READERS' FORUM: Have your say

John Doherty got in touch to highlight some price hikes he spotted at UPC, the phone, broadband and cable TV provider. He says that while it is the company’s prerogative to increase its prices, “they seem to want to keep it a secret”. As far as he can gather, no customers have been notified by post or e-mail of any price increases. Nor has it been mentioned in their monthly bills or on the website under “My UPC” when people log in as customers.

“Worse again, I called UPC as a new customer and they told me there was no price increase due. They remembered when I prompted them. Very sneaky to sign people up on current prices and not make them aware of the rise due in three weeks. Try it anonymously yourself,” he writes.

He adds that it is “impossible to properly figure out what packages have a price increase. There are inconsistencies in naming package descriptions, and many of the packages aren’t available anymore, so I can’t tell the extent of the increases. I’m struggling to figure out changes to my own subscription with contracts in front of me.”

He says the “unluckiest customers who’ll likely not see this notice” are those on 8mb broadband plans with 120gb download limit for €25. “Their package goes up €7 to €32. I’m on the 15mb package with no limit at €32, going up to €34. I’ll be paying €2 more, for twice the speed and no download limit.

“Here’s the kicker,” he continues. “The changes kick in on January 4th. Customers have until January 3rd to amend their contract, otherwise the change is deemed accepted. When customers’ bills come out at the end of January, it’ll be too late. If you can’t afford the new fees, then either downgrade at a cost of €10 or cancel at a cost of €100.”

We contacted UPC to find out more. We were told it had conducted a review across its service and product portfolio (that’s price changes to you and me) and publicly announced it in the press and on the company website”.

Additional customer communications include bill inserts, e-inserts, letters, e-letters, bill message and our national call centre is open to handle incoming enquiries on freephone 1908.

The company said the price changes reflected increased costs from some of our programme suppliers and in the provision of advanced network services.

Let me be clear about one point, a spokeswoman said. There is no price increase of €7. The Fibre Power Broadband 8mb customers currently paying €25 will be going to 10mb for €25 (no price increase). In addition, the price change shown on the advert at €32 relates to broadband Light customers who will be migrated to 15mb with a small price adjustment of €2.50. In relation to the last point made regarding downgrade fees/cancellations charges – this is not correct. Anyone outside the minimum contract period is not liable for cancellation charges, this only applies to customers within the first 12 months. For customers within the minimum contract period (12 months) they have the right to cancel or downgrade their service within a 30 day notice period without penalty if they do not agree with a price change.

BoS mortgage arrears

A reader contacted us in connection with the Mortgage Arrears Code which comes in to force next month. “I, like many others in Ireland, have a mortgage with Bank of Scotland who have now withdrawn from the Irish market. Do you know if they would be bound in future by this code in dealing with their customers who have fallen into arrears?” The short answer is yes. While the bank may have pulled out of this country, it still has a mortgage operation here and has to abide by the regulations and codes set down by the Central Bank.

PCs for African schools

Last week, we carried an item on charitable gifts. One we missed was Camara Education (camara.ie), which sends PCs to schools in Africa to give children there a better education. Last month it processed its 20,000th PC. It has a Christmas Learning shop where for €10 people sponsor a computer and get a unique tracking ID from where they can see exactly where it ends up. “The cost of sending a PC is €50," we were told. “We get €20 from the PC donor and €20 from the school so the €10 covers the remaining cost for a whole PC. For each PC, we estimate 20 kids get a better education.”