Has my phone number been deleted?!?!?!?!?!?

DavyD_83

Can somebody please investigate why my phone number appears to have been cancelled??

I lost signal to my sim 2 days ago.
I have logged into MyEir, and get the message: "Hi there! There are no numbers associated with this email address."

I have been on a 30 day rolling contract with Meteor, then moved to Eir for the past 4-5 years and never had any trouble until now.

I received a bill to my email address (the same I used to log in to MyEir) on 28th July.
I have also made a payment of €40 to the account on 28th July, in order to keep the account in credit. At the time, I logged in , and was able to see my usage history.

I have tried everything available to me to contact Eir to discuss.
(I don't have Facebook or Twitter)

I started a chat on the website, and was eventually told:
" I understand your concern, unfortunately, you are chatting with a member of the fixed care chat service team,I am transferring this chat to Meteor service team , Please stay connected it will take no time. I assure you they will help you regarding this concern. "
The agent then left the conversation and 3 minutes later the caht session was ended.



I have tried calling all support numbers I can find:
1890 260 260, (Locall) will not connect me to anybody as it says that my number is not recognised.
No answer from any of the other numbers, apart from one which picks up and tells me the line is closed, , it opens 8am-8pm Mon-Friday. This message was given at 9:30am on Friday.
Numbers I tried:
01 430 7085

01 430 7066
01 701 5609
01 678 8888

Can somebody please help me to investigate this ASAP?




Also, from the website:

Email Us
We are currently upgrading our email platform in order to improve the service provided to you.
During this essential upgrade, the “Contact Us” email function will be temporarily disabled. If your query is urgent or you are looking to follow up on a logged issue, please contact us through our contact channels listed above.

DavyD_83

Ok, so I tried chat again, and this time was transferred successfully to Meteor Service Team.

After 20 minutes of verification questions, I have been informed:

Eir: I've check your all the details as I Can see your number is no more active in eir network, it is showing cancel.
Eir: Also, as I can see you have paid extra money €-35.50 if you can share me your account number with short code or iban I'll refund this amount in your account
.
.
Eir: I'm sorry David, if you are looking for same number or reactivation need to visit the eir store.
Me: can you confirm why this account would have been cancelled??
Eir: I'm sorry David, I've check all the notes but no note is available related to cancellation.


I have asked repeatedly for this issue to be escalated, or passed to a team who have the power to reactivate my account, but have been told I need to go to the Eir store.

After another 20 minutes, I have been given the Loyalty customer care number:
1800 283 099
But no confirmation that they can actually do anything.

Outline of the next hour spent trying get an resolution via phone:
Loyalty Team: Just going to put you on hold to check your notes.

• Hold - line dies
  

[*]
Call back Loyalty Team: No connection
Call back Loyalty Team: answered to open line in call centre, but nobody speaking to my line for over 20-30 seconds
Call back Loyalty team again, answered.

Loyalty Team: Nothing they can do, will transfer to customer care
Customer Care: Just going to put you on hold

• Hold - after while ringing tone, answered by loyalty team
  

[*]
Loyalty Team: Nothing they can do, will transfer to customer care
Customer care (different agent): Just going to put you on hold to check your notes.

• Hold - For the first tome actually picked up from a hold by the person who put me on hold!
  

[*]
Eventual outcome is confirmation that my number has been cancelled, but nobody can see why/how/when, a ticket will need to be opened to investigate the cancellation. No commitment can be given whether the number can be reactivated or not.
Tech ticket can take 24-48hrs to resolve.

I was told I would need to call back in 24-48 hours to find out what the resolution of the tech ticket was, if it has been resolved.
After arguing, it was agreed that Customer Care would let me know the outcome of the ticket once tech team resolve it.

I am therefore awaiting an update in 24-48 hours, even though my number was mysteriously cancelled 2 days ago on your side.

That was an incredibly long and tedious process to get to the point that somebody will actually investigate what is clearly an Eir tech issue from the beginning.
I am not remotely satisfied with the 'resolution' at present, or the fact it has taken me over 2 hours of chat and calls to get to this point.

