Another win at the ASAI

hmmm

I think we've got the hang of this now, it's good to have some means of tackling Eircom disinformation. The ASAI have approved a case report that arose from complaints by Esat and "a number of individual complainants" (probably half of IOFFL ). I'm not going to type the whole thing, a quick summary.

Complaint was that Eircom advertising a service for a "fixed monthly fee" was misleading.

Complaint 'upheld in part'

'committee...concluded that business people using Eircom I-Stream would not be misled by the advertising' (maybe they're calling non-business users stupid, I tried to argue this point)

'However in relation to consumers generally the Committee felt that the press advertisement was likely to mislead. The statement 'putting you in control of the costs'...'you pay a fixed montly fee' was a claim of a very general nature that should have been immediately qualified by some reference to the fact that additional cost could be incurred'.

And as a nice bonus
"any unreasonable delay in responding to ASAI's enquiries may be considered a breach of the code..expressed concern at the advertisers' failure to respond...requested the advertisers to respond more quickly in the event of future complaints" (oh boy will there be)

sceptre

Nice one hmmm

I received a similar response about a week ago concerning my complaints about the Hi-Speed (sic) radio advertising.

I didn't post anything here as the response failed to address more than half of the points I raised.

Basically what was resolved was that Eircom have changed tthe advert from "as little as 49c a day" to "from just an additional 49c per day"

One point which I would question is Eircom's statement on the "up to 30 times the speed" statement. Their assertation is that they reached this figure by dividing 1024 (the top downstream speed available on i-Stream by 33 ("the average downstream speed achieved by a 56k modem is 33kps"[1]) and rounding down to 30.

The ASAI did remind Eircom that the adverts referring to the "up to 30 times faster" quoted the (upgrade) price for the Hi-Speed (ho hum) service. As such Eircom were reminded that prices quoted in adverts must relate to the product depicted[2]

They have failed to address a number of points I raised, notably on the price quoted being ex-VAT (which I concede Eircom may get away with as long as they pretend to be advertising to business only[3], the lack of a mention of the installation fee, and the issue of neither i-Stream nor Hi-Speed being available to all (as the product essentially, must be available, at least in theory to the market at which it is advertised[4]

So in my complaint, a step forward but a small (and incomplete) one.




[1] A blatant lie
[2] In other words, a blatant lie (and attempt to mislead)
[3] I would be very interested in hearing from any residential customers who have been phoned with this "for/from 49c per day who weren't told it was ex-VAT. More a case for Carmel Foley (CAI) and whatever consumer organisation we have than the ASAI but a blatant lie (should they be making it) is still just a blatant lie.
[4] An example of this we can all notice is the small print in the Nokia adverts showing people doing things with their phones that won't be possible for a number of years yet (or any of the banks "terms and conditions", though there are other regulations that govern this). Eircom have no disclaimer about site inspection or the possible difficulty in getting ordinary run of the mill ISDN.

dahamsta

Good stuff guys. I believe another one of our members has a case pending at the moment too, and it will be resolved shortly. Keep the pressure on, don't give 'em an inch.

adam

Dustaz

Hmm, when did you recieve that letter?

I got the exact same thing about a month and a half ago. It had some bull**** about confidientiality on it, but it was exactly the same thing that you posted there. Just wondering if its a follow up from the same case or just the same complaint.

hmmm

Originally posted by Dustaz
Just wondering if its a follow up from the same case or just the same complaint.

It's the final case report, i.e. the one they're publishing. The one you're talking about was the interim report. No changes were made...

BoneCollector

YEAH i got the report. however if you read it closely
its ignoring our original complaint about the use of the term "flat rate" and refering to the phrase "fixed monthly fee"

which is what ESAT refered to...

it then goes further to say that many other consumers made the same complaint or similar.

so although it maybe small blow it has not addressed the issue of them using the phrase "flate Rate" which is still an issue.

MrPudding

I received the final report on istream as well. I was trying to find the confidential interim report that was sent a few weeks ago bit I cannot find it, I am almost sure that there is a difference in the findings. I thought the interim report thought the ad was ok and only had a problem with eircom's response time. I could be and probably am wrong but anyway.

timod

I too am involved in a case with the ASAI, but I believe that I am precluded from discussing the particlulars: "confidential".

I do hope that you mentioning the above has done no damage to your complaint.

MrPudding

As far as I know only the interim report is confidential. There was a note at the bottom of the interim report I received stating that the contents was confidential. There is no such warning on the final decision report.

hmmm

Final report is not confidential - it is the same as the interim report (read the covering letter uhm final paragraph)..