Phone Line Installation

P1ssed0ff

I contacted Eir recently to request on of their fibre broadband packages. Eir provided me with an order reference (14054067), account number () and then arranged for a phone line installation. A technician from KN Group arrived to install the line on Wednesday morning (15^th March). He ran a cable underground from my house to a junction which was only a couple of meters away from the house (under an Eircom manhole on footpath). He couldn't complete the termination of my phone line because the multicore cable running from the exchange just outside our estate to the junction, was not terminated at the junction.

A couple of very disgruntled neighbours appeared on the street as the engineer was working at the junction. It turns out that 8 houses on my street also are unable to get phone lines because of this issue. The engineer couldn't do anything further until Eir completed the termination works at the junction. He suggested that I contact Eir and he would also submit his notes to Eir.

I contacted Eir the next morning (16^th March), I was bounced around between Accounts, Customer Service and Technical support departments for about 40 minutes and eventually the call was cut off. I called back and after another 15-20 minutes of waiting, I was told by Eir customer support that my order was cancelled. This was done without notifying me. There was no contact by phone, SMS text or email so rather than deal with the issue, Eir just cancelled my order. Great customer service!

Eventually, I was told the issue would be rectified at the end of April which is a completely unacceptable timeframe for terminating a couple of wires. Now I appreciate that I'm in a new house but this is the last house in a phase which completed in November 2016. In addition to this, the housing estate is well established and is standing since 2006. All of the infrastructure is there, it’s not rocket science! Eir just need to send out a technician to terminate the multicore cables at the junction and allow my neighbours and me to get our phone lines connected.

I know phone line / broadband services are not important to some people but for others for example, it is essential for business and for keeping in touch with family members in other parts of the world. Personally, I require a phone line for a stable broadband connection for work purposes. It enables me to work from home for a few days a month in order to spend some time with my kids and to cut down on commuting costs. A wireless phone/broadband service will not suit my requirements.

It should not be this difficult to get a phone line and broadband package in place. As I've mentioned, at the very least, there are 8 houses which are unable to get a phone line. That is eight potential customers who will have to consider alternative options to Eir’s service. This equates to a couple of thousand euros of subscriptions lost because there's no initiative from Eir to push for a simple job to be completed. I do not understand Eir’s logic here.

Eircom might have rebranded to Eir but they’re proving that a leopard doesn't changes its spots. I’ve wasted a couple of hours of my life trying to get the message through to the robots who answer the phones on Eir’s customer support desk. The message does not get through to them and they refuse to escalate my issue to supervisors, management or the department who provided them the April time frame for carrying out works citing that the department is not client facing.

Richard Moat and senior management at Eir should be embarrassed that any customer/potential customer would need to go to these lengths in order to get some service from their company.   

ILikeBoats

I'm in the same boat doing the same thing as you for past 3 months. Eir are useless.

The fact Open Eir aren't customer facing is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.

I will never give Eir a penny.

P1ssed0ff

3 Months is madness!!! If you haven't done so already, make a complaint to ComReg and best of luck getting connected.  

ILikeBoats

Official complaint made to both Eir and Comreg, hasn't made a difference

eir: Anna

Hi P1ssed0ff,


Thanks for getting in touch and I am very sorry to hear this.

Unfortunately, when there is additional work in order to get your services installed you would receive a forecast date and there's is no way of moving it forward.

I completely understand your frustration and do apologies for an inconvenience. 

If you send me a PM with your account number and full name I can have a look into this however, If you're order has been terminated you will need to contact our sales team to place a new order on 1800 503 303.

Once this has been re-ordered we should be able to get more information from our wholesale department.

Thanks,
Anna.