Eircom Price Gouging Effective 12 March. Get Out Of Contract Free

Sponge Bob

Eircom have just completed a customer mailshot warning of some price gouging effective for 'all bills issued from 11 May....meaning all calls made from 12 MARCH and Billed starting from 11 May. As eircom put it

"Customers Affected" may "Withdraw from Existing Contracts WITHOUT PENALTY" and that is between 11 Feb and 10 March INCLUSIVE

Furthermore quitting eircom in future requires 1 Month Written Notification If You Do Not Escape BEFORE the 11th of March.

You need not give written notice at present.

Most eircom customers now take a bundle rather than individual services. "Customers Affected" are anybody who makes a phone call at any time.

Given that the charges come into effect on the 12 March ANYBODY, particularly anybody, whether in a bundle or not, can now DROP eircom if they do not agree to the increased charges.

Here are the details.

1. Call set up fee ( minimum call charge) goes to 9.5c from 5.95c
2. Calls will be rounded UP to the nearest 1c
3. Out of hours packages will change. Out of hours call bundles (Talktime) are for calls made between 6PM and 7am Mon - Fri nowadays. This changes to 7PM for all bundles.
4. One month written notification, starting from date of RECEIPT, if you have not escaped their clutches before then.

Cantona's Collars

You beat me to it with this thread,at least anyone with substandard service from Eircom can cancel their contract without penalty.

Slippin Jimmy

I wonder will they offer something to stay with them?

watty

A service with a price increase.

Sponge Bob

By Mailshot I mean a direct marketing post to every home and business that has an eircom connection today. It should be at home waiting for ye

Do not accept ANY offer to stay with eircom SAVE where the pricing is agreed in writing. Their sales and retention people are some of the worst lying scumbags around.

Also demand that they email you confirmation of any verbal 'get out of contract' request you make between now and the 11/03 ....after which you must write to them.

Naturally they told NOBODY what the address is for the mandatory written disconnect request after that date and the LACK of a correspondance address in their mailshot is grounds for a complaint to Comreg and forcing eircom to do their mailshot properly .....ie AGAIN

Slippin Jimmy

Im on their 24 mb bundle with evening and weekend calls. Can anyone suggest a better alternative?

SamandFrank

Whats the alternative?? if eircom gets away with it so will everybody else. Is there any good broadband + phone alternatives other than UPC???

Sponge Bob

UPC ?

Slippin Jimmy

Sponge Bob wrote: »

UPC ?

Would love to be with upc, but I am in an apartment block that is only wired for sky. Upc aren't in my arartments, so I can only get DSL.

Baneblade

you can only withdraw from the phone service without penalty because of the change

broadband connections still require 1 months notice and you can be charged an early cancelation fee if still in contract

Xcellor

Will this have any impact on eircom wholesale? i.e. will resellers have to put prices up?

Slippin Jimmy

Baneblade wrote: »

you can only withdraw from the phone service without penalty because of the change

broadband connections still require 1 months notice and you can be charged an early cancelation fee if still in contract

Not true because it affects the price of the bundles. When you sign up, you sign up to a bundle, if you ring a landline outside the hours specified then you will be charged at the new rate and not the one I agreed to.

Sponge Bob

Duffff-Man wrote: »

Not true because it affects the price of the bundles.

Exactly, you cannot exit a standalone BB contact based on these changes but as most people are on bundles it affects the majority of eircom BB users.

Akrasia

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Eircom have just completed a customer mailshot warning of some price gouging effective for 'all bills issued from 11 May....meaning all calls made from 12 MARCH and Billed starting from 11 May. As eircom put it

"Customers Affected" may "Withdraw from Existing Contracts WITHOUT PENALTY" and that is between 11 Feb and 10 March INCLUSIVE

Furthermore quitting eircom in future requires 1 Month Written Notification If You Do Not Escape BEFORE the 11th of March.

You need not give written notice at present.

Most eircom customers now take a bundle rather than individual services. "Customers Affected" are anybody who makes a phone call at any time.

Given that the charges come into effect on the 12 March ANYBODY, particularly anybody, whether in a bundle or not, can now DROP eircom if they do not agree to the increased charges.

Here are the details.

1. Call set up fee ( minimum call charge) goes to 9.5c from 5.95c
2. Calls will be rounded UP to the nearest 1c
3. Out of hours packages will change. Out of hours call bundles (Talktime) are for calls made between 6PM and 7am Mon - Fri nowadays. This changes to 7PM for all bundles.
4. One month written notification, starting from date of RECEIPT, if you have not escaped their clutches before then.

Those sneaky bstards. They called me up the other day to try and get me to extend my contract.

