eFibre, here today- gone tomorrow.....???

LittleGarry

I purchased a property last May, before doing so I verified with Eircom, and previous owners that the line had eFibre capability - which it had and the then owners had eFibre service enabled. This was a serious consideration in our purchasing of the property as good broadband is vital for me for work - we had walked away from a number of other properties for this very reason.

When we moved in May, rather than be without Broadband while everything else was "up in the air" too we came to arrangement with the previous owners to leave their account with Eir in place for a few months until the dust settled. I set up a standing order from my account to their account to cover the monthly cost and this arrangement was left in place until last week.

Now the fun begins, I contacted Eir last Tuesday and explained that I now needed to get the account transferred into my name, being the "new" owner of the property. After jumping through a few hoops it was explained that rather than changing the name on the account they would need to shut down the previous owner’s account and open a new account for me.....fine. I was told this process should take 48 hours end to end, that the account shutdown would start immediately and someone from the sales team would then make contact to open a new account. I received a phone call last Friday evening from a guy in sales (Eoin I think) who was all gung ho to get the new account opened and service back up and running. We agreed the package, price, handed over all relevant details. Then things started to go downhill, I was told that an Eir engineer would have to come out to plug in my brand spanking new eFibre modem. I was told that it would be a week before they could organise an engineer - gave me a provisional time of between 9 - 1 the following Friday (today). I was also told that someone from another department would be in contact on Monday (last) to confirm this appointment. I asked the question several times why this was necessary given that there was already a perfectly good eFibre modem plugged in on the hall table that I have been using with no issues since last May - was told it is procedure to make sure I get the best possible service etc.....

I got no phone call to confirm the appointment on Monday, heard nothing on Tuesday either. Given that I had booked the morning off work on Friday to facilitate this visit I rang customer service on Wednesday at lunchtime. I was then told that there was a problem with the application - that eFibre was not available in my area and the application had therefore not progressed! My first comment was - did nobody consider ringing me to let me know there was an issue? I explained to the guy that I was speaking to that I had been using eFibre Broadband in the property since last May and up until Tuesday of last week - he assured me that I could not have been and more or less accused me of lying! I actually offered to take a picture of the modem in situ and email it to him - he refused my offer. I was passed through to the cancellation dept to cancel my order.

[font=Verdana","sans-serif]I was then told that the only Broadband that could be offered was so called “Next Generation” Broadband and that the line speed was a max of 5Mb. To say I was less than impressed would be an understatement. I asked how in the name of God can I go from having eFibre last week to this mess and they basically told me (after several consultations with technical dept) that between the time the previous owners account had been cancelled and my new account opened that the eFibre Broadband “port in the exchange” had been allocated to another customer. That I may be able to get it back in a couple of months?!!!! I was then told that I would have to sign up for an 18 month contract for this “Next Generation” Broadband if I wanted to place the order. I explained to the lady in question that given the circumstances that there was absolutely no way that I was signing up for any 18 month contract (I had been told it was a 12 month contract when I had signed up for eFibre initially!). My phone line was turned back on at lunchtime yesterday but I still have no Broadband of any sort.[/font]

[font=Verdana","sans-serif]To say that the way I have been treated in the past week by Eir is an absolute disgrace is I think very fair and reasonable. I eagerly await your response / proposed resolution, if this is not satisfactory I fully intend to escalate this issue to the highest authority possible. I rely heavily on my Broadband with my profession and have been very seriously affected by not having the service available for a week and a half now. [/font]

eir: Alan

LittleGarry wrote: »

I purchased a property last May, before doing so I verified with Eircom, and previous owners that the line had eFibre capability - which it had and the then owners had eFibre service enabled. This was a serious consideration in our purchasing of the property as good broadband is vital for me for work - we had walked away from a number of other properties for this very reason.

When we moved in May, rather than be without Broadband while everything else was "up in the air" too we came to arrangement with the previous owners to leave their account with Eir in place for a few months until the dust settled. I set up a standing order from my account to their account to cover the monthly cost and this arrangement was left in place until last week.

