A realtime view of Eir customer service (webchat)

Thoie

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.

Chris Partlow

Hi Thoie, I've had an almost identical experience with eir myself in that I also bought a new house in an existing estate with a fibre cabinet already installed.

If it's any consolation, you're not alone, I've been looking for an update on when I can get broadband since June will little or no help from anyone in eir.

The only piece of promising news I got in relation to this was when I just so happened to bump into a guy from KN networks who was doing some work at the fibre cabinet as I walked passed (on a Sunday!). He told me basically he was working on it but couldn't give me a date for when it would be ready to go ("talk to eir about that" he said. Wow, great tip!), but at least I knew someone was doing someone on it. It's a joke that I couldnt get this info from eir themselves. 

In the meantime, I've been given a new 'forecast date' of the end of November...

Thoie

Chris Partlow wrote: »

Hi Thoie, I've had an almost identical experience with eir myself in that I also bought a new house in an existing estate with a fibre cabinet already installed.

If it's any consolation, you're not alone, I've been looking for an update on when I can get broadband since June will little or no help from anyone in eir.

The only piece of promising news I got in relation to this was when I just so happened to bump into a guy from KN networks who was doing some work at the fibre cabinet as I walked passed (on a Sunday!). He told me basically he was working on it but couldn't give me a date for when it would be ready to go ("talk to eir about that" he said. Wow, great tip!), but at least I knew someone was doing someone on it. It's a joke that I couldnt get this info from eir themselves. 

In the meantime, I've been given a new 'forecast date' of the end of November...

Maybe we're neighbours   Glad to hear that I wasn't being lied to about engineers working Sundays though.

Thoie

14:03  Called sales line 1800 773729 as I was told to do last week, as apparently the work was going to be done last Sunday.  Not sure whether to pick new or existing customer, as at this stage I have about 3 different order numbers, an account number, but no actual service.  Picked "existing customer".
...
Lately I've been, I've been losing sleep
...
[font=arial, sans-serif]They said they’ll keep me here[/font]
[font=arial, sans-serif]But I couldn’t do another year[/font]


14:11  No indication as to when someone might answer the phone.  Hold music bugging me.
...
[font=arial, sans-serif]Wire me up to machines, I'll be your prisoner[/font]


[font=arial, sans-serif]...[/font]


[font=arial, sans-serif]14:16  We're back to "I've been losing sleep" again.  Not sure if they only have 3 songs on the hold music, or if someone reset something.  Still haven't spoken to a human.  13 minutes with no indication on when or if my call will even be answered.  I'm sure I'll be told "we're experiencing an unusually high call volume".  Except if this happens every day, it's the normal call volume and you're just understaffed/incompetent.[/font]


[font=arial, sans-serif]14:21  I've got a meeting shortly.  Imagine the innocence of thinking you might be able to sort something out with eir in a 30 minute gap between meetings?  Looks like the phone won't even be answered in that time.  We're back to the second song again.  [/font]


[font=arial, sans-serif]14:29  Still looping through the same 3 songs, still no answer.  Have to hang up now as I've got a meeting to get to.[/font]

Thoie

While I can't stay on the phone during my meeting, I can deal with webchat, so I started a new webchat at 14:32.  As of 14:39, no-one has responded to that yet.  But there is a cheery "Hello! Next available customer representative will be with you shortly.".  At least I don't have to listen to the same 3 songs again.


14:43  Still no response.  I have my question, with account details/information to verify myself already typed out and ready to go once someone answers.


14:52  Still no response.  Is everyone in eir still recovering from the bank holiday?

15:26 Still no response.

16:06 Still no response.

17:04 Still no response.

davo2001

Following

Berty

I can tell you one thing. I had my fill of Chat, phone calls and lack of contact. Got onto the Reps here and suddenly I started receiving calls from Eir themselves apologising and sorting everything out. In fairness, like the OP, I gave Eir and their promised process the benefit of the doubt and it failed every time I interacted with it. 

