The reply I sent Eircom regarding their E-Christmas Cards!

aidan_dunne

I'm sure that I'm not the only one to have gotten one of these E-Christmas Cards from Eircom. The one I got was of a bunch of snowmen doing a "Full Monty" style stiptease. I couldn't believe the cheek of those muppets in Eircom to send me something like that. The e-mail read like this:

From: "eircom" <******@eircom.ie>
Reply-To: <******@eircom.ie>
Subject: eircom.ie Christmas Greetings
Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2001 13:48:19 +0000

Dear Aidan

Please pick up your christmas greeting here
http://mmm.eircom.ie/ecards/xmas/ecard.asp?id=HRVV6I7VWICQYDN93VISFKS2OU

Happy Christmas from all at eircom.ie

Don't forget that with www.eircom.ie you can
* View your itemised bill for free
* Pay your Bill online by laser, Direct Debit or Internet Banking
* Order eircom Products and Services
* Report and Track Faults
* Look up Business and Residential numbers on our Directory Enquiries

We look forward to seeing you in the new year

......Things are a little eircom.ieasier

From all at www.eircom.ie

You can imagine my anger at receiving something as hollow as this from them. As I said, the cheek of the ba$tards! So, I decided to reply to them. Here's the e-mail I sent back in return. Sorry that's it's so long but there was a lot of things I had to point out to the person in Eircom who sent it to me.

To whom it may concern,

This evening I logged in to check my e-mails in my Hotmail account as I do most evenings (my Hotmail address being ******@hotmail.com). I was shocked and disgusted to find an electronic Christmas card from eircom.ie waiting for me. It was not the contents of this e-card which disgusted me; the contents, incidentally, being snowmen doing a "Full Monty" style striptease on my screen. What disgusted me was how a company like eircom, which has been fleecing the average internet user in Ireland for so long, could have the audacity and arrogance to turn around and send me Christmas greetings like this.

For far too long internet users in this country have had to put up with a shoddy service. Slow connection speeds, dropped connections but, most of all, ridiculously high internet access charges have hindered the ability of people like myself to connect to the internet and have forced others who would like to get online to reconsider this possibility. I know dozens of people who would love to go online and discover the potential of the internet but cannot do so. In all these cases, cost is the single overriding concern. We are all too familiar with the stories of people who connect to the internet for the first time only to find that their phone bill has skyrocketed when it comes through the door the following month. It is the thought of these nasty surprises coming through someone's letterbox which tends to put them off going online.

Despite eircom becoming a public limited company over two years ago, your company still maintains an unhealthy monopoly in the telecommunications market in Ireland. eircom have stalled time and time again on the issue of Local Loop Unbundling and at the present time not one loop has been unbundled to date, despite the fact that an EU directive stated that LLU must have taken place before January this year. I understand that an agreement has been reached to allow Esat access to one exchange in Limerick sometime next March or April but it is too little, too late as far as I am concerned. And, after all, one swallow (or exchange) does not make a summer (or total LLU)!

eircom have also used the monopoly it still maintains to hold back the development of widespread internet access in this country and, in doing so, holding back the development of the economy of Ireland. I'll readily admit that the Government has also had a hand in this, too. It annoys me immensely to hear Bertie Ahern and the other politicians going on about how Ireland is the "E-hub of Europe" when, in fact, we are more like the "E-bog of Europe". However, most of the blame for this has to lie squarely on the shoulders of eircom. Most, if not all, countries in the EU have unmetered internet access at this stage as well as broadband access. However, we still do not have proper unmetered access yet in Ireland or broadband. And before you say it, no, eircom's "Hi-Speed" service is not broadband, it's just a new name for ISDN which is not proper broadband like ADSL. ISDN is an old technology now and I wish your company would stop trying to flog it to unsuspecting customers as an all-singing, all-dancing, bells-and-whistles broadband service. IT... IS... NOT... BROADBAND! Full stop!

