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Problems after changing Billpay plan recently
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18-08-2018 7:00pm#1[font=Times New Roman", "serif]I changed my billpay plan recently. I was told when doing so that because I had an "old" account number, I would have to be set up manually on a new billing system.[/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif]And that's where the problems started.[/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif]I wasn't told that by changing my billpay plan, I would be entering a 12-month contract. I found this out from the automated email I received "welcoming" me to Eir.[/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif]This is what needs to be sorted out:[/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif]1. Incorrect billing address.[/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif]My "old" account number begins with CA followed by digits. The new account number is all digits.[/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif]My billing address as entered by the Eir Customer Service person on the phone is incorrect. Immediately after I viewed the address details online, I phoned to have them corrected. I was told it had been done but nothing was changed.[/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif]So I then used Webchat and was told my address couldn't be changed because "the system" couldn't find part of the address. The person I dealt with on Webchat succeeded (most likely accidentally) in making another incorrect change to the address - deleting part of line 3 of the address. I was told to email accountchange@eir.ie, which I did on 15 August. I haven't received a reply, not even an automated reply with a reference number that I could quote if I wanted to make a follow-up call.[/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif]So I then tried calling again but your phone menu make it very difficult to know which option to choose if I want to speak to someone so I gave up. Incidentally, the bill that arrived recently for the old account has the correct billing address so why was it not possible to input this in the new billing system?![/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif]2. Billing period was arbitrarily changed when I changed billpay plan. [/font][font=Times New Roman", "serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif]Previously, it ran from the 10th of one month until the 9th of the following month. Now my billing period runs from the 26th of one month until the 25th of the following month. I had to work that out myself because the Eir person I spoke to on the phone hadn't a clue. He told me the billing period now ran from the 7th of one month until the 7th of the following month and the 26 August bill issue date I saw online in My Eir was "to give me time to pay my bill." That clearly didn't make sense as the bill usually issues a few days after the end of the period and that if it issued on the 26th, that would be almost 3 weeks into the following billing period! He hadn't a clue and rather than admit that, he just made something up![/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif]When I requested the billpay plan change, I explicitly stated on more than one occasion over the phone that the new billpay plan should start from the beginning of my next billing period on 10 August.[/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif]After finding out that my billing period had been changed, I asked what needed to be done to change it and was told it could be changed but it could take up to 3 weeks to do so (by the same person who was so knowledgeable about the billing period). Needless to say, I didn't believe him but recognising that he was totally out of his depth, I opted to terminate the call rather than risk asking him to make a change and mess things up even further.[/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif]Is it really that difficult to change the billing period? Why didn't the Eir person do as I had requested and change the billpay plan from what would have been the start of the next billing period under the old account number?[/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif]I don't want the billing period changed unless you can guarantee that it won't result in double-billing and waiting for a credit on a subsequent bill or some other entangled nightmare.[/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif]3. Supervalu real rewards card still linked to old account number.[/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif]After being set up with a new account number, I decided to add my Supervalu real rewards card, only to be told that it was already linked to an existing Eir account (clearly the old one). When I was set up with a new account number, I realised that I would have to register the new account number on the Eir website to access the account in MyEir. I did these before deleting the old MyEir account linked to my old account number using the same email address to access both accounts, which meant that when entering my email address on MyEir, I had to choose which account I wanted to access.[/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif]As I had been given a new account number and I assumed the old account number was no longer of any use, I opted to delete the old account on MyEir. Only when I tried to link the Real Rewards card to my new account number, did I realise I should have removed the Rewards card number from my old account number on MyEir.[/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif]So I called Customer Care, explained the problem and was told I needed to contact Supervalu. I explained the error message was being displayed on the Eir website, not Supervalu's but was still told to contact Supervalu and that they "will break the link." So I contacted Supervalu who took the details of the problem but the person I spoke to hadn't come across this problem before.[/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif]Whatever needs to be done here is on the Eir side, to remove the link between my old Eir account number and the Rewards card.[/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif]4. Credit on bill issued under old account number[/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif]Because my account number was changed, I received a bill recently for the old account number billing me up until the date my billpay plan was changed (before the end of the billing period for the old account). As service is billed 1 month in advance, the bill is in credit.[/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif]How do I get this refunded? Can the credit be applied to my new account?[/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif]Some comments on the other problems I experienced when changing Billpay plan.