Judging by the amount of threads on here at the moment, it looks like the Eir service is way below expectations.
I'm sure as a result support are busy, and almost as frustrated as the customers,

Based on my experiences this morning; it doesn't feel like anybody is making any genuine efforts to actually improve or solve the issues (maybe they know it's a lost cause).

CeilingFly

Possibly the fault is with yourself?

Most mobile companies disconnect a prepay number if not topped up by a minimum amount every 6 months. After 8 months the number is recycled.

So before 28th July, when was your previous top-up?

If before 28th January, then the terms and conditions of service (which you agreed to) state that the number will be disconnected.  

DavyD_83

Thanks for the response @CeilingFly, It is very possible, and is essentially what I expected to be told when I contacted support this morning.

 (I honestly am not sure when I last topped up), but the account has always been in credit up until this month.
But surely if it was a standard cancellation due to lack of use, it would be easy for them to just verify that this is the reason.

If it turns out the reason is that straight forward, I might actually be more pissed off at this point.

drunkmonkey

Go into a shop quick and get it reactivated by topping up. It can be sorted in a shop not over the phone.

DavyD_83

<Reply function is being weird>

Will try get in over weekend if I still haven't had any further update, no Eir shops actually within reachable distance while in work.

DavyD_83

Oh, and it's a rolling 30 day bill pay account, I've just been over - paying  so that no payment is actually needed at bill time  It effectively works like topping up, but isn't topping up.
Account is €35 in credit at time of cancelling

drunkmonkey

DavyD_83 wrote: »

Oh, and it's a rolling 30 day bill pay account, I've just been over - paying  so that no payment is actually needed at bill time  It effectively works like topping up, but isn't topping up.
Account is €35 in credit at time of cancelling

You cancelled the account that's that's a different issue, when you cancel you need to move your number somewhere, call customer care again as it's not that easy port when your number is dead the likes of Vodafone, Three etc will want to call or text you number to move it but without an active number they can't. 

DavyD_83

You've lost me there DM. I DIDN'T CANCEL our request any change to my account. On 1st August my number was just deactivated
Eir have confirmed that my account is currently cancelled, but can provide no information regarding why, or who applied the cancellation. 
They do not seem to have any audit trail to even show who clicked the cancel button (or are saying they don't ). 

eir: Kyle

DavyD_83 wrote: »

Oh, and it's a rolling 30 day bill pay account, I've just been over - paying  so that no payment is actually needed at bill time  It effectively works like topping up, but isn't topping up.
Account is €35 in credit at time of cancelling

Hi there DavyD_83

If a number isn’t topped up after a period of time the number will eventually be recycled.

After 150 days numbers that have not been topped up will be unable to make any outgoing services. The number will still be able to receive information (such as calls and texts) for 30 days.

240 days after your last top up any credit left on your phone will be removed.

13 months after your last top up your number will disconnect. It will not be possible to reconnect your number after this period of time as your number will have been recycled.

-Kyle

drunkmonkey

DavyD_83 wrote: »

Oh, and it's a rolling 30 day bill pay account, I've just been over - paying  so that no payment is actually needed at bill time  It effectively works like topping up, but isn't topping up.
Account is €35 in credit at time of cancelling

eir: Kyle wrote: »

DavyD_83 wrote: »

Oh, and it's a rolling 30 day bill pay account, I've just been over - paying  so that no payment is actually needed at bill time  

Hi there DavyD_83

If a number isn’t topped up after a period of time the number will eventually be recycled.

#facepalm

DavyD_83

eir: Kyle wrote: »

DavyD_83 wrote: »

Oh, and it's a rolling 30 day bill pay account, I've just been over - paying  so that no payment is actually needed at bill time  It effectively works like topping up, but isn't topping up.
Account is €35 in credit at time of cancelling

Hi there DavyD_83

If a number isn’t topped up after a period of time the number will eventually be recycled.

After 150 days numbers that have not been topped up will be unable to make any outgoing services. The number will still be able to receive information (such as calls and texts) for 30 days.

240 days after your last top up any credit left on your phone will be removed.

