Ongoing numerous billing issues - not getting anywhere with customer support

Kensington

Apologies in advance for the long read but if nothing else it is an indication of the mass of errors we have had with Eircom’s billing systems in the past month.

We have an Eircom bundle at home – landline, eFibre and eVision.

I myself have the eMobile SIM only €24/month deal as an Eircom customer but it’s not tied to our home account.


First problem occurred when the other half decided she’d port from Meteor to eMobile to avail of an Eircom all-in-one bundle and a cheap iPhone. This was done by signing up to “quad-play” and her mobile would effectively appear as another service on our home bill, alongside the eVision, eFibre and phone.

Unfortunately for whatever reason the port failed at your porting system, Springboard. The resolution we were told was to reverse the port back to Meteor and resubmit it from the Meteor network again. That was grand, no problem, a day or two later she was ported in, number transferred, plan was active, new phone was working and all was well.

Roll on a week and we get a call from Eircom credit control – an €855 eMobile early termination charge is on our account and our account was now being suspended. Sure enough, that evening the broadband stopped working, eVision TV stopped working, the landline and her mobile would only take incoming calls, couldn’t make any outgoing.

We query this with Eircom credit control immediately. It appears that when eMobile operations reversed the failed port, Eircom billing treated this as cancellation of the contract by us within the minimum term and so we got hit with the full 24-months in early termination charges. We were told it was easily sorted and we’d get a callback within a day or two when it was resolved. Our broadband and phones were re-activated the following morning. eVision however was not.

Long story short we’ve called you on no less than 13 occasions regarding this. Our eVision TV took over a week to be switched back on. Promised call backs from Customer Care and Operations never materialise yet your credit control department continue to happily call us every 2 or 3 days seeking payment of €855.




Now for the second problem.

As mentioned I’m on a €24/month SIM only plan but its standalone and not in a quad-play bundle.

I recently was in the US with work and before I went bought a 200MB USA data roaming addon. Your website says to text DATA USA to 50104, did that and get a text back “Your US Roaming Data Add On of 200MB is now active for the next month”.  Great.

Land in the US, turn on data roaming and within 20 minutes get a text “Hi, you have now used 48EUR incl. VAT of data since you last accepted to roam.” What? But I have a roaming bundle!

I text “Balance Roam” to 50104 and get a text back “You are not currently opted into any roaming data add on.”

I try texting “Data USA” to 50104 again to receive back “You have already successfully signed up to a US Roaming Data Add On”.


I immediately switch data roaming off and call customer care from the US. I’m told that I obviously have used up the full 200MB of the data roaming add-on and basically – tough. I check my online itemised use and it shows I used 6MB of data while roaming, well within the 200MB of allowance. Yet I was charged €10 for each of those 6MB.

I call customer care again. At first I’m given the same line that I’ve used all of my allowance already. When I push the agent (the agent was in fairness very polite and helpful but clearly limited in what she could see on the system) she contacts eMobile operations.

They re-iterate the same line “You’ve used all your allowance”.

When I push even further she contacts them again and the second time their response is “Oh yes, there’s an issue with the add-on, it’s on the account but it’s not active. We’ll look into it”. I’m told it can take up to 7 working days to resolve – what good is that exactly?

As it happens the roaming add-on finally kicked on as I was heading to the airport to fly home – not much use to me. I had to keep my data switched off for the duration of the trip.
The net result of all this is I now have a €106.64 eMobile bill this month
- €20 for the roaming bundle I effectively couldn’t use
- €60 in out of bundle roaming charges which should have been covered under that roaming bundle
- my usual €24 a month plan charge. 

At this stage we are utterly fed up, if I could I’d cancel the whole lot – TV, broadband, landline and mobiles – but I’d shudder to think of what monstrosity the Eircom billing system would make of that.

According to your credit control we effectively owe you over €1000.

Now, what I feel is only fair for this to be fixed:
- Immediately wipe that €855 balance off our Eircom home account
- Credit for the period the eVision service was out of action
- I do not want to receive a single further phone call from Eircom credit control
- Refund me the €60 of out of bundle data roaming charges
- Refund me the €20 data roaming add-on since I effectively couldn’t use it

I can PM over account details etc. if required.

