Eircom price hike - opportunity to get out of contract.

Sponge Bob

When eircom vary their standard contract terms you may cease a contract forthwith without serving a 28 day or 30 day notice period. They sent all their customers a mailshot today meaning that get out of contract free month starts from 12 Feb and runs to 11 March inclusive.

Details in this thread here

nodolan

EIRCOM IS TO introduce a price hike from next month, which will result in many bills increasing by 3.1 per cent – as well as the length of off-peak calling hours being cut.
Businesses and home customers will see prices rise from 5.95 cent to 9.5 cent for calls made outside their monthly bundle. The charge will come into effect on 11 March, siliconerepublic reports.

http://www.thejournal.ie/eircom-announces-price-hike-2011-02/

Farrahy100

I have enough windmills in my life but I could not allow this to pass without comment.

Eircom has slipped an announcement of price increases out during the election and these include.

1. Increase in call set-up fee

This is a charge eircom makes for every call outside any package deal you may have. This is going from 5.95c to 9.50c and that charge will apply to your calls regardless of the length of that call.

That, for any person without a package, a charge of nearly ten cents for every call regardless of the time you are on that call. Line rental does not include actually making any calls and this charge, almost doubling in cost, is applied if you actually use you phone to make an actual phone call! If a machine answers, as with eircom for example, even if you hang up at once, that was 9.50c.

2. Introduction of rounding up to next cent.

On all bills after 11th of May 2011 they will round up the cost of all calls to the next full cent. Again this only applies to calls outside any bundle you may have.

One of the most cheeky and clever frauds in American corporate history involved persons working in the wages department of a very large corporation with hundreds of staff. What they did was to steal a few cents from every wage packet in the hope, and for a long time it worked, nobody would notice. They stole thousands of dollars and they went to jail.

Eircom have decided to take from us using a variation of the same stunt. They are going to round up the cost of calls to an even number of cents. So this could be anything from 1% of a cent to 99% of a cent that they are taking because they choose too. It is perhaps the older generation that is less likely to have “Talktime” or a broadband package and it is therefore likely that they will be the most affected.

So ware we clear here, eircom proposes to charge us for call time we did not have. It may just be fractions of cents per call, but think of all the calls that are made. We are talking about millions of calls a year and millions of little fractions of cents going from our pockets into the eircom coffers simply because they have chosen to take that money from us.

Do we have any financial regulation at all?

dudara

Threads merged

dudara

Tabnabs

From today's IT

THOUSANDS OF Eircom customers will see their bills increase by 3.1 per cent on average and will lose two hours of off-peak calls from next month.

The changes announced by Eircom yesterday will allow affected residential customers to get out of contracts early without penalty under EU regulations.

The call connection fee for calls made outside Eircom packages will increase by almost two-thirds for home and business customers, from 5.95 cent to 9.5 cent.

Charges per call will also be rounded up to the nearest cent.

The start time for making cheaper off-peak calls will also change from 6pm to 7pm for most customers. The peak call window will widen to between 7am and 7pm from Monday to Friday.

The changes, which are being introduced from March 11th, will mean an average increase of 3.1 per cent for customers who do not stay within their call package, Eircom said.

Prices of monthly packages will stay the same, but calls made outside these plans will increase.

One-third of Eircom’s almost one million residential and small business customers do not have a package.

A spokesman for Eircom said the decision was “not taken lightly and the company had to think “long and hard about it”.

“It’s a challenge for everyone in the current economic environment. We are seeing revenues decreasing and we feel this is able to help us to generate more revenue to put into new and exciting services,” he said.

He said that customers would be unaffected if they stayed within their packages.

The change in off-peak hours from 6pm to 7pm was “significant” and would be a “big inconvenience” for many customers, Dermot Jewell of the Consumers’ Association of Ireland said.

Consumers needed to start to become aware of the change in daytime hours, he said. “For many people, 7pm will be a big inconvenience,” Mr Jewell added.

“The subtlety of the manner they introduced the increase was quite extraordinary,” he said.

Mr Jewell was also concerned that other operators would follow.

The National Consumer Agency was also “disappointed to see yet another price hike for consumers who have been hit hard recently”.

It advised consumers to compare costs on ComReg’s consumer website, callcost.ie.

Residential consumers who want to get out of their Eircom contract without penalty will have to give the company written notification within a month of being notified of the changes.

The company’s service cancellation policy has also been changed from immediate to 30 days for consumers who are not in contract.

Eircom advises customers who want to get out of their contracts to call 1901 for further details.

Affected customers with bundles can withdraw both their telephone and broadband services if they wish.

Eircom last introduced a new pricing structure in July, when customers also saw their bills rise by an average of 3 per cent.

Separately, the company’s 11811 directory enquiry prices will also increase by 31 cent from April 11th to €1.99 per minute.

So because their profits are falling, their existing customers have to stump up more cash? As they say on Dragons Den - I'm out!

Kimbot

Tabnabs wrote: »

From today's IT



So because their profits are falling, their existing customers have to stump up more cash? As they say on Dragons Den - I'm out!

Eircom dont have a clue whats going on:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056176724

genie

Do you now have to give Eircom one month's notice in writing if you want to cancel your line rental?

ingen

Sponge Bob wrote: »

When eircom vary their standard contract terms you may cease a contract forthwith without serving a 28 day or 30 day notice period. They sent all their customers a mailshot today meaning that get out of contract free month starts from 12 Feb and runs to 11 March inclusive.

Details in this thread here

eircom have told me that i have to cease the line if i wish to avail of the
eu reg 17..

surely they are penalising me by not allowing me run month to month?

i have line rental and broadband,... not in a package.

