A realtime view of Eir customer service (webchat)

bevan619

You've some patience I tell ya. Cancelling my contract and switching providers after all the hassle.

Thoie

bevan619 wrote: »

You've some patience I tell ya. Cancelling my contract and switching providers after all the hassle.

I'm thoroughly delightful.

Once this headache goes away, I'll give the "loyalty" number a call, but I'm still recovering from the webchat and my head is splitting.

dball

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=108545352&postcount=1622

Thoie

Brief update - I ended up talking to Sales (again).  They swore blind that the issue with me getting broadband is "a problem with my eircode" (and not, as I suggested, the fact that there's no cable between the cabinet and my house) and that if they put through the order without the eircode then everything will magically happen.  I remain unconvinced, as I've heard so many excuses over the last 6 months.

So now I have another account number (I think this is the 6th), another order number, and yet another FTTC installation date scheduled.  

Based on the experiences of the last few months, I expect to get a text in the next few days telling me my order has been cancelled, but maybe this time will be different.  The other alternative is that they go ahead, install a copper cable, then 30 mintues later I'll get a message saying FTTH is now available, but because I have a line I can't get it, and will have to wait 73 years for the line to be replaced.  At that point I'll just dig up the fecking cable and hang myself with it.

fritzelly

Thoie - are you in a new estate?
If so chances are you prequal for FTTC (as the area is covered by FTTC) but OE will not install new copper lines and are waiting for FTTH to be available - it's a common scenario

Thoie

fritzelly wrote: »

Thoie - are you in a new estate?
If so chances are you prequal for FTTC (as the area is covered by FTTC) but OE will not install new copper lines and are waiting for FTTH to be available - it's a common scenario

Kind of - it's a new house in an existing FTTC estate.  And yes, your scenario seems to be what's happening.  The agents put through the order for FTTC (even when I tell them it will probably fail because of the policy of only doing FTTH), I'm given an installation date, then the order is cancelled.

I've been assured regularly since May that the FTTH work was to be done on October 28th (and have a mail from as recently as mid October confirming that).  I was told to call back on October 29th and place the FTTH order.  No-one has been able to tell me if that work was actually done or not.  The sales teams can't see me pre-qual for FTTH.  No-one is taking ownership and checking if the work was actually carried out on the 28th.  If it was, then it seems to be a case of waiting a week or two until the database is updated.  If it wasn't, I just want to know when the work is actually scheduled (though I'll be pissed off if that date was moved without informing me), as there's no point in me calling until the work is done.

Not one single person in eir seems to be capable of checking the work order that I know exists.

Summary:

• Webchat "have limited access", but can't say what limited access they have.  In contravention of eir's own complaints procedure, they refuse to escalate anything, preferring to tell you to call 1901, some other number, or transfer you to sales.
• Sales (phone and webchat) see the pre-qual for FTTC and repeatedly put through orders on that, even though I know those orders will fail because of the above policy.  They can not/will not check what the actual status is.
• 1901 is useless when all you have is a cancelled order number.  You can't progress past the opening menu.
• General phone support always try hand you off to Sales, and can't/won't check up on the unique complaint reference number.
• The people who were emailing me, and responding to my emails about the complaint have stopped responding. 
• eir Reps here have not interacted other than questioning my phrasing of how the complaint was logged (to be clear, it was logged using the webform, and there were some additional emails on foot of that).  I offered to PM them the complaint number so they could check up on it, and then email the address linked with the complaint, but no-one has responded.
• OpenEir can't/won't give me any information about the work to be done, saying I need to talk to my ISP.  None of the other ISPs can do anything, as they're at the whim of OE as well.  eir seems to be the only ones who can request the connection.
• Airwire seem to have the most up to date records, and are still showing me as ready for VDSL, but nothing else yet.
  

[*]

All I want to know right now is

• Did the October 28th work take place?
• If not, when is it scheduled?
  