Kensington

Why has every post except for this one received a reply today?

eircom: Alan

Hi Kensington

I'm very sorry to hear of the issues you are experiencing, please feel free to PM me your eircom account number and I'll look in to this for you.

Thanks
Al

Kensington

Thanks Alan, PM sent.

eircom: Alan

Kensington wrote: »

Thanks Alan, PM sent.

Thank you Kensington

I will need to have this looked in to and request clarification from a number of departments. As soon as I have more information I will let you know right away but it may be tomorrow before I have an update.

Thanks
Al

Kensington

Hi Alan,

Of course, that's no problem.

Thanks for following up.

eircom: Alan

Kensington wrote: »

Hi Alan,

Of course, that's no problem.

Thanks for following up.

Hello Kensington

Investigations are still ongoing with your case - my apologies for the delays with this but I would like to confirm that I am actively following up on this and hope to have an update for you as soon as possible.

Thanks
Al

Kensington

Some good and bad news.

Good news - the €855 is now gone off the Eircom home account, our latest bill shows our usual monthly fee plus a credit.

Bad news - eMobile helped themselves to €106 of my bank account yesterday despite the fact I was disputing the charges. Good mind to contact my bank and arrange an unauthorised direct debit chargeback but frankly I can't be bothered dealing with what Eircom's billing systems might make of that.

Alan - I want that €106 back in my bank account - plus 3 months worth of my €24 SIM only plan credited on my eMobile account as compensation for the inconvenience - within 5 working days or I'll be getting onto ComReg about how this entire saga has been handled.

eircom: Alan

Kensington wrote: »

Some good and bad news.

Good news - the €855 is now gone off the Eircom home account, our latest bill shows our usual monthly fee plus a credit.

Bad news - eMobile helped themselves to €106 of my bank account yesterday despite the fact I was disputing the charges. Good mind to contact my bank and arrange an unauthorised direct debit chargeback but frankly I can't be bothered dealing with what Eircom's billing systems might make of that.

Alan - I want that €106 back in my bank account - plus 3 months worth of my €24 SIM only plan credited on my eMobile account as compensation for the inconvenience - within 5 working days or I'll be getting onto ComReg about how this entire saga has been handled.

Hi Kensington

Investigations are still on-going but I'll push for an update and get back to you as soon as possible

Thanks
Al

Kensington

Hi Alan,

I appreciate your assistance with this and I certainly do seem to be getting somewhere with your input so it is greatly appreciated.

However I must make it very clear that if the money is not back in my account along with the requested credit on my account by COB Friday then I will not be engaging directly with Eircom any further.
As a first step I will be initiating an unauthorised direct debit chargeback against eMobile with my bank.
All further engagements will then be via ComReg.

Kensington

Alan,

I've received the following e-mail from Customer Care:

[font=Arial, sans-serif]Dear , 

Thank you for your patience. Following your enquiry about the data roaming charges, we requested for a review of the same. A refund of EUR50 has been processed back to your eMobile account. [font=Arial, sans-serif]    [/font][/font]
[font=Arial, sans-serif]This credit will be applied towards your future invoices. I hope this information useful and please do not hesitate to contact us again should you have any further queries.[/font]
[font=Arial, sans-serif]You can reply to this email or chat online at www.emobile.ie/chatnow/ [font=Arial, sans-serif]and we will be delighted to assist you.[/font][/font]
[font=Arial, sans-serif]Regards,[/font]
[font=Arial, sans-serif]<Removed>[/font]
[font=Arial, sans-serif]Customer Care Administration Team[/font]


[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I don't accept this.
[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I want the €106 incorrect direct debit refunded immediately to my bank account.[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I want three months credit (3 x €24) for the inconvenience credited to my eMobile account.[/font]


[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I'm running around in circles here, none of the teams in Eircom seem to be talking to each other and trying to get this resolved is like banging my head against a brick wall. I can't speak to anyone who has the power or authority to resolve any of these issues. It's been going on over a month at this stage and I am utterly fed up.[/font]


