Disastrous Customer Service from Eircom

WicklowTiger

Hi

In July 2012 I moved to Wexford, the house that I moved to was in the area covered by the Fibre trial that was running at the time, so I signed up.  Was (eventually) given an installation date in September.  Engineer called me prior to the visit to tell me I had to clear the area around where the existing copper cable entered the house, as they are not permitted to work inside.  So out came hammer and chisel and I made a small hole in the tiling in our hall to allow free access to the line.

Engineer arrived (Eircom engineer) on the appointed day (two of them in fact) but the existing line was jammed underground so they could not budge it.  Was told they'd have to put in an order for a sub-contractor to install a new conduit (forgive me if that's not the correct term) in order to run a line.

Nothing happened for months, then randomly I was contacted to inform that an engineer was scheduled to come and do the work.  In the event, the engineer (subcontractor) did exactly the same thing, surprisingly got the same result.  Said he would have to have someone come out and run a new conduit.

Now we are in 2013 and eFibre is launched.  I've heard nothing since, so put in an order for eFibre.
Engineer arrives, guess what - can't budge the existing cable, tells me that someone will have to come out and install a new conduit.

So we hear nothing for at least 6 months.  Then I get a call to say another engineer is calling.  I explained about the problems before, response I was given was "That's all sorted now." Although suspicious as I had seen no evidence or had no engineer call, I eventually agreed to the installation.  Engineer arrives, another day working from home for me, and can't move the existing line.  Now I know it wasn't his fault so I kept myself composed while I explained the history to him, and go the response - we'll have to get a sub-contractor out to run another conduit.

Now finally, late 2013, someone comes to install a new conduit!!! But, he manages to get movement in the existing line! Great, so he runs some string from the pole out on the road through the conduit into the house, to allow the installation engineer to pull the fibre line through.

January 2014, in the big storm, our phone line goes down.  We reported a fault.  Engineer came to fix it, I wasn't home.  He said he had to run a new copper cable in from the pole.  Oh look, here's a handy string someone's put in for the job.....

Now we have the original conduit with the original line (stuck and not working), and a new line running through it.  But when he concreted over the hole he dug out on the road, he seems to have caused another blockage.

eFibre installation engineer calls in February.... guess what... line is stuck.  We need to get someone out to install a new conduit.  At this point I've given up.  Wife called to cancel eFibre.

Following day, an Eircom engineer happened to be passing, called in to ask if we ever got the fibre sorted.  No was the response, so he set about re-activating the cancelled order.

Few weeks later, another engineer arrives.  Tries again exactly what all the others have done, unsurprisingly, same result.  Puts through an order for someone to install a new conduit.

Got a text in April on a Tuesday evening at 7pm to say an engineer would call on Thursday.  No other notification, and we were abroad on holidays.  Had to be cancelled before Wednesday but they were closed.  Engineer rang when no-one was home on Thursday morning, explained the situation to him so he rescheduled it.

Engineer arrived on Friday May 16th.  Won't repeat it all but exactly the same process ensued.  However, after he put the order for the new conduit in, he seemingly closed the job.  What happened then is the account was upgraded to eFibre, even though the installation never happened.  The following Tuesday, our DSL stopped working.

So now we have no Broadband at all!!! Voice is working.

Have now spent most of the last week going round in circles with Eircom "Customer Service".  The latest event in the Saga is our account, in its entirety, has been cancelled.

I have a business, occasionally have to work from home.  Broadband is an absolute necessity.
Come on Eircom, surely you can do better than this.

PS - we've had a hole in the hall for 2 years, would love to fill it in!!!

eircom: Alan

Hi WicklowTiger
 
I'm very sorry to hear of this ongoing issues and I apologise for all the inconvenience that this must have caused.
 
Please feel free to PM me the order number or account number associated and I will look in to this further.
 
Thanks
 
Al

WicklowTiger

eircom: Alan wrote: »

Hi
 
I'm very sorry to hear of this ongoing issues and I apologise for all the inconvenience that this must have caused.
 
Please feel free to PM me the order number or account number associated and I will look in to this further.
 
Thanks
 
Al

Hi Alan

Have sent details by PM

eircom: Alan

WicklowTiger wrote: »

eircom: Alan wrote: »

Hi
 
I'm very sorry to hear of this ongoing issues and I apologise for all the inconvenience that this must have caused.
 
Please feel free to PM me the order number or account number associated and I will look in to this further.
 
Thanks
 
Al

Hi Alan

Have sent details by PM

Thank you WicklowTiger

I have escalated this to efibre operations. As soon as I have any information I will let you know right away.

