Landline Dead - and Lack of Clarity as to who is responsible

Judes

Hoping somebody can advise me on this one - (as you were all very helpful a few months ago when my bf asked about Eircom reclaiming my line from UTV because of their typographical error and due to your comments/advice I won and didn't have to pay for the calls!)

So, I'm with UTV Talk the past year - and as you are all aware it took several months for the lines to be released from Eircom - so now I have one monthly bill and my calls/rental are through UTV.

On Friday evening, I picked up my phone at about 18.30 to make a call - the line was dead. I immediately called UTV to report this fault and was told that Eircom Engineers didn't do repairs etc. at weekends so they wouldn't know of the fault until Monday morning. I left my mobile number and asked to be called and updated.

Monday heard nothing - so called UTV again, was given the Fault Reference Number - (and because of the weekend, the fault was reported to Eircom just after 08.00 that day). On speaking with this rep I asked would I get a discount/refund off my line rental - seeing as though I had no phone. I was told I should write in and that I would.

Still on Monday was complaining via email to a neighbour about no phone all weekend and she said hers was dead too. She had just returned from a weekend away to a dead phone. She called Eircom to report this and was told there was nothing wrong with the line - she was about to buy a new phone when she read my message and put two and two together. But here's the strange thing, I advised my neigbour a few months back to sign up with UTV Talk. Which she did. But was still waiting for her line to be transferred from Eircom to UTV. So I told her to call UTV and speak with them, was worried that if she made any kind of report to Eircom, her line would be reclaimed, the way mine was last year. But she did get back on to Eircom/UTV and was told by Eircom they would be out yesterday to check for the fault (which they weren't).

But I did call the Eircom number myself Monday, did the usual Q&A with a voicemail in Faults and got as far as saying my telephone number - this is the point when the voicemail rejected me, as my number wasn't an Eircom number - so I couldn't go any further to talk to a human being to ask about my repair.

Tuesday still heard nothing, so called UTV again - was able to reiterate the fault reference and explained the fact that my neighbour's line was also dead and she was also with UTV but her line was with Eircom - and an Eircom person spoke with her and said they'd be out! The person at UTV said that this was against the rules (or something similar) and that Eircom should not be showing priority to Eircom customers over UTV customers (as our lines do go through Eircom in the end!). A few hours later the rep at UTV called me back to say he spoke with Rita at Eircom who could give no ETA as to when anyone would call me) Also, he said I probably wouldn't get any discount etc. for no line - but I could write in and try.

So now it's Wednesday, it's 16.00 and still nobody has been in contact with me. I got on to ComReg earlier to ask about it - and may have "misheard" but it sounded like if your line is with Eircom they have to be out within 48 hours to repair - or you get a free months line rental. Fair enough!!! But unless I'm losing the plot - I "think" she said that with other lines they have 10 working days. If this is the case - I am without a phone for over two weeks??? And I've had to use my Mobile continually for the past 5 days costing a lot more than my "free" off-peak UTV calls. Of course nobody will cover this extra cost to me.

So does anybody know - where do I stand? I'm at the end of my tether, can't get any one to let me know when an engineer will check the line or my phone? This is an absolutely ridiculous situation. And it does look like Eircom are prioritising their customers.

All advice appreciated. Thanks, JUDES

paulm17781

Not positive but if it is a line fault it lies with Eircon. To avoid the robot just shout some muffled sounds at it. It gives up trying and puts you on to a human.

UTV are meant to be bad for CS so if both you and your neighbour are having problems and both with UTV it could be with them but I would suspect Eircon.

Sponge Bob

It was 48 hours at one stage but I suspect that Comreg decided that 48 hours was unfair on Eircom and that its longer now.

UTV should log the fault and give it to Eircom to fix so UTV should be able to tell you how long it takes to fix a dead line if reported Monday 9am (for simplicities sake) . You are now technically a UTV customer and must technically report the fault to them.

Judes

Just been told by neighbour - she's no. 8, I'm no. 6 that Eircom finally got back to her a while ago - (she's been calling them all day) anyway they say that a "white box" has been put up at no. 10 and there's something wrong with that. I don't know if this "white box" is new, has always been there, what it is??? But Eircom have to wait for parts to fix it - not sure if parts are available so cannot say if it will be this week or next week - so it sounds like this is a total cock-up on the part of Eircom - but they don't seem to want to let anyone know what's happening. So I assume others on the street are experiencing difficulties, unfortunately I'm not in a position to knock at every door to ask them. But the fact is that I'm still "officially" waiting for anyone to call me to advise me what the update is. And I've no idea when I'm going to have a normal landline. I lived in the UK for years - and if there was a prob with a phone line it would be sorted out quickly. I never remember myself or any of my friends experiencing such a delay. Sometimes I really feel like I'm living in a Third World Country!!! J