Eircom are duping customers - beware!

dub45

Kevin Irving wrote: »

95-99% of people really won't ever go over 250Gb/month and those that do, a large percentage would be downloading movies. You can give a heap of other reasons, but everyone knows it's movies. I think it's fair to call 250Gb "Unlimited", especially since noone has been charged yet. eircom have to give themselves an option in the contract to cut off/charge someone who is taking the absolute piss or supplying all their neighbours with cheap broadband.

It's not 'fair' to call 250Gb (or any other number) unlimited it's a lie - its that simple.

Eircom can of course give themselves an option in relation to a customer's usage by that well known device called a 'cap'. Very simple indeed and requires no dishonesty and the customer knows exactly where they stand.

Kevin Irving wrote: »

Just to contrast, eircom were very honest with me when they offered to increase my broadband speed - saying that I would get no more benefit from an "8Mb" connection over a 4mb connection. Not an eircom custom anymore btw.

Isn't honesty what we should be able to take for granted from all companies?

Bikerguy

dub45 wrote: »

It's not 'fair' to call 250Gb (or any other number) unlimited it's a lie - its that simple.

for me is explanation simple ---> fair usage cap = 250gb

as most of the people/users wont go even near 250gb ---> maybe 90%+ so why not call it "unlimited"? under this circumstances it sound fair to me.

then u can start blaming every mobile network provider with "unlimited free calls",because there is also a fair cap behind. this is the way how it works mate.

dub45

Bikerguy wrote: »

for me is explanation simple ---> fair usage cap = 250gb

as most of the people/users wont go even near 250gb ---> maybe 90%+ so why not call it "unlimited"? under this circumstances it sound fair to me.

Unlimited has a specific meaning it is not up to Eircom or any other company to change its meaning.

Why not call it what it is? A product with a cap of 250Gb that's not only fair its the truth!

Why should any company want to lie and mislead its customers and potential users. And why you should call a product description "fair" when it is blatantly untruthful is completely baffling.

And as I am forever pointing out just because other companies also lie doesn't make it right "mate".

Bikerguy

dub45 wrote: »

Unlimited has a specific meaning it is not up to Eircom or any other company to change its meaning.

Why not call it what it is? A product with a cap of 250Gb that's not only fair its the truth!

Why should any company want to lie and mislead its customers and potential users. And why you should call a product description "fair" when it is blatantly untruthful is completely baffling.

And as I am forever pointing out just because other companies also lie doesn't make it right "mate".

lol i didnt mean in bad way "mate"

yes you are right, i cant disagree with the direction that you are pointing at. But the sales strategies has changed over the years and this is all around us. Its not EIRCOM only ---> example

SUGAR-FREE chewingum (its not sugarfree -small letters on the package will only confirm that)
Fat FREE milk ---> its also not really fat free (the same apply)

and much more products from daily life.

even the adds like call us and you gonna get free "something" thats also not really truth. so this is the world we are currently living in

so all in one everything that is bigger, larger that can single/average customer use/eat, means unlimited even if its not nowadays

so i believe there is the point where EIRCOM is aloud to use word "unlimited" for such a service.

zenno

Bikerguy wrote: »

as most of the people/users wont go even near 250gb ---> maybe 90%+ so why not call it "unlimited"? under this circumstances it sound fair to me.

WHY ? Because it is false advertising, you cannot advertise unlimited broadband when it is not unlimited. i mean do i need to draw you a map ?.

get rid of all text relating to UNLIMITED on Eircoms website and simply say in writing to your entering customers that their is a cap of 20gb/50gb/250gb etc...and if you go over this you will be charged such amount. and make it clearly readable for all customers to see instead of this half-arsed scenario you have now. if i have to explain this to you then there is something seriously wrong with you're business/company. change the text via webmaster which will take him/her only a few minutes and problem solved instead of making a big mishmash of hidden wording and policy text that confuses the consumer/or new customer.