Sponge Bob

If not in a Package/Bundle you may cease the line but must pay the remainder of the BB contract out as it is a standalone product. If you never made any calls on the line you may not have an out but if you make any calls at all you can escape.

Interesting they call it EU Reg 17

ingen

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Interesting they call it EU Reg 17

??


Under Regulation 17 of the European Communities (electronic communications networks and services)(Universal Service and Users’ rights) regulations 2003 an operator shall not shall not less than one month prior to the date of implementation of any proposed modification, notify its subscribers to that service of the proposed modification in the conditions of the contract for that service, and their right to withdraw without penalty from such contract if they do not accept the modification.

Sponge Bob

Do eircom staff know it as EU Regulation 17 or did you tell them ????

ingen

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Do eircom staff know it as EU Regulation 17 or did you tell them ????

i had to inform them, and i was a bit gobsmacked. i was speaking with a manager, and he kept referring to it as an offer, he would not back down and kept referring to it as an offer.


i had to correct him there, but still he didnt get it. the only option he gave me was to cease the line entirely, i mentioned month to month and he said no, as it turns out, i am out of contract, since Jan! I knew it was a good idea to keep copies of emails.;)

does an email confirming i was on a 6 month contract stand up though?

foggy_lad

ingen wrote: »

i had to inform them, and i was a bit gobsmacked. i was speaking with a manager, and he kept referring to it as an offer, he would not back down and kept referring to it as an offer.


i had to correct him there, but still he didnt get it. the only option he gave me was to cease the line entirely, i mentioned month to month and he said no, as it turns out, i am out of contract, since Jan! I knew it was a good idea to keep copies of emails.;)

does an email confirming i was on a 6 month contract stand up though?

yes it does and as you were out of contract you can now pay for line rental on a monthly basis

axel rose

Confused here, I had to get an Eircom line in last month. I had to sign a six month contract to get connected. I have neither a bundle or a broadband. Can I break my contract now?

Victor Mackey

Hi,

I have a talk time chatter package which incs broadband since last Dec 2010.
I rang Eircom yesterday about exiting the contract and was told that I could not by perhaps the most aggressive customer service rep I have ever come across. Atrocious gruff person.

I gave up and will ring back later in the week.

Can I get out of this or am I stuck with Eircom? They really are shocking to deal with.

thanks

91011

Farrahy100 wrote: »

. It is perhaps the older generation that is less likely to have “Talktime” or a broadband package and it is therefore likely that they will be the most affected.

why do so many people bring "affect the older people" agrument up on everything.

Older people are wiser people. Thay had it far harder than any of us could imagine and therefore in most cases are more than capable of holding their own.

And they get free line rental and a €25 call allowance every 2 months (no matter what provider)


In reality, this will affect those who make short calls outside a package deal.

foggy_lad

axel rose wrote: »

Confused here, I had to get an Eircom line in last month. I had to sign a six month contract to get connected. I have neither a bundle or a broadband. Can I break my contract now?

yes you can But they may disconnect your line or charge you for the original connection if you got a free connection.

91011 wrote: »

And they get free line rental and a €25 call allowance every 2 months (no matter what provider)


In reality, this will affect those who make short calls outside a package deal.

what they get is free line rental and nothing else.
http://www.welfare.ie/EN/Publications/SW10/Pages/HouseholdBenefitsPackage.aspx

Telephone Allowance

The Telephone Allowance is a contribution towards your telephone bill.

You may qualify for a Telephone Allowance for a landline phone or a mobile phone.

If you choose a landline phone, the allowance will be paid as a credit on your telephone bill.

If you choose a mobile phone, the allowance is paid monthly to your account in a financial institution or, if you have a social services card, at your post office.

The value of the allowance is €25.90 each month.

The allowance does not cover the cost of installing a phone or buying a mobile phone.

cast_iron

foggy_lad wrote: »

yes you can But they may disconnect your line or charge you for the original connection if you got a free connection.

Surely that would be a penalty?

Del2005

foggy_lad wrote: »

yes you can But they may disconnect your line

I rang to cancel and you are disconnected when you cancel.

Waiting on UPC to install before I cancel.

foggy_lad

cast_iron wrote: »

Surely that would be a penalty?

there is a connection fee of €126 if you dont have a line in your house but they offer free connections if you sign up for 6 months. so if you leave within that 6months they would be entitled to claw back the connection fee.

cast_iron

foggy_lad wrote: »

there is a connection fee of €126 if you dont have a line in your house but they offer free connections if you sign up for 6 months. so if you leave within that 6months they would be entitled to claw back the connection fee.

Yes, if you voluntarily decide to leave. However, under the EU reg, you must leave "without penalty". I can't see how them charging you €126 is not a penalty.

Del2005

foggy_lad wrote: »

there is a connection fee of €126 if you dont have a line in your house but they offer free connections if you sign up for 6 months. so if you leave within that 6months they would be entitled to claw back the connection fee.

Just off the phone to Eircom now, I cancelled no problem.

I had about 1 month left of a 12 month contract and had gotten a free connection. No charges for cancelling and I'm getting refunded my unused line rental.

I can sign up again within 13 months for free.

The flyer says any customers affected by the changes can leave without penalty within one month of notification. If they charge you that's a penalty.

Sponge Bob

Last 2 days to escape eircom contracts. From monday you must give 30 days written notice .

91011

Only problem is who to move to.

Any I've looked at also have minimum call charges and other hidden charges such as exit fees (even after 12 months).