Got a call from Eircom need advice

Victor_M

Hi folks,
I got a call from an Eircom sales rep yesterday who was offering 3 months free line rental and a 3Mb connection for €46. I am currently with Esat BT on a 7.2Mb BB and voice package at €67 pm, I rang Esat a few weeks ago to try and cancel or move to a cheaper package as part of a belt tightening and asked to move down to the 3Mb BB pack and I was told that I would have to sign up to a new 12 month contract (am 6 months into the current one) which I wasn't prepared to do as I want to switch to Upc when my time with Esat is up. Esat told me that I have to pay a cancellation fee of €150 to prematurely end my existing contract, the Eircom sales rep told me that this is not the case and that if I switch back to eircom Esat Bt can't charge me a cancellation fee.
Can anyone confirm this is true? Can I switch to Eircom mid way through a contract without being penalised? I am not happy with Esat customer care at all since I switched there is a minimum of 10 minutes on hold to speak to anyone other that a sales rep, ping times on the 7.2 Mb line are very high and the fact that they are going to tie me into another 12 month contract just because I want to move down to a cheaper package has really pi$$ed me off.

bk

Yes, you probably would be penalised for breaking your contract early, check your contract.

The Eircom rep is lying, Eircom sales reps will say almost anything to get a sale.

The ping on Eircom will be the same as BT as BT are basically just reselling Eircoms service.

All BT customers are now being transfered to Vodafone, so things might improve for you with them.

Victor_M

bk wrote: »

Yes, you probably would be penalised for breaking your contract early, check your contract.

The Eircom rep is lying, Eircom sales reps will say almost anything to get a sale.

The ping on Eircom will be the same as BT as BT are basically just reselling Eircoms service.

All BT customers are now being transfered to Vodafone, so things might improve for you with them.

Re: the ping time, I know that they are the same line and in most cases going through the same exchanges (Esat have a few new 24Mb exchanges), the ping on the 3mb connection was lower than that on the 7.2Mb, hence me wanting to drop back to the 3Mb (with Esat) that I had previously been on whilst with Eircom. I felt it was very unfair of them to expect a customer to sign up to another 12 month contract just to switch price plans (none of the mobile phone operators expect their customers to resign if they change from one price plan to another)
So the eircom sales rep is lying! Wow that's pretty low, I must have asked him 5 times to reassure me that there would be no cost to change and he guaranteed me (500% guaranteed to quote himself) that Esat were not allowed to charge customers termination fees if they were switching to Eircom (seems a bit strange now that I think about it)
I wont be changing so, glad I asked, thanks for your advice.

jor el

The ping is poorer on 7.6Mb because interleaving is set to a higher level on that package. That's why eircom introduced the 7Mb package, as it has lower interleaving. BT should be able to change you over to this, as this is designed for gaming, without any contract extension. If you've left it several months since the upgrade from 3 to 7.6, then it could be deemed as your acceptance of the new package, and to change now would incur a cost.

Wait for Vodafone to fully assimilate BT, and then see where you stand. If Vodafone's T&Cs are different to BT's, then you could say you don't accept these, and they'll have to release you from the contract.

Johnboy1951

Although it is likely that the Eircom sales rep is mistaken/lying I would investigate their claims by examining your contract and even ask the Eircom rep to put their guarantee in writing.
If they are 500% sure then they should have no problem in guaranteeing it, and even paying the charge if one should arise.
Without that or a clear indication from your contract that they are correct, I would be inclined to believe it was just sales talk (lies).

Calebmcd

Stay
you'll be on Vodafone soon enough

3mb 40-49 euro
7mb 48-52 euro

http://www.vodafone.ie/homebroadband/?ts=1253096379505

bk

Calebmcd wrote: »

Stay you'll be on Vodafone soon enough

3mb 40-49 euro
7mb 48-52 euro

Does anyone know if Vodafones 7mb product is Eircom 7mb gamer product or their 7.6mb product?

Xcellor

bk wrote: »

Does anyone know if Vodafones 7mb product is Eircom 7mb gamer product or their 7.6mb product?

Think its 7.6 according to more info section of their site.

I dont think you can get a 7mb gaming profile with anyone other than Eircon.

Sofiztikated

Victor_M wrote: »

I felt it was very unfair of them to expect a customer to sign up to another 12 month contract just to switch price plans (none of the mobile phone operators expect their customers to resign if they change from one price plan to another)

This I will just comment on. You would essentially be changing the product you are using, and so they are perfectly entitled to snare you with a new contract. Mobile phone operators DO do the same. Only some are not as strict as others, or they have shorter contact times.

I'd be more inclined to think the Eircon rep is bluffing, I found their sales to be very pushy, but not very knowledgable, whereas BT's staff were grand, knew their products, terms, and could answer anything I threw at them.

dub45

Victor_M wrote: »

Re: the ping time, I know that they are the same line and in most cases going through the same exchanges (Esat have a few new 24Mb exchanges), the ping on the 3mb connection was lower than that on the 7.2Mb, hence me wanting to drop back to the 3Mb (with Esat) that I had previously been on whilst with Eircom. I felt it was very unfair of them to expect a customer to sign up to another 12 month contract just to switch price plans (none of the mobile phone operators expect their customers to resign if they change from one price plan to another)
So the eircom sales rep is lying! Wow that's pretty low, I must have asked him 5 times to reassure me that there would be no cost to change and he guaranteed me (500% guaranteed to quote himself) that Esat were not allowed to charge customers termination fees if they were switching to Eircom (seems a bit strange now that I think about it)
I wont be changing so, glad I asked, thanks for your advice.