[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Can you please arrange for someone to call me regarding this.[/font]

eircom: Alan

Kensington wrote: »

Alan,

I've received the following e-mail from Customer Care:

[font=Arial, sans-serif]Dear , 

Thank you for your patience. Following your enquiry about the data roaming charges, we requested for a review of the same. A refund of EUR50 has been processed back to your eMobile account. [font=Arial, sans-serif]    [/font][/font]
[font=Arial, sans-serif]This credit will be applied towards your future invoices. I hope this information useful and please do not hesitate to contact us again should you have any further queries.[/font]
[font=Arial, sans-serif]You can reply to this email or chat online at www.emobile.ie/chatnow/ [font=Arial, sans-serif]and we will be delighted to assist you.[/font][/font]
[font=Arial, sans-serif]Regards,[/font]
[font=Arial, sans-serif]<Removed>[/font]
[font=Arial, sans-serif]Customer Care Administration Team[/font]


[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I don't accept this.
[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I want the €106 incorrect direct debit refunded immediately to my bank account.[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I want three months credit (3 x €24) for the inconvenience credited to my eMobile account.[/font]


[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I'm running around in circles here, none of the teams in Eircom seem to be talking to each other and trying to get this resolved is like banging my head against a brick wall. I can't speak to anyone who has the power or authority to resolve any of these issues. It's been going on over a month at this stage and I am utterly fed up.[/font]


[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Can you please arrange for someone to call me regarding this.[/font]

Hi Kensington

I am sorry we am unable to meet your demands and specifics in terms of compensation for the inconvenience. Should you wish to appeal this you will need to log an official complaint directly to emobile or indeed comreg as you have stated.

Thanks
Al

Kensington

eircom: Alan wrote: »

Kensington wrote: »

Alan,

I've received the following e-mail from Customer Care:

[font=Arial, sans-serif]Dear , 

Thank you for your patience. Following your enquiry about the data roaming charges, we requested for a review of the same. A refund of EUR50 has been processed back to your eMobile account. [font=Arial, sans-serif]    [/font][/font]
[font=Arial, sans-serif]This credit will be applied towards your future invoices. I hope this information useful and please do not hesitate to contact us again should you have any further queries.[/font]
[font=Arial, sans-serif]You can reply to this email or chat online at www.emobile.ie/chatnow/ [font=Arial, sans-serif]and we will be delighted to assist you.[/font][/font]
[font=Arial, sans-serif]Regards,[/font]
[font=Arial, sans-serif]<Removed>[/font]
[font=Arial, sans-serif]Customer Care Administration Team[/font]


[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I don't accept this.
[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I want the €106 incorrect direct debit refunded immediately to my bank account.[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I want three months credit (3 x €24) for the inconvenience credited to my eMobile account.[/font]


[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I'm running around in circles here, none of the teams in Eircom seem to be talking to each other and trying to get this resolved is like banging my head against a brick wall. I can't speak to anyone who has the power or authority to resolve any of these issues. It's been going on over a month at this stage and I am utterly fed up.[/font]


[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Can you please arrange for someone to call me regarding this.[/font]

Hi Kensington

I am sorry we am unable to meet your demands and specifics in terms of compensation for the inconvenience. Should you wish to appeal this you will need to log an official complaint directly to emobile or indeed comreg as you have stated.

Thanks
Al

Fair enough.
I'll be porting my number off eMobile in the coming days.

I'm going to log a complaint with ComReg against Eircom to cancel the remainder of our services without penalty because I have zero faith in your billing system.

Absolutely disgraceful.

Kensington

Well, I ported away from eMobile this morning.

I now have escalated up to ComReg to cancel the other's half eMobile contract and our home phone, broadband and eVision on account of our treatment.

In addition, my other half's mother (Meteor), father (eMobile) and my own mother (Meteor) will be porting away to alternative carriers in the coming week.

That's over €100 a month that Eircom have just lost in custom.