Now the fun begins, I contacted Eir last Tuesday and explained that I now needed to get the account transferred into my name, being the "new" owner of the property. After jumping through a few hoops it was explained that rather than changing the name on the account they would need to shut down the previous owner’s account and open a new account for me.....fine. I was told this process should take 48 hours end to end, that the account shutdown would start immediately and someone from the sales team would then make contact to open a new account. I received a phone call last Friday evening from a guy in sales (Eoin I think) who was all gung ho to get the new account opened and service back up and running. We agreed the package, price, handed over all relevant details. Then things started to go downhill, I was told that an Eir engineer would have to come out to plug in my brand spanking new eFibre modem. I was told that it would be a week before they could organise an engineer - gave me a provisional time of between 9 - 1 the following Friday (today). I was also told that someone from another department would be in contact on Monday (last) to confirm this appointment. I asked the question several times why this was necessary given that there was already a perfectly good eFibre modem plugged in on the hall table that I have been using with no issues since last May - was told it is procedure to make sure I get the best possible service etc.....

I got no phone call to confirm the appointment on Monday, heard nothing on Tuesday either. Given that I had booked the morning off work on Friday to facilitate this visit I rang customer service on Wednesday at lunchtime. I was then told that there was a problem with the application - that eFibre was not available in my area and the application had therefore not progressed! My first comment was - did nobody consider ringing me to let me know there was an issue? I explained to the guy that I was speaking to that I had been using eFibre Broadband in the property since last May and up until Tuesday of last week - he assured me that I could not have been and more or less accused me of lying! I actually offered to take a picture of the modem in situ and email it to him - he refused my offer. I was passed through to the cancellation dept to cancel my order.

I was then told that the only Broadband that could be offered was so called “Next Generation” Broadband and that the line speed was a max of 5Mb. To say I was less than impressed would be an understatement. I asked how in the name of God can I go from having eFibre last week to this mess and they basically told me (after several consultations with technical dept) that between the time the previous owners account had been cancelled and my new account opened that the eFibre Broadband “port in the exchange” had been allocated to another customer. That I may be able to get it back in a couple of months?!!!! I was then told that I would have to sign up for an 18 month contract for this “Next Generation” Broadband if I wanted to place the order. I explained to the lady in question that given the circumstances that there was absolutely no way that I was signing up for any 18 month contract (I had been told it was a 12 month contract when I had signed up for eFibre initially!). My phone line was turned back on at lunchtime yesterday but I still have no Broadband of any sort.

To say that the way I have been treated in the past week by Eir is an absolute disgrace is I think very fair and reasonable. I eagerly await your response / proposed resolution, if this is not satisfactory I fully intend to escalate this issue to the highest authority possible. I rely heavily on my Broadband with my profession and have been very seriously affected by not having the service available for a week and a half now.

Hi LittleGarry

I am sorry to hear of this experience and of course apologise for the inconvenience this has caused. While I fully understand that you had chose your property on the basis it can get eFibre I would have to clarify that both eFibre and broadband can never be guaranteed as it's not included in the obligation agreement which is in place for a phone line under the universal service obligation.

I understand that you had been using fibre and I understand your views on it's unavailability - In some cases where there is a high uptake of Fibre in an area the number of ports at a fibre cabinet may be used up thus making efibre unavailable to order until a new port is freed up - Obviously this should have been predicted however currently there is no mechanism or procedure in place for the cancellations team to see if there are a limited number of ports before cancelling to re-activate although this is a perfect example to implement a process improvement and I will certainly pass on this feedback to operations.

All efibre and broadband contracts are based on an 18 month contract - this cannot be modified upon request based on any circumstances or previous issues - Usage of the broadband will deem acceptance of terms and conditions which are available online here: https://www.eir.ie/opencms/export/sites/default/.content/pdf/terms/Part3.1.pdf

I understand your experience has been largely negative and I am genuinely sorry for this. I you would like to PM me your eir account number I will be happy to see if this is indeed down to the unavailability of ports and equally if you would like to avail of the normal broadband in the time being I will look in to this too.

Thanks
Al

Riesen_Meal

So is it basically the first people to the exchange get the fibre?