Thanks
Al

WicklowTiger

eircom: Alan wrote: »

WicklowTiger wrote: »

eircom: Alan wrote: »

Hi
 
I'm very sorry to hear of this ongoing issues and I apologise for all the inconvenience that this must have caused.
 
Please feel free to PM me the order number or account number associated and I will look in to this further.
 
Thanks
 
Al

Hi Alan

Have sent details by PM

Thank you

I have escalated this to efibre operations. As soon as I have any information I will let you know right away.

Thanks
Al

Any update Alan?  Really need some broadband service before the weekend - even if that means going back to DSL

eircom: Alan

WicklowTiger wrote: »

eircom: Alan wrote: »

WicklowTiger wrote: »

eircom: Alan wrote: »

Hi
 
I'm very sorry to hear of this ongoing issues and I apologise for all the inconvenience that this must have caused.
 
Please feel free to PM me the order number or account number associated and I will look in to this further.
 
Thanks
 
Al

Hi Alan

Have sent details by PM

Thank you

I have escalated this to efibre operations. As soon as I have any information I will let you know right away.

Thanks
Al

Any update Alan?  Really need some broadband service before the weekend - even if that means going back to DSL

Hi WicklowTiger

I'm still awaiting clarification and more information on this from efibre operations- I will actively chase this up and let you know as soon as I have any news.

Thanks
Al

WicklowTiger

eircom: Alan wrote: »

WicklowTiger wrote: »

eircom: Alan wrote: »

WicklowTiger wrote: »

eircom: Alan wrote: »

Hi
 
I'm very sorry to hear of this ongoing issues and I apologise for all the inconvenience that this must have caused.
 
Please feel free to PM me the order number or account number associated and I will look in to this further.
 
Thanks
 
Al

Hi Alan

Have sent details by PM

Thank you

I have escalated this to efibre operations. As soon as I have any information I will let you know right away.

Thanks
Al

Any update Alan?  Really need some broadband service before the weekend - even if that means going back to DSL

Hi

I'm still awaiting clarification and more information on this from efibre operations- I will actively chase this up and let you know as soon as I have any news.

Thanks
Al

Thanks for the call yesterday Alan.  After we spoke I got a call from someone at Eircom from a Wexford number.  Explained the story to him, he said it had to be passed back to Dublin to be processed as a fault, etc.  Haven't heard anything further since...

WicklowTiger

So, an update.  Had a call yesterday morning from KN engineer (think it was the same guy who came out two weeks ago) - he was arriving up to install Fibre! Unbelievable... Not only had I had no prior notification and was not home, but he was coming on the assumption that the preliminary work had been done in the meantime - it had not.  Explained the full situation to him - he promised a call back later in the morning.  No call back so I rang him.  Apparently the best he could do was revert us to ADSL, which I could accept for now.  However we were disconected from the "DSL block" we had been on and he was waiting on Eircom to confirm which block was ours.  Nothing further all day, tried calling his mobile yesterday evening, no answer.

Rang engineer on mobile again today, apparently when he got our DSL block, the block was dead.  So now we are waiting on Eircom to assign a new DSL block.  Also Eircom confirmed to the KN guy that the request for the other work (called DUG or something) is on the system, and is "pending".

At this stage, preference is to move to another operator, but I'm worried that this will slow things down even more by adding extra confusion, as the infrastructure remains with Eircom.

eircom: Alan

WicklowTiger wrote: »

So, an update.  Had a call yesterday morning from KN engineer (think it was the same guy who came out two weeks ago) - he was arriving up to install Fibre! Unbelievable... Not only had I had no prior notification and was not home, but he was coming on the assumption that the preliminary work had been done in the meantime - it had not.  Explained the full situation to him - he promised a call back later in the morning.  No call back so I rang him.  Apparently the best he could do was revert us to ADSL, which I could accept for now.  However we were disconected from the "DSL block" we had been on and he was waiting on Eircom to confirm which block was ours.  Nothing further all day, tried calling his mobile yesterday evening, no answer.

Rang engineer on mobile again today, apparently when he got our DSL block, the block was dead.  So now we are waiting on Eircom to assign a new DSL block.  Also Eircom confirmed to the KN guy that the request for the other work (called DUG or something) is on the system, and is "pending".

At this stage, preference is to move to another operator, but I'm worried that this will slow things down even more by adding extra confusion, as the infrastructure remains with Eircom.

Hi WicklowTiger

I'm very sorry to hear of the issues, I will seek clarification and get back to you as soon as possible, I can fully understand the level of disappointment with this and I sincerely apologise for this.

