Eircom ripping us off again?

fletch

Right I'm on Eircom's Home Starter Broadband package yet I'm being charged €39.99 a month...wtf!? It says here that it should only cost €29.99 a month.
I understand that the line was upgraded recently but I was under the impression that this was free....what's goin on?

dub45

fletch wrote:

Right I'm on Eircom's Home Starter Broadband package yet I'm being charged €39.99 a month...wtf!? It says here that it should only cost €29.99 a month.
I understand that the line was upgraded recently but I was under the impression that this was free....what's goin on?

Have you contacted them to ask? Wasnt the 29.99 an initial offer increasing after six months to 39.99?

http://www.eircom.ie/bveircom/images/broadband_product_improvements.html

zuma

Eircoms PR people should get a bonus for this BT matching pricing schem only for it to disappear after 6 months or so.

fletch

dub45 wrote:

Have you contacted them to ask? Wasnt the 29.99 an initial offer increasing after six months to 39.99?

http://www.eircom.ie/bveircom/images/broadband_product_improvements.html

Yes I understand that the €29.99 was only an introductory offer but according to our bills, we are on the Home Starter package which is currently listed as being €29.99 on Eircom.ies site...tried ringin em today but they don't work on a Sunday...will ring up screaming tomorrow

Ah-well...

Either way guys, what a waste of money?! The speed is slow and you've €25 line rental on top?! Why bother? A lot better available on the market

leeroybrown

There is always a small percentage whose broadband speed/pricing gets messed up during the upgrade cycles. Unless this has happened to a lot of people I'd say that this is one of those cases. Ring them and they should sort it out fairly quickly.

Some ISP's (I'm thinking UTV here) make customers agree to a new contract to avail of a price reduction. Is there any chance that Eircom want people to do this?

fletch

Ah-well... wrote:

Either way guys, what a waste of money?! The speed is slow and you've €25 line rental on top?! Why bother? A lot better available on the market

I have tried to reason with my Dad but for reasons unbeknownst to man he decided to get Eircom broadband & I can't be bothered trying to waste my breathe anymore and tell him that we're being ripped off. (as you may have guessed we've had a few heated discussions about it already and this is the second time they have overcharged us for the service but my Dad is stickin to his guns, even though he hates eircom ) the mind boggles:eek:

Ah-well...

I feel you're pain! But it does give an explanation as to why eircom actually have customers!!! People admit to being overcharged and having poor service with alternatives available and yet, still stay with them?? You're right, the mid boggles!!

Irishdudedave

The €ircom Home starter customers were all upgraded to the "new" Home plus package which happens to cost €39.99 now, You didnt really get a free speed upgrade..All €ircom did was reduce the price of home plus and then moved all customers on the home starter pakage to the Home Plus one.

If you want to pay €29.99 you will have to downgrade again(which i think they charge for :mad: ). Then you will pay €29.99 but will be back on 1mb/128k.

Ah-well...

plus charge line erntal on top I assume

dub45

Ah-well... wrote:

I feel you're pain! But it does give an explanation as to why eircom actually have customers!!! People admit to being overcharged and having poor service with alternatives available and yet, still stay with them?? You're right, the mid boggles!!

Ovecharging means that you are being charged more than you agreed to pay. Eircom by and large do not overcharge - at least the people I know who are on the service are not overcharged and there are rarely complaints on here of Eircom's billing being wrong.

They may charge what people consider to be high prices for a service that is available for a lower price elsewhere - that is not overcharging nor is it a rip off - Eircom do not force anyone to avail of their bb service.

Why do people choose to stick with Eircom - well if you look back over the threads since BB was introduces by and large the Eircom BB service is reliable you dont have to worry about wrong billing and people are willing to pay for that - there is also customer inertia.

And I write this as someone who is by no means a fan of Eircom.

philologos

BT Ireland are doing a 1mbit package for 20 euro if that makes any difference
and a 2mbit for 30

dub45

Irishdudedave wrote:

The €ircom Home starter customers were all upgraded to the "new" Home plus package which happens to cost €39.99 now, You didnt really get a free speed upgrade..All €ircom did was reduce the price of home plus and then moved all customers on the home starter pakage to the Home Plus one.

If you want to pay €29.99 you will have to downgrade again(which i think they charge for :mad: ). Then you will pay €29.99 but will be back on 1mb/128k.

People did get a free upgrade - previously you paid 39.99 for a 1Mb service now that service is 2Mb for the same money.

Ah-well...