I know I was the third install at my exchange a few years back....

This is interesting - I was hoping to switch back to Eir down the line and that may not be possible if I cancel my Magnet account in case someone "gets there before me" and orders an Eir account?

Is that even legal????

eir: Alan

Fieldog wrote: »

So is it basically the first people to the exchange get the fibre?

I know I was the third install at my exchange a few years back....

This is interesting - I was hoping to switch back to Eir down the line and that may not be possible if I cancel my Magnet account in case someone "gets there before me" and orders an Eir account?

Is that even legal????

It's not as simple as that Fieldog although yes, when the ports are taken up then it will be unavailable until a port becomes available - this one of the reasons why eFibre cannot be guaranteed and yes it's legal and within compliance with industry regulations.

Al

LittleGarry

Hi Alan,

This situation is still ongoing two months down the road. Nobody is able to tell me definitively what the problem is or, more importantly, how or when it will be resolved. You informed me by PM on 18th January last that it was been investigated by your technical team:


"Hi Garry

Having looked in to the notes left on your account I can confirm that a contract will not apply until eFibre becomes available and you indeed are upgraded to eFibre.

The notes also reflect that there are ports available however your line is not currently qualifying - the technical specifics are quite detailed and ultimately lay at the networks team knowledge base - the notes also state that this has been sent for further investigation and until we the fibre team have an update the best we can do is offer you normal NGB speeds of up to 5Mb.

Al"


Every time I ring Eir I get told a different story or pawned off to a different department - all with the same outcome - nothing. I have at this stage wasted many hours on the phone to Eir - and am getting absolutely nowhere except more and more frustrated. Can you please find out for me definitively why Eir can no longer supply eFibre Broadband to my home given that there are allegedly ports available and that the service was supplied in the previous account holders name up until the first week in January? Surely it shouldn't take your technical team two months to get to the bottom of this?

Eir: Pamela

Hi  LittleGarry,


I'm very sorry to hear this.
I'm afraid Al is no longer with us, Can you PM me your account details and I will follow up on this.

Pamela 

LittleGarry

Customer service Eir style...... we don't know why we can no longer supply you with Broadband, and we really couldn't be bothered finding out either. Anyone considering signing up to Eir PLEASE be aware that you are a number, a very small number.....  
Eir: Pamela
Verified representative

 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Posts: 143
Adverts | Friends

Re: Disappearing efibre - and nobody interested in following up.....

Quote:
Originally Posted by LittleGarry
Quote:
Originally Posted by Eir: Pamela
I have checked this LittleGarry and I'm afraid the account is still not testing for efibre.

I'm afraid sometimes this can happen and efibre will not always be available on specific lines. I'm very sorry I could not offer you better news on this.

Pamela


[color][size]
Hi Pamela, 
With all due respect and further to my previous message, the "not available on the line" response is really not what I am looking for and is of no use to me. What I would like is somebody in Eir to tell me two things:
[/size][/color]

• Why is the service no longer available on the line given that eFibre was provided to the property (obviously on the same physical line) by Eir up until the first week in January. Also the fact I am being told that there are ports available at the local exchange. What's changed other than the account number?
• What Eir plan on doing to escalate this issue and get it resolved, (from where I'm standing there is absolutely no effort to get to the bottom of this by anyone in Eir) and what the timeline is on this process.
  

[*]
As I said previously the shrugging of shoulders response simply does not cut it given the trouble this issue has caused me and the, now countless, hours I have spent bouncing my head off a brick wall trying to get some kind of resolution of this.
I would appreciate an urgent response,
Garry.



[*]
I understand that completely Garry and I do understand your frustration however I'm afraid I am unable of offer these specific details. 
I would recommend registering here https://www.eir.ie/eirfibreinfo/map/ and once efibre is available you will be notified.

Pamela

eircom: Tracey

LittleGarry wrote: »

Customer service Eir style...... we don't know why we can no longer supply you with Broadband, and we really couldn't be bothered finding out either. Anyone considering signing up to Eir PLEASE be aware that you are a number, a very small number.....  
Eir: Pamela
Verified representative

 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Posts: 143
Adverts | Friends

Re: Disappearing efibre - and nobody interested in following up.....