dub45

Bikerguy wrote: »

lol i didnt mean in bad way "mate"

yes you are right, i cant disagree with the direction that you are pointing at. But the sales strategies has changed over the years and this is all around us. Its not EIRCOM only ---> example

SUGAR-FREE chewingum (its not sugarfree -small letters on the package will only confirm that)
Fat FREE milk ---> its also not fat free (the same apply)

and much more products from daily life.

even the adds like call us and you gonna get free "something" thats also not really truth. so this is the world we are currently living in

so all in one everything that is bigger, larger that can single customer use/eat, means unlimited even if its not nowadays

so i believe there is the point where EIRCOM is aloud to use word "unlimited" for such a service.

Quite honestly it is irrelevant what you believe.

Fact - unlimited has a specific meaning.

Fact - The product Eircom are selling has a cap.

Is the product unlimited - No

Are Eircom telling the truth - No.

Is there any reason for Eircom to describe this product as unlimited other than a desire to mislead - apparently not.

Companies only get away with telling lies because we as a society and lapdogs like the asa put up with it. And it is quite extraordinary that apparently sane and intelligent people persist in defending companies who are blatantly lying to the public every day!

Bikerguy

eircom: Ant wrote: »

As said, there has been no charge ever applied for going over the fair usage of 250Gb.

Regards,
Ant

check it out... eircom representative statement. so?

its also say fair usage --> it didnt mean your connexion will be gone after you will go over.

and i can end it with words you are right here. i am just trying to defend the word unlimited - not eircom by any means


Fact - unlimited has a specific meaning. ---> yes i agree

Fact - The product Eircom are selling has a cap. ---> yes i agree

Is the product unlimited ---> yes it is according the statement above

Are Eircom telling the truth ----> clearly is.

dub45

Bikerguy wrote: »

check it out... eircom representative statement. so?

And will they guarantee that no customer will ever be charged for exceeding the cap? (i have asked this and of course it was ignored!)

dub45

Bikerguy wrote: »

check it out... eircom representative statement. so?

its also say fair usage --> it didnt mean your connexion will be gone after you will go over.

and i can end it with words you are right here. i am just trying to defen the word unlimited - not eircom by any means

You could have fooled me (and I am sure others!!) Eircom are doing the lying and incidentally abusing the word "unlimited" by distorting its meaning and you are using the word "fair" in relation to this behaviour?

zenno

Ok, I'll say it... for anyone thinking of embedding themselves into a 1 year contract with Eircom, think very carefully before you do or there will be another 10 threads made about this on boards.ie.

firstly, before you decide to go with Eircom read their dodgy policy regarding unlimited broadband and also if you have time read and understand their unlimited and fair usage policy and then when you spend a while reading it, run as far away as you can if possible. this Eircom scenario has being going on for years and I still see new posts popping up with queries regarding this unlimited lark which does not exist.

I am not here to attack Eircom but I will stay here and point out the bloody faults until Eircom has some respect to the consumers they could be taking on. Eircoms stance on this for so long now is the usual.. ignore all comments and carry on regardless while undermining the consumer/as to fool and drag a few into a 1 year contract of deluge.

zenno

Bikerguy wrote: »

check it out... eircom representative statement. so?

its also say fair usage --> it didnt mean your connexion will be gone after you will go over.

and i can end it with words you are right here. i am just trying to defend the word unlimited - not eircom by any means


Fact - unlimited has a specific meaning. ---> yes i agree

Fact - The product Eircom are selling has a cap. ---> yes i agree

Is the product unlimited ---> yes it is according the statement above

Are Eircom telling the truth ----> clearly is.

If i was you I would focus on you're assumption of above details as they are not note-worthy in any regard sir.

Bikerguy

dub45 wrote: »

You could have fooled me (and I am sure others!!) Eircom are doing the lying and incidentally abusing the word "unlimited" by distorting its meaning and you are using the word "fair" in relation to this behaviour?

i was only trying to explain myself how i see it and how it sound to me.

