99 per month". This is not even close to the sneakiest thing eircom do, it's just typical.

DMT

Three words: "Small Claims Court" - give them a fiver* and they'll sort eircon out...




* ... or whatever they charge now....

Ripwave

Originally posted by seamus
The general rule is, once you cancel the subscription, you are liable at full charge for all internet calls made since you were last billed.

What happens if you cancel in the middle of that 2 month billing period, and the "30 days notice" brings you into to the next billing period? Legally, you are still a subscriber, and eircom can not bill you "per minute" until that 30 minutes notice is up? (Some people would still be caught by this, but if anyone has been charged say 7 weeks of per minute charges, when the 30 days notice would have brough them into the next period, then they should definitely bring this to small claims court.

seamus

Originally posted by Ripwave
What happens if you cancel in the middle of that 2 month billing period, and the "30 days notice" brings you into to the next billing period? Legally, you are still a subscriber, and eircom can not bill you "per minute" until that 30 minutes notice is up? (Some people would still be caught by this, but if anyone has been charged say 7 weeks of per minute charges, when the 30 days notice would have brough them into the next period, then they should definitely bring this to small claims court.

Agreed. But in that case, normally people would be billed for the two months of Anytime, and one week of calls, despite having sent in a letter of cancellation 30 days ago. I think it's purely to cover their asses when they delay cancelling the account, but it creates a very bad abiguity, like you've pointed out. This ambiguity is created by the very nature of the way they bill. It doesn't say that it will be cancelled after 30 days, just that they reserve the right to take 30 days to cancel (essentially) from the day the letter is sent - a bit like employment notice, you can resign, but your employer reserves the right to keep you there for however long in your contract. So for all intents and purposes, its in eircom's hands as to when they want to stop billing you, and up to them as to how much you may have to pay.
Another reason why I'd never use an eircom product willingly.

Ripwave

Originally posted by seamus
Agreed. But in that case, normally people would be billed for the two months of Anytime, and one week of calls, despite having sent in a letter of cancellation 30 days ago. I think it's purely to cover their asses when they delay cancelling the account, but it creates a very bad abiguity, like you've pointed out. This ambiguity is created by the very nature of the way they bill.

The only ambiguity is due to the fact that they bill some customers every 2 months, rather than monthly. (In fact, does anytime show up on the phone bill as 2 x 24.79 (plus VAT), or does it show 1 charge of 49.57 (plus VAT)?)

It doesn't say that it will be cancelled after 30 days, just that they reserve the right to take 30 days to cancel (essentially) from the day the letter is sent

No, it's quite specific - the customer must give 30 days "notice in writing of the intention to terminate". You are legally entitled to rely on that 30 day period to to bring you into the next billing period. While it would be perfectly normal for a company to waive such 30 days notice in this kind of situation, eircom can't legally penalise you because eircom decided to waive the cancellation period.

Of course, if you call them up and tell them to cancel, rather than putting it in writing, it's a bit of a grey area - but legally, they can't penalise you with per minute billing in that case either, because their own contract doesn't allow you to cancel over the phone!

Of course, this doesn't help you if you cancelled 28 days into a 2 month billing period - you'd still have to pay for 4 weeks of per-minute charges, because your 30 days notice would still end during the current billing period. But if you cancelled 5 weeks into a 2 minute billing period, then you can legally hold them to the 30 day cancellation period.