Call from Eircom

Tippex

Just got a call from eircom about installing their enhanced adsl product.

When she was breaking down the pricing it was as follows:
€155 +vat for installation
€169 +vat monthly
€900 +vat for a survey and a router (from eircom.net) I asked if I could use my own router and was told no and also asked what the survey intailed and she said she did not know.

Also there is a 12 month contract which can be broken with 1 months notice.

Anyone else encounter this about the survey and router?

Tip.

SkepticOne

900 for a survey + router? That seems a bit steep. I'm sure a lot of customers will want to do their own routing. All you really need is a DSL modem and a PC running IP masquerading with two network cards and your sorted. One network card goes to the DSL modem and the other connects to the office network. Then you just set the default gateway on the office PCs to the network address of the PC acting as router.

infomat

Originally posted by Tippex
Just got a call from eircom about installing their enhanced adsl product.

€900 +vat for a survey and a router (from eircom.net) I asked if I could use my own router and was told no and also asked what the survey intailed and she said she did not know.

Also there is a 12 month contract which can be broken with 1 months notice.

Anyone else encounter this about the survey and router?

Tip.

This is really getting silly ... they have not contacted me yet regarding the installation but they did mention that someone would contact me re the survey.

Did you accept this offer? and if you did what was the time frame for installation?

I am not willing to pay Euro 900 for a survey + router (in fact I can't) so I wonder if there is anyway to refuse the survey.

Just a thought ... it is possible to upgrade from one service to the next so might it be a good idea to go for one service first and then ask to upgrade say a few weeks later?

longword

Originally posted by Tippex
€900 +vat for a survey and a router (from eircom.net) I asked if I could use my own router and was told no

Here's what you do: Sign up for the Multi product, with at most a 270 euro (ex VAT) router, or the Solo product with the 145 euro USB widget or 200 euro Ethernet widget (all ex VAT of course). Then request the upgrade to Enhanced.

infomat

Originally posted by longword

Here's what you do: Sign up for the Multi product, with at most a 270 euro (ex VAT) router, or the Solo product with the 145 euro USB widget or 200 euro Ethernet widget (all ex VAT of course). Then request the upgrade to Enhanced.

Yes, that course of action occured to me as well and it appears to be a good approach.

GavinJCD

I notices something interesting about the pricing. Eircom are charging 89 euro per month on the solo package right. (for this comparison we'll round it up to 90.) the monthly allowance is 3 gig, and it's 30 euro per gig if you go over the limit. Well multiply that by 3 (gigs) and you get 90 euros which is the monthly price. Interesting eh? Now I'm sure there are other costs in that monthly fee other than just the bandwidth, like, um....technical support, and um...well I can't think of much else, anyway there you go.

Gavin J. C. Doherty

longword

Originally posted by GavinJCD
Now I'm sure there are other costs in that monthly fee other than just the bandwidth, like, um....technical support, and um...well I can't think of much else, anyway there you go.

The amortization and maintenance of the exchange equipment. Eircom charge OLOs 350 euro for installation - covering the DSL port and hooking the customer up. You'll notice the retail installation charge is only 165 euro. They have to make back the difference between the two over the lifetime of the installation.

lynchie

How can eircom charge €900 for a survey for the enchanced service?? The enhanced service is the exact same as the multi service except that your eircom will not charge you extra for what you download. There are no extra settings to be configured, the line speeds are the same. So how can they justify charging this survey fee??

They said that this fee also includes a router. Surely you are only paying eircom for the service and thus once they put the splitter in your house and test the connection etc.. it is up to the customer to provide any necessary equipment needed.

alastair

This just doesn't sound right to me. I can't believe any company (including eircom) would impose such a blatently illogical condition to the product. There are no precedents for this that I'm aware of.

I'm intending to get the uncapped product (post trial), but there's no a snowballs chance in hell of me shelling out ANY money for someone to tell me what router I should buy (not that I'll need one anyway. only have 4 computers).

SkepticOne

Well, what we need to find out is whether this is just some salesperson chancing their arm or whether Eircom really are bundling unwanted services with what amounts to a fairly standard ADSL product. I mean, many companies will already have some sort of router that they use with (for example) ISDN. These same companies will likely either have the staff to configure the router for ADSL or will have a contract with an IT services company.

dahamsta

The T's & C's published in another thread seem to suggest that the customer is responsible for providing the equipment, and that Eircom are only offering it as a value-added (and a rather expensive one at that). This would suggest that the Eircom salesperson lied or misled the prospect, either intentionally or unintentionally. I would advise anyone receiving this response from Eircom contact the ODTR to clarify if Eircom are entitled to force customers to purchase their equipment, so this matter can be cleared up.

adam

infomat

Originally posted by Tippex
Just got a call from eircom about installing their enhanced adsl product.

€900 +vat for a survey and a router (from eircom.net) I asked if I could use my own router and was told no and also asked what the survey intailed and she said she did not know.


Tip.

Ar you sure about this?
I phoned three different people in Eircom and all were amazed by this bit of information. According to anyone who I spoke to the survey was free and the only purpose of this was to have a technician visit your premises to determine your requirements based on the equipment you already had.

I have a feeling that someone in sales tried to pull a fast one on you ... you should complain about this.

the Guru

I spoke to Eircom as well and they said that the survey is free as Well that if you want a DSL router for your business you can get it from Eircom ,Lan comm's from where ever you like it's up to you that you can provide the Router of your choice that its tailor made solution for you but if you dont buy the equiptment from them .......... there is no tech support ! as per usual

Tippex

Luckily I took the details of the girl who called me.
I was all set to start moaning about the price but the €900 totally knocked me off the trail of thought.

Will call them back hopefully today.

On a side note was at the match last night and it killed me to see so much eircom stuff in lansdowne during half time the played adds with that bloody mouse in them on the big screen. Then they had the gaul to parade said mouse around the pitch as well.

Just a thought but maybe we should consider creating a banner to bring to matches i.e. (www.irelandoffline.org battling for reasonable internet access in Ireland)

Any thoughts?

dpajur

Originally posted by Tippex
On a side note was at the match last night and it killed me to see so much eircom stuff in lansdowne during half time the played adds with that bloody mouse in them on the big screen. Then they had the gaul to parade said mouse around the pitch as well.

well hey, at least now you know what your €900 is paying for