What behavior btw of who?

the Eircom agent clearly stated there was no such a charge ever made going over the fair usage cap - but because the fair cap is there he cant say its not - it will be like going with his head against the wall.... is it not enough? the fair usage cap is maybe to avoid people using the "unlimited option against the law, by downloading large files or so, or maybe letting large companies using private packages" or so... but once again no charge was EVER made going over...

zenno

dub45 wrote: »

I haven't got the foggiest notion of what you are attempting to say

you have me confused here as my comment was clearly forwarded to above poster, not you. my above comment stands.

dub45

zenno wrote: »

you have me confused here as my comment was clearly forwarded to above poster, not you. my above comment stands.

Apologies I completely misread your post and have deleted my respsonse.

zenno

Bikerguy wrote: »

the Eircom agent clearly stated there was no such a charge ever made going over the fair usage cap - but because the fair cap is there he cant say its not

Is that so...

Eircom ! First ever Over usage Charge!
Hey,

I got an eircom bill today! and i was shocked to see I was charged for going over my internet usage limit. First time ever!

But heres the thing! , I was on a 3mb line with 30GB allowance , and i found out that everyone got upgraded to 8mb line with 10GB allowance during the summer!!!! and my line can only get 3mb anyway..?????

It seems unfair im getting charged for going over my allowance when i got "upgraded"...seems like a downgrade to me.

I owe 40euro extra with them, do I have any rights?

Source: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056061362

never believe what customer care says, as you have to wake them up first and then ask them again are they fully awake as to take your message verbally.


As the new take-over of Eircom will happen soon or over the next few months be careful because I cannot see this faulty business melding with good business intentions. ask yourself why are they selling Eircom again ? what's this the 6th 7th time ?. common sense should prevail in the consumer locality.

Bikerguy

zenno wrote: »

Is that so...

Eircom ! First ever Over usage Charge!
Hey,

I got an eircom bill today! and i was shocked to see I was charged for going over my internet usage limit. First time ever!

But heres the thing! , I was on a 3mb line with 30GB allowance , and i found out that everyone got upgraded to 8mb line with 10GB allowance during the summer!!!! and my line can only get 3mb anyway..?????

It seems unfair im getting charged for going over my allowance when i got "upgraded"...seems like a downgrade to me.

I owe 40euro extra with them, do I have any rights?

Source: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056061362

i didnt wanna react on any off your comments because i could feel that you had some bad experience (backround) with Eircom and therefore our conversation will only get to the point when you gonna start calling me "sir" and downgrading my statements. and here we go...

the cap and term unlimited is not for 3mbs speeds or 8mbs and 10gb... this is applying only in case where is the fair usage cap 250gb. so your first ever usage cap charge is a bit misleading. i would advice you add few more € to your monthly bill and you can get the famous "unlimited" deal with fair cap. the difference is minimum.
on other hand i fully understand and respect your decision and i think downgrading theline in your case without the possibility to quit contract isnt fair at all... but thats another case

Tayla

Pillar_Citizen wrote: »

Why is this service called 'next generation broadband' when it clearly an underperforming previous generation product in comparison with broadband offered by other ISPs?

Yes seriously what do you mean exactly by 'next generation broadband?' It's definitely not next generation.

zenno wrote: »

WHY ? Because it is false advertising, you cannot advertise unlimited broadband when it is not unlimited. i mean do i need to draw you a map ?.

I agree, I've seen some mobile phone packages before that claim to have unlimited free calls each month and when you read the small print they say that they are limited to 45000 minutes per month which is roughly the exact amount of minutes in a month.

If Eircom want to say it is unlimited then the only gigabyte cap that they should be allowed to quote is the maximum amount of gigabytes it would be possible for someone to use in a month.