I know they're hiring staff to fill the needed call centre people but of late and even right now the lines of contact are atrocious. The offshore chat function centre can f*ck right off as well. Such faux attempts at claiming to understand my issues. They spend more time telling you they "understand you'd like to discuss X with us" and "I'll help you with this query", disappear for ages and then simply don't sort anything out. 

Best ones are where you open saying "I'd like the mobile team please". "First, give me your name, address, first born etc" so you go for 5-10 minutes like that waiting for a reply and then they say "Oh, I'll transfer you to the mobile team" who then eventually turn up and go through it all over again. 

Thoie

My slight issue with that is you then get a phone call, from an unrecognised number, and someone starts barking at you to give them personal details, like full name, address, date of birth.  They generally vaguely identify themselves as eir, but if, for example, you try to verify them (by asking for the complaint number, or an account number, or for a summary of the issue), they refuse to tell you anything until you've handed over a load of personal information first.
As we're all repeatedly told not to give out private information to strangers over the phone, this always leads to an impasse, and the resolution doesn't go any further.  They also seem to get really cagey when they warn you that the call may be recorded, and I point out that I may be recording it from my side too.  For quality purposes.  I've had one actually hang up at that stage. 

Berty wrote: »

I can tell you one thing. I had my fill of Chat, phone calls and lack of contact. Got onto the Reps here and suddenly I started receiving calls from Eir themselves apologising and sorting everything out. In fairness, like the OP, I gave Eir and their promised process the benefit of the doubt and it failed every time I interacted with it. 

Thoie

9:32  Started a new chat - immediate agent response!!!!  Pasted the pre typed info from yesterday with all

9:33  Agent asked for a different piece of information that isn't normally asked for.  Provided that.

9:37  Agent thanks me for providing that information.  Nothing else.  

9:39  Agent informs me that I can now order broadband (for the 4th or 5th time).  I ask them to confirm that the necessary work has actually been completed, and for details of what bundles I can order, along with the waiting time.

9:40  If I order now I'll be up and running in 3-5 working days.  No other details yet.

9:42  Agent asks to confirm my address (again).  Still no details on plans.

9:43  This is an improvement, agent asks me to hold on a moment while they check something, rather than just disappearing.

9:47  Agent is still looking into something for me, but at least they let me know.

Meanwhile I'm looking up the various bundles that are now  available to me on FTTH.  Trying to decide between the 150Mb, 300Mb or 1000 Mb offers.  Will go for at least the 300Mb.

9:50  Agent comes back to confirm address.  Again

9:52  Agent has great news - I can now avail of speeds up to 40Mb.  Wait, what?  The whole drama over the last few months is that they've been insisting that it can only be FTTH, nothing else.  40Mb doesn't sound like FTTH.  Explain I was expecting 150-1000 Mb

9:54  Agent says I can't get FTTH, but they can take my order for FTTC now.  I ask if they've read any of the notes, and can see that this is not feasible.

Ready to tear my hair out.  This all started 5+ months ago when I originally ordered FTTC.  eir agents repeatedly sign me up for FTTC, then those orders get cancelled as it's policy to only provide FTTH.  The final piece of the FTTH jigsaw was supposed to be installed last Sunday.  30 minutes into what looked like a hopeful conversation, we've suddenly travelled back in time and are starting completely from scratch again.

10:00  Agent dumps me over to the "fixed service webchat" queue, where the entire bollox starts again.

10:01 Explain to the new agent I'm a bit unhappy

10:03  Agent suggests I phone the loyalty team on 1901.  


I scream into the void for a while.

10:05  I ask if he can just look at the notes on the complaint I provided, and see if the work has been done.

10:06  Agent understands my concern, but would prefer if I phone, as he's not authorised to review notes.  Point out that no-one answers the phone.

10:08 Agent assures me that of course someone will answer the phone.  Chat ends.

Thoie

Dialled 1901 as suggested by both the previous webchat agents.

