[Irish Times]Brennan orders review of phone allowance after Eircom increases

viking

Well done to Paddy20 for puttin this issue back in the spotlight. Hopefully this will be sorted soon.

I can't really understand why the government doesn't just say "Eircom, we pay you over €92 million a year for this allowance, I think we'll let you absorb the extra 94c yourselves..."

Jamie Smyth, Technology Reporter

The Minister for Social Welfare, Mr Brennan, said he would review the free telephone allowance yesterday after it emerged that the current grant does not cover the full cost of line rental for users.

The Minister has ordered a report on the scheme following claims by one disabled user that Eircom had threatened to disconnect his telephone if he didn't pay the additional 94 cents to cover his line-rental charges.

Eircom said last night it had no record of the customer in question and it did not have a policy to cut off users of the free telephone allowance who did not pay the extra line rental charges.

Under the free telephone allowance, Eircom is charging 296,832 people 94 cents more for line rental than they receive in State grants every two months. The extra charges were introduced in April, when the Government decided not to match an Eircom increase in line rental charges.

In response to questions yesterday, Mr Brennan said there was a long-standing principle by which the State pays for line rental and some other charges for old age pensioners' phones. "The Government stands by this commitment," Mr Brennan said in a statement to The Irish Times.

Meeting the full cost of line rental for allowance members would cost an extra €1.78 million per year to the Government.

The cost of the Government's telephone allowance scheme has increased from €72.5 million in 2001 to €92.2 million in 2004, largely as a result of increases in line-rental charges by Eircom.

Over the past two months, Eircom's competitors have started to introduce line-rental services for consumers. But these rivals charge the same €24.18 fee.

The Department of Social Welfare said that it did not know of any scheme members that had been threatened with being cut off by Eircom or any other firm.

However, Mr Paddy McLean of Ballybofey, Co Donegal, claims Eircom threatened to cut off his phone unless he paid 94 cents extra every two months.

This was denied by Eircom.

"We do not cut people off for not paying 94 cents of a bill . . . of course sometimes we have to exercise credit control on a case-by-case basis," said a spokesman.

© The Irish Times

Urban Weigl

viking wrote:

Well done to Paddy20 for puttin this issue back in the spotlight. Hopefully this will be sorted soon.

I can't really understand why the government doesn't just say "Eircom, we pay you over €92 million a year for this allowance, I think we'll let you absorb the extra 94c yourselves..."

I think it is time for the government to hold talks with o2, Vodafone and Meteor. I am sure they could come up with a nice package for half the price, not to mention mobile phones are more useful for emergency calls (you can actually take them with you, you don't have to try to get to the phone when you're lying in the back yard with a broken leg!).

seamus

Well done Paddy!

I would prefer to see Eircom forced to cut their line rental charges though, rather than increasing our bill to pay for this.

Maybe we can get Noel to have a chat with Seamus and decide that Eircom's coffers are more solvent than the State's?

Paddy20

I have only just logged on, it is very hard to log on today to Boards.ie.

I am delighted that The Irish Times have highlighted the plight of
people in my position, and that they got a quote from Minister Brennan.

Very many thanks to in particular Martin Harran [Donegalman] who handled
the Press Release to the media on my behalf, along with the co-operation
and guidance of the IrelandOffline Committee and others. Your joint effort on
this scandal is deeply appreciated by me personally, and I am sure most of
the 300,000 + recipients of the Free Telephone line rental allowance scheme.

Eircom apparently stated that " they have no record of my account " Another incompetent inaccurate statement, as I am sitting here looking at an Eircom bill for the period 16th September 04 to 15th November 04 with my correct name and address on it, along with my correct phone number, address and name ?...

It is a bill for a total of €0.94c, made up of a line rental charge of €41.60, minus my free telephone allowance of €40.82 + VAT €0.16c. Total of this bill=
€0.94c.