[/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif]I decided to change my Billpay plan on 7 August so at 14h15, I clicked the WebChat Team link on this page:https://www.eir.ie/support/mobile/upgrade-your-eir-mobile-plan/[/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif]The first person I dealt with couldn't help me as I had been connected to the wrong team. He redirected the chat to the Eir Mobile Team, who told me that they were unable to change my billpay plan and I was told to phone 1905.[/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif]I called 1905 at 14h44 and spoke first to Melanie, who put me on hold and (without telling me) transferred me to Lia of the Eir Home Fibre Team, who was unable to help me and transferred me to the Eir Mobile Team, where I spoke to Emma, who was unable to change my billpay plan and when I asked she explained that this could only be done by the Loyalty Team. [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif]Emma then transferred me to Chloe of the Loyalty Team who told me that she would need my IBAN to set up the new billpay plan as they were unable to copy the existing direct debit details from the "old system" which is used for my current billpay plan. I provided the IBAN and sShe then placed me on hold for several minutes and then told me the change had been "approved" and would take effect from 10 August 2018.[/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif]In total the call took 20 minutes, dealing with several people, none of whom really had much competence in dealing what should have been a straightforward and simple request.[/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif]When I last changed billpay plan several years ago, I spoke to one person, the change was made in a few minutes and from the start of the next billing period as I had requested![/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif]The quality of your customer service[/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif]I've come across a lot of complaints about Eir Service online and in the media but I rarely have any reason to contact Customer Service - the last time I had done so was when my mobile provider was Meteor and the experience was positive. In fact, my dealings with Metor were overwhelmingly positive.[/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif]So because of my positive experience with Meteor, I couldn't understand the negativity about Eir Customer Service. [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif]But I do now.[/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif]Clearly something has changed in the last few years that has resulted in a deterioration in the quality of customer service that you now provide. You've outsourced the webchat to somewhere outside Europe and while the staff on webchat are polite and seem eager to help, in my recent experience, this eagerness doesn't translate into actually being able to do anything. They can't help with account queries, make plan changes. They can't even correct a billing address.[/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif]The Customer Service staff I dealt with over the phone are disinterested, unknowledgeable, inexperienced, uncaring and unmotivated. While this is based from my recent experience, I dealt with quite a few people and the experience was consistently poor. You could be told anything to placate you and when you find out what you've been told isn't true, it will always be someone else's problem (not) to deal with when you call back! It's possible your staff lack the tools, resources and management support to deal with queries professionally, competently and effectively.[/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif]Conor Pope writing in the Irish Times received the following statement from Eir about the large number of complaints he gets about Eir:[/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif]“Improving customer service levels and advocacy is a key strategic priority for the company. We currently have a dedicated customer service improvement programme under way to identify areas where changes are needed. This programme is spearheaded by the CEO and senior management team.”[/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif]There is a jarring disconnect between these lofty aspirations and the real-life experiences of lots of very unhappy customers including myself.[/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif]I've been a customer of yours since 2010 (or earlier as I can't remember exactly when I signed up to Meteor) and based on my recent experience, I can't think of any reason other than price why I would want to stay with Eir. Your sim-only billpay plans are very good value for money. The phone service is for the most part good although your data coverage is poor (mostly Edge) once you move outside the main population centres but I understand that given Ireland's low population density, it can be difficult and unecomomical to provide 3G/4G data coverage everywhere.[/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif]But your customer service is woeful. And consistently so. [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif]It's frustrating and disempowering dealing with you over the phone and webchat.[/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif]And you don't reward loyalty (your plan discounts are reserved for new customers) or see the value in providing good customer service to build loyalty. I know customers are fickle and promiscuous with the frequency with which some of us switch back and forth between mobile providers in our pursuit of the best deal for our pockets but make an effort to retain those of us who've been customers of yours for a long time![/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif]I don't want to make a formal complaint and I don't want to contact Comreg as I feel the specific issues I've outlined above (1-4) should be within the capacity of Customer Service to resolve, although possible with the involvement of someone more senior given the inability of the staff on the phone or webchat to sort things out.[/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif]The most likely response to this post will be to ask me to PM you my account details so you can look into this, which I can understand, as for privacy reasons, I shouldn't post my account details here.[/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman", "serif]But I will be very disappointed if my effort writing this post isn't reciprocated by your efforts to resolve the specific issues I have above (1-4) and contact from someone who convinces me to stay with Eir.[/font]
Yours hopefully,
Liam0
Comments
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Hi Liam,I changed my billpay plan recently. I was told when doing so that because I had an "old" account number, I would have to be set up manually on a new billing system.