10:10  Welcome to eir!  Did you know....

10:11  I don't have a valid eir phone or account number, so there seems to be no way to connect me to a human

10:12  I hang up after failing to connect to anyone, because they have no way of recognising me.


Now going to go drown myself in a vat of coffee, while flinging myself onto sharp objects from a height, because all of those things are less painful than dealing with eir.  On my return, I'll try the 1800 773 729 number, because apparently I hate myself.

mada82

Why is no one from eir on here taking ownership of this?

Thoie

10:44  Called [url=tel:1800 773 729]1800 773 729[/url]
Lately, lately I've been losing sleep...


10:49  Still listening to that bloody song.  Next up, the second bloody song.

10:58  We're back around to the first song again.

11:08 Still on hold. Still listening to the same few songs over and over.

draiochtanois

This post has been deleted.

Thoie

draiochtanois wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

You're welcome!

cavemeister

This is the best piece of drama I have seen all year.  Following with anticipation of what happens in the next episode of "Eir-ination street"

Thoie

By the way Reps, I've had no contact about my complaint since October 12th (via email), which is where the promised fix by Oct 28th information came from.  According to eir's own policy:

[font=eir-medium-web, "Arial Medium"]eir Complaint Process[/font]
Upon receipt of your complaint our Complaints Team will contact you within 48 hours to acknowledge your complaint and where possible provide you with a resolution. Our complaints team will endeavour to resolve your complaint within 10 working days. If however we are unable to resolve your complaint within this timeframe we will contact you to let you know the reason for the delay, the steps we are taking to resolve the complaint and advise you of a provisional resolution date.

Thoie

After 27 minutes on hold, with nary a human in sight (or sound), I'm going to attempt calling back and picking a different menu option.  I presume this will lead to an immediate good outcome, and I'll be posting back here in delight within the next 10 minutes.  No, wait, the other thing.

11:13  Pressed 1 for a new order. Answered within seconds.

11:14 Agent has put me on hold while they read the notes. Hold music is a far more calming classical piece.

11:16 Agent comes back very pleasantly, thanks me for holding. Can't see any reason why my previous orders have been cancelled, no reason why I can't get FTTC, even though all previous FTTC orders have failed. As far as they can see, FTTH is not yet available in my area (which means the works promised for October 28th probably haven't been carried out). They're going to do some more digging, and call me back.

swanie29

Sure why bother service down again

eir: Kyle

Thoie wrote: »

By the way Reps, I've had no contact about my complaint since October 12th (via email), which is where the promised fix by Oct 28th information came from. According to eir's own policy:

[font=eir-medium-web,]eir Complaint Process[/font]
Upon receipt of your complaint our Complaints Team will contact you within 48 hours to acknowledge your complaint and where possible provide you with a resolution. Our complaints team will endeavour to resolve your complaint within 10 working days. If however we are unable to resolve your complaint within this timeframe we will contact you to let you know the reason for the delay, the steps we are taking to resolve the complaint and advise you of a provisional resolution date.

Hi ther Thoie

Thank you so much for getting in touch. We only have one link to log a complaint. We do not have an email address for complaints. Can you please confirm exactly where you sent this to?

-Kyle

Chris Partlow

mada82 wrote: »

Why is no one from eir on here taking ownership of this?

Hahahahahaha! Brilliant! That's the best one I've heard in a while.

Fixing problems... That's not how they roll in eir.

ED E

Thoie wrote: »

  As far as they can see, FTTH is not yet available in my area (which means the works promised for October 28th probably haven't been carried out).  

Even if works had been done on the DP/other to enable your premises the APQ file has to be updated before their sales package will allow an FTTH order. Its normally done every 2-4wks so 3 days really isnt much time.


Really they should be able to proceed with FTTC if you want it though, clearly the prequal passes. Id guess theres an issue with duplicate/incorrect ARD keys going on. 