13 months after your last top up your number will disconnect. It will not be possible to reconnect your number after this period of time as your number will have been recycled.

-Kyle

Thanks Kyle, If I give you the number  can you confirm if this is what happened to it?
Again  it was not a PAYG account  it was a rolling bill contract.
I had also been able to send and receive texts from the sim up to a few days before being cut off, which would not seem to align with the above.

Last text sent 9:19 31st July.
Sim dead since some time morning off August 1st

DavyD_83

@Kyle.
PM sent with phone number

eir: Thomas

DavyD_83 wrote: »

eir: Kyle wrote: »

DavyD_83 wrote: »

Oh, and it's a rolling 30 day bill pay account, I've just been over - paying  so that no payment is actually needed at bill time  It effectively works like topping up, but isn't topping up.
Account is €35 in credit at time of cancelling

Hi there DavyD_83

If a number isn’t topped up after a period of time the number will eventually be recycled.

After 150 days numbers that have not been topped up will be unable to make any outgoing services. The number will still be able to receive information (such as calls and texts) for 30 days.

240 days after your last top up any credit left on your phone will be removed.

13 months after your last top up your number will disconnect. It will not be possible to reconnect your number after this period of time as your number will have been recycled.

-Kyle

Thanks Kyle, If I give you the number  can you confirm if this is what happened to it?
Again  it was not a PAYG account  it was a rolling bill contract.
I had also been able to send and receive texts from the sim up to a few days before being cut off, which would not seem to align with the above.

Last text sent 9:19 31st July.
Sim dead since some time morning off August 1st

Hi DavyD_83 ,

If you PM me your full name and your account number I would be happy to look into this for you.

Thanks

Thomas

DavyD_83

Hi Thomas,
I have PM'ed you the details.

I have not received any update form the Customer Care team since Friday, but based on the advice received I understand that the tech ticket should be resolved by now and there should be some information about the cause of cancellation.

Thanks
Davy

DavyD_83

Hi Thomas  Is there any update on status of the tech ticket?

eir: Thomas

DavyD_83 wrote: »

Hi Thomas  Is there any update on status of the tech ticket?

I have responded to your PM.

Thanks

Thomas

DavyD_83

Another un-substantiated 'reason for cancelling' followed by instruction to contact Customer Support really isn't what I hoped for after 4 days.

lpool2k05

DavyD_83 wrote: »

Another un-substantiated 'reason for cancelling' followed by instruction to contact Customer Support really isn't what I hoped for after 4 days.

i honestly believe that nobody at this company know what there doing and all they do is pass the buck.

DavyD_83

lpool2k05 wrote: »

DavyD_83 wrote: »

Another un-substantiated 'reason for cancelling' followed by instruction to contact Customer Support really isn't what I hoped for after 4 days.

i honestly believe that nobody at this company know what there doing and all they do is pass the buck.

Pretty sure you're not wrong. Eventually got on to a really helpful and  honest guy on Tuesday who essentially said this. Apparently my account d cancelled by accident, and they aren't able to reactivate a sim. I still think it may have been a deliberate clean up of old tariffs, which m miss-classified my account as it off use due to zero value bills (which has been paid in advance), but at least it's finally been accepted that eir made a mistake 
What has really annoyed me was trying to keep up the pretence that it was a valid cancellation and that I had somehow broken the terms. This is dishonest and completely unhelpful. 

Also  the approach across all talk to forums here seems to be to take the issue to pm as soon as possible. I understand that personal data needs to be protected but don't see why there cannot be transparency for the advice given. It would allow customers to better understand current issues and in cases that are dealt with well (which should be the intention) would only improve company image. If issues aren't going to be discussed on here, why not just operate support via email properly? 

andy.85

Can someone from Eir confirm how often this happens to their customers? I was considering advising a family member to switch to one of your SIM-only tariffs but if someone can just randomly be cut off like this and lose their phone number which they may have had for 20 years and be given the runaround like the OP was I will not be recommending Eir to ANYONE.

DavyD_83

Hi Andy,
Certainly not defending ~Eir's customer support, but just to provide an update.