Will be out of there like a shot first chance I get

oisin

Haven't got the mailshot yet, but it's timely for me. I upgraded to the 24MB bundle last year with six months of the contract to run. UPC have just upgraded my estate and I just got a letter from them this week saying all their services are now available. I thought I'd have to wait to switch, so it looks like I can move earlier than I thought.

the groutch

Sponge Bob wrote: »

2. Calls will be rounded UP to the nearest 1c

I'd question the legality of this

MinnyMinor

Sponge Bob wrote: »

3. Out of hours packages will change. Out of hours call bundles (Talktime) are for calls made between 6PM and 7am Mon - Fri nowadays. This changes to 7PM for all bundles. .

already 7 PM on one bundle, think its talktime chatter

Sponge Bob

The other thing you can do is get out of a 12 month contract WITHOUT ceasing the line. It means you break a current 12 month contract but agree to go month to month instead.

The current contract is the one eircom cannot hold you to...if you make any calls that is.

leftwinger

I have an eircom bb package, but also have eircom home watch which is a seperate contract but uses the landline. Would like to move to UPC . Any ideas as to how I can move to UPC without screwing up the homewatch ??

Freddie59

Dub45 anyone? Isn't he VERY quiet?:D

Kimbot

I rang them to cancel and they told me that because I am on the chatter package I will have to pay €370 to cancel... see my thread in the eircom forum for more details.

Sponge Bob

I would complain to Comreg immediately if they tried a €370 gouge on me.

_Kaiser_

So what are the decent DSL alternatives for non-UPC area people?

Wireless isn't an option as I'm renting so putting masts up etc is a no go - so I'm looking for something with a 7MB speed and unlimited/very high cap

Cheers!

dub45

Freddie59 wrote: »

Dub45 anyone? Isn't he VERY quiet?:D

I thought most people would be only too delighted at that?

byte

MinnyMinor wrote: »

already 7 PM on one bundle, think its talktime chatter

Yeah, I'm signed back to Eircom a fortnight ago, and it's 7pm alright.

MinnyMinor

byte wrote: »

Yeah, I'm signed back to Eircom a fortnight ago, and it's 7pm alright.

and will stay at 7 for the bundle i have i think it is the one i mnetioned earlier. can i ask who you went to and why you went back?

chrislynch8

Got my letter today. Quick question, does this mean I can just cancel my service over the phone. BB and Phone gone no more bills?

I will be doing this, but who to go with is the next question. I live outside Fermoy, Co Cork. WiMax are available but I need the External Install. Vodafone are available, but they seem to only be able to offer the same as Eircom BB speed wise.

cormie

Hmm, can anyone tell me how this may affect me? I signed up to a VERY good deal with eircom and I definitely don't want the hassle and cost of finding another provider.

8mb no contention, 30gb cap, 30 minutes free mobile calls per month, free local/national calls after 7pm (probably until 7am?) each evening. Free wireless modem for:

€26.52 a month for the first 10 months and then €51.78 (or close enough) for the remaining 2 months. INCLUDING LINE RENTAL!

This is the deal I'm on, the best offer available to my location by a mile.

However, once the 10 months are over, the €51.78 charge will be very high compared to what else is available, the plan was to cancel after the initial contract of 12 months, so I'd have paid 10x 26.52 and 2x €51.78.

So I wonder, if I cancel out of the contract now, will the monthly fee immediately rise fo €51.78, or stay at €26.52 until the 10 months are over, and then I'm free to walk away without having to pay the €51.78 for the last 2 months?

Also, if I don't cancel now, when should I write to cancel to stop the service after the 12th month? The beginning of the 11th month perhaps?

M cebee

what's the procedure then for swiching provider if you have a 'broadband bundle' and you're in contract

i got the letter about the charges

i'm on the 7mb with free calls anytime-it's a bit pricey imo

hightower1

dub45 wrote: »

I thought most people would be only too delighted at that?

What are your thoughts on this move by Eircom?
Do you feel it shows contempt for their customers by changing their contracts?
By redefining the very definition of what "evening time" is?

dub45

hightower1 wrote: »

What are your thoughts on this move by Eircom?
Do you feel it shows contempt for their customers by changing their contracts?
By redefining the very definition of what "evening time" is?

Companies are entitled to change their Terms and Conditions and there are usually clauses within their Terms and Conditions as to how this should be done in respect of notifying customers and the notice period involved.

When they receive the notice customers can then choose to take whatever action they wish.

Unlike your darling UPC who showed contempt for their own Terms and Conditions, E.C. regulations and Comreg requirments in this case Eircom seem to be giving their customers the required notice period.

Comreg of course confirmed this view of UPC's actions.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0202/1224288769135.html

Your beloved UPC attempted to sleepwalk customers into their price "changes". In this case Eircom customers won't be told that they have "tacitly" accepted the price increase as UPC customers apparently were being told according to reports on here.