Sir, - My mother's phone recently needed repair. She rang Eircom and was told to get in contact with a call centre in Drogheda, which told her to contact a call centre in Wexford, which told her to contact a call centre in Waterford. A few days later, employees of a private firm from Mallow arrived to fix the phone. They replaced the replacement phone Eircom had previously sent her with the original phone that she had been advised to replace. This has since broken down again.
For this privilege, my mother was charged £33.80, which is nearly one third of her weekly pension of £108.
I believe that the a.g.m. of Eircom is in a few weeks' time. Far be it from me to advise the shareholders about their frustrations concerning their investments or to advise the Eircom board about their flirtations with the likes of O'Reilly (the "Sir" one) or O'Brien (the "Portugal" one); but while they are battling with their fantasy figures and blathering on about the benefits of the market economy, perhaps they could reflect on how they make their money and whether questions of justice and fairness are ideas they have grasped fully.
Do they remember the time you could get your phone fixed for nothing? Ah, but that was back in the bad old days when government of the people was for the people. - Yours, etc.,
John Gaffney, Carrickfad, Fivemilebourne, Co Leitrim.