eircom complaint

fl4pj4ck

well, i have ordered phoneline and the internet. first of all i was charded for the line (which should be free if it is 1st time connection on their terms) in brand new house, then after all i was never told that all the prices i was give was excl vat. then i was charged for 2 months in advance for the broadband.
after all of that i realised that in the billl i got next month they added vat, of which i wasnt informed in first place. so my gf rang them and ask for explanation and they keep saying that is how its suppose to be. she works in customer support aswell, and she made a formal complaint. now she's saying that according to some new law if the customer makes a complaint they must give them a call back (or write an explanation) whether the comlpaint was succesfully resolved or not. is that any true? they never get back to us for 2 weeks, and i am not going to pay some 50ish quid for line installation (which was suppose to be free) and give them two months payment for broadband in advance

what to do now?

antoinolachtnai

Re the VAT, surely you have seen the advertised pricing for residential which includes VAT? I have no doubt that you could have been told non-VAT prices over the phone. It seems unlikely to me, but possible.

They certainly don't always give free first-time connection. It's always in conjunction with a special offer I think. That said, they have an offer on at the moment. If you ring them up and explain this, they will probably give you a credit. (Note, they will not send you a new bill, just put a credit on the next one.)

eircom retail's communications skills are not the best, it has to be said. This is really something you have to accept when you're dealing with them.

You do have to pay for broadband in advance (as you do for line rental). Only calls are paid for in arrears. This is the same for pretty much every residential broadband provider, I think.

Other than your 50 euro connection fee, I don't see what you are going to gain by complaining, if you are not prepared to pay for the service anyway - you're just going to get cut off. But if you've made a written complaint and didn't get a response, you can take the matter to the regulator, ComReg.

MOH

Don't let them get away with the connection fee.
I moved into an apartment a couple of years ago where the line was disconnected. At the time, they were offering free connection.
They confirmed beforehand that connection would be free, then charged 100 quid for it.
When I rang them they gave me a story about the line being idle too long and having to send an engineer out - which they couldn't have determined before I signed up?
At the time I had other stuff going on, I needed the phone, and I couldn't take it any further.
I've since heard of other people who've been caught with this - basically if you push it enough, they'll back down, but wnough people don't that they get away with it.

Colonel Sanders

sounds strangely familiar to my ordeal with eircom. they billed me for calls I'd supposedly made before the line was even installed and the customer services person I spoke to keep saying 'well call were made'. I kept asking her how I'd made calls when we didn't have a line. Rang another dept and the first thing the guy I spoke to said was 'how are you being billed when we haven't even installed the line yet?'. Only dealt with eircom as we had to get a phoneline in to get broadband (not eircom broadband, we switched to magnet the second the line was in). So thankfully I never have to ever deal with that shower again. Their customer service is a joke, next time you ring say you'll e-mail a complaint to the relevant dept and cc comreg too, should get em moving. When they originally f ucked up my line order thats exactly what I did and a 6-8 week wait became 3 days.

PS my advice is to get the line installed and then switch providers, dealing with eircom is a farce.

cgarvey

fl4pj4ck wrote:

i was charded for the line (which should be free if it is 1st time connection on their terms)

Just ring up and quote the special offer (assuming there is one at the moment?) and explain that it was on that basis you got the phone line in. As Antoin said they'll usually just credit you straight away. The conspiracist will suggest that this happens on a significant scale (not bad for something computerised, eth?).

fl4pj4ck wrote:

the prices i was give was excl vat.

For residential connections, they have a duty to advise you of the VAT-inclusive price, and that was wrong. 2 things to consider...
1) Your word against theirs, and they'll be arguing media campaigns, etc., to support their VAT-included price. I.e. shifting some of the onus back on you.
2) They won't be giving you the VAT back. So you have to decide if you want the service at that "new" rate.

fl4pj4ck wrote:

i was charged for 2 months in advance for the broadband.

Standard practice for all fixed telco services in most places. You'll not get anywhere with that part of the complaint.

fl4pj4ck wrote:

she's saying that according to some new law if the customer makes a complaint they must give them a call back (or write an explanation) whether the comlpaint was succesfully resolved or not. is that any true?

