Eir takes on extra staff as ComReg chases it on complaints

The communications regulator confirmed it has been in contact with Eir regarding a "noticeable increase" in customer complaints during the Covid crisis.

The news comes as ComReg was this week accused of being "toothless, useless and fruitless" over its inability to force the telco to address telephone faults.

Speaking in the Dáil on Monday, Independent TD for Tipperary Mattie McGrath also criticised Eir, claiming that the company had little interest in restoring services with many customers being kept waiting for an hour when calling the company to report faults.

“They have no respect for their customers...they don’t have the staff on the ground, and they don’t have the interest [in repairing faults],” he claimed.

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“There is no interest in serving the public, all they want is the moolah,” Mr McGrath added.

Actively monitoring

ComReg said it was actively monitoring complaints and said it had experienced a “noticeable increase in the number of contacts from Eir customers who are having difficulty contacting the company and/or resolving their specific issue.”

In a statement, Eir apologised to customers for the recent increase in call wait times. It said managing its call centres had been challenging during the pandemic with more than 400 agents working remotely.

It added it has just hired 60 new members to its care team since last month with more to be added in the weeks ahead.