And that's where the problems started.
I wasn't told that by changing my billpay plan, I would be entering a 12-month contract. I found this out from the automated email I received "welcoming" me to Eir.
This is what needs to be sorted out:
1. Incorrect billing address.
My "old" account number begins with CA followed by digits. The new account number is all digits.
My billing address as entered by the Eir Customer Service person on the phone is incorrect. Immediately after I viewed the address details online, I phoned to have them corrected. I was told it had been done but nothing was changed.
So I then used Webchat and was told my address couldn't be changed because "the system" couldn't find part of the address. The person I dealt with on Webchat succeeded (most likely accidentally) in making another incorrect change to the address - deleting part of line 3 of the address. I was told to email accountchange@eir.ie, which I did on 15 August. I haven't received a reply, not even an automated reply with a reference number that I could quote if I wanted to make a follow-up call.
So I then tried calling again but your phone menu make it very difficult to know which option to choose if I want to speak to someone so I gave up. Incidentally, the bill that arrived recently for the old account has the correct billing address so why was it not possible to input this in the new billing system?!
2. Billing period was arbitrarily changed when I changed billpay plan.
Previously, it ran from the 10th of one month until the 9th of the following month. Now my billing period runs from the 26th of one month until the 25th of the following month. I had to work that out myself because the Eir person I spoke to on the phone hadn't a clue. He told me the billing period now ran from the 7th of one month until the 7th of the following month and the 26 August bill issue date I saw online in My Eir was "to give me time to pay my bill." That clearly didn't make sense as the bill usually issues a few days after the end of the period and that if it issued on the 26th, that would be almost 3 weeks into the following billing period! He hadn't a clue and rather than admit that, he just made something up!
When I requested the billpay plan change, I explicitly stated on more than one occasion over the phone that the new billpay plan should start from the beginning of my next billing period on 10 August.
After finding out that my billing period had been changed, I asked what needed to be done to change it and was told it could be changed but it could take up to 3 weeks to do so (by the same person who was so knowledgeable about the billing period). Needless to say, I didn't believe him but recognising that he was totally out of his depth, I opted to terminate the call rather than risk asking him to make a change and mess things up even further.
Is it really that difficult to change the billing period? Why didn't the Eir person do as I had requested and change the billpay plan from what would have been the start of the next billing period under the old account number?
I don't want the billing period changed unless you can guarantee that it won't result in double-billing and waiting for a credit on a subsequent bill or some other entangled nightmare.
3. Supervalu real rewards card still linked to old account number.
After being set up with a new account number, I decided to add my Supervalu real rewards card, only to be told that it was already linked to an existing Eir account (clearly the old one). When I was set up with a new account number, I realised that I would have to register the new account number on the Eir website to access the account in MyEir. I did these before deleting the old MyEir account linked to my old account number using the same email address to access both accounts, which meant that when entering my email address on MyEir, I had to choose which account I wanted to access.
As I had been given a new account number and I assumed the old account number was no longer of any use, I opted to delete the old account on MyEir. Only when I tried to link the Real Rewards card to my new account number, did I realise I should have removed the Rewards card number from my old account number on MyEir.
So I called Customer Care, explained the problem and was told I needed to contact Supervalu. I explained the error message was being displayed on the Eir website, not Supervalu's but was still told to contact Supervalu and that they "will break the link." So I contacted Supervalu who took the details of the problem but the person I spoke to hadn't come across this problem before.
Whatever needs to be done here is on the Eir side, to remove the link between my old Eir account number and the Rewards card.
4. Credit on bill issued under old account number
Because my account number was changed, I received a bill recently for the old account number billing me up until the date my billpay plan was changed (before the end of the billing period for the old account). As service is billed 1 month in advance, the bill is in credit.
How do I get this refunded? Can the credit be applied to my new account?
Some comments on the other problems I experienced when changing Billpay plan.
