A Galway reader by the name of Tom Felle begins his mail by saying that “after years of loyally reading your weekly column, I am a most disciplined disciple. I always shop around for the best deals (which very often aren’t the cheapest, so one needs to read the T&Cs carefully as you keep warning us). I’m usually able to solve most customer issues.”
So far, so good. “Alas, Eir have beaten me,” Tom continues. “Last year I returned to Eir as a customer after leaving them a few years ago for a better deal.”
He lives in a small town where fixed-line broadband is not possible, but is “one of those early adopters – I had dial-up in 1996, and got 1mb broadband via a microwave dish on the roof in 2004. I also need access to broadband for work, so being without it is not an option.”
Felle works in London but travels over and back. “I had been with Three, but in about late May I rang Eir. I was inquiring about an ad I saw online for a new mobile 4G internet service for customers not in a broadband-connected area. Three are okay – speeds average 10-20mbps, so it’s plenty fast for what I need. But there are contention issues, and download limits, so not ideal, though better than the alternatives.”
He says Eir was offering 100GB per month. That was “more than I needed right now, but with children accessing broadband on iPads, and increasingly everything in my house being wifi-enabled, it was a better deal.
“It was a package price of all-inclusive landline and mobile calls and broadband, for an introductory €50 a month for, I think, six months, then I think €70 after that. I was already paying close to €50 a month for the landline and calls, and a separate €35 a month for Three broadband.”
So he signed up and paid €49, and waited excitedly for the postman to bring him his box. “But it never arrived. So I rang Eir and they said they couldn’t find the order on their system. And no sign of my €49 either. I rang several times in June/July and spoke to at least half a dozen customer-service representatives.
“One call, including all the times I was on hold, went on for nearly 40 minutes. A couple of times while being transferred I got cut off; other times the person I spoke with couldn’t help me and promised to ring back, but never did.”
“All in all, I probably spent five or six hours on the phone trying to get it resolved, as well as countless hours of stress. In the end, I just got fed up of ringing them and gave up.”
He says that, at this stage, he really is not going to bother with Eir broadband or renewing his Eir contract when it’s up (he signed up for an 18-month contract that will expire in February). But he would like his €49 back.
Staying with Eir, another Galway reader, Ronan, had a connection to its broadband offering. “I never set up a direct debit with them, as I had heard too many funny stories,” he says. “ I was always sent a bill, and paid it over the phone.
“I was out of contract with Eir last November, and then the bills stopped coming. I rang them up to find out why, I was told to check my email. Nothing there. Checked my spam folder – nothing there either. Because I was receiving no bills, I sometimes forgot to pay, But after about two months, I’d get another bill stating what I owed. This went on until last May. I hadn’t paid a bill, because I never received one, and I got disconnected.”
So Ronan owes €140. “I was told to bring the bill down to €70 and I would get reconnected and I could pay the balance off at the end of the month. It never happened. I phoned up to find out why. I was told to pay off another €5 and I would be reconnected. Never happened. “I asked could I get a final bill, and just finish up with Eir. I was told I could, and a final bill would be sent out. That never came, but another bill did. I was now being charged for a service I did not have or could not access as I was disconnected.”
Then Ronan received a termination notice, with the threat of debt collectors and a bill, formerly €70, that was now €205.03.
“I have no argument over the fact that I owe them €70, but I do dispute a bill of €205. I asked for a bill that never arrived. I am being charged for a service that I do not have access to.”
We contacted Eir, which said our second Galway reader’s issue had been resolved. The company apologised and said the outstanding balance has been waived.
“On the other matter, customer care has tried to contact the customer but he is unavailable until early October and it will be resolved as quickly as possible,” a spokesman said.