There's some truth in there, just some. ComReg (the telco regulator) will only investigate a consumer complaint once the official complaints procedure of the telco has been exhausted. A ComReg-licensed/authorised telco must have a published formal complaints procedure. You should allow at least 10 working days for a response (not necessarily a resolution). If you have waited that long, and have the reference number, go to ComReg.

jor el

fl4pj4ck wrote:

well, i have ordered phoneline and the internet. first of all i was charded for the line (which should be free if it is 1st time connection on their terms) in brand new house, then after all i was never told that all the prices i was give was excl vat. then i was charged for 2 months in advance for the broadband.

Regarding the line install charge, eircom do often offer free connection but normally only if all the line work is in place. If they have to do any line work then it will not be free, and usually costs about €130.

How much did they charge you for connection and was the line already in place?

Sponge Bob

Free connection in June July and August if the line or socket is there ...ie there was a service before or the place came wired with an eirocm socket.


http://www.eircom.ie/About/Activities/internet_special_offer.pdf

precabled / in situ promotion

baskeaton

info: Welcome to our live chat service. A member of our team will help you shortly
info: You are now connected with Michelle
Michelle: Hi I'm Michelle, how can I help you today?
brendan flanagan: when is the next generation service coming to askeaton in west limerick
brendan flanagan: i cant seem to find this info any where
Michelle: Is this the next generation broadband service your enquiring about it?
brendan flanagan: of course
brendan flanagan: srry about being flipent but this info is just not avaible to me
Michelle: Have you got a landline number Brendan?
brendan flanagan: can u tell where i can find out when the next gen brdbad will be rolled in west limerick askeaton
brendan flanagan: not yet but i just want to knw when next gen drddnd will be rolled out in askeaton
Michelle: One moment please, I'll check that for you...
Michelle: Do you have a postal address so I can check that way?
brendan flanagan: iwill not get land line till next gen brdbnd comes to askeaton as all the offers frm eircom are way to expencive at the moment and are very bad value and over priced at the moment
Michelle: May I get an address for you please Brendan so I can check the availability in your area?
brendan flanagan: its church street askeaton co limerick
Michelle: Ok thank you just give me one moment please to check this.
brendan flanagan: ok
Michelle: Thank you for waiting.
Michelle: I have just checked my systems and unfortunately we have yet to get a date for this.
Michelle: Apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused you.
brendan flanagan: i would say tht there is at least 100 house holds in askeaton area waiting fr this and none of us can get awnsers any where
brendan flanagan: can u direct me as to where i can get more detailed info about this please
Michelle: Unfortunately there is no where I can redirect you too for more information on this.
brendan flanagan: ok but this is very bad service i think
brendan flanagan: me and others have tried all over but to no avail
Michelle: I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you Sir.
brendan flanagan: ok not ur fault but can u please pass on my enquiry to whom it may concern
Michelle: I will forward on your remarks Sir.
brendan flanagan: baskeaton@yahoo.co.uk is my emaill adress if u get any updates r info about this
brendan flanagan: thnx fr ur time
Michelle: No problem, thanks for chatting!
Michelle: We value your feedback so please take a moment to fill in our closing survey and let us know how we did today. Click "End Chat" in the right hand corner and the survey will appear. Thank you for using our chat service today.
Michelle: Have a great day!
brendan flanagan: ok how can i hve a great day with no nextgenbrdbnd
Michelle: Sorry I cannot assist you any further Sir.
brendan flanagan: ok where is the survey please
Michelle: Click end chat button and survey will appear.
brendan flanagan: may as well do it just in case some one studies reads it and takes survey data notes
brendan flanagan: ok thnx fr time
Michelle: Thank you.

frozenfrozen

This is a very old thread but oh well. I know a couple of people in the Askeaton area who have also been ringing up Eircom to see about this, but still to no avail.

matt-dublin

Erm, maybe the don't have a fixed timeline for your area yet or it might not be in scope?

jordainius

baskeaton wrote: »

brendan flanagan: ok how can i hve a great day with no nextgenbrdbnd

Seriously???