I decided to change my Billpay plan on 7 August so at 14h15, I clicked the WebChat Team link on this page:https://www.eir.ie/support/mobile/upgrade-your-eir-mobile-plan/
The first person I dealt with couldn't help me as I had been connected to the wrong team. He redirected the chat to the Eir Mobile Team, who told me that they were unable to change my billpay plan and I was told to phone 1905.
I called 1905 at 14h44 and spoke first to Melanie, who put me on hold and (without telling me) transferred me to Lia of the Eir Home Fibre Team, who was unable to help me and transferred me to the Eir Mobile Team, where I spoke to Emma, who was unable to change my billpay plan and when I asked she explained that this could only be done by the Loyalty Team.
Emma then transferred me to Chloe of the Loyalty Team who told me that she would need my IBAN to set up the new billpay plan as they were unable to copy the existing direct debit details from the "old system" which is used for my current billpay plan. I provided the IBAN and sShe then placed me on hold for several minutes and then told me the change had been "approved" and would take effect from 10 August 2018.
In total the call took 20 minutes, dealing with several people, none of whom really had much competence in dealing what should have been a straightforward and simple request.
When I last changed billpay plan several years ago, I spoke to one person, the change was made in a few minutes and from the start of the next billing period as I had requested!
The quality of your customer service
I've come across a lot of complaints about Eir Service online and in the media but I rarely have any reason to contact Customer Service - the last time I had done so was when my mobile provider was Meteor and the experience was positive. In fact, my dealings with Metor were overwhelmingly positive.
So because of my positive experience with Meteor, I couldn't understand the negativity about Eir Customer Service.
But I do now.
Clearly something has changed in the last few years that has resulted in a deterioration in the quality of customer service that you now provide. You've outsourced the webchat to somewhere outside Europe and while the staff on webchat are polite and seem eager to help, in my recent experience, this eagerness doesn't translate into actually being able to do anything. They can't help with account queries, make plan changes. They can't even correct a billing address.
The Customer Service staff I dealt with over the phone are disinterested, unknowledgeable, inexperienced, uncaring and unmotivated. While this is based from my recent experience, I dealt with quite a few people and the experience was consistently poor. You could be told anything to placate you and when you find out what you've been told isn't true, it will always be someone else's problem (not) to deal with when you call back! It's possible your staff lack the tools, resources and management support to deal with queries professionally, competently and effectively.
Conor Pope writing in the Irish Times received the following statement from Eir about the large number of complaints he gets about Eir:
“Improving customer service levels and advocacy is a key strategic priority for the company. We currently have a dedicated customer service improvement programme under way to identify areas where changes are needed. This programme is spearheaded by the CEO and senior management team.”
There is a jarring disconnect between these lofty aspirations and the real-life experiences of lots of very unhappy customers including myself.
I've been a customer of yours since 2010 (or earlier as I can't remember exactly when I signed up to Meteor) and based on my recent experience, I can't think of any reason other than price why I would want to stay with Eir. Your sim-only billpay plans are very good value for money. The phone service is for the most part good although your data coverage is poor (mostly Edge) once you move outside the main population centres but I understand that given Ireland's low population density, it can be difficult and unecomomical to provide 3G/4G data coverage everywhere.
But your customer service is woeful. And consistently so.
It's frustrating and disempowering dealing with you over the phone and webchat.
And you don't reward loyalty (your plan discounts are reserved for new customers) or see the value in providing good customer service to build loyalty. I know customers are fickle and promiscuous with the frequency with which some of us switch back and forth between mobile providers in our pursuit of the best deal for our pockets but make an effort to retain those of us who've been customers of yours for a long time!
I don't want to make a formal complaint and I don't want to contact Comreg as I feel the specific issues I've outlined above (1-4) should be within the capacity of Customer Service to resolve, although possible with the involvement of someone more senior given the inability of the staff on the phone or webchat to sort things out.
The most likely response to this post will be to ask me to PM you my account details so you can look into this, which I can understand, as for privacy reasons, I shouldn't post my account details here.
But I will be very disappointed if my effort writing this post isn't reciprocated by your efforts to resolve the specific issues I have above (1-4) and contact from someone who convinces me to stay with Eir.
Yours hopefully,
Liam
I'm very sorry to hear about the ongoing issues you are having with ourselves, this is not the level of service we wish to provide. I understand this is frustrating.
Feel free to PM me your account number, full name on the account, email address and date of birth and I will have a look into all your issues for you here.
