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Biddy Bites Back

  • 03-07-2005 12:15pm
    #1
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 25,234 ✭✭✭✭


    Having managed to get herself promoted way beyond her station and having pocketed a large whack of redundancy in recent years and also pocketed her payout from the employee share option it seems that Biddy has a new strategy for bleeding the Irish public (indirectly) of its money .

    Biddy has decided she is going deaf , a la our soldiery.

    From The Business Post
    Eircom is facing the prospect of mass litigation by former telephone operators who claim their hearing was damaged after years of working for the company.

    The company confirmed that it was defending litigation in at least one case. Sources said large-scale litigation by current and former employees of Eircom was probable.

    Great :(


«1

Comments

  • Closed Accounts Posts: 29,476 ✭✭✭✭Our man in Havana


    Roffle :D


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 25,234 ✭✭✭✭Sponge Bob


    Of course the BIG problem is that Eircom is Self Insured for this kind of legal action and there are 1000's and 1000's of Biddies out there.

    Con Scanlon of the CWU is in a pickle here . The CWU has tried to hold back these cases so that they could offload the ESOT shares at a good price.

    Con knew something of the scale of the claims pipeline , naturally I trust he fully informed the Board of which he is Vice Chairman of these claim liabilities for which they should provision in their annual accounts .

    The floodgates will open this year once some compo freak lawyers start to prepare and submit these claims on a large scale. Liabilities for Biddy and her medical problems in the years 2006 to 2009 are estimated in some quarters at about €30m a year, thats 2% of Turnover each year :( .

    Eirocm will try to increase Line rentals and the state pays over 20% of that already so

    1. We the customers will suffer ....we already pay the highest line rental in the known universe.
    2. We the taxpayers will suffer.
    3. We the taxpaying customers will suffer twice over.
    4. We the taxpayers will also have to pay to have rude boorish and deaf biddies clogging up our hospitals

    Sheeessshh , will we ever be rid of Biddy in our lifetimes :(


  • Registered Users Posts: 17,441 ✭✭✭✭jesus_thats_gre


    Used to work in one of their call centres myself.. *rubs my hands in gless* ;)


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,290 ✭✭✭damien


    How could they go deaf if they never listened?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 29,476 ✭✭✭✭Our man in Havana


    A male biddy, will wonders ever cease?


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  • Registered Users Posts: 17,441 ✭✭✭✭jesus_thats_gre


    Male biddy with logic.. ohhh ahhh


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,230 ✭✭✭scojones


    damien.m wrote:
    How could they go deaf if they never listened?

    Quote of the week! LMFAO


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 16,659 ✭✭✭✭dahamsta


    C'mon lads, drop the cynicism. It should be obvious to anyone that's every dealt with a Biddy that their hearing issues were caused by sticking cotton buds in their ears for lack of anything better to do while they were pretending to do line tests.

    "Nah, that line's workin' perfectly. Must be your wiring."

    adam


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 16,713 ✭✭✭✭jor el


    dahamsta wrote:
    "Nah, that line's workin' perfectly. Must be your wiring."
    Don't you mean
    "Nah, dat loin's workin' purfectly. Mus be yer woirin'. Wha!"

    On a serious note though this does probably spell disaster for customers who are already being fleeced by Eircom since they'll most likely want to increase prices to pay for all this. Hopefully Comreg will not bow (further) to Eircom and allow them to increase line rental once again :mad:


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 25,234 ✭✭✭✭Sponge Bob


    According to todays Star some compo lawyer already has 600 biddies lined up to submit their cases any day now for th'oul compo . I'm sure that some other compo lawyers will get on the gravy train PDQ , Acoustic Shock indeedy.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 8,819 ✭✭✭rymus


    I dont think comreg bows to eircom anymore, they simply bend over.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,230 ✭✭✭Solair


    Hmmm, it seems kind of unlikely that they'll be able to win such a case. Unlike the soildiers, they had equipment that was specifically designed for safe use and shouldn't damage your hearing.


    If they're from the P&T days, I wonder if eircom's even responsible anymore? P&T was a government department, not a company.

    What's next, DJs, RTE Radio and TV presenters, people who have had to listen to speeches in the dail and suffered from chronic bouts of bordom resulting in deep vein trombosis!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 458 ✭✭juliuspret


    I blame the scumbag, ambulance chaseing & money grabbing solicitors who have watched too many US TV shows about litigation!!!

    The Army took actions against any further claims with the now high leverl of hearing required for entry and the constant use of earplugs/peltors for the firing range.

    Mabye employees who served in the 80's and further back could have got hearing problems...but those who were involved since the 90's dont have a leg to stand on!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,230 ✭✭✭Solair


    Pre 1980s it was caused by "ear strain" as, according to anyone I've ever spoken to who's used a phone during that period, you needed to listen REALLY hard to actually hear the caller at all.