Thoie

eir: Kyle wrote: »

Thoie wrote: »

By the way Reps, I've had no contact about my complaint since October 12th (via email), which is where the promised fix by Oct 28th information came from.  According to eir's own policy:

[font=eir-medium-web,]eir Complaint Process[/font]
Upon receipt of your complaint our Complaints Team will contact you within 48 hours to acknowledge your complaint and where possible provide you with a resolution. Our complaints team will endeavour to resolve your complaint within 10 working days. If however we are unable to resolve your complaint within this timeframe we will contact you to let you know the reason for the delay, the steps we are taking to resolve the complaint and advise you of a provisional resolution date.

Hi ther Thoie

Thank you so much for getting in touch. We only have one link to log a complaint. We do not have an email address for complaints. Can you please confirm exactly where you sent this to?

-Kyle

Hi Kyle,

I originally logged the complaint via the website (because, despite requesting it many times, no agent would log a formal complaint for me).    Following that, there was a long correspondence from ccm@eir.ie who were asking for additional information, and eventually, on October 12th, I got a unique complaint reference number, which I can PM you if you like.  However, having given out my details so many times, I'm not going to start confirming all that again via PM.  If I give you the complaint reference details, all the account holder information (email and phone number) are attached to that, and someone can contact me via phone or email directly.  Please be aware that if someone does phone, I expect them to identify themselves by quoting the complaint number to me before I will give out any personal information.  If preferred, I could alternatively give you a codeword that can be used to identify themselves.

Just to be clear about what I'm looking for, in order of priority:
1.  An internet connection
2.  Confirmation of whether the scheduled works actually happened on October 28th
3.  If not, a firm commitment that they will happen in the next 10 working days (the October 28th date has been bandied around for months)
4.  A weekly email updating me on the progress, even if it's just to say "work still scheduled for x date"
5.  Ideally, given that my original order was placed in May/June, any new contract I take out when this is finally resolved should finish by the end of May, not tie me in for another 18 months of horrendous customer service.

For the benefit of the company, I would also suggest that you highlight this, and other similar cases to senior management.  While it would be hard to believe that they're not aware of how eir's customer service is viewed throughout the country, this thread has some solid data for them to see how their policies are being implemented, and received by customers.  

Eir's Code of Practice, escalation procedures and complaint process are not being followed, and not working.  Agents routinely leave customers unsatisfied, refuse to escalate to a supervisor or arrange a callback when (not if) the supervisor is unavailable.  Complaints are not resolved within 10 working days (which is understandable in complicated issues), but importantly, the customer is not kept up to date with progress.

I'm not sure if staff are physically punished with public whippings for escalating issues, or if giving a customer an actual complaint reference number leads to the agent being locked in a dark room for a month, but there is something badly wrong in the entirety of the customer service side.  I suspect that the wrong call centre metrics are being focused on by management, but that's not my problem.  My problem is the fact that I've spent months being given misleading, incorrect information, and that I'm ridiculously frustrated by the amount of sheer incompetence.

Getting a connection in an established area, with a fibre cabinet, with a clear duct for the 30m run to the cabinet, should be in no way this difficult in this day and age.  The fact that agents have repeatedly informed me that I can order an FTTC connection and have it installed within a few days, when it's very clear that eir's new policy is only to provide FTTH, not only frustrates me, but highlights again that the company internal communications are not working.

Chris Partlow

Thoie wrote: »

After 27 minutes on hold

Jesus Christ. 27 minutes. What a shambles they are. I had to give up calling them and accepted that it will be done when it will be done unfortunately. The time I was spending on hold on calls at work was becoming ridiculous. And my phone bill was going through the roof... which, as it happens, is provided by eir. Good to know that they are benefitting by keeping me on hold.

And I hated 'Counting Stars' to begin with...

Thoie

The agent who said they were going to call me back at 11:16 this morning, hasn't.  It's now 16:37.