Thanks
Tracey0 -
PM senteir: Tracey wrote: »
Hi Liam,I changed my billpay plan recently. I was told when doing so that because I had an "old" account number, I would have to be set up manually on a new billing system.
And that's where the problems started.
I wasn't told that by changing my billpay plan, I would be entering a 12-month contract. I found this out from the automated email I received "welcoming" me to Eir.
This is what needs to be sorted out:
1. Incorrect billing address.
My "old" account number begins with CA followed by digits. The new account number is all digits.
My billing address as entered by the Eir Customer Service person on the phone is incorrect. Immediately after I viewed the address details online, I phoned to have them corrected. I was told it had been done but nothing was changed.
So I then used Webchat and was told my address couldn't be changed because "the system" couldn't find part of the address. The person I dealt with on Webchat succeeded (most likely accidentally) in making another incorrect change to the address - deleting part of line 3 of the address. I was told to email accountchange@eir.ie, which I did on 15 August. I haven't received a reply, not even an automated reply with a reference number that I could quote if I wanted to make a follow-up call.
So I then tried calling again but your phone menu make it very difficult to know which option to choose if I want to speak to someone so I gave up. Incidentally, the bill that arrived recently for the old account has the correct billing address so why was it not possible to input this in the new billing system?!
2. Billing period was arbitrarily changed when I changed billpay plan.
Previously, it ran from the 10th of one month until the 9th of the following month. Now my billing period runs from the 26th of one month until the 25th of the following month. I had to work that out myself because the Eir person I spoke to on the phone hadn't a clue. He told me the billing period now ran from the 7th of one month until the 7th of the following month and the 26 August bill issue date I saw online in My Eir was "to give me time to pay my bill." That clearly didn't make sense as the bill usually issues a few days after the end of the period and that if it issued on the 26th, that would be almost 3 weeks into the following billing period! He hadn't a clue and rather than admit that, he just made something up!
When I requested the billpay plan change, I explicitly stated on more than one occasion over the phone that the new billpay plan should start from the beginning of my next billing period on 10 August.
After finding out that my billing period had been changed, I asked what needed to be done to change it and was told it could be changed but it could take up to 3 weeks to do so (by the same person who was so knowledgeable about the billing period). Needless to say, I didn't believe him but recognising that he was totally out of his depth, I opted to terminate the call rather than risk asking him to make a change and mess things up even further.
Is it really that difficult to change the billing period? Why didn't the Eir person do as I had requested and change the billpay plan from what would have been the start of the next billing period under the old account number?
I don't want the billing period changed unless you can guarantee that it won't result in double-billing and waiting for a credit on a subsequent bill or some other entangled nightmare.
3. Supervalu real rewards card still linked to old account number.
After being set up with a new account number, I decided to add my Supervalu real rewards card, only to be told that it was already linked to an existing Eir account (clearly the old one). When I was set up with a new account number, I realised that I would have to register the new account number on the Eir website to access the account in MyEir. I did these before deleting the old MyEir account linked to my old account number using the same email address to access both accounts, which meant that when entering my email address on MyEir, I had to choose which account I wanted to access.
As I had been given a new account number and I assumed the old account number was no longer of any use, I opted to delete the old account on MyEir. Only when I tried to link the Real Rewards card to my new account number, did I realise I should have removed the Rewards card number from my old account number on MyEir.
So I called Customer Care, explained the problem and was told I needed to contact Supervalu. I explained the error message was being displayed on the Eir website, not Supervalu's but was still told to contact Supervalu and that they "will break the link." So I contacted Supervalu who took the details of the problem but the person I spoke to hadn't come across this problem before.
Whatever needs to be done here is on the Eir side, to remove the link between my old Eir account number and the Rewards card.
4. Credit on bill issued under old account number
Because my account number was changed, I received a bill recently for the old account number billing me up until the date my billpay plan was changed (before the end of the billing period for the old account). As service is billed 1 month in advance, the bill is in credit.
How do I get this refunded? Can the credit be applied to my new account?
Some comments on the other problems I experienced when changing Billpay plan.
I decided to change my Billpay plan on 7 August so at 14h15, I clicked the WebChat Team link on this page:https://www.eir.ie/support/mobile/upgrade-your-eir-mobile-plan/
The first person I dealt with couldn't help me as I had been connected to the wrong team. He redirected the chat to the Eir Mobile Team, who told me that they were unable to change my billpay plan and I was told to phone 1905.