Thanks
Al

WicklowTiger

Got a text from Eircom this evening:

Dear Customer,
The engineer has advised that the fault affecting your broadband should now be resolved. We would very much like to ensure that your eFibre service is now working and we would ask you to call us on 1890260260 should you have any further issues and we would be happy to assist you.
Thank you, Eircom.

Fibre still not installed and ADSL still not working.

WicklowTiger

Any update Alan? Have heard nothing since last week, have been traveling with work so unable to spend hours on the phone trying to get this progressed. Still no internet, but have had a few emails from eircom asking me to complete the customer service survey...

fred funk }{

I'm currently getting the run around from them too. Had a bad experience with them years ago and thought they might have changed. How wrong I was.

WicklowTiger

fred funk }{ wrote: »

I'm currently getting the run around from them too. Had a bad experience with them years ago and thought they might have changed. How wrong I was.

Seems to be the same craic around here...

Iang87

Interesting they dont even reply to you on this.

You should keep bumping the thread daily so that its always on the first page otherwise they will just flat out ignore you. It wont make much of a difference to speed things up but at least it may deter people who plan on joining

eircom: Alan

WicklowTiger wrote: »

fred funk }{ wrote: »

I'm currently getting the run around from them too. Had a bad experience with them years ago and thought they might have changed. How wrong I was.

Seems to be the same craic around here...

Hi WicklowTiger

As soon as I have more information on this I'll let you know right away

Al

Deise West

I've just spent 3 days and 10 phone calls being passed from sales to tech support and back again, trying to resolve a broadband issue. After 23 years with eircom it's now time for a break I'm afraid. Nice people in each department, but no joined up thinking. They are not interested in solving the problem, just push you on to a different department. Really disappointed to say that UPC and Sky seem way more co-ordinated. Was going to sign up to efibre, not now!!

WicklowTiger

Deise West wrote: »

I've just spent 3 days and 10 phone calls being passed from sales to tech support and back again, trying to resolve a broadband issue. After 23 years with eircom it's now time for a break I'm afraid. Nice people in each department, but no joined up thinking. They are not interested in solving the problem, just push you on to a different department. Really disappointed to say that UPC and Sky seem way more co-ordinated. Was going to sign up to efibre, not now!!

Yes we are looking at switching now as well. Just don't have the time to pursue this and three weeks without broadband for no good reason and so far without so much as an explanation as to what is being done is beyond acceptable in this day and age.

WicklowTiger

eircom: Alan wrote: »

WicklowTiger wrote: »

fred funk }{ wrote: »

I'm currently getting the run around from them too. Had a bad experience with them years ago and thought they might have changed. How wrong I was.

Seems to be the same craic around here...

Hi

As soon as I have more information on this I'll let you know right away

Al

Hi Alan

If we don't have working broadband of any description by COB today, I am switching provider.  It is ridiculous that no-one can press the button or whatever to turn the DSL back on - this is down now since May 19th with no communication (from a company supposedly specialising in same) in over a full week

WicklowTiger

Update:  Got a bill this morning, no broadband on it at all, but a new account number! So maybe they've been trying to put ADSL back on to a closed account, I don't know.  Co-incidentally I got a phone call from someone at Eircom from a local Wexford number (didn't get his name) - asked me to log a complaint with ComReg.  Although I can hardly believe it, seems like the only option left at this stage so I have done this.

I'm PM'ing the new account number.

WicklowTiger

Another engineer (KN I think) called me last evening.  Explained the whole sequence of events to him.  Said he probably just had to change a jumper switch and would call me back.  In fairness to him, he did call back approx. 40 minutes later, however the news was not good.  I needed to get on to Eircom - he was not permitted to do this - to order ADSL on the new account I never asked for.  Have spent 30 minutes today on hold (so far.)  The only alternative to Eircom for eFibre in Wexford is Vodafone, which comes with a min. 18 month contract.

WicklowTiger

Alan,

Can I discuss this further with you? I called 1901 this morning in an effort to get the whole thing sorted.  Spoke first to customer service, who said I needed sales and would transfer me.  On hold for 15 minutes, the rep came back to say she had someone in tech support, who she was putting me through to.  On hold for a few seconds, someone answered, said "hold the line" and I went back into the support hold queue.  Another 15 minutes, and I got through to someone else.  Explained the whole story again, he said I needed to speak to sales, hold the line.  Another 15 minutes later, tech support rep came back and told me he was putting me through to cancellations.  Turns out that to get ADSL back I needed to cancel eFibre order.  However  I was about to do this, when the cancellations rep confirmed that I would likely lose the phone number!  This is not an option.

All I want is ADSL back, how hard can it be (tech support rep told me, and I quote "it's not rocket science".)