I am a UTV Talk telephony and Clicksilver Broadband customer but Eircom have not as yet processed the authorisation whichI signed about 2 Months ago agreeing that all free line rental allowances to which I am entitled be paid in future to UTV TALK and NOT Eircom. The Department that pays this allowance has agreed to pay any telephony service provider that I wish to deal with, but Eircom are obviously loath to see UTV Talk receiving this allowance direct, and are dragging thier feet.

However, UTV Talk have given me all the benefits of Free off peak and all weekend local and UK mainland calls even though they still do not have receipt of my line rental allowance.

As a footnote to any Journalists or Politicians reading this. I would just like to add that ILook forward to the Government sanctioning some financial help towards the cost of broadband Internet usage costs for the [Disabled & Housebound] citizens such as myself who use it for shopping, banking, bill paying etc,etc,

dahamsta

Paddy20 wrote:

I have only just logged on, it is very hard to log on today to Boards.ie.

Try using muppet.boards.ie.

EDIT: See here if you're having probs with Boards atm.

adam

Paddy20

Dahamsta,

I thought you were kidding me, but that link works instantly ?..and very fast as well.

Very many thanks for the tip. A bit strange though

spongebob

Gwan Paddy !

It would probably be a good time to canvass other telcos about a senior citizens package at the DSW rate . The ones that come to mind are (no order but they support single billing)

Perlico
ESAT
Budget
Smart

and throw in a 'call one relative abroad' in UK or US or Canada for the cost of the local call nomination too. I'd say that could get them some very handy goodwill and maybe the government could see fit to top that up as part of the measures for our old single emigrants living alone where they could nominate someone to call them from Ireland and our government should damn well pay for that as well. Just an idea mind but easy to bill and cheap.....and decent.

M

M

Paddy20

Darn right Muck Come to think of it, I live alone and I am a returned emigrant who came home in 1987.

Hope the right people are reading this and can appreciate the need for the disabled and elderly housebound to have Internet access at a cheaper or Gov subsidised rate,as it is a vital need.

It most certainly is not a luxury any more.

spongebob

I see no reason why a campaign for affordable communications for our senior sitizens cannot be umbrella-ated under IoffL . There are lots of useful things the governemt could do with €100 Million a year that they waste on that shower in Eircom while giving the senior citizen some choice . Once the other operators innovate their packages the government should then publish leaflets detailing the choices available to senior citizens if they leave Eircom. Thats what it will take......and some advertising

The mobile operators could also be approached and then there is always the Push to Talk feature on some mobiles nowadays which could be very handy , see

http://www.infosyncworld.com/news/n/4297.html

M

Paddy20

I have just received and read a copy of The Irish Times, which a friend picked up for me.

For those who have not seen it. It's in the [Business News] section, on page 19. It is a very well written and researched piece by a real quality Journalist/Technology Reporter called Jamie Smyth.

He has two stories on the same subject/issue.

1; Brennan orders review of phone allowance after Eircom increases, and
2; Esat BT launches "single bill" rental service.

Thanks Jamie and well done. If you need my "Official Eircom telephone account number* " just to prove Eircom wrong again, give me a ring and I will be very happy to give it to you.

I enjoyed our conversation yesterday, and sincere thanks again.

Paddy McLean.

ro2

Here it is:

Brennan orders review of phone allowance after Eircom increases
Jamie Smyth, Technology Reporter



The Minister for Social Welfare, Mr Brennan, said he would review the free telephone allowance yesterday after it emerged that the current grant does not cover the full cost of line rental for users.

The Minister has ordered a report on the scheme following claims by one disabled user that Eircom had threatened to disconnect his telephone if he didn't pay the additional 94 cents to cover his line-rental charges.

Eircom said last night it had no record of the customer in question and it did not have a policy to cut off users of the free telephone allowance who did not pay the extra line rental charges.

Under the free telephone allowance, Eircom is charging 296,832 people 94 cents more for line rental than they receive in State grants every two months. The extra charges were introduced in April, when the Government decided not to match an Eircom increase in line rental charges.