I called 1905 at 14h44 and spoke first to Melanie, who put me on hold and (without telling me) transferred me to Lia of the Eir Home Fibre Team, who was unable to help me and transferred me to the Eir Mobile Team, where I spoke to Emma, who was unable to change my billpay plan and when I asked she explained that this could only be done by the Loyalty Team.
Emma then transferred me to Chloe of the Loyalty Team who told me that she would need my IBAN to set up the new billpay plan as they were unable to copy the existing direct debit details from the "old system" which is used for my current billpay plan. I provided the IBAN and sShe then placed me on hold for several minutes and then told me the change had been "approved" and would take effect from 10 August 2018.
In total the call took 20 minutes, dealing with several people, none of whom really had much competence in dealing what should have been a straightforward and simple request.
When I last changed billpay plan several years ago, I spoke to one person, the change was made in a few minutes and from the start of the next billing period as I had requested!
The quality of your customer service
I've come across a lot of complaints about Eir Service online and in the media but I rarely have any reason to contact Customer Service - the last time I had done so was when my mobile provider was Meteor and the experience was positive. In fact, my dealings with Metor were overwhelmingly positive.
So because of my positive experience with Meteor, I couldn't understand the negativity about Eir Customer Service.
But I do now.
Clearly something has changed in the last few years that has resulted in a deterioration in the quality of customer service that you now provide. You've outsourced the webchat to somewhere outside Europe and while the staff on webchat are polite and seem eager to help, in my recent experience, this eagerness doesn't translate into actually being able to do anything. They can't help with account queries, make plan changes. They can't even correct a billing address.
The Customer Service staff I dealt with over the phone are disinterested, unknowledgeable, inexperienced, uncaring and unmotivated. While this is based from my recent experience, I dealt with quite a few people and the experience was consistently poor. You could be told anything to placate you and when you find out what you've been told isn't true, it will always be someone else's problem (not) to deal with when you call back! It's possible your staff lack the tools, resources and management support to deal with queries professionally, competently and effectively.
Conor Pope writing in the Irish Times received the following statement from Eir about the large number of complaints he gets about Eir:
“Improving customer service levels and advocacy is a key strategic priority for the company. We currently have a dedicated customer service improvement programme under way to identify areas where changes are needed. This programme is spearheaded by the CEO and senior management team.”
There is a jarring disconnect between these lofty aspirations and the real-life experiences of lots of very unhappy customers including myself.
I've been a customer of yours since 2010 (or earlier as I can't remember exactly when I signed up to Meteor) and based on my recent experience, I can't think of any reason other than price why I would want to stay with Eir. Your sim-only billpay plans are very good value for money. The phone service is for the most part good although your data coverage is poor (mostly Edge) once you move outside the main population centres but I understand that given Ireland's low population density, it can be difficult and unecomomical to provide 3G/4G data coverage everywhere.
But your customer service is woeful. And consistently so.
It's frustrating and disempowering dealing with you over the phone and webchat.
And you don't reward loyalty (your plan discounts are reserved for new customers) or see the value in providing good customer service to build loyalty. I know customers are fickle and promiscuous with the frequency with which some of us switch back and forth between mobile providers in our pursuit of the best deal for our pockets but make an effort to retain those of us who've been customers of yours for a long time!
I don't want to make a formal complaint and I don't want to contact Comreg as I feel the specific issues I've outlined above (1-4) should be within the capacity of Customer Service to resolve, although possible with the involvement of someone more senior given the inability of the staff on the phone or webchat to sort things out.
The most likely response to this post will be to ask me to PM you my account details so you can look into this, which I can understand, as for privacy reasons, I shouldn't post my account details here.
But I will be very disappointed if my effort writing this post isn't reciprocated by your efforts to resolve the specific issues I have above (1-4) and contact from someone who convinces me to stay with Eir.
Yours hopefully,
Liam
I'm very sorry to hear about the ongoing issues you are having with ourselves, this is not the level of service we wish to provide. I understand this is frustrating.
Feel free to PM me your account number, full name on the account, email address and date of birth and I will have a look into all your issues for you here.