The closest we had to an unmetered package was Esat's Surf No Limits package but, as I'm sure you're well aware of, that scheme is no longer being offered and 2,000 users were disconnected earlier this year because Esat could no longer maintain the losses it was making. I was one of those who was threatened with disconnection but my service was restored. However, I am now limited to 75 hours per month online, or 2-and-a-half hours per day! It might seem a lot but you don't actually have much of a chance to surf the web with that kind of time limit, especially if you have a lot of e-mails to check each day. In fact, internet users do not "surf the web" in the recognised sense here in Ireland. We are limited to connecting, quickly checking our e-mail, maybe having a quick look at a site or two and then having to log off for fear of running up a huge phone bill. That is certainly not "surfing the web", in my opinion! Also, when Esat said that they could not maintain the losses they were making on the Surf No Limits package the reason for that, once again, was eircom. Esat have to pay per minute for using eircom's lines so charging a flat-rate fee to it's customers whilst paying this per-minute charge means a huge loss maker for Esat.

In order for proper unmetered access to become available in Ireland, FRIACO (Flat Rate Internet Access Call Origin) will have to be introduced. This will allow other operators, such as Esat, to charge a flat-rate fee to it's customers whilst paying a flat-rate fee to yourselves for the use of your lines. There are other advantages to this, too. Firstly, people will be able to use the internet more often without fear of huge phone bills. This will not only benefit residential customers but businesses as well as they will be able to use the internet much more as a business tool. Secondly, as has been proven in every single country where FRIACO or unmetered access has been made available, more people will start using the internet and more people will connect if they know that internet access is available for a reasonably priced monthly fee, with no hidden extras such as call costs involved. The example that comes immediately to mind is that of the UK where the numbers of people connecting to the internet has increased dramatically since FRIACO and unmetered access was introduced last year. Now, I'll admit that the UK is a bigger country with a larger population which makes it more profitable than in Ireland but even in smaller countries or those with more dispersed population this fact holds true. More people start using the internet if there is an unmetered package available. Thirdly, there is little or no extra investment required to introduce FRIACO or unmetered access. It is a system that could be introduced quickly and effectively, literally with "a flick of a switch." BT were able to do it overnight in the UK when they decided to do it (or should that be forced by OFTEL to do it!), Esat proved that it is possible here in Ireland, so there is no excuse why eircom cannot now launch a similar scheme in Ireland. And don't try and give the usual eircom excuse about how it's not "economically viable." I have been hearing the same rubbish spouted by spokespeople from eircom for too long now. It is viable and you will find that you will get more customers if it is offered. Is it a case that eircom are afraid of loosing some money initially while more customers come on stream to make up the difference in profits again? It's not like eircom aren't making huge profits as it is. And besides, as I said, you will have more customers signing up if an unmetered package is available. Or is the real reason why eircom won't offer a system such as FRIACO to other operators is that they are afraid of the competition, afraid that eircom's shoddy service and history of ripping off the customer will suddenly become apparent and the competition will hammer eircom into the ground? I suspect that this could be the real reason and not "economical viability!" After all, the outgoing directors of eircom seemed to find awarding themselves ridiculous bonuses despite the company's poor performance and share history over the past two years "economically viable." If that sort of waste of money is "viable" then why isn't a proper use of resources such as offering unmetered internet access "not viable?"