In response to questions yesterday, Mr Brennan said there was a long-standing principle by which the State pays for line rental and some other charges for old age pensioners' phones. "The Government stands by this commitment," Mr Brennan said in a statement to The Irish Times.

Meeting the full cost of line rental for allowance members would cost an extra €1.78 million per year to the Government.

The cost of the Government's telephone allowance scheme has increased from €72.5 million in 2001 to €92.2 million in 2004, largely as a result of increases in line-rental charges by Eircom.

Over the past two months, Eircom's competitors have started to introduce line-rental services for consumers. But these rivals charge the same €24.18 fee.

The Department of Social Welfare said that it did not know of any scheme members that had been threatened with being cut off by Eircom or any other firm.

However, Mr Paddy McLean of Ballybofey, Co Donegal, claims Eircom threatened to cut off his phone unless he paid 94 cents extra every two months.

This was denied by Eircom.

"We do not cut people off for not paying 94 cents of a bill . . . of course sometimes we have to exercise credit control on a case-by-case basis," said a spokesman.

DonegalMan

Paddy20 wrote:

Very many thanks to in particular Martin Harran [Donegalman]

I was delighted to help, Paddy, and see what is hopefully a postive outcome (bear in mind that the Minister has said he will 'review' the situation, no definite promise to fix it).

As I said when Paddy originally posted about this issue, it was not an appropriate subject for IrelandOffline to take up but it seriously pissed off me (and other committee members) as individuals so I gladly offered my help to Paddy in his campaign.

A few points to bear in mind about this issue:

• If the Minister does change the allowance, it will make no difference to Eircom, they will just get the money from the taxpayers instead of the elderly and infirm - but at least people in that category will be protected against any worry about losing their phone, which in many cases is literally a lifeline.
  
  
• The whole affair shows how much concern Eircom has for the most vulnerable people in our society.
  
  
• It shows the silliness our the current setup when Comreg, a state appointed body, can approve an increase yet another Government Department can refuse to pay it on the basis that it is 'not warranted'
  

There well may be some more publicity over this matter in the next few days

DonegalMan

This was denied by Eircom.

"We do not cut people off for not paying 94 cents of a bill . . . of course sometimes we have to exercise credit control on a case-by-case basis," said a spokesman.

Typical Eircom double speak "We don't do that ... but then again we might do it" :rolleyes:

Paddy says they told him he would be cut off if he didn't pay it, they deny it, I know who *I* believe and I don't think we need a poll to see whom the majority of people here would believe!

eircomtribunal

Well done all.
I would consider it a very poor outcome if Brennan simply paid out more dosh to Eircom.
"The cost of the Government's telephone allowance scheme has increased from €72.5 million in 2001 to €92.2 million in 2004, largely as a result of increases in line-rental charges by Eircom."
That gov pay-out to Eircom is worse than ripwave had let us know. Time for some imagination.

The existence of the government telephone allowance is paradoxically one of the reasons why Eircom (in co-operation with and support of Comreg) could come away with their 25% line rental hike: Many of the low users are from the group of the telephone allowance recipients. If they had to pay the hike, which rose their phone bills disproportionally (by far more than the 5% Eircom was allowed overall), there would have been uproar. And rightly so. But as this disproportionate rise was paid (or "nearly" paid for, as it emerges now) for from tax payers money, Doherty and Dermot could sit out the protest.

In the Irish Computer (October) Dermot answers the question "for what purpose did Comreg and the Government allow eircom to increase its line rental costs yet again?":
Dermot: "There has been an independent regulator since 1997. European Framework regulation on cost orientation provides the legal framework for the decisions taken by the regulator...
P.

machalla

This has answered one question that my aunts have brought up when I suggested the UTV Talk service to them just in the last couple of days. They were worried that they might lose their line rental allowance if they switched from Eircon. I can't wait to tell them to switch over as soon as possible.

I imagine the potential damage to Eircon would be significant if a large number of pensioners switched away from them?

Is this something that could be highlighted by some of the alternative telecoms providers?

Good work anyway.