Comreg and its 'regulated' Telcos Slammed in Todays Irish Times over CS and Billing

Sponge Bob

The pricewatch column in todays Irish Times devoted half a page to the sheer awfulness of the CS and Billing systems in certain telcos and the equally awful regulator Comreg . When Comreg were asked about the litany of CS, Billing and Service disasters they tolerate from certain operators they said they normally:

Intervened with the relevant operators, highlighted the issues reported and RECEIVED CONFIRMATION OF RESOLUTION

And never EVER EVER checked anything themselves once the carrier had written their brushoff email to Comreg. If you believe that your telco may have sent an obviously erroneous CONFIRMATION OF RESOLUTION email to Comreg, in your case, you could:

1. email pricewatch@irish-times.ie with the full story
2. email commissioner mike.byrne@comreg.ie who is in charge of this farce and confirm NON resolution to him .

Or both using cc

Comreg also mentioned that they would use

The full extent

of their powers to protect the Irish consumer from the usual suspects and that their

approach had been successful

not that we can obviously tell from evidence in the wild.

And then Comreg told the Irish Times that Breach of Contract ( or of Customer Service Charters) with all BB providers (IE.. NOT A PER SECOND BILLED PRODUCT NB NB ) should be brought up with the Consumer Affairs people or in Court and not with Comreg at all at all :eek: .

Now thats a first , you would think they were in control and in charge of their licencees the way they go on !!!! And then the Times noticed that the consumer complaints to operators contact page on the Comreg site was .....not there at all , a bit like the whole regulatory framework in this bloody country.

Damien was the only one quoted who talked any sense, quite a lot of it as usual , Comreg seem to have sent a letter/email with NDA and were not attributed by name .

damien

Oh I had forgotten about that. Must find a copy online. Or if anyone would like to post it here.

viking

The article in question:

When you can't connect

What's the story with broadband efficiency? The commission responsible for the regulation of the electronic communications sector in Ireland is failing to protect consumers from broadband companies seemingly incapable of returning phone calls, answering e-mails or providing any kind of customer service other than the occasional rude brush-off, it has been claimed.

According to the chairman of broadband lobby group Ireland Offline, Damien Mulley, the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) is not being tough enough with providers who fail to deliver adequate customer service. He believes that the negative impression poor customer care creates could be hindering broadband take-up in Ireland.

"ComReg is not doing its job," Mulley says. "While it has been talking up the number of complaints that it has logged, how many of them have actually been resolved?"

It is not only the regulator that has come under fire in recent weeks. The State's broadband coverage has been described as "shameful" by opposition parties and the Government has been accused of inertia and of failing to invest in broadband infrastructure.

Broadband take-up in Ireland is among the lowest in the European Union - ComReg estimates that there are now approximately 350,000 broadband subscribers, equivalent to 9 per cent of the population.

Speaking in the Dáil recently, the Minister of State for Communications, John Browne, side-stepped responsibility for the low levels of take-up, blaming broadband providers here for being slow to launch competitive, affordable broadband in comparison with other European states.

But the poor level of customer care offered by many providers is also a contributory factor. ComReg says it received 487 queries from consumers about broadband availability, installation, billing and performance in the first three months of the year.

Meanwhile, a report in the Consumers' Association of Ireland's Consumer Choice magazine reported that 30 per cent of the complaints made to its National Consumer Complaint Register in December concerned the customer service offered by telecommunications firms.

Broken networks, low broadband speeds, billing errors and poor customer support angered many users, and if the PriceWatch mail box is anything to go by, the problem hasn't gone away. There was a huge response to PriceWatch's recent invitation to readers to contact us if they had experienced problems with their broadband providers.

"Pure poor customer care and disinterest: it's all about having your bank details," wrote a reader who found that making the seemingly straightforward switch from one telecom company to another beyond the capabilities of either.

Another reader repeatedly tried to contact his broadband provider via e-mail and phone but after receiving no replies concluded that "the broadband set-up in Ireland is a complete shambles". Another broadband user who contacted a customer service department when he could not get online was told "Leave it a bit, it might settle", as if it was a crying child. "It's almost as if the staff are reading from cards. They appear to have so little knowledge," he said.

