Help! I'm caught in a trap! by Vodafone & Eircon

Scobie Doo

Hi,
Can anyone offer any advice please. Sorry this is a long one!

I was with Eircon broadband for 5 years or so. On their highest package available in my area. 3MB at the time.

Switched to Vodafone at Home last June. Everything ok for 1st few months. In January broadband died. Rang Vodafone. They rang Eircon. Eircon rang me. Came and "fixed" line. Thanked engineer but he was cagey leaving saying it "mightened" be fixed. Sure enough two hours later gone again.

Rang Eircon man but he said I had to log fault with Vodafone. Rang Vodafone who rang Eircon who eventually rang me. New engineer called and said he was in the exchange and line was fine. Told him it wasn't. He said it's fine in exchange and he's not calling out. Argured a bit and he eventually said that they had a lot of "hoax" callouts from perlico. I'm with Vodafone. Same thing he said. Refused to come out. Eventually we got to him saying
Eircon man: "you were with Eircon weren't you"
Me: "Yes"
E.M.:"and it was working then"
Me: "Yes"
E.M. "And it's not working now"
Me: No!
E.M. "And you're not with Eircom now"

He eventually apologised for fact I was caught in middle but wasn't coming out.

Got on to DSL manager in Vodafone who put me on to their "top technician" who went through usual b.s., router not working(have three and same with all three), distance from Exchange(haven't moved and neither has exchange), wiring in house(hasn't changed and discovered my neighbour who shares the same line into the house and is with BT is having the exact same problem. BT changed his router aslo to no avail)

Anyway to cut a long story short I've had virtually no broadband since. It worked perfectly at one stage for 3 weeks and went again. Exact same for neighbour. Spent hours on phone and email to vodafone but the latest brainwave was to reduce my connection to 2MB. worked for a day and now the same. They won't respond to e-mails anymore and I've been charged full price during this time.

The only was I can get out of this from what I can see is to go back to Eircon. However I was told by Vodafone I'd have to pay something like €300 to get out of their contract.

I don't know what to do. Sorry if it's a long winded post but I've tried to be as concise as possible while giving all the facts.

:eek:

Scobie Doo

Sorry, but I forgot to mention that I lodged a complaint with Comreg, but never even got a response. You just sometimes wonder what kind of a banana republic are we living in! I mean what other country would allow something like this to occur. I don't really blame Vodafone or Eircon. Vodafone's hands seem to be tied as they don't have any control over the line/exchange. Eircon are just looking after their own interests. It's the muppets who allowed such a scenario to occur, who are to blame. Now there's a surprise!

dub45

Your contract is with Vodafone and they have the obligation to supply you with a service. If I was you I would write an old fashioned letter to the Chief Executive of vodafone detailing as per your post what has happened so far and emphasising that Vodafone are not meeting their obligations under the contract. Point out that as you are not getting service you feel under no obligation to pay until such time as they have the matter sorted out.

Tell the CEO vodafone that you are copying the letter to Comreg and most importantly the Joe Duffy show.

Copy the letter the Comreg and ask them why they have not followed up your earlier complaint.

I would also register the letter to Vodafone.

http://www.vodafone.ie/aboutus/media/press/show/BAU003134.shtml;jsessionid=C595CB76B52E9C74D7E3C98C98C5C239?date=Tue+Apr+03+23%3A00%3A00+IST+2007


http://www.vodafone.ie/aboutus/code/custcare/escalation/

By the way what are your line stats?

Caliden

I find it a bit sad that some companies would be more worried about a letter to the Joe Duffy show than a letter to Comreg

jor el

Scobie Doo wrote: »

However I was told by Vodafone I'd have to pay something like €300 to get out of their contract.

If they can't provide the service that you pay for, then the contract is effectively null.

Kristopherus

Caliden wrote: »

I find it a bit sad that some companies would be more worried about a letter to the Joe Duffy show than a letter to Comreg

Thats because Joe Duffy is far more likely to highlight the problem, before Comreg will even reply. You'll find plenty people on here who have lovely sad tales about Comreg

dub45

jor el wrote: »

If they can't provide the service that you pay for, then the contract is effectively null.

Yes but it is important to put it up to them to provide the service and not just attempt to walk away - then you have a written record of your complaints to them so they cannot claim that they were not given the opportunity to provide the service.

Scobie Doo

Hi again,
thanks for the advice. I managed to extricate myself from the horror that is Vodafone. Rang and used the threats above and they finally agreed to let the contract go. When I asked for some compensation for the fact that I've had virtually no broadband for 4 months they totally refused. They offered me compensation from July to December because I was on up to 7MB and the line couldn't take it but nothing for the last 4 months because "sometimes" I had a connection or my issue was with the speed of connection. For the last few days my download speed was lower than 0.17Mb, even lower than my upload speed of about 0.2, that is for the couple of minutes it worked for.
According to VF they did everything they possibly could. They said they rang me every day! The rang regularly ok but did nothing. I tried to ask did they think 4 months or continuous e-mails, phone calls and no improvement was reasonable. They thought it was reasonable!?????
I don't care about the compensation, it's only the principal. If I get any I'll give it to charity. Their attitude is just incredulous.
Anyway signed back up with Eircon. My neighbour is still suffering exactly the same problem and he's with BT. BT at least did some test on the line and found there was some problem. They are sending out and engineer tomorrow. Interesting to see what will happen from that. Also to see will being back with Eircon make any difference to getting the fault rectified.
I need a pint!

foggy_lad

Scobie Doo wrote: »

Hi again,
thanks for the advice. I managed to extricate myself from the horror that is Vodafone. Rang and used the threats above and they finally agreed to let the contract go. When I asked for some compensation for the fact that I've had virtually no broadband for 4 months they totally refused. They offered me compensation from July to December because I was on up to 7MB and the line couldn't take it but nothing for the last 4 months because "sometimes" I had a connection or my issue was with the speed of connection. For the last few days my download speed was lower than 0.17Mb, even lower than my upload speed of about 0.2, that is for the couple of minutes it worked for.
According to VF they did everything they possibly could. They said they rang me every day! The rang regularly ok but did nothing. I tried to ask did they think 4 months or continuous e-mails, phone calls and no improvement was reasonable. They thought it was reasonable!?????
I don't care about the compensation, it's only the principal. If I get any I'll give it to charity. Their attitude is just incredulous.
Anyway signed back up with Eircon. My neighbour is still suffering exactly the same problem and he's with BT. BT at least did some test on the line and found there was some problem. They are sending out and engineer tomorrow. Interesting to see what will happen from that. Also to see will being back with Eircon make any difference to getting the fault rectified.
I need a pint!

write a letter to them demanding the compensation for the poor service you have had for 4 months! if they still refuse the small claims court will cost €15 and having released you from the contract without penalty is an indication of serious trouble with your connection so you would most likely win in court.

dub45

Did you get the name of the person who agreed to cancel your contract? You should keep a note of y our conversation today and make sure that you cancel any direct debit you have set up.

Scobie Doo

dub45 wrote: »

Did you get the name of the person who agreed to cancel your contract? You should keep a note of y our conversation today and make sure that you cancel any direct debit you have set up.

Yes I did indeed get her name and have cancelled the direct debit. She said she'd get back to me in relation to any offer of compensation. I don't see that happening though.