Problem getting phone line repaired...advice needed.

johnb25

Hi,

I am looking for some ideas or advice...

My phone line is down since the storms of the 12th, and I can't get anyone to accept responsibility for repairing it.
Here is the background..please bear with me....
I have been a Vodafone land line customer for about three years. Then last June I got a call from Eircom to switch to them. I agreed, provided I was out of contract with Vodafone. Turned out I still had a couple of months left on Vodafone contract (most recent upgrade triggered new 12 month contract), so contacted Eircom within the cooling off period to cancel.
During this few days, it seems Eircom took over the line from Vodafone, but not the broadband. When I cancelled with Eircom, Vodafone wanted to put me on a new 12 month package, which I refused. I was prepared to go back to see out the balance of the old contract, but not to start a new one.

Now that I need the phone line repaired, both companies say they don't own the line. The only bill I get is from Vodafone, so I assumed they did. Eircom have never billed me.
I contacted Comreg this morning, and they say that to do a wholesale inquiry, and establish who is responsible for the line, will take at least 28 days.
I can't believe it takes that long to find out who owns the line.
If my line was not down, there is an access code I could dial to find out instantly who owns the line; does anyone know if an engineer could do this from the line on the pole?

What can I do to get the line repaired any quicker?
My thoughts are:
-DIY Repair
-Switch to Eircom, and then at least that will establish who owns the line.
-Go wireless, and to hell with them all..( but I don't want to end up worse off)
Mobile reception is so poor it is not an option.

Thanks.

P.S. I cancelled my Vodafone DD last Monday; just got a text from them that it did not go through, and to go online and correct it..

ED E

If you had two bills eircom could have PSTN service and Voda could have DSL serivce but as its only one bill its likely its Voda that has both DSL and PSTN service. The exception would be if the line was being moved and eircom just havent billed you yet.


It sounds like Voda need to make a fault report to Eircom Wholesale(Not the eircom you call, thats retail) to have the line repaired. If they refuse to do this speak to the repair service in eircom and ask them to confirm, they can tell you if eircom retail are operating phone service on that line.

johnb25

ED E wrote: »

If you had two bills eircom could have PSTN service and Voda could have DSL serivce but as its only one bill its likely its Voda that has both DSL and PSTN service. The exception would be if the line was being moved and eircom just havent billed you yet.


It sounds like Voda need to make a fault report to Eircom Wholesale(Not the eircom you call, thats retail) to have the line repaired. If they refuse to do this speak to the repair service in eircom and ask them to confirm, they can tell you if eircom retail are operating phone service on that line.

Thanks Ed,
The repair service in Eircom I need to speak to, is that the tech support on 1901? I did call Eircom tech support and they say they are not operating service. They can see the transfer in of the line back in June, and then the request to have it transferred out again a few days later. It was they who first suggested calling Comreg to have it resolved.
They also suggested maybe Vodafone set up the line on a new account when they got it back, but Vodafone cannot find the land line service for my number on any account.

John

ElNino

If you are only paying Vodafone then your contract is with them and you should be dealing with them and not eircom to get the fault resolved. I would suggest asking a mod to move this thread to the Talk To Vodafone forum.

johnb25

ElNino wrote: »

If you are only paying Vodafone then your contract is with them and you should be dealing with them and not eircom to get the fault resolved. I would suggest asking a mod to move this thread to the Talk To Vodafone forum.

Tried that...was of time...
Vodafone are denying all responsibility.

ED E

If you pay voda for the service but they dont have you as operating the line it may be stuck without an operator attached(just owned by wholesale). Get them to escalate it to wholesale, they can tell exactly what line operator is responsible.

johnb25

ED E wrote: »

If you pay voda for the service but they dont have you as operating the line it may be stuck without an operator attached(just owned by wholesale). Get them to escalate it to wholesale, they can tell exactly what line operator is responsible.

Email back from Eircom wholesale:
"Cannot provide information on other companies under data protection"

Looks like another dead end...

degsie

While I sympathise with your predicament, a simple call to VF to verify your contractual status before you decided to switch would have saved you a whole word of pain. A lesson for us all I suppose.

crawler

Post over here and they should sort it for you

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1270

johnb25

crawler wrote: »

Post over here and they should sort it for you

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1270

You're joking, right?
They don't answer PMs, and when I called 1907, they are adamant Vodafone are not responsible for the line.

johnb25

degsie wrote: »

While I sympathise with your predicament, a simple call to VF to verify your contractual status before you decided to switch would have saved you a whole word of pain. A lesson for us all I suppose.