Few of the main players in the broadband sector were spared the wrath of our readers. "I started my service two years ago and had nothing but problems," says one disgruntled customer. "They hadn't set me up correctly, their online billing was incorrect, they overcharged me. . . What a shambles."

"Once they have your money, they seem to abandon the customer. At this point however I believe that ComReg should investigate customer service levels of telecoms. Individuals can only do so much," another mail said.

But unless ComReg can punish the providers, any investigations it carries out will be irrelevant. "People are having problems signing up and then getting proper service," says Mulley. "And their negative experiences may have turned others off. Bad news spreads much faster than good news."

ComReg denies it has been toothless in dealing with complaints and says it has "used the full extent of its powers to promote and protect the interests of consumers of electronic communications services".

In response to questions put to it by PriceWatch, it insists that where it has identified a trend or significant volume of consumer issues it "intervened with the relevant operators, highlighted the issues reported and received confirmation of resolution".

It says this approach has been successful and expressed optimism that consumers who experienced difficulty in the first quarter of the year "are now benefiting from improved service with their operator".

It says that it does not have the power to impose sanctions on operators who breach their customer service charters as such breaches fall under consumer protection legislation "which is a matter for the Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs or the courts".

On its website, ComReg says its policy is "to empower consumers to take direct action" and it aims "to provide users with sufficient relevant information so that they can deal with their service providers and to ensure that operators have adequate procedures in place to address customer issues". It provides a link to the telecom operators contact details on its website. Ominously, perhaps, that link was broken last week.

See www.comreg.ie

© The Irish Times

RuggieBear

Confirmation of resolution....? i got nothing but PFO's

jwt

Is this how a complaint conversation with Comreg goes?

Comreg “How can we help you?”

User “I have a problem with my telco supplier and…”

Comreg (cutting off user mid flow “Have you complained to your operator? If you visit askcomreg.ie it will tell you the procedure to follow”.

User “I have tried to complain but am not getting a response”

Comreg “Have you asked for a copy of their code of conduct?”

User “Why do I need a copy of their code of conduct if I wish to complain?”

Comreg “If your complaint is covered within their code of conduct you can ask the person dealing with it to escalate it further”

User “But no one in the company is dealing with it, I only get automated responses?”

Comreg “Have you phoned the operator directly”

User “Yes but am put on hold continually until I give up”

Comreg “In that case you need to complain in writing”

User “But I can’t complain if no one is paying attention”

Comreg “A written letter will suffice”

User “What will you do then?”

Comreg “We’ll ask the operator if they have received the complaint”

User “Is that all?”

Comreg “Then we’ll ask the operator if they are dealing with it”

User “And if they say they are?”

Comreg “Then the complaint escalation procedure is working and we’ve done our job”

User “AND WHAT EXACTLY HAPPENS WHEN THEY DON’T DEAL WITH MY COMPLAINT AFTER TELLING YOU THEY HAVE”

Comreg “If its’ something outside our powers we’ll refer you to the relevant body, but we can’t help you”

User “Which part of this process involves you?”

Comreg “Until you have followed the complaint escalation procedure we can’t help you”

User “What happens if it’s not covered by their code of conduct”

Comreg “Then we can’t help you”

User “What if they claim to be dealing with it but aren’t?”

Comreg “Then we can’t help you”

User “What if they refuse to deal with it”

Comreg “AH!, then we could, in theory, sanction them but we never have , so we can’t help you”

User “Is there any point in ringing you about my complaint?”

User hangs up in disgust.

Next user rings in

Comreg “How can we help you?”




John

Sponge Bob

Oh God!!! , thats so true its in my <.sig> now .

zuma

That sig will certainly get chopped.

Place a link in your sig to the above conversation....its easier in the long run.

bealtine

jwt wrote:

User “Is there any point in ring you about my complaint?”

User hangs up in disgust

John

There ya go...The Comreg job is done

Welcome to the Kafkaesque world of Comreg.