continued below

aidan_dunne

And that's just unmetered access. I've yet to mention the ridiculous broadband situation. Only eircom could use millions of pounds of state funding trying to put in place ADSL access in this country only for us to find that it is only available in selected parts of Dublin, then waste months doing trials of the system, then release the most stupid prices ever seen for ADSL in the entire world (i.e. over £100 per month), then find the ODTR instructing them to release more reasonable and realistic pricing for the service and then turn around like a spoilt child and threaten to withdraw the service completely if they didn't get their way and charge this ridiculous price! Only eircom! Here we are, a First World country which, until recently, was enjoying huge economic success and we don't have ADSL yet, in Kazakhstan for example, they DO somehow manage to have ADSL. What the hell are eircom on?It makes me sick to see ads on the TV everyday where BT are offering 24/7 unmetered internet access in the UK and Northern Ireland for fifteen quid a month and ADSL for about forty. For God's sake, if I lived just two feet across the border I could get these services no problem so why not here in the Republic? Once again, it all boils down to eircom's reluctance to do anything and offer these services to us, a reluctance based purely on greed, making huge profits and ignoring the needs and wishes of it's customers and the economy of Ireland as a whole in order to beef up it's bank balance. Shame on you, eircom, I say!

Now, I'm sure that if this e-mail is even read, let alone even replied to, I'll get the usual, company-issue reply. "But eircom's prices are amongst the lowest in Europe, eircom is doing this, that and the other to improve our service, we value your custom, blah, blah, blah." Well, I don't want to hear it. In August a seminar was held in Dublin by an internet pressure group called Ireland Offline who are campaigning for unmetered and broadband internet access in this country (just for the record, I am a member of Ireland Offline and a strong supporter of the campaign since the start). Two representatives were sent from eircom, Soula Evans and Pat Galvin. We all hoped they would show up to give us some new information and details regarding what eircom were doing concerning internet access in Ireland and would listen to what we had to say. Instead, Miss Evans got up and spouted the usual company crap for several minutes, which we all knew was totally inaccurate and fabricated to try and put a positive spin on things. When asked questions from the audience she either repeated what she had already said or was unable to answer them. Mr. Galvin was much the same, trying to put a positive spin on things and regurgitating the facts and figures we had already been told. This just went to further show eircom's total disregard for it's customers and the general public and it's total ineptitude when it comes to public relations. Do eircom actually care about anyone or anything but themselves and their profits? It certainly doesn't look like it to me.

Also, at the seminar Mr. Galvin said that he didn't see any reason why their couldn't be "FRIACO by Christmas." Yet, here it is, December 13th, and there is still no sign of it. It looks like this was another case of eircom making promises it couldn't keep, just like the promise of ADSL in September which will not now be available till next year either! Of course, I guessed we missed what Mr. Galvin was really saying. What he said was, "I can't see why there can't be FRIACO by Christmas." What he didn't say was which Christmas!

Speaking of replies (if you do have the courtesy to send me one!), I also do not want to hear things such as, "Well, eircom.net runs our ISP service and they are separate from eircom itself." You're not kidding anyone! They may be separate companies or whatever but kindly forward this e-mail to them on my behalf if that is the case. Don't try fobbing me off with that excuse!

Now, I'll admit that I strayed quite a bit from my original reason for sending you this e-mail, the e-card I received earlier this evening, but I feel it was necessary. I am an average internet user here in Ireland. All I want is reliable, reasonably priced (i.e. £15-£20 per month), 24/7 unmetered dial-up internet access without having to resort to moving to the UK or across the border! ADSL would be great but I, like most other people I know, would settle for dial-up access at this kind of price. Is that really too much to ask of eircom? I would appreciate it if, in future, you didn't send me hollow, empty Christmas greetings such as that I received this evening. Instead, only contact me when you have something decent to offer such as unmetered access. Until then, stop filling my e-mail inbox up with this kind of rubbish. If you really want to send me and other internet users in Ireland something to be cheerful about this Christmas, how about an offer fulfilling Mr. Galvin's promise of unmetered internet access. Otherwise, don't bother me anymore.

Yours sincerely,

Aidan Dunne.

At the bottom of the e-mail I pasted a little image of the Ireland Offline logo with "In Support Of" just above it.