Chris Partlow

fritzelly wrote: »

Thoie - are you in a new estate?
If so chances are you prequal for FTTC (as the area is covered by FTTC) but OE will not install new copper lines and are waiting for FTTH to be available - it's a common scenario

Hi fritzelly, 
Is there anything at all that can be done in this scenario?

Hotblack Desiato

Might be worth getting in touch with Pricewatch at the Irish Times OP - eir keep them quite busy. pricewatchATirishtimes.com

EdgeCase

It looks like their customer care / sales systems don't reflect the reality on the ground and that they're either unable or unwilling to do anything about it.

What's the point in selling a product like FTTH if you have absolutely no information provided to your frontline staff or customer service systems? 

Is there no management in there ?

I mean, if they can't sell their own FTTH product, maybe it's time to look at another provider? It seems ludicrous that someone else might be able to sell the OpenEir product better than Eir retail itself can.

Mind boggling.

corks finest

Thoie wrote: »

Because I've spent far too much of my life over the last few months trying to get concrete information from eir via phone, email, webchat, carrier pigeon, weather balloons... I've decided to share with you just how useful your webchat service is.

Background:  New house in an existing estate.  The rest of the estate is already fibre enabled, there's a (not full) cabinet in the estate.  Ducting is in place, box at house is in place, approx 50m of cable needs to be pulled through the ducting.  Placed original order for "any" internet back in May/June, with appointment date for a week or so later.  Last minute, the order was cancelled via text.  In the intervening months was persuaded to request another installation, did so in August.  Eir has a policy that new connections must be FTTH.  In the long run, FTTH will be lovely, but eir have been mucking around with dates, committing, then not committing for months now.  Still no clearer as to when I can expect to get an installation.

10:42  Started chat
10:44  Representative said hello.  Gave rep my order number and other details
10:46  Rep asked when the order was placed.  Gave details.
10:49  Rep asked for account number.  Gave details.
10:53  Rep asked to verify personal details.  Did so.

11 minutes into the webchat, maybe I'll finally get some answers about the issue I've been facing for 5 months?

10:55  A text arrives on my phone mid chat  "Due to a technical issue your order cannot proceed.  We apologise for an inconvenience caused. If you wish to place a new order please contact eir"

10:57  Rep tells me my order has been cancelled.  Would I like to be transferred to the Sales team?

I thought "Not really, I'd like the ducking problem to be sorted, within the ridiculously long timeframe that you said it would be."

Instead I said no, and asked another question.

10:59  Rep doesn't answer my question, tells me they're transferring my chat to Sales.

11:01  Rep maintains it was a coincidence that the text, about an order placed in August, just happened to arrive at the same time as we were talking.  Rep is going to check on the status of the works that are supposed to be happening this week.

11:04  We're now 22 minutes into a chat session, during which time I've learned absolutely nothing, except that eir would like me to talk to the Sales team. The same sales team who have badly mucked up twice so far, and I still don't have any goddam phone or internet.

11:07  Haven't heard from the rep in 5 minutes.  Message pops up telling me the chat window will be closed due to inactivity.  I send a message to ensure the chat isn't closed.

11:10  Still no response.  Suspect they're hoping the chat will close.
11:11  Rep gets back to me.  Mentions my copper lines (that I don't have).  Confirms the necessary work will take place next Sunday.  A bank holiday Sunday.  There's dedication!  I'm very impressed the engineers will be working on a bank holiday Sunday.
11:14  Rep confirms that the engineers work 9am to 6pm on Saturdays and Sundays, even bank holidays.  
11:16  Rep confuses matters by talking about me calling the sales team to arrange a time for the engineer to visit.  But from 5 months of previous conversation, it seems like the cables need to be installed first, and then I can put in an order and arrange a house visit.

11:20  Rep says they have no further information, and is there anything else they can help with.  I point out they haven't really helped with this, and I'm still not confident I'll be able to get phone/internet in the next few weeks.
11:21  Rep hopes I have a nice day, and closes chat.