Customer inertia perhaps - however, in my opinion the Irish telco market in its curent setup does not truly facilitate competition. I agree, 'overcharging' is an inaccurate description. Overpriced is more accurate. Good or bad, the BB market in Ireland is in it's infancy and is probably one of the main reasons a lot of the other operators could have had issues beginning. I would assume that there are not quite as many issus now?

dub45

Ah-well... wrote:

Customer inertia perhaps - however, in my opinion the Irish telco market in its curent setup does not truly facilitate competition. I agree, 'overcharging' is an inaccurate description. Overpriced is more accurate. Good or bad, the BB market in Ireland is in it's infancy and is probably one of the main reasons a lot of the other operators could have had issues beginning. I would assume that there are not quite as many issus now?

there are plenty of issues - read the broadband forum! Lousy customer service - lousy billing (EsatBT in particular) Lousy wireless service - IBB in particular - lousy terms and conditions - look at Clearwire's renewal paragraph - look at UTV threatening to hold your line to ransom if you do not return your modem which their site would strongly suggest you own - just to name a few.:rolleyes:

is_that_so

"Rip-off!"
Lord can't people find another word. It is something we are getting good at- just moaning for the sake of it.
Yes, Eircom charge a lot more than they should but there are people who swear by them. That is the free market. To be honest a good number of broadband users don't care whether they are getting 128K or 256K upload and cannot even conceive of comparing a 2MB with a 3 MB package. They don't do speed tests once a week. All they know is that it beats dial-up.

Eircom have done nothing illegal. In our enthusiasm for that cheapest price we ignore "caveat emptor" otherwise known as the small print. That price change was flagged !!

fletch

dub45 wrote:

Ovecharging means that you are being charged more than you agreed to pay. Eircom by and large do not overcharge - at least the people I know who are on the service are not overcharged and there are rarely complaints on here of Eircom's billing being wrong.

You are kinda splitting hairs over people's choice of words....I don't think you can deny that Eircom charge more for pretty much the same service as other ISP's.
Admittedly Eircom's service has been faultless in all the time I've been using it

dub45

fletch wrote:

You are kinda splitting hairs over people's choice of words....I don't think you can deny that Eircom charge more for pretty much the same service as other ISP's.
Admittedly Eircom's service has been faultless in all the time I've been using it

No I am not splitting hairs at all - it is very clear - if you are overchagred it means that you have been charged more than you agreed to pay. If you sign up with Eircom you agree to pay their charges - you make your choice in the full knowledge of what you are committing to - if they then charge you what you signed up for that is not overcharging.

And I pointed out that Eircom charge more but lots of businesses compete like that - they are far from unique in that respect.

ainiseoir

Irishdudedave wrote:

The €ircom Home starter customers were all upgraded to the "new" Home plus package which happens to cost €39.99 now, You didnt really get a free speed upgrade..All €ircom did was reduce the price of home plus and then moved all customers on the home starter pakage to the Home Plus one.

If you want to pay €29.99 you will have to downgrade again(which i think they charge for :mad: ). Then you will pay €29.99 but will be back on 1mb/128k.

Thanks for helping me get my head around that.I was on Home Start this last year, or more.
I expect that I should be on 2 MB now, but from a purely subjective opinion,I don't seem much difference.

The connection speed of Real Player is my only indicator, and it went to the dizzy heights of 1.5 MB when I first heard about the "Upgrade" Hovered at 750 Kbps for a while , but now back at 512 Kbps again .Another Mary O'Rourke, or was it Dick Spring? manouver?

Is there enother way to check connection speed, and where can I go to interprete the results.
Tom

Duiske

ainiseoir wrote:

Thanks for helping me get my head around that.I was on Home Start this last year, or more.
I expect that I should be on 2 MB now, but from a purely subjective opinion,I don't seem much difference.

Hi ainiseoir, just on a point jackass made earlier. If the 1mb is ok for you, you should check out BT. €35 for the 1mb BB,and that is INCLUDING line rental.
( €20 excluding rental). Eircom are charging almost €55 for the same package.
(€29.99 for the BB, plus €25 rental). If you added BT's Call package, you could have BB, line rental, and unlimited local/national calls for €55. Just something to consider.

dub45

ainiseoir wrote:

Thanks for helping me get my head around that.I was on Home Start this last year, or more.
I expect that I should be on 2 MB now, but from a purely subjective opinion,I don't seem much difference.

The connection speed of Real Player is my only indicator, and it went to the dizzy heights of 1.5 MB when I first heard about the "Upgrade" Hovered at 750 Kbps for a while , but now back at 512 Kbps again .Another Mary O'Rourke, or was it Dick Spring? manouver?

Is there enother way to check connection speed, and where can I go to interprete the results.
Tom

www.irishisptest.com