Now, I know the e-mail was very long but the reason why I felt it necessary to point out all those facts was because I reckon that the poor sod who works in Eircom who had the job of sending these things out is probably a typical Eircom employee, i.e. brainwashed by Eircom's crap and doesn't have a clue what's really going on. I felt it necessary to inform this poor person about what Eircom are really up to and to let them know about the existence of Ireland Offline. As someone said a while ago, apparently most of the people working in Eircom don't know who Ireland Offline are or don't even know of the group's existence. I hope that this will enlighten at least one Eircom employee who may then mention it to their colleagues or pass my e-mail on within the company, therefore letting Eircom employees really know what the company they work for are like.

I doubt I'll get a reply from Eircom as I never have before but if I do I'll post it up here. Should make interesting reading!

By the way, if anyone else gets one of these e-cards send it straight back to them with an e-mail of your own also complaining and telling them what cheeky ba$tards they are to be sending this crap out. They might be able to ignore one e-mail from me but I'm sure they can't ignore a whole bunch of similar e-mails sent by all of us. Don't spam, just send a polite e-mail like I did complaining and making your points heard. Who knows, it might make just a tiny, tiny difference in the greater scheme of things in the long run.

GoneShootin

WOW

hope they read it all...doubt it tho....

you musta been in SUPER RANT mode

dahamsta

<!!!APPLAUSE!!!>

Well done Aidan!

adam

PiE

How did they get a hold of your Hotmail address anyway?

rymus

very nice piece of literature indeed, but do you really think anyone read it? If they even got thru the first sentance without pressing delete I'd be amazed.

It is a fantastic email tho, maybe Ireland Offline should create some christmas cards and make your email the "christmas greeting".

disConnected

Congrats Aidan,

Sorry, I haven't even finished reading your full letter... Just finished part one, but I have to reply...
Well, even if the letter you posted to them won't be read, we all know by now that the Boards here are closely monitored, so they at least will read it here:)

Gee, I am looking forward to receiving one of those 'lovely' e-cards as well. I will copy your rant and send it to them as well.

It looks to me like Eircom are allowed to do as they please.. meaning spamming us with this kind of rubbish!!!
If every member of IOFFL would respond to this insult (even if they haven't received the e-mail in question) I bet that the Eircom - guys would try everything to find a way to brand our actions as illegal....

Gee... I better stop here I am really getting into RANT mode, especially as this fuxxing crapy phone-connection keeps on breaking down on me!!!

I bet even though these guys from Eircom read our rant here they wouldn't get the idea to send a technician out to fix that bloddy line...

DO YO HEAR ME!!! COME OUT AND FIX THAT BLOODY LINE THAT KEEPS ON BRAKING DOWN!!!!:mad:

(Sorry to all the members for getting so cheesed off and shouting around like a loon... Can I sue Eircom? It's their fault that I am losing my sanity )

sceptre

Good reply Aidan. Pertinent, pointed and above all cuttingly truthful.

aidan_dunne

You'd better stop all the complements, folks. My head's beginning to swell! lol.

Seriously though, I agree that the chances of someone in Eircom actually reading it, let alone replying to it, are extremely small. I just felt that I had to reply to them and them exactly how I felt. And even if it's not read at least it was a great way of getting all that anger and frustration out of my system!

As for how they got my Hotmail address, I haven't a clue. If I was going to get an e-mail from them I would have expected to get it to my eircom.net address. And, as far as I can remember, I've never, ever given my Hotmail address to Eircom. That's another good point that possibly needs investigating.

Oh, by the way, if any of you do want to edit it and send it to Eircom yourselves, feel free to do so. I'm not claiming any copyright on it! lol.

Bottle_of_Smoke

Every time I see the Eircom mouse I want to scream "SERENITY NOW!"