Bikerguy

Tayla wrote: »

If Eircom want to say it is unlimited then the only gigabyte cap that they should be allowed to quote is the maximum amount of gigabytes it would be possible for someone to use in a month.

perfect statement.. i could never say it better.. and according average monthly usage ---> 250gb is far away from the reall number..thats the reason where the word "unlimited" is on the right place.

zenno

Bikerguy wrote: »

i didnt wanna react on any off your comments because i could feel that you had some bad experience (backround) with Eircom and therefore our conversation will only get to the point when you gonna start calling me "sir" and downgrading my statements.

You have got this all wrong.

Firstly: I don't use Eircom anymore as I am on upc and I have dealt with upc accordingly as well as Eircom about this on-going issue with their clarification on unlimited, but i'm not going to call you sir .

All I ask for is that Eircom and including other isp's that they clearly state their policy on-site and get rid of that UNLIMITED FALSEHOOD

jeni

im having the very same problem as the first poster, ive been fighting with eircom for over six months, its just so frustrating, ive ended up in tears trying to get them to listen to me,

i even got an email from them telling me i was irate and i refuse to listen to them,

theyve blamed the slow broadband on so many things, its getting funny, last time they blamed my laptop that was two hours old, when i told them it was new they said oooh, its your phone causing it then aaaaaaaaargh

zenno

jeni wrote: »

im having the very same problem as the first poster, ive been fighting with eircom for over six months, its just so frustrating, ive ended up in tears trying to get them to listen to me,

i even got an email from them telling me i was irate and i refuse to listen to them,

theyve blamed the slow broadband on so many things, its getting funny, last time they blamed my laptop that was two hours old, when i told them it was new they said oooh, its your phone causing it then aaaaaaaaargh

Yeah, they expect everyone to be technicians.

looks like they don't even have time for the layman to troubleshoot.

FanadMan

As Milton Friedman said "There's no such thing as a free lunch". If you are paying for any service there is gonna be a limit. This is true no matter where you go.....even Springfield (google "The Simpsons New Kid on the Block)

Just deal with it and be thankful. You live in an area that has NGB or UPC. Where I live I have a choice of dialup or 3 mobile broadband (with 25Gb limit). Eircom refused to come within 2 miles of here and cable is something you hear about on tv

If you come even close to 250Gb a month then you are either working from home or doing some serious torrenting.

Just count your blessings and forget about quoting your dictionary for definations for unlimited :rolleyes:

barone

its simply because unlimited sounds much better than capped.. misleading

also if the offer was 250GB PER MONTH BROADBAND USAGE thats a target to reach in most peoples eyes..

doubt they would want everyone trying to reach it, unlimited and you tend to forget sometimes that you can download an awful lot a month.

way i see it anyway, yes its misleading

sproggy13

I do not download movies or songs? Most of my time online is on gambling sites

dub45

FanadMan wrote: »

As Milton Friedman said "There's no such thing as a free lunch". If you are paying for any service there is gonna be a limit. This is true no matter where you go.....even Springfield (google "The Simpsons New Kid on the Block)

Just deal with it and be thankful. You live in an area that has NGB or UPC. Where I live I have a choice of dialup or 3 mobile broadband (with 25Gb limit). Eircom refused to come within 2 miles of here and cable is something you hear about on tv

If you come even close to 250Gb a month then you are either working from home or doing some serious torrenting.

Just count your blessings and forget about quoting your dictionary for definations for unlimited :rolleyes:

And you are entitled to know what you are paying for!

And as regards defining the meaning of words how shocking that is!