As I've learned from experience that unlike most companies, eir doesn't offer a chat transcript (or seem to save a copy themselves), I copy and paste the entire transaction into a text file for my own records.  39 minutes of my life that I'll never get back, to add to all the other countless hours I've spent over the last few months trying to get any sense out of eir.

Had all that crap for a long long time, emails/ calls,,, dropped constant, often left hanging for 50 plus minutes, transferred to another,etc,etc they are abysmal,still getting billed monthly from eir(albeit minus) even though I have left them approximately going on 3 years

corks finest

Thoie wrote: »

Because I've spent far too much of my life over the last few months trying to get concrete information from eir via phone, email, webchat, carrier pigeon, weather balloons... I've decided to share with you just how useful your webchat service is.

Background:  New house in an existing estate.  The rest of the estate is already fibre enabled, there's a (not full) cabinet in the estate.  Ducting is in place, box at house is in place, approx 50m of cable needs to be pulled through the ducting.  Placed original order for "any" internet back in May/June, with appointment date for a week or so later.  Last minute, the order was cancelled via text.  In the intervening months was persuaded to request another installation, did so in August.  Eir has a policy that new connections must be FTTH.  In the long run, FTTH will be lovely, but eir have been mucking around with dates, committing, then not committing for months now.  Still no clearer as to when I can expect to get an installation.

10:42  Started chat
10:44  Representative said hello.  Gave rep my order number and other details
10:46  Rep asked when the order was placed.  Gave details.
10:49  Rep asked for account number.  Gave details.
10:53  Rep asked to verify personal details.  Did so.

11 minutes into the webchat, maybe I'll finally get some answers about the issue I've been facing for 5 months?

10:55  A text arrives on my phone mid chat  "Due to a technical issue your order cannot proceed.  We apologise for an inconvenience caused. If you wish to place a new order please contact eir"

10:57  Rep tells me my order has been cancelled.  Would I like to be transferred to the Sales team?

I thought "Not really, I'd like the ducking problem to be sorted, within the ridiculously long timeframe that you said it would be."

Instead I said no, and asked another question.

10:59  Rep doesn't answer my question, tells me they're transferring my chat to Sales.

11:01  Rep maintains it was a coincidence that the text, about an order placed in August, just happened to arrive at the same time as we were talking.  Rep is going to check on the status of the works that are supposed to be happening this week.

11:04  We're now 22 minutes into a chat session, during which time I've learned absolutely nothing, except that eir would like me to talk to the Sales team. The same sales team who have badly mucked up twice so far, and I still don't have any goddam phone or internet.

11:07  Haven't heard from the rep in 5 minutes.  Message pops up telling me the chat window will be closed due to inactivity.  I send a message to ensure the chat isn't closed.

11:10  Still no response.  Suspect they're hoping the chat will close.
11:11  Rep gets back to me.  Mentions my copper lines (that I don't have).  Confirms the necessary work will take place next Sunday.  A bank holiday Sunday.  There's dedication!  I'm very impressed the engineers will be working on a bank holiday Sunday.
11:14  Rep confirms that the engineers work 9am to 6pm on Saturdays and Sundays, even bank holidays.  
11:16  Rep confuses matters by talking about me calling the sales team to arrange a time for the engineer to visit.  But from 5 months of previous conversation, it seems like the cables need to be installed first, and then I can put in an order and arrange a house visit.

11:20  Rep says they have no further information, and is there anything else they can help with.  I point out they haven't really helped with this, and I'm still not confident I'll be able to get phone/internet in the next few weeks.
11:21  Rep hopes I have a nice day, and closes chat.

As I've learned from experience that unlike most companies, eir doesn't offer a chat transcript (or seem to save a copy themselves), I copy and paste the entire transaction into a text file for my own records.  39 minutes of my life that I'll never get back, to add to all the other countless hours I've spent over the last few months trying to get any sense out of eir.

