Is This Normal?

cormie

Since we changed to UTV, we've still been getting billed by Eircom. Is this normal?

This is from my online statement:

Account Ref XXXXX
Click here to print your statement
Call Charges €154.57
Advance Subscription Charge €29.99
Advance subscription charge(s) for January 2006

Total Charge €184.56

Payment Method Debit Card
Payment will be collected on or after 21/01/2006
VAT Number XXXXXXXX


Itemised list for 012XXXXXX Eircom/Uni Acc Ref: 13XXXXXX

Date Time Number Destination Duration Cost
01/12/2005 10:01:00 01XXXXXXX Dublin Central 00:01:17 0.0569
01/12/2005 10:02:40 01XXXXXXX Dublin Central 00:00:07 0.0052
01/12/2005 10:03:29 01XXXXXXX Dublin South 00:05:01 0.2226
01/12/2005 10:58:15 086XXXXXXX O2 Ireland 00:04:33 0.9974
01/12/2005 11:04:20 087XXXXXXX Vodafone Ireland 00:07:57 1.7426
01/12/2005 16:59:35 01XXXXXXX Dublin Central 00:00:12 0.0089
01/12/2005 18:27:51 01XXXXXXX Dublin Central 00:06:15 FREE!
01/12/2005 19:34:59 087XXXXXXX Vodafone Ireland 00:26:14 4.8498
01/12/2005 20:24:53 01XXXXXXX Dublin Central 00:00:12 FREE!
01/12/2005 20:25:29 01XXXXXXX Dublin Central 00:13:20 FREE!
01/12/2005 20:40:18 068XXXXX Listowel 00:09:54 FREE!

Now we haven't changed anything with either company so the January UTV Statement should be like the above and this is the bill we just got from Eircom:

Bill date 5 Jan 06
Rental from 4 Jan 06 - 3 Mar 06
Calls to 3 Jan 06

Total of your last bill: 61.83
Payment receieved on 13 Dec 05: -61.83
Balance brough forward: 0.00
Recurring charges: 49.58
Call charges: 2.56
Charges for this period: 52.14
Vat: 10.94

Total Bill: 63.08


Breakdown of Charges:

Line rental: 4 Jan 06-3 Mar 06: 39.96

Equipment Rental and Other
dect rental telephone: 4.22

Service rental:
Call tracking: 3.10
Eircom phone services: 0.00
eircom mailbox: 2.30

Subscriptions: free itemisation: 0.00

What is the dect rental telephone? Are we renting a phone from them for €5 per 2 months:eek: ? How can we stop this? Do we have to give the phone back


Is all the above normal?

Also, I notice on the UTV site come March 1st, I'll have to choose a new subscription package. Considering the bill above (quite expensive for a months calls even though we have free off peak local/national) and NTL and SMART are not available to us, and I use broadband for more than 20 hours per month but not more than 8GB usage, it will cost €29.99 per month to remain on my current package come march, is it best to switch to BT? I hear their billing system is a bit bad, what way will the billing work compared to the above?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. I feel we're wasting money here and would like to get it sorted asap:o

kaizersoze

Eircom are charging you for line rental and the DECT phone rental as you haven't transferred the line rental to UTV.
UTV are charging you for BB and calls.
Getting the 2 bills is normal unless you transfer all over to UTV or whoever.
The DECT phone rental is robbery. Ring Eircom and cancel that. Technically they still own the phone but, depending how long you have it, you can argue that you have it well paid for in rental. If they insist on taking it back then send it back. You can buy them fairly cheaply in Argos or any phone shop.
You probably will save money by moving to BT. 1mb BB including line rental for €35 or 2mb for €40.
You will however loose the free off peak calls. BT do an anytime calls add on for €13 or €14 extra so the calls may end up around the same.
BTW, if you select a new UTV BB package you will probably be commiting to a new contract and a disconnection fee.

cormie

Thanks for the reply. I was certain I changed to UTV for line rental too? Is that not the default option?

Will get onto Eircom about the dect rental. Sure we have 3 phones in the house anyway. Is the €4 only for one or 2? Two of them are from Eircom as far as I know but I got the other one for free as it was about to go into a skip and have that in my room.