You might get a laugh outta this one:
http://www.evilgerald.com/Issues/Issue15/9mouseporn.htm


Ps go thru the whole site, quite funny...

billy the squid

Wow thats hard hitting stuff that letter to eircom

might think of sending it to the newspapers whether eircom read or not is irrelavent but their potential customers will read it.

that evil gerrald thing is so cool too

send that link back with the replies to the e-cards.

i didnt even look at mine to be honest just right right click over anything with the word "greeting" in it . its a hotmail habit.

my one came to my eircom address though

billy the squid

just a quick question to aidan were you online or offline when you wrote that reply.

If you were online then you might want to hide the phone bill before anyone else sees it that must have taken ages to write

Matfinn

Heres the mail I sent back to Eircom when I got that Christmas card off them.

---

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Dear Eircom managment,

If you really wanted to please me this christmas, then you could release 56k flatrate internet access to the masses. I would also like a reasonably priced and decent service for a change. Like yourselves, I have friends and family, anjd it being christmas now, I kinda like to buy them presents, you know? But I cant because as usual you have decided to fleece me on my internet bill, I probably wont be able to afford to go online and do my research let alone buy Christmas presents for my loved ones. You see the little man here is getting dicked by the big greedy corporation. I am studying computers in college at the moment, so you can understand that the internet is a vital resource for me. Computers does make up a big part of the internet you know, especially for me and the many others who study them in the hope of getting a job, therefore proving a valuable asset to the State for many years to come. Because of you, I cant go online nearly as much as I would like to or *need* to.

As I said, you know what we all want for Christmas really.

many thanks and a Merry Christmas

Matt Fincuane

El_MUERkO

I tryed to read all that.... I really did... but I gave up due to I strain

However I still would like to add my support...

Good Work Fella

Stephen

Tomo, you're a sick bastard and I hope you get banned [ again ] for that sig image.

Moron.

billy the squid

arent you like a moderator is there nothing you can do or is it only the community moderator who can remove that

Stephen

Only the moderators of this board (Bard and dahamsta) and the general boards.ie administrators (DeVore, Cloud and co) can remove it.

Pragmatica

Toto ... u are one sick puppy ... u have a site so make ur own forum where u and ur sick puppy firends can all have an good time togeather ...

Very good letter BTW to the author but a bit long ... I will read it all offline

Here is copy of my reply ...

.........................................................................................................

Dear vhartless@eircon

I see your keeping in the scrooge sprit of Christmas this year as always ...
Who though up this new way of making more money out of their customers ?
It's not too late, you can get an phost in on the action too and send some
Christmas cards without stamps and have your customers pay for postage ...
What a phucken well though out insult to get @ Christmas when you know the
feeling net users have for Eircon due to their greed @ Christmas and all
other times of the year for not treating their customers fairly by providing
flat-rate internet access and removing DACS equipment from voice lines ... I
wont go through all the logistics because you know them off by (your cold)
heart and I'd have to be the ghost of Christmas passed to convince to have a
change of heart. I'll make this short so you can continue to your next
email of complaint from another dissatisfied customer ...

Thanks for wishing me a happy new year and I'm happy that it wont be with
Eircon ...

Go phuck yourself sincerely ...

And if there is a person working beside you ?

Tell them to go and phuck themselves sincerely too ...

Little Tim : ( ...

GoneShootin

TOMO = IDIOT

Bard

Offensive images removed. Offensive user removed with them.

'tomo' has become the first user to cause me to click on the "ban" link in the moderator's control panel.

Thanks to the 7 boards users who reported the post.

aidan_dunne

Originally posted by fcddunne
just a quick question to aidan were you online or offline when you wrote that reply.

If you were online then you might want to hide the phone bill before anyone else sees it that must have taken ages to write

Of course I typed it up when I was offline. Jesus, there's no way I could spend time online typing something like that, not with Eircom's bloody phone charges! lol.

Actually, I don't think it did take me all that long to type it either, about 20-30 minutes or so including thinking what I wanted to say. I'm no touch typist but I'm nifty enough with a keyboard! lol.

aidan_dunne

I also just want to say that I think it's great that other people seem to have the same idea I had and are sending replies to their $hitty e-cards. As I said, they might be able to ignore my e-mail but I'm sure thay can't ignore every e-mail that they get. This can only be good for spreading the word about Ireland Offline and telling the folks in Eircom what we really think and want from them.

