Eircom one month to fix phone line?

Cr8or

I have a bit of a strange one here .. I’m after moving into a new apartment and ordering a re-connect of a phone line. Everything seemed to be going fine with the order.

However when i go to make a call nothing happens and when I ring my assigned number it seems to ring but nothing happens in the apartment.

Ercom said it would be a whole Month before an eircom engineer will be out to me. Is this normal? A month seems a bit extreme to look a problem with an already installed line.

The other problem is, im trying to get broadband from Smart telecom and they cant do anything until Eircom gets the finger out.. So it looks like ill be almost two months waiting to get broadband in..

Does anyone have any advice on what I can do?

foreignobserver

I went thru exactly the same thing a few days ago, broadband was offered by another company tho. Dealing with eircom over the phone is a horrible experience. Not only all they give you is a vague promise of a technician coming within 30 days they are also unable to remotely check the line!

[steam]
Bloody arrogant mismanaged bunch of freaking %^&*%$s
[/steam]

You see: I rang them in advance, i.e. before moving to the new place to ensure there would not be any issues. Of course they said there would not be any. So I went ahead and asked them to activate the line and rang them again before I signed the rent lease asking to verify if it works. I was told it works fine. So I went ahead and signed the lease.
(My wife works from home so broadband is essential for us. )

Once I got the keys it turned out the line is not working and the Eircom hotline was only able to promise the engineer within next 30 days. They were unable to give me any date whatsoever and they were absolutely not prepared to deal with my frustration they have caused.

attempt 1

-Hallo, I have got problem with my line. My customer number is...
-Please dial 1901 again and select fault report
-But it is a new line...
[Beep] the agent hung up

attempt 2

-Hallo, I have got problem with my line. My customer number is...
-OK, I can see this is a new line that was ordered only a few days ago.
So you should be dealing with sales people, we only deal with existing lines

attempt 3

-Hallo, I have ordered a new line but it does not work.
My customer number is...
-"Please hold" [Pause](15 second later) So the line does not work?
Did you try to ring your number from your mobile?
-No I did not, I know the line does not work because I cannot dial any numbers. After the 4th digit I select there is always busy tone
-I understand, can you hang up, dial your landline number from your mobile and if there is a problem can you ring us?
-Can't you check my line remotely.
-No, I can't
-Can you call my number from your office and see for yourself
-"Please hold" [Pause] (15 second later) No, I can't
-You are Eircom, can't you ring me?
-Listen, I can send the technician. Do you want me to send technician to you?

And then it goes about 30days.

In reality I had about 6 calls with the Eircom hotline and even managed to get thru to one person that turned out to be helpful (Thanks, Pam!)

But it was too late, before they got back to me I decided to cancel the Eircom order, cancel my broadband order, went ahead and ordered NTL package: TV, broadband and phone line in one.

[steam]
I hope I do not have to deal with Eircom in future, neither private nor for business and I'll do my best to avoid their service even if the alternative is pricier, which is hardly the case now anyway.
[/steam]

DrChoda

foreignobserver wrote:

[steam]
I hope I do not have to deal with Eircom in future, neither private nor for business and I'll do my best to avoid their service even if the alternative is pricier, which is hardly the case now anyway.
[/steam]

It's too bad some of the companies here can't seem to get it together. I've had terrible experience with both, but imo ntl seemed to have the WORST customer service I have every experienced in my life!! I wish I was exaggerating when saying that, but I am not.

You may want to try calling them again, try speaking to a manager if the first person can't help you. In short of that, I don't think they have a customer retention dept so you might not get very far. At least inform them that they shouldn't be billing you for anything until you can actually use the service.

foreignobserver

DrChoda wrote:

It's too bad some of the companies here can't seem to get it together. I've had terrible experience with both, but imo ntl seemed to have the WORST customer service I have every experienced in my life!! I wish I was exaggerating when saying that, but I am not.

Huh, not good news then... Actually I spoke with NTL support already as sales guys did not have info about contention ratio... *technical* staff had no clue what contention ration was in the first place. They came up with a number of 1:17 in the end but how credible it is I still wonder...

DrChoda wrote:

You may want to try calling them again, try speaking to a manager if the first person can't help you.

NUFF SAID. They refused to put me thru to a manager when I asked for that :rolleyes:
I hope they won't charge me but they refused to erase my bank details from their system, too.

Too many little and big complaints as for one landline to still stay with eircom.
If NTL turns out to be as bad I am in d33p sh1t and so is anyone here as oligopoly is a default market type in Ireland due to Ireland's size, isolation and very laid back attitude of ppl being ripped off

fl4pj4ck

I got similar problem, my line was connected within 2 days, there was a dialtone but I wasn't able to dial out. I was emailed bu their sales/tech supp about the engineer coming to my house to install the line.

The thing is - I have ordered the line online (no connection fees unless you need a technician - if it's the first time the house is beeing connected), if they have to send you an engineer - then it's 120e fees to pay.

Then after 2-3 days a technician came, and this is how they do the 'installation':
1) the guy rang some 4-digit number and ask one of his fellas what the number is
2) he used his mobile to ring another guy, gave the phone number
3) he rang me from the landline which was connected within 2 mins

if they ask me to pay 120e for that $hit I will LOL at them.

Me thinks it's their way to get you paing the e120 for connection.
And I am sure that there was a landline before, I even got the number off the tech guy.

twenty8

Ha - consider yourself lucky!

I ordered the installation of a phone line in April and I still have not got it in - despite numerous calls from me!!

foreignobserver

[conspiracy]
Eircom managment might be all bribed by NTL or mobile phone operators.
How else can you explain they are so bad?
[/conspiracy]

Sponge Bob

I met someone last week who has waited over 2 years for a telephone line so stop whinging you lot

dub45

foreignobserver wrote:

Huh, not good news then... Actually I spoke with NTL support already as sales guys did not have info about contention ratio... *technical* staff had no clue what contention ration was in the first place. They came up with a number of 1:17 in the end but how credible it is I still wonder........................

I emailed them about two months ago asking what their contention ratio was and I am still awaiting a response!

This morning I received my weekly letter offering me NTL digital!