So when you get a carton of sour milk which is described on the packet as fresh you have no problem? Or when aer lingus decide that they will call knock airport 'Paris' in future. Who cares about the meaning of words?

curehead

im with eircom 5 years my bill was always 49.99 line rental 20 quid and broadband 29.99 something like that add in tax on top bills were always same month after month after month.
that was up to few months ago then suddenly bills went up to 60-70 quid saying something about going over usage
yes i watch movies and yes i play poker and stream music but i always have
and not more-so any month from another
why all of a sudden these charges
fair enough if i went over some limit but it doesn't make sense that i suddenly started using my computer for all this downloading that i can't equate for
one of those month's i was away on holidays for two weeks where it was idle
i too thought it was unlimited
im not so much tech savvy so no point ringing up when i don't really know what its all about so i just paid it and tried to curtail my usage but im still going over these limits that i never really had before.

Bikerguy

curehead wrote: »

im with eircom 5 years my bill was always 49.99 line rental 20 quid and broadband 29.99 something like that add in tax on top bills were always same month after month after month.
that was up to few months ago then suddenly bills went up to 60-70 quid saying something about going over usage
yes i watch movies and yes i play poker and stream music but i always have
and not more-so any month from another
why all of a sudden these charges
fair enough if i went over some limit but it doesn't make sense that i suddenly started using my computer for all this downloading that i can't equate for
one of those month's i was away on holidays for two weeks where it was idle
i too thought it was unlimited
im not so much tech savvy so no point ringing up when i don't really know what its all about so i just paid it and tried to curtail my usage but im still going over these limits that i never really had before.

i really doubt that by watching movies and streaming you will go over 250gb... there must be something going on. maybe a mistake made?

curehead

possibly. to be honest i dont know much about megabytes and how much or how long being online uses
so ringing them up and having them tell me i went over my "limit" won't help me what can i do ? they just waffle computer jargon.
eircom are difficult enough to deal with when you know you are in the right

Bikerguy

curehead wrote: »

possibly. to be honest i dont know much about megabytes and how much or how long being online uses
so ringing them up and having them tell me i went over my "limit" won't help me what can i do ? they just waffle computer jargon.
eircom are difficult enough to deal with when you know you are in the right

yeh ring them, or wait for Eircom agent to log in here (most likely Monday) they will help you out. thats unreal.. even for gaming.


just for example

average movie 95 min will take 174 MBs (optimal quality) streaming online

so in 250 000MB (250GB) u had to watch at least 1436 movies a month to go over it.... LOL i doubt anyone would be able to meet the numbers.


for gaming its about 1gb for 12 hours heavy gaming for really intense graphic game (every game is different)

they are only examples - it can be even less then that.

eircom: Ant

gpf101 wrote: »

I don't. I couldn't be further from working for Eircom to be honest.

I actually think Eircom are quite a poor, disorganised organisation. They messed up my order a few months ago and it really annoyed me. But it gets annoying when people blame Eircom for the physical limits of ADSL, and don't enquire into something as basic as a useage cap when ordering broadband.

Now that the order is sorted I'm very happy with the ADSL service they provide. I get this same result 24/7 every day since I've had broadband installed. The useage limit is 250GB and they don't charge for going over it so it's effectively unlimited.



ADSL is an imperfect technology that uses in many cases, old, twisted pairs of copper wire and it's very distance dependent. It's not like there's an evil genius sitting in Eircom HQ deliberately slowing your connection down...

Appreciate your comments and apologies for the delay posting.

I realise that some terms like unlimited are used in a general way and that there's always different views on terms like unlimited and this is not an absolute science. The term 'Fair usage' is used by many companies like eircom. It is primarily used to avoid abuse of the system and to support the vast mass of broadband users.
Obviously there are some who may have an interest in dialectically opposing eircom or anything they do. That's fair enough. This is an open discussion forum and I respect your views. In this respect though, I think that we will have to differ on this.

250GB is certainly an awsome download /upload usage. It would be quite difficult for standard residential broadband users to go over this amount. Same for any one who's a gamer /or into Skyping their friends and family /or for any one that just likes watching video online. This is a huge amount of broadband usage. It's probably the last comment, and fair to say it's best to agree to differ on what constitutes fair usage; in respect of residential broadband.

Thanks again for your posts.
Ant