Eircom Fee in lieu of Notice

danmanw8

I recently switched to Vodafone who told me I did not need to contact Eircom in order to switch.
I only had a landline from Eircom (No broadband) and moved to a bundle with Vodafone.
I am happy so far the my Vodafone charges are correct.
My next bill from Eircom included a cancellation fee which more or less wiped out any credit I had for prepaid line rental. This was unexpected but I thought, Ok they probably have some clause about that.

However this morning I received another bill from Eircom in lieu of One-month's notice to cancel my account. This I feel is a rip-off.
I have had the landline since the 1970's so surely must have been out of any fixed term contract.

Anyone else been ripped off like this? Any advice?

Commander Shepard

I have heard about this eircom claim that you have to give them a months notice before leaving them this is completely illegal and I would suggest firstly don't pay and secondly write to comreg regarding this matter

danmanw8

Thanks Commander Shepard. Have written to ComReg but as my Eircom account was on direct debit I suspect there is nothing I can do except close my bank account which I obviously don't want to do.

Kristopherus

All you need to do is instruct your bank not to make any further payments to Eircom. And do that tomorrow.

Commander Shepard

Just cancel the direct debit

killer kilbane

Any update on this as I have been caught by same thing. What did you do?

sawdoubters

how long were you with eircom if over a year you should not have to cancel as any contract would be up

voderphone runs over eircom lines but they provide own equipment

they cant enforce the 30 day cancelation notice as it was not part of original contract,



I think the cancelation is only for broadband anyway,voderphone would have cancelled it when they took over your line

complain to com reg

http://www.comreg.ie/contact_us/comreg_contact_details.141.contact.html

killer kilbane

Was with eircom for 3 or 4 years! Then switched phone and broadband to sky. Been fined 20 euro plus vat for both changes..Comreg have told me that to write to eircom complaining about changes to terms and not been informed properly. At the moment they said there is not much they could do, but are trying to stop this, but its ongoing..... no idea what to do

Herr Khume Schuccs

Hi danmanw8,
Same story after switching to Sky. I told Eircom that I disputed this charge & not to seek the DD, they ignored this and tried to withdraw money anyway, luckily I had DD cancelled but they then imposed another fine on me for failing to pay. The good news is that ComReg ruled against this charge last year, so you should not have to pay. My saga is on the threads 'Beware if Switching from Eircom to Sky' and 'Why so many Problems after Switching from Eircom to Sky' these have a few relevant links including one to the ComReg decision.
I have found dealing with ComReg disappointing, the first person I got informed me that the matter was nothing to do with them, so you might have to persevere.
Best of luck,
HKS

crawler

http://www.comreg.ie/_fileupload/publications/ComReg13114.pdf

RangeR

danmanw8 wrote: »

Thanks Commander Shepard. Have written to ComReg but as my Eircom account was on direct debit I suspect there is nothing I can do except close my bank account which I obviously don't want to do.

You can also instruct your bank to return the funds to your account. Tell them that it was an unauthorised transaction. They MUST process it immediately, although they won't. You have to fight them for it.

RangeR

Herr Khume Schuccs wrote: »

I told Eircom that I disputed this charge & not to seek the DD, they ignored this and tried to withdraw money anyway, luckily I had DD cancelled but they then imposed another fine on me for failing to pay.

eircom are in direct violation of the Direct Debit Scheme rules and you should report them to IPSO.

Herr Khume Schuccs

Thanks for that RangeR,
I will report it to IPSO, have already raised this with Eircom, ComReg and the National Consumer Agency - none of these seemed too bothered.
Laws, rules, regulations etc do not appear to apply to Eircom. As well as attempting to take an unathorised direct debit from my account, they then fined me for not allowing it proceed. ComReg ruled against Eircoms requirement to give one months notice for contract termination (see http://www.comreg.ie/_fileupload/pub...omReg13114.pdf) - Eircom are ignoring it. VAT does not apply to cancellation charges (see http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/vat/leaflets/vat-forfeiteddeposits-cancellationcharges.pdf) but Eircom apply it anyway even though they were informed of this error on several occasions, including by Revenue. It looks like anything goes to add as many extra charges as possible if you dare switch from them.
HKS

RangeR

On a technicality, don't report them, per say. Make a formal complaint. That can't be ignored.