An employee of one company cannot speak on behalf of another company. Simple as that.

dub45

bk wrote: »

Yes, you probably would be penalised for breaking your contract early, check your contract.

The Eircom rep is lying, Eircom sales reps will say almost anything to get a sale.

The ping on Eircom will be the same as BT as BT are basically just reselling Eircoms service.

All BT customers are now being transfered to Vodafone, so things might improve for you with them.

That is not necessarily the case - a few years ago UTV who are Eircom resellers had notoriously bad pings and lots of game players actually left UTV to go to Eircom at the time as Eircom had low pings at that time.

Victor_M

Calebmcd wrote: »

Stay
you'll be on Vodafone soon enough

3mb 40-49 euro
7mb 48-52 euro

http://www.vodafone.ie/homebroadband/?ts=1253096379505

Wow they seem like good value packages, are Esat now controlled by Vodafone? or is there a lead in period before these products are on offer?

thebman

Cap is kind of crap though for 40 euro package your paying a euro a gig.

Tester46

thebman wrote: »

Cap is kind of crap though for 40 euro package your paying a euro a gig.

Is there a better package out there?

thebman

I think this is better
http://smarttelecom.ie/product_details/Smart_Complete.aspx

2 euro 47 more and you get unlimited downloads. Note this is for bitstream and not on Smarts own network. Oh and I don't work for the, I'm just researching for my parents ATM.

bk

Xcellor wrote: »

I dont think you can get a 7mb gaming profile with anyone other than Eircon.

Really, surely that goes against Comreg competition rules. Eircom have to wholesale everything they themselves offer?

dub45 wrote: »

That is not necessarily the case - a few years ago UTV who are Eircom resellers had notoriously bad pings and lots of game players actually left UTV to go to Eircom at the time as Eircom had low pings at that time.

You are right, latency may also be added on other parts of the network, such as in their own network, international backhaul, etc.

However in this case, I think all 7.6mb product suffer from the same bad latency.

The Volt

Having worked in telesales for Eircom myself I can assure you that breaking a contract with BT will leave you with an outstanding cancellation charge if you are with them less than 12 months

jor el

thebman wrote: »

2 euro 47 more and you get unlimited downloads. Note this is for bitstream and not on Smarts own network. Oh and I don't work for the, I'm just researching for my parents ATM.

Unlimited = 170GB these days. That said, they are still a hell of a lot better than eircom.

bk wrote: »

Really, surely that goes against Comreg competition rules. Eircom have to wholesale everything they themselves offer?

I would say so too. I thought that both 7 and 7.6 were available to all resellers. The resellers don't have to actually offer them though, and the may not.

bk wrote: »

You are right, latency may also be added on other parts of the network, such as in their own network, international backhaul, etc.

Routing can play a big part, and this will be controllable by each ISP. High interleaving on the 7.6Mbps packages will certainly not help though, and the ISPs own routing will not make it any better.

Pyro Boy

Voltwad wrote: »

Having worked in telesales for Eircom myself I can assure you that breaking a contract with BT will leave you with an outstanding cancellation charge if you are with them less than 12 months

And what would happen if you break a contract with Eircom? if you are with them less than 12 months

The Volt

Pyro Boy wrote: »

And what would happen if you break a contract with Eircom? if you are with them less than 12 months

Talktime packages as a stand alone have no contract.

For Broadband bundles There would be no charge for breaking a contract with Eircom after 6 months, even though they are for 12.

thebman

jor el wrote: »

Unlimited = 170GB these days. That said, they are still a hell of a lot better than eircom.

I'm aware unlimited means unknown limit but its a lot better than 40 gigs when you consider it costs 2 euro extra IMO.

Tester46

thebman wrote: »

I think this is better
http://smarttelecom.ie/product_details/Smart_Complete.aspx

2 euro 47 more and you get unlimited downloads. Note this is for bitstream and not on Smarts own network. Oh and I don't work for the, I'm just researching for my parents ATM.

Those packages certainly look good alright. But I thought Smart Telecom got an awful hammering on these boards for bad service - or am I mistaken?

jor el

Tester46 wrote: »

Those packages certainly look good alright. But I thought Smart Telecom got an awful hammering on these boards for bad service - or am I mistaken?

You are mistaken.

thebman

Tester46 wrote: »

Those packages certainly look good alright. But I thought Smart Telecom got an awful hammering on these boards for bad service - or am I mistaken?

Quite the opposite actually.

The only problem is their financial difficulties TBH but those have been around for a while and they've always stayed afloat.

I wouldn't hesitate to sign up with them if I had a phone line. If your on their network, they have better offers again. Almost nobody is though.

oneway

INALB: My understanding is that, if you are going to be automatically moved over to Yodafone as part of BT's retreat from the residential market AND because Yodafone's packages are not 100% the same as BT's; then the regulator has told Yodafone that anyone who doesn't want to come over to Yodafone has to be offered a no-fee cancellation of their BT contract.