The extra charge for anytime local/national calls will DEFINITELY be worth it. Haha look:

07/12/2005 13:38:40 054XXXXX Enniscorthy 00:28:03 2.0625
09/12/2005 12:49:54 054XXXXX Enniscorthy 00:41:10 3.0270
13/12/2005 11:41:00 054XXXXX Enniscorthy 01:15:08 5.5246
15/12/2005 11:24:31 054XXXXX Enniscorthy 00:47:59 3.5282

There's your €13, and that's just 4 calls that stood out as expensive daytime national calls and there was still another half a month to go as well:rolleyes:

So if I want always on Broadband (1mb is fine and an 8GB limit is more than enough, just as long as there is no 20 hour time limit or anything), anytime local and national and pay my line rental with that too, what will it cost from BT considering my contract with UTV is up, I have my own modem and it's not my first time connection. I suppose it would also be handier for BT to bill me for line rental instead of Eircom, I'll still want the mailbox though.

So with all them requirements (not much to ask) what should I be paying for 2 months considering I'm paying €50 odd in line rental to eircom, and €60 for BB with UTV at the moment?

Thanks again for the feedback:)

kaizersoze

1mb (always on) €40. 10gb cap (2 months)
Talk plus incl. line rental €78. (2 months) Any time to land lines in 32 counties.
Thats €118 for 2 months for all except calls to UK, intenational and mobiles.
Don't know about the mailbox as I don't use it but BT will tell you.

cormie

So an extra €8 every 2 months for free anytime local and national calls? Sounds good:D

When you say 10GB (2 months), did you mean to say 20GB (2 months)?

Overview: Option 1

€20 per month
Speeds up to 1Mb download/128Kb upload
Download limit of 10GB per month
Wireless modem upgrade €40
Reduced one-time connection fee €40

Free connection if you are transferring from another Broadband provider and do not require a modem from BT.

Six month minimum term

??


I think somebody mentioned on here before that if you go for the Talk Plus, Line Rental and Broadband, you may get the whole lot for a bit cheaper, is this true?

Thanks for the help:)

kaizersoze

Yeah, sorry 20gb for 2 months:).
It's possible that it may end up cheaper when signing up for the whole lot due to the different bundles they offer.
This is what they say about call management services:

I have Eircom's call management services If I sign up to BT's services can I still keep these?

Question
I have eircom's call management services (caller identification, call answering, call waiting or call forwarding). If I sign up to BT's services, can I still keep these?

Answer
Yes, with BT's home service, you can continue

to use any call management service you have.

That includes caller identification, call answering,

call waiting and/or call forwarding.

http://btireland.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/btireland.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=270&p_created=1084891625&p_sid=hDhhfk_h&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9MTQ3JnBfcHJvZHM9JnBfY2F0cz0mcF9wdj0mcF9jdj0mcF9wYWdlPTMmcF9zZWFyY2hfdGV4dD10YWxrIHBsdXM*&p_li=&p_topview=1
I forgot about the free connection if you have your own modem:).

cormie

Cool, so all I have to do is ring BT and tell them I want the whole shibang and it will cost me a MAX (before mobile/international/18XX numbers etc) of €59 per month and it may even be less if they do a "hidden" BB/Talk Plus/Line rental package. No connection fees or anything.

Now, will BT take care of everything or do I have to send a letter to UTV saying I want to cancel (even though my contracts for UTV Talk and Clicksilver are up?)

Thanks... again;)

whispering

Hi Cormie make sure to ask them to confirm that you will no longer have to pay line rental to Eircom anymore either OK;)

kaizersoze

Now, will BT take care of everything or do I have to send a letter to UTV saying I want to cancel (even though my contracts for UTV Talk and Clicksilver are up?)

Don't do anything. Let BT take care of it. They will send you a DTAF (BB transfer form) that you fill in and return. Don't contact or cancel UTV until you are live with BT. The upside is no down time. The downside is you may get caught for an extra month BB charge to UTV due to their 30 day notice rule.

cormie

Will do Whispers, thanks:)

Hmm, bit of a gamble, my usage isn't big so I could use dial-up and I have bb access mon-fri elsewhere anyway.

What are the chances of getting caught? Should I just give them notice anyway just incase? Will an email do or must it be in writing?