Keep it up, everybody. I still believe that we all can make a difference.

MS

Hey WTG aidan_dunne I have just finished reading your reply to Eircom and sent it to everyone i know. And i asked them to either include your reply or submit their own to Eircom if they get one of those E-Cards.

/me is wondering if there is any Newspaper/s out there that would be willing to Donate a Full Page of their newspaper of your reply and see what sorth of reply if any Eircom would make to it hehehehehhe. Very nice reading and very well put Aidan. Well done


MS

aidan_dunne

Thanks for the nice words, MS.

Yeah, I'd love to see how Eircom would reply to the facts I made in my e-mail. I reckon those gob$hites would probably turn around and try and sue me for defamation of character or slander or something, probably claiming that everything I said in the e-mail was false even though it's blatantly true. I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest. After all, this is Eircom we are talking about, the company who reckons everybody is against them and can't understand why! lol.

SkepticOne

Originally posted by aidan_dunne
Yeah, I'd love to see how Eircom would reply to the facts I made in my e-mail. I reckon those gob$hites would probably turn around and try and sue me for defamation of character or slander or something, probably claiming that everything I said in the e-mail was false even though it's blatantly true. I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest.

On the other hand, suing you would bring an astounding level of bad publicity down on them. They may not wish to have their service levels dragged through the public courts.

sceptre

Dammit, bet they don't even send me an e-card.

Must be that time (or times really) I phoned and faxed Eircom and Eircell and threw the Data Protection Act in their faces. Told them if the country went on fire and there was only one plane out (but they could get me on it by contacting me) that I didn't even want any communication from them then.

I now have a nice letter from each company letting me know I am off their mailing list and contact list and that I'll never be put back on unless I expressly request it in writing.

Now, on to those location logs that Eircell keep for six years (er, illegally). I've a request in to receive all of them by post. They've another ten days or so to comply and they can charge me the maximum fiver charge if they want.

PiE

Hmm, just realised I did in fact recieve this "greeting"...

But... it came to my dol.ie email account... and started with "Hello Christine..."

Right... Ok, I know I got an eircom.net address while I registered for the DSL trial, (under my mothers name, Christine) and now they send me an email to my DOL.IE account addressing her.

How the feck?! How did they get my DOL account and more to the point, how did they link me with my mother?!!

I'm scared.

Pragmatica

I think they only send u card if u have an account @ their site for what ever reason ... In my case it was for getting an itemised bill since loosing nolimits ... Which they didn't provide free @ the time ...

MS

How the feck?! How did they get my DOL account and more to the point, how did they link me with my mother?!!

Be carefull 'Big Brother is Watching YOU!' hehehhe :P



MS

Pragmatica

if u created an account @ eircom reguarding ur phone line ... the details of the account holder is on that account ... the person who pays the bill for that line ... if u ever created an account @ eircom's home site ... ur required to use an email address as ur username and a password ... If u used ur dol account when u registered ... that's where they got ur email and the name if for whom ever rents the line ...

I got the same email saying "Dear James ..." ... but my name is not James ... but James is the person here whom has his name on the bill and the address I used to sign up was @gofree.indigo.ie ...

It's the only place they could have gotten ur address and name as eircon is the only place that I've used my indigo account to register anything by the name of james ...

when u register @ eircon they ask u to input the account number on the top of the bill that u receive through the door ... so u have no option but to use the name of that account ... Christine in ur case

PiE

That doesn't explain why they emailed my MOTHER through my MY dol account, surely they would have emailed her eircom.net address.

On the eircom.net signup page theres nowhere that you have to input an existing email address.

http://autoreg.eircom.net/free.php3

*shrug.