Eir and IBAN discrimination

harmless

I know Eir are known for their awful customer service but are they infallible to Irish and EU law?

I tried to sign up for their FTTH €40 500Mb

Online signup would not accecpt my German IBAN.

I called sales and was told I must have an Irish IBAN. However after I mentioned IBAN discrimination the rep talked to her manager, took all my details and said a DD mandate would be sent in the post. It never arrived. I tried the Eir shop, again told I must have an Irish IBAN. When I said what about IBAN discrimination covered under Irish and EU law I was told to stop protesting and the rep would no longer engage with me.

Of course I'd be mad to go with Eir after this behaviour.

But am I misunderstanding the law or are Eir blatantly flaunting it?

https://www.centralbank.ie/financial-system/payments-and-securities-settlements/irish-retail-payments-forum/iban-discrimination

boardzz

Never seen this before but yes looks like they can't refuse any IBAN from EU member states:

A payee accepting a credit transfer or using a direct debit to collect funds from a payer holding a payment account located within the Union shall not specify the Member State in which that payment account is to be located, provided that the payment account is reachable in accordance with Article 3

boardzz

What can I do if believe my IBAN is subject to discrimination?

If a company or employer in Ireland says it will only accept an Irish IBAN for a direct debit or credit transfer, we advise you to take the following steps:

• Advise them that they are obliged to accept IBANs from other SEPA countries (Article 9 of the SEPA Regulation).
• Send a formal written complaint if necessary.
• If you do not receive a satisfactory response to your complaint you can report the alleged breach to the relevant competent authority (see below for further details).

banie01

Vodafone also partake in this. Recently tried to sign up via their online and was told that non-irish IBAN could not be accepted by online or call centre and that if I wanted to proceed with a purchase?

I'd have to complete it in-store.

Electric Ireland also won't accept non Irish IBAN by default and require a DD mandate be completed and sent in.

Many Irish utility companies use archaic payments platforms that barely cope with Irish IBANs let alone the EU wide option.

It's a result of piss poor regulation and enforcement tbh. SEPA and IBAN have made the banking sector an EU wide market and it needs to be reflected in both the broad and normalised acceptance of EU IBAN rather than hoop jumping that is currently required by many processors.

harmless

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118028251#Comment_118028251

I've done everything here except send a formal letter. I asked the rep in the shop if he could advise me on what department in Eir I should contact about this issue and was told there isn't any.

I can try the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, I'm not sure it's worth my time. I won't be going with Eir now.

I was more curious about how Eir can get away with breeching EU banking law.

harmless

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118028290#Comment_118028290

I just called Vodafone sales and they said they can't setup the account as they can only do a credit check on an Irish IBAN.

At least they were friendly and gave a reasonable excuse, I'm still not 100% on the legality of it.

dam099

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118028498#Comment_118028498

That sounds bogus

a) Utility providers don't have access to the banking credit databases

b) Your IBAN for your current account would tell SFA about your creditworthiness (maybe issues with an overdraft but very little else of value).

harmless

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118029491#Comment_118029491

Good to know that Vodafone are just as willing to lie as Eir when it comes to this matter.

Does anyone know which telecom companies do accept a non Irish IBAN?

ED E

They arent allowed to discriminate but they wont be fined for it so they dont have to care.

The CCPC and CBI are doing this dance since years, the point to each other and neither is doing what they are supposed to do.

The competence is clear, CBI if it's the Payment Services Providers (like Banks) issue and CCPC if it's a customer complaining about a company or public body.

A bank not allowing you to use another IBAN = CBI

A company refusing to accept a direct debit from a SEPA compliant account outside Ireland = CCPC

But neither of them takes responsibility, the only way to get this resolved is for you to complain to the EU about the CCPC not doing their job.

Or if you are a EU Citizen from another country you could complain via a special process, as your EU rights are violated via

SOLVIT – EU rights problem solving when working, living or doing business in another EU country - European Commission (europa.eu)

I used Solvit a few time in the early days of IBAN when the CCPC/CBI ping pong became clear.

But it in the end it's the government's fault, they decided not to follow other countries which gave their regulators clear powers including massive fines and made it easy for citizens to go complain and even take the infringing company to court.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117783954/#Comment_117783954

It would be great if Paschal D fixed this but I doubt it. Banks are happy with not having to compete with EU rivals on an even footing here. Write him an email though, this should be fixed.

harmless

I assume I'd at least have to give the CCPC a chance to do their job before contacting the minister for finance?

It's something I'd like to see resolved and I'm happy to take the time to send emails and make calls but I just can't see much coming of it.

I'm surprised there are not more people complaining about the issue.

harmless

Update on this.

If you can get a sales rep willing to consult their manager a direct debit can be established with a foreign SEPA bank and an account created.

What they may not tell you is that this will take about 5 weeks for the direct debit mandate to be approved. So the process of creating an account will probably take at least 6 weeks.