Thanks
Tracey .0 -
Perfect, thanks Liam.PM senteir: Tracey wrote: »
Hi Liam,I changed my billpay plan recently. I was told when doing so that because I had an "old" account number, I would have to be set up manually on a new billing system.
And that's where the problems started.
I wasn't told that by changing my billpay plan, I would be entering a 12-month contract. I found this out from the automated email I received "welcoming" me to Eir.
This is what needs to be sorted out:
1. Incorrect billing address.
My "old" account number begins with CA followed by digits. The new account number is all digits.
My billing address as entered by the Eir Customer Service person on the phone is incorrect. Immediately after I viewed the address details online, I phoned to have them corrected. I was told it had been done but nothing was changed.
So I then used Webchat and was told my address couldn't be changed because "the system" couldn't find part of the address. The person I dealt with on Webchat succeeded (most likely accidentally) in making another incorrect change to the address - deleting part of line 3 of the address. I was told to email accountchange@eir.ie, which I did on 15 August. I haven't received a reply, not even an automated reply with a reference number that I could quote if I wanted to make a follow-up call.
So I then tried calling again but your phone menu make it very difficult to know which option to choose if I want to speak to someone so I gave up. Incidentally, the bill that arrived recently for the old account has the correct billing address so why was it not possible to input this in the new billing system?!
2. Billing period was arbitrarily changed when I changed billpay plan.
Previously, it ran from the 10th of one month until the 9th of the following month. Now my billing period runs from the 26th of one month until the 25th of the following month. I had to work that out myself because the Eir person I spoke to on the phone hadn't a clue. He told me the billing period now ran from the 7th of one month until the 7th of the following month and the 26 August bill issue date I saw online in My Eir was "to give me time to pay my bill." That clearly didn't make sense as the bill usually issues a few days after the end of the period and that if it issued on the 26th, that would be almost 3 weeks into the following billing period! He hadn't a clue and rather than admit that, he just made something up!
When I requested the billpay plan change, I explicitly stated on more than one occasion over the phone that the new billpay plan should start from the beginning of my next billing period on 10 August.
After finding out that my billing period had been changed, I asked what needed to be done to change it and was told it could be changed but it could take up to 3 weeks to do so (by the same person who was so knowledgeable about the billing period). Needless to say, I didn't believe him but recognising that he was totally out of his depth, I opted to terminate the call rather than risk asking him to make a change and mess things up even further.
Is it really that difficult to change the billing period? Why didn't the Eir person do as I had requested and change the billpay plan from what would have been the start of the next billing period under the old account number?
I don't want the billing period changed unless you can guarantee that it won't result in double-billing and waiting for a credit on a subsequent bill or some other entangled nightmare.
3. Supervalu real rewards card still linked to old account number.
After being set up with a new account number, I decided to add my Supervalu real rewards card, only to be told that it was already linked to an existing Eir account (clearly the old one). When I was set up with a new account number, I realised that I would have to register the new account number on the Eir website to access the account in MyEir. I did these before deleting the old MyEir account linked to my old account number using the same email address to access both accounts, which meant that when entering my email address on MyEir, I had to choose which account I wanted to access.
As I had been given a new account number and I assumed the old account number was no longer of any use, I opted to delete the old account on MyEir. Only when I tried to link the Real Rewards card to my new account number, did I realise I should have removed the Rewards card number from my old account number on MyEir.
So I called Customer Care, explained the problem and was told I needed to contact Supervalu. I explained the error message was being displayed on the Eir website, not Supervalu's but was still told to contact Supervalu and that they "will break the link." So I contacted Supervalu who took the details of the problem but the person I spoke to hadn't come across this problem before.
Whatever needs to be done here is on the Eir side, to remove the link between my old Eir account number and the Rewards card.
4. Credit on bill issued under old account number
Because my account number was changed, I received a bill recently for the old account number billing me up until the date my billpay plan was changed (before the end of the billing period for the old account). As service is billed 1 month in advance, the bill is in credit.
How do I get this refunded? Can the credit be applied to my new account?
Some comments on the other problems I experienced when changing Billpay plan.
I decided to change my Billpay plan on 7 August so at 14h15, I clicked the WebChat Team link on this page:https://www.eir.ie/support/mobile/upgrade-your-eir-mobile-plan/
The first person I dealt with couldn't help me as I had been connected to the wrong team. He redirected the chat to the Eir Mobile Team, who told me that they were unable to change my billpay plan and I was told to phone 1905.
