Opinions on Perlico or other telecos please

cork_ie

I need to change my phone and broadband provider from BT.
I would use pigeons or smoke signals before I would return to eircom.I am considering using Perlico and would appreciate the opinion of any current or former customers.

MOH

Smart if you can get them, I've had no real problems in over 2 years.

Zaph

My sister has Perlico and thinks it's great. The only issue she has with it is that when she had a fault they would only say that it could take "a week to six weeks" to fix. This is because Eircom still own the line and push Perlico customers (and presumably other telcos') to the end of the queue. That said, it only took 3 days to repair in the end.

bmaxi

Perlico;

Cons:

(a) Shi*e customer service.
(b) Only DD option to pay.
(c) Bill arrives two days after DD is taken, so major hassle if there is an overcharge.
(d) Interminable 'phone calls where you are passed around to people in ever increasing degrees of knowing FA until you are relieved to be returned to the one who just knew FA.
(f) Impossible to reach anyone who knows or can do anything without using Registered post.

Pros;

(a) Easy to spell when writing to Comreg or Joe Duffy.

I suggest you use the search function, there have been a few threads on this.

bronte

Don't go back to eircom!! My north dublin phone line has been out of action for 2 weeks now, can't get an answer out of them as to whats wrong etc grrrrr!!

cork_ie

bmaxi wrote:

Perlico;

Cons:

(a) Shi*e customer service.
(b) Only DD option to pay.
(c) Bill arrives two days after DD is taken, so major hassle if there is an overcharge.
(d) Interminable 'phone calls where you are passed around to people in ever increasing degrees of knowing FA until you are relieved to be returned to the one who just knew FA.
(f) Impossible to reach anyone who knows or can do anything without using Registered post.

Pros;

(a) Easy to spell when writing to Comreg or Joe Duffy.

I suggest you use the search function, there have been a few threads on this.

Sounds like BT to me . Is there any Irish Telco who can get their billing right and provide decent customer service?

old boy

we find talk talk ie carphone warehouse excellent, billing best ever, if biil and payment cross it fixed onthe next month, unlike the nameless cash cow that the aussies bought

jor el

cork_ie wrote:

Is there any Irish Telco who can get their billing right and provide decent customer service?

Other than Smart, nope. They're all pretty much the same as far as eircon resellers go.

When you say you have to leave BT, is it for some particular reason, like their incompetence has finally gotten the best of you? Or is it line problems, disconnects etc, in which case moving may not help. Getting BT to release your line could prove very difficult too as they're useless in that respect too. Even if you get eircom to disconnect your line they can still keep billing you (as they did to me for months).

old boy, Talktalk don't offer broadband in Ireland yet. It is coming soon, for the last two years or so, but soon none the less :rolleyes:

Random

My parents use Perlico for their calls and they've had zero problems - they switched from Eircom to cut down the phone bills.

As for their broadband, a mate has it and it's slow with poor pings and sluggish download speeds - ideal for checking email and casual surfing but nothing more.

bmaxi

ciaranfo wrote:

My parents use Perlico for their calls and they've had zero problems - they switched from Eircom to cut down the phone bills.

It's when you do have a problem ( or a question ), that the fun starts. If you have no need to access their "Customer Service" then you will probably never know just how crap it is.

Perli-crap

Perlico shafted me - and continue to attempt to take money from my bank account 9 months since changing from them to BT.

I'll acknowledge that these are personal experiences and each individual can have a different experience - or have a different package which creates no issues.

All I know is that Perlico billing is 'dubious' at best, as soon after signing up I began to receive the maximum monthly bill for broadband (€35) with the total monthly bill being approx €50 (phone and broadband) - I had subscribed to Broadband Lite (20 hours online for €9.99) - I was suspicious of the €35 bill as I paid the same for my previous Eircom small business account (mistakenly signed up to rather than residential) which had twice the speed, reliability etc etc -

I monitored my usage for the next 3 months - did not exceed the 20 hours and hey presto €35 each month (basic + additional minutes). I'm thinking the modem needs to be plugged out (kinda goes against 'alway on' slogan - but hey it's a time to prove my point) - I actually plugged out the modem for a month - did all my surfing on my work connection and Perlico billed me €35 - however it gets better.....