Before I go with BT I'll give eircom sales a ring and see if they can beat the deal. They are always ringing us asking us to come back:rolleyes:

My time with UTV has been good, very rare downtime, maybe 4 or 5 times in the 2 or so years I've been with them, they were the best deal by far at the time, just a pitty they've lost their edge price wise. Would have no problem sticking with them if they could offer me the same deal. May as well give them a buzz see if they can price match while I'm at it.

kaizersoze

An email to admin@u.tv will do for cancellation.
If you cancel UTV first you will have to wait until BB is gone from your line, get a cancellation number from UTV and give that number to BT. Then your line is tested for BB as if you never had BB before.
It has happened to 2 people I know that when their line was tested, it failed for some reason. Just something to keep in mind:).
I doubt Eircom or UTV will match BT but it's no harm asking.

cormie

Cool, thanks for all the help. I think I'll see if UTV/Eircom can match, if not I'll get onto BT and then email admin@ to cancel and hope I don't get stung either way.

Thanks again:)

cormie

Hi,
I rang Eircom and I'm still waiting for them to ring me back to see if they can beat the BT deal, anyway, I just got a call from talktalk offering me anytime national calls and cheaper mobile calls for €35.99 per month. That's €3 cheaper than BT per month. The €35.99 also includes VAT. That's one thing I forgot to ask about in the thread. All the prices from BT:
1mb, 10gb cap €20 per month
Line rental and free national calls anytime, €39 per month...

Do these prices from BT include VAT?

Has anyone had any experience with TalkTalk? Are they scammers? Are they legit? Good service?

Any feedback appreciated:)

kaizersoze

All the BT prices include VAT
The question is, does the Talk Talk price include line rental?
I've no experience of them but my gut reaction with most cold calling companies offering great bargains is steer clear.

cormie

The BT prices include VAT? Cool:) Yeah TalkTalk does include line rental. That's my gut feeling with them too. I told him to ring back next Monday anyway I'm sure I'll have scoped out the situation by then. I'd say there is a good chance that BT will perhaps give me a better deal if I get the BB and the line rental from them. Even if they just matched talktalk and knocked €3 off I'd feel I was getting the best deal.

You're quick at the oul replies, thanks:)

Skatedude

good luck.
i swapped from eircom to smart. but eircom refused to transfer the bb account, now i pay smart for calls and line rental and eircom for the bb.
I've rang smart countless times and they say that eircom wont allow the account to be transfered, the only way is to move from smart back to eircom and then try to transfer it again or cancel my account with both of them and apply to smart from scratch which means no bb while i wait for a new account to be set up

cormie

Smart isn't in my area:(

Surely that's slightly illegal for Eircom to do? Unless your bound by contract?

cormie

I didn't even have to mention TalkTalk, the minute I said I want line rental and broadband I was told it would only cost me €49.82 PM including VAT, and that's for:

1mb/12GB cap pm always on
Line Rental
Mailbox thingy
Free local and national any time calls!

That's sealed the deal I think! Waiting for the forms now:)

dub45

Skatedude wrote:

good luck.
i swapped from eircom to smart. but eircom refused to transfer the bb account, now i pay smart for calls and line rental and eircom for the bb.
I've rang smart countless times and they say that eircom wont allow the account to be transfered, the only way is to move from smart back to eircom and then try to transfer it again or cancel my account with both of them and apply to smart from scratch which means no bb while i wait for a new account to be set up

It is worth your while to get on with it afaik once you have your calls back with Eircom they are pretty quick to actually cancel the bb once thats done
and you have an Eircom account number and cancealltion reference smart can get going. theres a lot of money to be saved so why wait?

kaizersoze

cormie wrote:

I didn't even have to mention TalkTalk, the minute I said I want line rental and broadband I was told it would only cost me €49.82 PM including VAT, and that's for:

1mb/12GB cap pm always on
Line Rental
Mailbox thingy
Free local and national any time calls!

That's sealed the deal I think! Waiting for the forms now:)

Who with? BT? UTV?

cormie

Sorry, BT:)

kaizersoze

cormie wrote:

Sorry, BT:)

The 12gb cap threw me off. It only says 10gb on their website.
Good luck with the change over.:).

cormie

Thanks:) and thanks for the continued help:)