    I must say that they have some of the rudest operators you'll find anywhere on the planet too though.

    "yes caller?... I can't do dat from here. Dial 1901 (click & busy tone)"


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 25,234 ✭✭✭✭Sponge Bob


    and because they were trained to be rude people ended up shouting at them and because people shouted at them...wellllllllllllllll

    be a fun court case so it will :)


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 16,659 ✭✭✭✭dahamsta


    We should all go along with a phone each, and slam them down at regular intervals throughout the proceedings. See how those bitches like it.

    "Nah, yer ears are working fine, must be an internal wiring issue."

    adam


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 25,234 ✭✭✭✭Sponge Bob


    must get me a Pokia , blasht from the pasht wha ??


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,221 ✭✭✭BrianD


    Well it won't just be confined to Eircom and you can expect litigation from any ex-call centre worker. They call it acoustic shock caused by poor quality headsets and made worse in "call out" centres where random numbers are dialed and there is a high probability that fax machines will be dialed.

    Eircom may be the unlucky target here but it is bad news for everybody in business.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 458 ✭✭juliuspret


    Well if eircom do get stung by greedy solicitors we all know who will win(solicitors) and loose(customers) in the long term!!!


  • Registered Users Posts: 37,295 ✭✭✭✭the_syco


    Used to work in one of their call centres myself.. *rubs my hands in gless* ;)
    How long must we have worked there?:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,230 ✭✭✭Solair


    Personally, I think these kinds of cases are ridiculous. Fair enough if someone has a genuine problem as a result of working with asbestos or down a coalmine where their employers really didn't care if they went deaf/dropped dead or whatever.

    The soildiers may have some genuine claims, although there was a LOT of jumping on the bandwaggon for the sake of compo.

    I don't think that it's possible that operators were exposed to sounds that were THAT loud. It's only a phone conversation and I seriously doubt the Telecom Eireann / P&T headsets were that bad, they wern't a company that skimped on things that their workers required. Customers could go take a long walk off a short plank however. Biddie and Eileen down in the operator centre were well looked after. (Don't forget the unions ran the place for decades!)

    You can also be damn sure that the equipment was made by reputable manufacturers e.g. the likes of Nortel (Northern Telecom), Bell, Western Electric, Ericsson, Siemens etc. If it did damage their hearing, eircom would have a case against those companies for compo too!

    Basically, P&T, Telecom Eireann / Eircom are unlikely to have conspired to damage Biddy & her buddy's hearing. They would have been following standard industry practice at the time.


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 16,659 ✭✭✭✭dahamsta


    Solair wrote:
    I don't think that it's possible that operators were exposed to sounds that were THAT loud.
    Me and my truck horns say different.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,221 ✭✭✭BrianD


    Poor quality headsets are common. Bear in mind that operators would be turning up and done the volume depending on the line quality and the person speaking to them. People slamming down a handset or even dialing a fax machine can cause "acoustic shock". Audio secretaries have also had the same problems - I know a girl who is almost deaf in one ear as a result of years of listenung to dictation tapes.

    This legal action by call centre workers has happened in other countries so I wouldn't expect it to be confined to Eircom.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,685 ✭✭✭zuma


    I wonder if there will be an avalanche of past P&T/Telecom Eireann workers from the 50's up all jumping over each other for a piece of the pie???

    Well we live in a compo loving country...so we get the massive insurance bills!!!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,230 ✭✭✭Solair


    At that rate we'll all be deaf in a few years time.. walkman, iPod, loud night clubs.. we're all doomed!


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 25,234 ✭✭✭✭Sponge Bob


    Solair wrote:
    we're all doomed!

    ever feel no one is listening to ya bar an ambulance chaser.


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 25,234 ✭✭✭✭Sponge Bob


    A nasty rumour has erupted that the ESOP have 'been asked' to keep Biddys ambulance chasers on a leash during the B&B due diligence process . Were there no claims registered in St Stephens Green over the next couple of months that would be jolly decent of them :p . OTOH, If the ESOP do not go with the B&B proposal they will possibly unleash the Biddies to tank the share price and force B&B out.

    2,800 claims are allegedly being prepared at present and are in varying stages of readiness with the different ambulance chasers . The SBP had revisited this issue in November 2005 with a follow up article but the claims had not been sent in at that point and are not being sent in just yet.

    2,800 Biddies x €100k claim each is about €280 Million Euros .

    Business post follow up November 2005 here, does anyone know the journo in question and could they maybe prod an update out of them :D ???

    http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2005/11/06/story9455.asp


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,290 ✭✭✭damien


    Pat's on holidays at the moment I believe...


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,660 ✭✭✭crawler


    Anyone know when Smart's case against eircom is due to be heard? I would think B&B will watch that with interest.....


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,630 ✭✭✭Blaster99


    But B&B is going to be our saviour with an open network architecture for the good of the nation. Or did I get this all wrong.


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