They've been billing me €35 a month since I terminated my account and switched to BT - and been able to tell me I've used excess minutes -

Now if you have a mom and dad who use voice services only, then perhaps they will be happy campers.

If however you want broadband or other advanced services - steer clear of Perlico as they are the worst of an already bad bunch.

samelterrance

jor el wrote:

Other than Smart, nope. :

LMAO, SMART were renowned for messing up the billing

MOH

samelterrance wrote:

LMAO, SMART were renowned for messing up the billing

They were? I've been with them for three years and never had any problems. Don't know anyone else who did either.

samelterrance

MOH wrote:

They were? I've been with them for three years and never had any problems. Don't know anyone else who did either.

Quote from google groups.
I work in the industry and billing and they had incredible difficulties with billing.

Around two years ago we decided to go with Smart for our telephone calls.

Disaster.

Repeated incorrect billing,
a refusal to refund,
a promise to refund which never materialised,
hopeless, useless, robotic, lying customer support
eventually paid them off
automated demand letters signed with a facsimile signature kept coming etc etc

We went back to Eircom in the end who, for all their faults, were a zillion times better.

what he said.
also they cut me of for not paying the bill after I repeatedly tried to get through on their number to pay the ****ing thing and noone ever answered their phone.
*****

spurious

Smart, if you can get them, are by far the best option.

You won't find too many people who leave Smart once they've moved to them - and these are ALL people who know how to move telco. That says an awful lot in terms of customer satisfaction.

Unless you prefer paying lots of money to Eircom/BT for snail's paced speeds - a lot of people seem to.

I've never had a problem with Smart's billing either - other than I keep thinking they've left something off as the bills are so low compared to what the gangsters used to charge me.

samelterrance

spurious wrote:

You won't find too many people who leave Smart once they've moved to them .

You are kidding me, The Churn smart have had has been phenomenal

And yeah, what a service, Smart not paying Eircom and leaving 45,000 customers not been able to make a phone call, SUPER!

spurious

Leaving by choice or leaving because eircom and their apologists said Smart were out of business? Or leaving because Eircom illegally cut them off?

I have never met anyone who left Smart.
Do you work for eircom?

Regardless, my bills are less than yours, my speeds are faster than yours, so I'm happy.

samelterrance

Hi,

spurious wrote:

Leaving by choice or leaving because eircom and their apologists said Smart were out of business? Or leaving because Eircom illegally cut them off?
Leaving because of poor customer service and incorrect billing.

I have never met anyone who left Smart.
I have met plenty

Do you work for eircom?
Definetely Not.

Regardless, my bills are less than yours, **They are definetely not actually as I get all my calls at wholesale price**

my speeds are faster than yours, so I'm happy.

byte

I also recommend Smart. With them about 18 months now, never had any billing issues, apart from how cheap it is!

Eircom of course were very nice in sending out a rep to my door during the Smart debacle, to tell me to switch or lose my broadband as Smart were out of business.

Luckily I was keeping abreast of things here, so knew the rep was talking through his behind.

Sadly, I'll be moving in a few months, and where I'm moving to, the exchange isn't unbundled by Smart I guess I'll be stuck with Eircom, or some reseller, and I dread the thought of those massive bills again

samelterrance

byte wrote:

I also recommend Smart. With them about 18 months now, never had any billing issues, apart from how cheap it is!

Eircom of course were very nice in sending out a rep to my door during the Smart debacle, to tell me to switch or lose my broadband as Smart were out of business.

Luckily I was keeping abreast of things here, so knew the rep was talking through his behind.

Sadly, I'll be moving in a few months, and where I'm moving to, the exchange isn't unbundled by Smart I guess I'll be stuck with Eircom, or some reseller, and I dread the thought of those massive bills again

Byte,
What is the package you are on with Smart ?

remoteboy

Another vote for Smart. The happiest day of my life (well my life as a consumer ) was the day I was able to leave eircom and Irish Broadband behind. Bills are low. Broadband is fast.

dingding

Smart customer and very happy. Paid 5 euro extra for 6Mb broadband.

When you have used this speed it makes eircoms 1Mb look like dialup.

Always had the full bandwidth, never had contention issues.

Very good value for money.

PS:- I don;t work for Smart

HighWire

So Smart is the option if you can get it.