Yes, to a point. That would have saved me having to switch back again, but the switch back should not have been screwed up. They should not both be denying responsibility for the line.
Comreg take at least 28 days to sort it out; also trying to see if Eircom wholesale will do anything to help sort it out; they should be in a good position to do so.

johnb25

johnb25 wrote: »

Yes, to a point. That would have saved me having to switch back again, but the switch back should not have been screwed up. They should not both be denying responsibility for the line.
Comreg take at least 28 days to sort it out; also trying to see if Eircom wholesale will do anything to help sort it out; they should be in a good position to do so.

Just had an email from Eircom wholesale:
"The responsibility for managing your fault is with your current provider and I cannot provide you with that information." Amazing....

"I have contacted your provider with your details and I have asked them to contact you, I have not received a response from them yet." But at least this is the most progress I have had to date.

ED E

They arent being needlessly unhelpful, there's a large amount of data protection law that effects the products they sell to line ops.

McGixxer

If the line is actually down (broken and hanging down), the answer is simple... contact Vodafone and tell them their telephone line is draped across your car and you got a shock when you touched the car. They will immediately contact Eircon and the problem will be resolved within hours... (ask me how I know!)

Vodafone: Aoife

johnb25 wrote: »

Hi,

I am looking for some ideas or advice...

My phone line is down since the storms of the 12th, and I can't get anyone to accept responsibility for repairing it.
Here is the background..please bear with me....
I have been a Vodafone land line customer for about three years. Then last June I got a call from Eircom to switch to them. I agreed, provided I was out of contract with Vodafone. Turned out I still had a couple of months left on Vodafone contract (most recent upgrade triggered new 12 month contract), so contacted Eircom within the cooling off period to cancel.
During this few days, it seems Eircom took over the line from Vodafone, but not the broadband. When I cancelled with Eircom, Vodafone wanted to put me on a new 12 month package, which I refused. I was prepared to go back to see out the balance of the old contract, but not to start a new one.

Now that I need the phone line repaired, both companies say they don't own the line. The only bill I get is from Vodafone, so I assumed they did. Eircom have never billed me.
I contacted Comreg this morning, and they say that to do a wholesale inquiry, and establish who is responsible for the line, will take at least 28 days.
I can't believe it takes that long to find out who owns the line.
If my line was not down, there is an access code I could dial to find out instantly who owns the line; does anyone know if an engineer could do this from the line on the pole?

What can I do to get the line repaired any quicker?
My thoughts are:
-DIY Repair
-Switch to Eircom, and then at least that will establish who owns the line.
-Go wireless, and to hell with them all..( but I don't want to end up worse off)
Mobile reception is so poor it is not an option.

Thanks.

P.S. I cancelled my Vodafone DD last Monday; just got a text from them that it did not go through, and to go online and correct it..

Hi there,

We'll look into this for you, would you mind sending a PM (via the link in my signature below) with some info?

Could you include:
Landline & Contact number:
Address:
Date of birth:
Link to this thread:

Thanks,
Aoife

Vodafone: Aoife

Hi there,

A TTL has been carried out on your line & our faults team will be in touch.

Thanks,
Aoife

johnb25

Vodafone have now accepted responsibility for the phone line.

On Monday evening I browsed my online account here at work, and came across the past orders section.
There was an order dated last June for voice services, which was them taking back the line from Eircom.
I called 1907 with the order number, and to point out that this was proof that they should have the line.
After some investigation, the agreed that they should have the line, and that they had not processed the order or updated their systems correctly.
I wish I had though of that earlier....
Part of the confusion around that order is that at the time of taking back my line, Vodafone tried to tie me in to a new 12-month contract, because they were no longer offering the package I had been on. I refused to commit for another 12 months. I was prepared to see out my old contract, but not start a new one. Because they did not offer my old package, it seems their systems were not able to cope with re-instating me for the remainder of my old contract.
A repair has now been raised on Vodafone systems. They have also set up a call divert on my land line so calls come to my mobile.
Still saying it will take 10-12 working days to get the line repaired.
It's a debate for another thread, but now come there is such a difference between what ESB can do and what Eircom do?
Thanks for the comments.

ED E

FYI be aware diverts typically cost you, eg:

Caller calls your landline, they pay at their standard rate. Vodafone forward that call to your mobile calling at the rate you pay for landline to mobile calls, so receiving calls isn't free as it normally would be.

Just something to be aware of.

johnb25

My line was finally repaired today...five weeks to the day since the storm damage.

crawler

You are not alone

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/consumer/4-000-eircom-customers-still-waiting-to-have-lines-repaired-1.1729839

johnb25

crawler wrote: »

You are not alone

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/consumer/4-000-eircom-customers-still-waiting-to-have-lines-repaired-1.1729839

I know...I am better off than some; almost felt like winning the lottery!
Sad state of affairs.
It does not seem to have been picked up by any politicians

crawler

johnb25 wrote: »

I know...I am better off than some; almost felt like winning the lottery!
Sad state of affairs.
It does not seem to have been picked up by any politicians

glad you're sorted