Had all that crap for a long long time, emails/ calls,,, dropped constant, often left hanging for 50 plus minutes, transferred to another,etc,etc they are abysmal,still getting billed monthly from eir(albeit minus) even though I have left them approximately going on 3 years

corks finest

Thoie wrote: »

Because I've spent far too much of my life over the last few months trying to get concrete information from eir via phone, email, webchat, carrier pigeon, weather balloons... I've decided to share with you just how useful your webchat service is.

Background:  New house in an existing estate.  The rest of the estate is already fibre enabled, there's a (not full) cabinet in the estate.  Ducting is in place, box at house is in place, approx 50m of cable needs to be pulled through the ducting.  Placed original order for "any" internet back in May/June, with appointment date for a week or so later.  Last minute, the order was cancelled via text.  In the intervening months was persuaded to request another installation, did so in August.  Eir has a policy that new connections must be FTTH.  In the long run, FTTH will be lovely, but eir have been mucking around with dates, committing, then not committing for months now.  Still no clearer as to when I can expect to get an installation.

10:42  Started chat
10:44  Representative said hello.  Gave rep my order number and other details
10:46  Rep asked when the order was placed.  Gave details.
10:49  Rep asked for account number.  Gave details.
10:53  Rep asked to verify personal details.  Did so.

11 minutes into the webchat, maybe I'll finally get some answers about the issue I've been facing for 5 months?

10:55  A text arrives on my phone mid chat  "Due to a technical issue your order cannot proceed.  We apologise for an inconvenience caused. If you wish to place a new order please contact eir"

10:57  Rep tells me my order has been cancelled.  Would I like to be transferred to the Sales team?

I thought "Not really, I'd like the ducking problem to be sorted, within the ridiculously long timeframe that you said it would be."

Instead I said no, and asked another question.

10:59  Rep doesn't answer my question, tells me they're transferring my chat to Sales.

11:01  Rep maintains it was a coincidence that the text, about an order placed in August, just happened to arrive at the same time as we were talking.  Rep is going to check on the status of the works that are supposed to be happening this week.

11:04  We're now 22 minutes into a chat session, during which time I've learned absolutely nothing, except that eir would like me to talk to the Sales team. The same sales team who have badly mucked up twice so far, and I still don't have any goddam phone or internet.

11:07  Haven't heard from the rep in 5 minutes.  Message pops up telling me the chat window will be closed due to inactivity.  I send a message to ensure the chat isn't closed.

11:10  Still no response.  Suspect they're hoping the chat will close.
11:11  Rep gets back to me.  Mentions my copper lines (that I don't have).  Confirms the necessary work will take place next Sunday.  A bank holiday Sunday.  There's dedication!  I'm very impressed the engineers will be working on a bank holiday Sunday.
11:14  Rep confirms that the engineers work 9am to 6pm on Saturdays and Sundays, even bank holidays.  
11:16  Rep confuses matters by talking about me calling the sales team to arrange a time for the engineer to visit.  But from 5 months of previous conversation, it seems like the cables need to be installed first, and then I can put in an order and arrange a house visit.

11:20  Rep says they have no further information, and is there anything else they can help with.  I point out they haven't really helped with this, and I'm still not confident I'll be able to get phone/internet in the next few weeks.
11:21  Rep hopes I have a nice day, and closes chat.

As I've learned from experience that unlike most companies, eir doesn't offer a chat transcript (or seem to save a copy themselves), I copy and paste the entire transaction into a text file for my own records.  39 minutes of my life that I'll never get back, to add to all the other countless hours I've spent over the last few months trying to get any sense out of eir.

Had all that crap for a long long time, emails/ calls,,, dropped constant, often left hanging for 50 plus minutes, transferred to another,etc,etc they are abysmal,still getting billed monthly from eir(albeit minus) even though I have left them approximately going on 3 years

dball

I love this thread, I'm so sorry for laughing but i'm tuning in every day and watching with amazement !!