What do you choose if you are outside the Smart network.

Perlico, UTV, Eircom, BT????????

billhugh

I have Perlico for about a year now. Saved a fortune on phone calls compared to when we had Eircom. BUT..

Now have major problems with them.
You see the problem is we (as well as broadband and calls) pay Perlico for our line rental. Now that was OK until we had a problem with the line. Builders in our neighbours next door damaged the phone lines and we both lost our connections. Our neighbour who is with Eircom phoned them and we phoned Perlico. 6 days later 2 big Eircom trucks arrived at our neighbours, ran two new lines through their garden. They connected my neighbours phone up fine, but just threw the cable for our line across the wall and disappeared. Since then my wife has been on the phone 3 times a week to Perlico. She said its like banging your head against a brick wall.
Conversation goes like.

Our line is still not fixed.
I will email Eircom.
Can you not phone them its been x weeks.
No that’s not the way its done, we can only email them.

Eircom says its with the engineer.
Eircom says its with the engineer.
Eircom says its fixed.
Buts it not.
OK I will email Eircom.
Can you not phone them its been x weeks.
No that’s not the way its done, we can only email them.
Eircom says its with the engineer.
Eircom says its with the engineer.

Its no in the 8th week and we are getting no where. I even looked at connecting the cable myself, but there is no power in the line.

Sponge Bob

Well cancel the direct debit in your bank until its fixed and they credit you the money they took for no service and go to Comreg about it .

billhugh

Yeah, done both.

My wife was in touch with Comreg the other day and I cant remember exactly what she said. I know we have to contact them again in 12 days or something if we dont get sorted. Sorry not sure about that one.

8 weeks without Internet at home. Its hell. I wish Smart was in my area.

Sponge Bob

eircom would have done exactly the same thing to you if you were a smart customer , smart may have gotten it fixed quicker, who knows.

Its the builders fault anyway so sue the builder for your losses in the small claims court.

Sam Vimes

Sponge Bob wrote:

Well cancel the direct debit in your bank until its fixed and they credit you the money they took for no service and go to Comreg about it .

you really are one of those mightmare customers spongebob aren't you? Those ones that scream and shout and threaten when a calm voice would get much further. I bet you threaten to ring joe duffy too

or do you just recommend other people do things that would make things much worse for themselves by pissing off the people that they're trying to get something from?

Sponge Bob

6 weeks with no phone line would piss me RIGHT off Commander.

6 weeks paying for something I could not get would piss me off too. I would seek reimbursement .

Use of the DD system to take money for a service I could not avail of is unacceptable.

Taking DDs before you EVEN get the bill is CLEAN against the IPSO rules which stipulate 14 days prior notice. Note how proper operators like o2 or voda or eircom issue that bill 14 days before they take your money.

On that basis alone you may cancel your DD to Perlico until they play straight with the DD system as per www.ipso.ie guidelines. This applies to all Perlico customers or to ANYONE who pays for anything by DD .

and further note that a fixed DD ( a phone bill is variable as you make different amounts of calls every month ) only requires 10 days prior notice . eg monthly insurance or similar.

I would, however, have started minorly threatening them after 2 weeks and would temper the escalation to the duration of the outage . Eircom only provide a 5-10 day repair guarantee to any customer be they a carrier or end user so there is no point hassling until its been out at least 5 days.

Anyway, what do you suggest Commander , that the Irish Consumer rolls over for a belly tickle in the face of this incompetence and disregard for our rights ?????

Sam Vimes

Sponge Bob wrote:

Anyway, what do you suggest Commander , that the Irish Consumer rolls over for a belly tickle in the face of this incompetence and disregard for our rights ?????

there has to be some middle ground between taking it up the ass and then "f*ck you all. I'm callin me lawyers" attitude that you seem to suggest everyone adopt


in fact there is. I work in a customer facing role and the ones who get what they want are the ones who are polite but firm. the merest hint of legal action or threats makes me lose any desire to help them no matter how legitimate their complaint is

Sponge Bob

I usually threaten CS with a ****storm on Boards.ie if that 'manager 'does not ring me when they come out of that 'meeting' they are seemingly always in !

Usually works but not if the CS is reading scripts in Bangalore

and 6 weeks is totally unacceptable is it not ????