I understand there may be issues with eir's network at the moment.  Crashing an entire network just to avoid calling me seems a tad over-dramatic.

sweetie

Spent an hour and twenty minutes on a call with them yesterday, useless doesn't cover it

sweetie

eir: Kyle wrote: »

Thoie wrote: »

By the way Reps, I've had no contact about my complaint since October 12th (via email), which is where the promised fix by Oct 28th information came from.  According to eir's own policy:

[font=eir-medium-web,]eir Complaint Process[/font]
Upon receipt of your complaint our Complaints Team will contact you within 48 hours to acknowledge your complaint and where possible provide you with a resolution. Our complaints team will endeavour to resolve your complaint within 10 working days. If however we are unable to resolve your complaint within this timeframe we will contact you to let you know the reason for the delay, the steps we are taking to resolve the complaint and advise you of a provisional resolution date.

Hi ther Thoie

Thank you so much for getting in touch. We only have one link to log a complaint. We do not have an email address for complaints. Can you please confirm exactly where you sent this to?

-Kyle

cantbearsed@eir.con :D

BabysCoffee

You've convinced me to stay with Virgin

Thoie

ED E wrote: »

Thoie wrote: »

  As far as they can see, FTTH is not yet available in my area (which means the works promised for October 28th probably haven't been carried out).  

Even if works had been done on the DP/other to enable your premises the APQ file has to be updated before their sales package will allow an FTTH order. Its normally done every 2-4wks so 3 days really isnt much time.


Really they should be able to proceed with FTTC if you want it though, clearly the prequal passes. Id guess theres an issue with duplicate/incorrect ARD keys going on. 

Despite not knowing what an ARD key is (I'll google it in a minute), you appear to be able to give more, and clearer information than anyone in eir.  If I'm reading you right, eir should have known from the start that even if the work was carried out on October 28th, it could be December before I can actually order?  So, they've been lying from day one then.  I'm shocked and surprised.  This is my shocked and surprised face. 

I'm now in a bit of a bind.  If they'd provided FTTC back in May when they were supposed to, I'd now be 5 months through a contract.  However, they made it very clear that they are only willing to sell me FTTH (for a higher price, of course).  In the unlikely event they backtrack and allow me to order FTTC, I might just throw myself off a bridge, as it will just emphasise the utter futility of trying to get anything done with eir.  I'd finally have what they could have given me 5 months ago, but probably with no hope of ever getting FTTH in the next zillion years.

G_R

This whole saga is reminding me of when I tried to upgrade my mobile a while back. Too over a month with no promised call back ever happening, the web chat people giving me completely incorrect information, the Twitter team point blank telling me this is not something they deal with and refusing to organise a call back from someone who could help, and being left on hold for what felt like days on end.

In the end, I got sorted because I found one really helpful guy on the customer care team who was willing to take ownership of the issue and got it sorted for me. He suggested I log a complaint after reading the the saga of notes attached to my account but I actually didn't as I couldn't bring myself have to deal with them any more now that it was resolved.

It was genuinely, the absolute worst experience i have ever had with any company, and I'm really not trying to be dramatic by saying that.

I hope all this is getting fed up the line.

1hnr79jr65

https://www.airwire.ie/index.php/avail

use this link on airwire's site to show what is active for your location.

Chances are in eir they may not have received activation notice of a service in your area and would need wholesale (openeir) to send an activation file to process order for you. 

Alternatively you could ask an agent in call center to check product availability/speed on bank end gateway system.

Graniteville

You will find a positive change soon. (few weeks)

Eir's new owners have given the boot to the current outsourced customer service crew and bringing it in house with their own employees.

The new owners accepted that service was particularly bad.

Sales team has already been brought in house.


My own experience is worse than above - told that my address could not get bb and not listed for Fibre upgrade for at least a year.

I had standard 12mb bb previously - told that was not possible and nothing more than 1mb was available.

Then three weeks later sales guy calls to the door introducing Fibre to the home launching the following week!!!

I had signed up for 24 month mobile bb just 3 weeks previously.