If i go back a few years- well many years - About 11 or 12. I was renting a house in a cul de sac in Dublin.
As it was a rental and it only had an existing telephone line that was disconnected my landlord asked me to arrange the setting up of a new line which allowed me to get internet (not sure if it was dial up or some ancient form of broadband)
The house was located at the end of about 200 M road and was then the first house as you entered the cul-de-sac.
Cablelink had an agreement with the house owner as without it - it would have meant digging up more roadway or something -
Landlord received free cablelink for life FOC - anyway that was nothing to do with Eircom 

I rang many many times ( with similar optimism as Thoie) to get this up and running - i needed the phone line as a priority - The internet could take a few weeks but I was confident it would come eventually.

I would say I was about 6 weeks waiting for "an engineer" to come out and survey this property.

He did arrive and told me they would have to dig a channel down the 200 meter road from the main road so I could get the connection.

After another batch of missed appointments and arrangements - ( me waiting in for many afternoons and missing work)

I cant recall all of the events but Thoie - I feel you pain.

Eventually though, I sh1t you not!

They arrive one morning and start digging up the pathway - 
They start at the main road and work towards the house
All the frikking way down to the house (2 days later) and when they get to the junction outside the gate.
Yer man calls into the house and says there was already a junction box fitted outside with the necessary hardware to install the line.
He made one call to head office and i was up and running with a day

They are a F U C K I N G joke


I know i have the letter I wrote to them saved in an old email _ ill look for it later & post here
so so similar to your current situation

Thoie

dball wrote: »

I love this thread, I'm so sorry for laughing but i'm tuning in every day and watching with amazement !!

Ah sure, you have to laugh.  But sometimes it's that vaguely hysterical laughter that turns into dirty, snotty sobs, and you end up not knowing yourself if you're laughing or crying, or just being driven slowly insane.

The really funny thing is, I only have two extremely easy to answer questions.  Did the work happen or not?  If it did, then when can I place the FTTH order?  If it didn't, then when will it happen, so that I can make alternative arrangements until then?

Our "work from home knowledge economy" is a bit f***ed when you can't get broadband, but can't even find out when you might get broadband, in a major city.  Particularly when you walk past the fibre cabinet 30 meters away every day.

fritzelly

Thoei call 1800 303 733
If FTTH is available then the eircode needs to be checked first

Chris Partlow

Just rang that number. No waiting, no "lately I've been, I've been losing sleep", it barely even rang before it was answered. I still have to wait til the latest forecast date has passed and they have no way of knowing what (if any) work has been done to date... but still... happy enough that there is a number I can call and get through easily.

Thanks fritzelly.

Thoie

fritzelly wrote: »

Thoei call 1800 303 733
If FTTH is available then the eircode needs to be checked first

That's the number I called yesterday, who said there was a problem with the eircode, and transferred me to sales who were told to put the FTTC order through without an eircode, but thanks.

Chris Partlow wrote: »

Just rang that number. No waiting, no "lately I've been, I've been losing sleep", it barely even rang before it was answered. I still have to wait til the latest forecast date has passed and they have no way of knowing what (if any) work has been done to date... but still... happy enough that there is a number I can call and get through easily.

Thanks fritzelly.

Chris, were they able to tell you the forecast date based on your eircode?

DesperateDan

This kind of thing is completely endemic though. They spend an absolute fortune rebranding themselves but completely fail to spend any time and effort on their infamous customer service. The worst thing is they don't need to, their monopoly means you are stuck trying to deal with them.

fritzelly

PM me your eircode Thoie

dealhunter1985

What an absolute joke. Just seen this thread. I was going to order a bundle with Eir in the coming weeks
Not a hope will I after seeing this..

Chris Partlow

Thoie wrote: »

Chris, were they able to tell you the forecast date based on your eircode?

Hi Thoie,

No, the forecast date for me wasn't based on eircode. I don't seem to have been as unlucky as you, in that I've had one order number the whole time that hasn't been cancelled. 