In the end it has been confirmed that my account was cancelled deliberately as I was on a very old meteor tariff that has been fully retired (presumably because it was too good value). I have been told that I would have received a text message at some point before the cancellation, telling me it would happen and to contact Eir to choose a replacement plan.
Although this sounds reasonable, all communication I have with Eir, including billing is via email, so I have no understanding why this 'planned change' would not be mentioned anywhere on my bills, or communicated to me by email.
I had been using the SIM card in my house alarm, so no text sent to that number would ever be read. In the 6 years I have been using this, I never had any other issues.

15 days after cancellation, my number has been resurrected and attached to a new PAYG SIM that I ordered online.
Getting there has taken me at least an hour on chat, 3+ hours of phone calls and my attempts on here, needing to explain everything from scratch every single time I contacted anybody, even when just trying to follow up and move to the next stated step.

In this time, I was also given completely made up reasons for the cancellation, 3 of which were supposedly my fault due to lack of usage, or paying my bill in advance. If mistakes are made, or if there is a genuine reason for a change this should be shared with the customer.
Lying to customers should never be seen as acceptable (especially when done repeatedly and unconvincingly).

I have a working SIM again, with only a slightly different tariff setup, so I'm happy enough with the end result, but the amount of chasing and arguing to get here was ridiculous. The Customer 'Support' like a lot of companies these days was entirely incapable of just understanding the situation and getting it fixed internally. Instead, you are bounced around teams until you put foot down and insist that they do something.
Even then, it is very difficult to get a commitment from anybody to take an action or to call back with an update.
The fact I was once told that I would need to call back to find out the result of a technical review, which would be completed in 24-72hrs is particularly ridiculous. So it was expected that I would call, just to see if they had gotten anywhere, even though presumably the person raising the technical ticket would be notified.

I only ever received 2 calls from Eir in the entire time, despite 5 (or6?) commitments to a call back, and had to chase at every step.

I'm sticking with Eir for now, as it is the cheapest service available that will do what I need, but I really hope I will not need any support in the future.
If I do, I might actually just switch network, rather than engaging in this process again.

JTMan

Beyond belief how Eir treat their customers. Truly awful. When things go wrong you need help, not to be treated like that. Note to self to never subscribe to Eir.  

andy.85

Thanks for the update Davy.

Glad to hear you at least got it sorted in the end (eventually). What I can't understand though is why didn't they just bump you onto another tariff?? I would've thought that is standard in the industry (at least in Ireland?) when they are killing off a legacy tariff, not simply cut you off from the network entirely? Maybe it's a contract thing, I dunno.

The constant fobbing off and poor customer service OTOH doesn't surprise me as it seems customer service on all networks isn't what it used to be back in the day. There's still no excuse for it though.

DavyD_83

Cheers Andy,
I asked the same and was not given any satisfactory or convincing answer. Presumably at that point the guys I was talking to didn't want to get caught out making up any more info.

From my own experience of contracts and customer service, I would imagine they could not move me onto a different tariff without my confirmation. I don't have T&C's of my initial contract, but would assume it said they could end it with sufficient notice (which was given by text to my alarm system).
It was a rolling 30-day, no commitment billpay contract, which OI think all operators have now realised is not that good idea from revenue perspective.
I was only sending 10-20 texts a month (on a busy month), approx. €60 in the 5 years I had it in place.
So, while I fully understand the desire to end the contract and move me to something a bit more reliable, it was the lack of transparency/understanding in Customer Support, and inability/unwillingness to escalate to any higher level that really annoyed me.

For me, my house alarm was out of action for 2 weeks, while not ideal, it's not that big an issue.
I don't know what chance any elderly person has of navigating these sorts of issues if their phone or other service gores down. They would presumably take the agent at their word, and believe that it was entirely customer error, and possibly even accept an additional cost to resolve the issue.

As you say, and as we've all seen inside and out of large companies these days, Customer Service really is not a priority.
Selling and upgrading maybe, but fixing or downgrading, good luck to you!

It took me 15 min on phone yesterday to sign up to a full UPC package and arrange installation.
It took me hours, and multiple calls to downgrade a few years ago.