Quote:

Originally Posted by LittleGarry
Quote:

Originally Posted by Eir: Pamela
I have checked this LittleGarry and I'm afraid the account is still not testing for efibre.

I'm afraid sometimes this can happen and efibre will not always be available on specific lines. I'm very sorry I could not offer you better news on this.

Pamela


[size=undefined]
Hi Pamela, 
With all due respect and further to my previous message, the "not available on the line" response is really not what I am looking for and is of no use to me. What I would like is somebody in Eir to tell me two things:
[/size]

• Why is the service no longer available on the line given that eFibre was provided to the property (obviously on the same physical line) by Eir up until the first week in January. Also the fact I am being told that there are ports available at the local exchange. What's changed other than the account number?
• What Eir plan on doing to escalate this issue and get it resolved, (from where I'm standing there is absolutely no effort to get to the bottom of this by anyone in Eir) and what the timeline is on this process.
  
  
  

[*]
As I said previously the shrugging of shoulders response simply does not cut it given the trouble this issue has caused me and the, now countless, hours I have spent bouncing my head off a brick wall trying to get some kind of resolution of this.
I would appreciate an urgent response,
Garry.





[*]
I understand that completely Garry and I do understand your frustration however I'm afraid I am unable of offer these specific details. 
I would recommend registering here https://www.eir.ie/eirfibreinfo/map/ and once efibre is available you will be notified.

Pamela

[*]

Hi littleGarry, 

I'll flag this with Pamela. She'll come back to you shortly.

Thanks 

Tracey 

LittleGarry

eircom: Tracey wrote: »

LittleGarry wrote: »

Customer service Eir style...... we don't know why we can no longer supply you with Broadband, and we really couldn't be bothered finding out either. Anyone considering signing up to Eir PLEASE be aware that you are a number, a very small number.....  
Eir: Pamela
Verified representative

 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Posts: 143
Adverts | Friends

Re: Disappearing efibre - and nobody interested in following up.....

Quote:

Originally Posted by LittleGarry
Quote:

Originally Posted by Eir: Pamela
I have checked this LittleGarry and I'm afraid the account is still not testing for efibre.

I'm afraid sometimes this can happen and efibre will not always be available on specific lines. I'm very sorry I could not offer you better news on this.

Pamela


[size=undefined]
Hi Pamela, 
With all due respect and further to my previous message, the "not available on the line" response is really not what I am looking for and is of no use to me. What I would like is somebody in Eir to tell me two things:
[/size]

• Why is the service no longer available on the line given that eFibre was provided to the property (obviously on the same physical line) by Eir up until the first week in January. Also the fact I am being told that there are ports available at the local exchange. What's changed other than the account number?
• What Eir plan on doing to escalate this issue and get it resolved, (from where I'm standing there is absolutely no effort to get to the bottom of this by anyone in Eir) and what the timeline is on this process.
  
  
  
  
  

[*]
As I said previously the shrugging of shoulders response simply does not cut it given the trouble this issue has caused me and the, now countless, hours I have spent bouncing my head off a brick wall trying to get some kind of resolution of this.
I would appreciate an urgent response,
Garry.







[*]
I understand that completely Garry and I do understand your frustration however I'm afraid I am unable of offer these specific details. 
I would recommend registering here https://www.eir.ie/eirfibreinfo/map/ and once efibre is available you will be notified.

Pamela

[*]

Hi littleGarry, 

I'll flag this with Pamela. She'll come back to you shortly.

Thanks 

Tracey 

[*]
Hi Tracey,

Pamela has already told me that she cannot give me any answers to the, given the circumstances, very fair and reasonable questions that I have asked. Unfortunately, rather than escalating the issue to someone who perhaps can answer them she has chosen, as far as I am concerned, to dismiss the issue entirely. I have wasted so much time trying to get resolution on this issue (or even just an answer as to how it could happen!) since mid January it is way beyond a joke. I fully realise now that I am bouncing my head off a brick wall talking to anyone in Eir - it is very clear to me that they couldn't care less!

Garry