Thoie

Tried Fritzelly's advice again, and spoke to someone helpful on 1800 303733, who confirmed that the October 28th work did not take place, which was the main thing I needed to know.  The work is now forecast for "the end of the year", but no specific date is available yet.  It could happen sooner, but it might get delayed further.  At least, knowing that, I can stop calling for a while now, so everyone can put their popcorn away! (Until next time).

With the one exception of this latest agent, I remain disappointed, and at times dismayed, by the terrible customer service on display.  I gave some thoughts earlier on the thread about how things are handled there, and for the sake of the company, I hope that management are aware of the specifics of how things go.  There are multiple issues, and they're not going to be able to fix them all at once, but I think a first step would be to enable agents to take ownership of a case/query, and stop this idiocy of just trying to foist customers onto another unrelated queue where they sit on hold for hours before being hung up on.

I'm also very disappointed by the lack of interaction from the eir Reps here.  Apologies if I missed something, but the only response I saw was Kyle's telling me I couldn't have logged a complaint by mail (I hadn't).  Not helpful, not informative.  My offer to provide the complaint number so they could check on progress was ignored.

ArrBee

If you could order copper, would you?
I'm wondering if ordering via a different company might yield a different result...  Assuming that you can't get a copper install because they don't want you to have one when fibre is "imminent". 

fritzelly

ArrBee wrote: »

If you could order copper, would you?
I'm wondering if ordering via a different company might yield a different result...  Assuming that you can't get a copper install because they don't want you to have one when fibre is "imminent". 

Doesn't matter what company you order thru - they all have to go through OpenEir, if they've already said no copper then no other company can order it.

Thoie

fritzelly wrote: »

ArrBee wrote: »

If you could order copper, would you?
I'm wondering if ordering via a different company might yield a different result...  Assuming that you can't get a copper install because they don't want you to have one when fibre is "imminent". 

Doesn't matter what company you order thru - they all have to go through OpenEir, if they've already said no copper then no other company can order it.

As Fritzelly said, while technically it's an open market in terms of selecting an ISP, OpenEir "owns" the network, so ordering through another company doesn't help.  

The FTTC vs FTTH decision is complicated (though moot, as their policy is fibre only, they won't countenance copper at all).  I'm looking forward to eventually having fibre, but if I could have got copper last May, I'd have taken it, particularly knowing what I know now (that the fibre connection could be anything from a month to 10 years away).  At the very beginning when I called, fibre was going to be available from August.  That quickly moved to the end of October, and has now moved to "end of the year" - so it's moving out by 2 months every time the "due" date approaches, or passes.  

I have no confidence that the work will be done by the end of the year, which is frustrating, as it seems that everything is ready to go.  Someone mentioned needing county council permissions to dig up the roads, but I'm 99% sure that's not necessary, and that all the duct work is nicely in place and ready to go.  I fear that the work will keep getting pushed out for years, even though it will be less than a half day's work when it finally happens (probably 30-60 minutes).  I realise they have limited resources that need to cover everywhere, but the fact that the sales teams keep "selling" FTTC when the company has no intention of providing that adds to the irritation.  My first appointment was for June/July.

ArrBee

yes, I am aware that the infrastructure is shared.  But I wasn't so sure that any policy on availability of copper would be.
I could see it being an Eir retail decision as opposed to an OpenEir decision to restrict new copper connections.  I know there are a couple of bods in the industry in the forums that will have a more accurate view than my pure speculation though.

ArrBee

Thoie wrote: »

fritzelly wrote: »

ArrBee wrote: »

If you could order copper, would you?
I'm wondering if ordering via a different company might yield a different result...  Assuming that you can't get a copper install because they don't want you to have one when fibre is "imminent". 

Doesn't matter what company you order thru - they all have to go through OpenEir, if they've already said no copper then no other company can order it.

As Fritzelly said, while technically it's an open market in terms of selecting an ISP, OpenEir "owns" the network, so ordering through another company doesn't help.  

