Cancelation issue - mobile as part of bundle

veliktom

Hi, I emailed this to you earlier today, posting here to hopefully get quicker resolution.  I can PM any personal details as required, thanks.

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I placed a bundle order with Eircom on 4th September consisting of eFibre broadband, home phone and eMobile.  There was an 18 month contract and the package was €30 per month for the first 6 months, rising to €73 for the remainder of the contract.  I received a welcome email on 7th September and a call at around this time to discuss my order, including arranging an appointment for the installation of eFibre broadband.  I was advised of a delay in having the broadband installed and the installation appointment was agreed for the morning of 24th September.  I also agreed to have the mobile phone delivered by courier, which was duly delivered and signed for and opened on 8th September.

On the morning of Sat 12th September, an Eircom technician came to my premises with no prior appointment or pre-advice and asked to do some work on the phone line at the premises.  He advised that he was told to put broadband on my line, and that a modem would be delivered the following week.  I was surprised by this and I mentioned that I had an appointment for eFibre coming up, and I thought the eFibre technician would be bringing a modem.  He said, "well, I was told to put broadband on the line and it's set up now anyway", and both of us were wondering why this would happen if I was getting eFibre.  I didn't think too much of it at the time, and when the modem arrived the following week I left it aside as I still had a working UPC connection, having handed in my month notice the prior week.

Later in the week I called customer support to confirm the situation and the first line support mentioned that I had received the standard broadband modem as eFibre might not be available in my area.  I questioned this as I know I live in an area enabled for 1000mb FTTH (I used the landline number assigned to my order to confirm this on your website) and mentioned I had an upcoming eFibre appointment.  I was then put through to another department who said that yes my area was enabled and that my appointment was still in the system.  So I waited for the appointment.

On 24th September I waited for the appointment and no-one had arrived by lunchtime, so I called to enquire.  I was told the appointment was in the system and that there may be delays.  I then called again at about 5:30pm and was told they still may come, but if there was a no-show then to call in the morning to re-arrange.  When I called again I was told that in order for them to check my line I needed to plug in the modem I was supplied, I had left it in the box as I still had my live UPC connection.

I plugged in the modem and due to work/personal commitments I didn't get time to call again until last week, I think it was 30th September or 1st October.  When I called I was told I didn't need a new appointment as I wasn't getting eFibre broadband.  I asked for the technical reasons for this and was told that my line was below the threshold for eFibre.  I tested the speed on the modem supplied and it was significantly lower than my existing UPC connection speed, therefore I decided to cancel the order on Friday 2nd October.

While speaking with the cancellations team on the morning of Friday 2nd October I explained all of the above and it was agreed to cancel the broadband and home phone contracts without penalty.  I was advised that because I had opened and was using the mobile phone that I could not return/cancel this, and I accepted that point.  I was then advised that revised bill for the mobile phone would be €5 per month for the first 6 months and €20 per month for the remainder of the contract.  I agreed to these terms.

After consulting the system the Eir representative explained that because of re-branding the old plans had gone and a new more expensive plan was now in place under the Eir brand.  I explained that the mobile phone was not my core reason for switching, I am not a heavy mobile user, and that I would not have switched mobile phone providers other than it made sense to do so as part of the overall bundled offering, and I said that the new Eir contract was not acceptable to me.  He understood my point and promised to investigate the matter further, upon which I terminated the call.

I called back again this morning 5th October to see if there was any progress.  Today I was informed that there was no record of the initial offer of €5 and €20, and that because I had cancelled two parts of the bundle I would not get the bundle discount for the mobile phone and the revised charges would be €20 per month for 6 months and €30 per month thereafter.  I did not agree to these terms and the Eir representative said that all he could do was get the Friday 2nd October call listened to and the case referred to another department, which could take up to 10 working days to complete.

I wish to restate that I do not agree to these revised terms, and that I am happy to continue if the original €5 and €20 mobile offer is upheld.  I think this would be a fair outcome for the following reasons:
1) I would have cancelled the entire order at the earliest opportunity if I had been told upfront that my line did not support eFibre broadband, thus would not have accepted delivery of the mobile phone.
2) I should not be penalised for contracts changing because of re-branding, from my perspective my order was still pending until I was happy with all components of the order.

I wish also to point out that waiting up to 10 working days for this issue to be resolved is not acceptable as someone with authority in the organisation should be able to make a quick determination on this case.  I look forward to hearing a response from you.