I called 1905 at 14h44 and spoke first to Melanie, who put me on hold and (without telling me) transferred me to Lia of the Eir Home Fibre Team, who was unable to help me and transferred me to the Eir Mobile Team, where I spoke to Emma, who was unable to change my billpay plan and when I asked she explained that this could only be done by the Loyalty Team.
Emma then transferred me to Chloe of the Loyalty Team who told me that she would need my IBAN to set up the new billpay plan as they were unable to copy the existing direct debit details from the "old system" which is used for my current billpay plan. I provided the IBAN and sShe then placed me on hold for several minutes and then told me the change had been "approved" and would take effect from 10 August 2018.
In total the call took 20 minutes, dealing with several people, none of whom really had much competence in dealing what should have been a straightforward and simple request.
When I last changed billpay plan several years ago, I spoke to one person, the change was made in a few minutes and from the start of the next billing period as I had requested!
The quality of your customer service
I've come across a lot of complaints about Eir Service online and in the media but I rarely have any reason to contact Customer Service - the last time I had done so was when my mobile provider was Meteor and the experience was positive. In fact, my dealings with Metor were overwhelmingly positive.
So because of my positive experience with Meteor, I couldn't understand the negativity about Eir Customer Service.
But I do now.
Clearly something has changed in the last few years that has resulted in a deterioration in the quality of customer service that you now provide. You've outsourced the webchat to somewhere outside Europe and while the staff on webchat are polite and seem eager to help, in my recent experience, this eagerness doesn't translate into actually being able to do anything. They can't help with account queries, make plan changes. They can't even correct a billing address.
The Customer Service staff I dealt with over the phone are disinterested, unknowledgeable, inexperienced, uncaring and unmotivated. While this is based from my recent experience, I dealt with quite a few people and the experience was consistently poor. You could be told anything to placate you and when you find out what you've been told isn't true, it will always be someone else's problem (not) to deal with when you call back! It's possible your staff lack the tools, resources and management support to deal with queries professionally, competently and effectively.
Conor Pope writing in the Irish Times received the following statement from Eir about the large number of complaints he gets about Eir:
“Improving customer service levels and advocacy is a key strategic priority for the company. We currently have a dedicated customer service improvement programme under way to identify areas where changes are needed. This programme is spearheaded by the CEO and senior management team.”
There is a jarring disconnect between these lofty aspirations and the real-life experiences of lots of very unhappy customers including myself.
I've been a customer of yours since 2010 (or earlier as I can't remember exactly when I signed up to Meteor) and based on my recent experience, I can't think of any reason other than price why I would want to stay with Eir. Your sim-only billpay plans are very good value for money. The phone service is for the most part good although your data coverage is poor (mostly Edge) once you move outside the main population centres but I understand that given Ireland's low population density, it can be difficult and unecomomical to provide 3G/4G data coverage everywhere.
But your customer service is woeful. And consistently so.
It's frustrating and disempowering dealing with you over the phone and webchat.
And you don't reward loyalty (your plan discounts are reserved for new customers) or see the value in providing good customer service to build loyalty. I know customers are fickle and promiscuous with the frequency with which some of us switch back and forth between mobile providers in our pursuit of the best deal for our pockets but make an effort to retain those of us who've been customers of yours for a long time!
I don't want to make a formal complaint and I don't want to contact Comreg as I feel the specific issues I've outlined above (1-4) should be within the capacity of Customer Service to resolve, although possible with the involvement of someone more senior given the inability of the staff on the phone or webchat to sort things out.
The most likely response to this post will be to ask me to PM you my account details so you can look into this, which I can understand, as for privacy reasons, I shouldn't post my account details here.
But I will be very disappointed if my effort writing this post isn't reciprocated by your efforts to resolve the specific issues I have above (1-4) and contact from someone who convinces me to stay with Eir.
Yours hopefully,
Liam
I'm very sorry to hear about the ongoing issues you are having with ourselves, this is not the level of service we wish to provide. I understand this is frustrating.
Feel free to PM me your account number, full name on the account, email address and date of birth and I will have a look into all your issues for you here.
Thanks
Tracey .
I'll come back to you soon through PM's.
Thanks
Tracey0
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