The FTTC vs FTTH decision is complicated (though moot, as their policy is fibre only, they won't countenance copper at all).  I'm looking forward to eventually having fibre, but if I could have got copper last May, I'd have taken it, particularly knowing what I know now (that the fibre connection could be anything from a month to 10 years away).  At the very beginning when I called, fibre was going to be available from August.  That quickly moved to the end of October, and has now moved to "end of the year" - so it's moving out by 2 months every time the "due" date approaches, or passes.  

I have no confidence that the work will be done by the end of the year, which is frustrating, as it seems that everything is ready to go.  Someone mentioned needing county council permissions to dig up the roads, but I'm 99% sure that's not necessary, and that all the duct work is nicely in place and ready to go.  I fear that the work will keep getting pushed out for years, even though it will be less than a half day's work when it finally happens (probably 30-60 minutes).  I realise they have limited resources that need to cover everywhere, but the fact that the sales teams keep "selling" FTTC when the company has no intention of providing that adds to the irritation.  My first appointment was for June/July.

Given that Fibre could be "10yrs" away the fact that there IS a product "available" (technically), could OpenEir be compelled to supply or more to the point, "not withhold" a copper connection?
I know comreg are pretty poor at looking after consumers, but is that an avenue?

It sounds like an unacceptable gap in the supply of essential utilities for new builds if supply of an existing product can be withheld on the promise that an alternative product will be available "sometime" in the future.

fritzelly

ArrBee wrote: »

yes, I am aware that the infrastructure is shared.  But I wasn't so sure that any policy on availability of copper would be.
I could see it being an Eir retail decision as opposed to an OpenEir decision to restrict new copper connections.  I know there are a couple of bods in the industry in the forums that will have a more accurate view than my pure speculation though.

Decision is entirely openeirs, nothing to do with eir who just sell what OE say is available

Thoie

ArrBee wrote: »

Given that Fibre could be "10yrs" away the fact that there IS a product "available" (technically), could OpenEir be compelled to supply or more to the point, "not withhold" a copper connection?
I know comreg are pretty poor at looking after consumers, but is that an avenue?

It sounds like an unacceptable gap in the supply of essential utilities for new builds if supply of an existing product can be withheld on the promise that an alternative product will be available "sometime" in the future.

This is my concern - the date could be pushed out by a month, 5 years, 100 years, and there doesn't seem to be anything anyone can do about it.  I broached the topic with Comreg and the NBP (without making a formal complaint) and essentially they said "your area is covered by copper, therefore we think you have broadband, and it's a commercial decision on the part of eir/OpenEir whether they want to hook you up or not".  Obviously paraphrasing, but as far as "the powers that be" are concerned, I'm in a "green" FTTC area, therefore I have no reason to complain. 

This also ties in with the fact that I can't get a phone line either.  eir is the Universal Service Provider for the country, and as such has an obligation to provide service at a fixed location, and has targets to meet around the timeliness of this.  Comreg's approach (it's a commercial decision) seems to be at odds with this, even though eir have been repeatedly fined for failing to meet targets (while simultaneously receiving funding from Comreg).  


https://www.irishtimes.com/business/retail-and-services/eir-challenges-comreg-decision-on-fixed-line-obligations-1.2827261

I'm going to be offline for a few days (no broadband!), but will update this if there's any news when I'm back online.

JustLen

As an aside it may be of interest to note my 2 year saga with eir.

Basically set my package up wrong and had to battle with them for 2 years before I was finally able to get out of contract.

Dozens of store visits
Web chats
Dozens of calls taking maybe in tue region of 50 hours in total
Calls to customer care being dropped
Passed around between teams until you gave up the call
Making it difficult to communicate in writing
Making it difficult to process a data access request

The company really is a diagrace.

There was nobody apparently in the company able to deal with the issue for 2 years.

Sorry to but in to the thread, but I think it's important to note this treatment of customers has been happening for years.

https://touch.boards.ie/thread/2057633001/2