I do not want to lose my phone number, I do want ADSL as a temporary solution while I wait for eFibre.

Help!

WicklowTiger

Any update folks?  Could someone please give me a call, need to establish

1. Whether there is an eFibre order in progress and when realistically we can expect it to be fulfilled
2. Failing the above, what actually needs to happen in order to get back on ADSL, as I'm getting different stories depending on who I talk to

eircom: Alan

WicklowTiger wrote: »

Any update folks?  Could someone please give me a call, need to establish

1. Whether there is an eFibre order in progress and when realistically we can expect it to be fulfilled
2. Failing the above, what actually needs to happen in order to get back on ADSL, as I'm getting different stories depending on who I talk to

[font=Times New Roman","serif]Hi WicklowTiger

I am doing all I can to have some clarification on this for you, at the moment I have no further update however I will keep chasing this up and let you know as soon as I have more information.

Al[/font]

WicklowTiger

eircom: Alan wrote: »

WicklowTiger wrote: »

Any update folks?  Could someone please give me a call, need to establish

1. Whether there is an eFibre order in progress and when realistically we can expect it to be fulfilled
2. Failing the above, what actually needs to happen in order to get back on ADSL, as I'm getting different stories depending on who I talk to

Hi WicklowTiger

I am doing all I can to have some clarification on this for you, at the moment I have no further update however I will keep chasing this up and let you know as soon as I have more information.

Al

Alan

Following a complaint I registered with ComReg as suggested by one of your colleagues, I received a call from "Eircom Complaints Department" yesterday morning.  I was however in a meeting so could not take the call.  A voicemail was left to say that the person would call again today between 9am and 1pm.  No call, so I rang back the number just now.  Only it was answered by a post office in Dublin 11!!! So you don't publish a complaints phone number, and when they call you the number displayed is disguised as someone else's!  I've heard nothing on the order since your post above - all I want is broadband!

Please get someone to contact me

WicklowTiger

Just back on to say I'm going on holidays tomorrow for two weeks. in the unlikely event anyone from Eircom wants to contact me I'll have the mobile with me but there won't be anyone at home if an engineer needs to get in.

eircom: Alan

WicklowTiger wrote: »

eircom: Alan wrote: »

WicklowTiger wrote: »

Any update folks?  Could someone please give me a call, need to establish

1. Whether there is an eFibre order in progress and when realistically we can expect it to be fulfilled
2. Failing the above, what actually needs to happen in order to get back on ADSL, as I'm getting different stories depending on who I talk to

Hi WicklowTiger

I am doing all I can to have some clarification on this for you, at the moment I have no further update however I will keep chasing this up and let you know as soon as I have more information.

Al

Alan

Following a complaint I registered with ComReg as suggested by one of your colleagues, I received a call from "Eircom Complaints Department" yesterday morning.  I was however in a meeting so could not take the call.  A voicemail was left to say that the person would call again today between 9am and 1pm.  No call, so I rang back the number just now.  Only it was answered by a post office in Dublin 11!!! So you don't publish a complaints phone number, and when they call you the number displayed is disguised as someone else's!  I've heard nothing on the order since your post above - all I want is broadband!

Please get someone to contact me

Hi WicklowTiger

I'm sorry we missed you when we called, I will follow up on this and request that you receive a follow up call as soon as possible. I understand that you are going on your holidays so I will make this priority.

Thanks
Al

WicklowTiger

No calls since?

WicklowTiger

Really??? Still nothing at all???

dave_t

WicklowTiger wrote: »

Really??? Still nothing at all???

At least they're not ignoring you anyway eh?

eircom: Alan

WicklowTiger wrote: »

Really??? Still nothing at all???

Hi WicklowTiger

Unfortunately the solution offered when to you received a call on this is the only option to have this resolved in full. I see from notes that you were not happy with this but until this is followed there will be little else that can be done to fully resolve this issue.

Thanks
Al

WicklowTiger

eircom: Alan wrote: »

Hi WicklowTiger

Unfortunately the solution offered when to you received a call on this is the only option to have this resolved in full. I see from notes that you were not happy with this but until this is followed there will be little else that can be done to fully resolve this issue.

Thanks
Al

Alan

I have yet to receive a call offering any sort of solution. If you are referring to the call I made three weeks ago where I was bounced around different departments for an hour to be told by someone who really did not sound confident in what he was was saying that I would have to release my number back to the exchange and cancel my service in order to get the product I am being billed for at the moment then yes you are correct I did not proceed with this course of action.

Please have efibre sub removed from my account and have all efibre charges credited off.

I don't have the time to deal with this any more