Waiting 11 weeks for info on a line installation

roro2

Could a rep please advise the best course of action here. I'll be as brief as possible.

A summary:
I ordered a phone/e-fibre package and a new line installation (new house) on November 5th, and was given an appointment for all of the above for 13th November. Great. But 13th November comes and goes with nothing from eircom, and then the madness begins.

I phone eircom customer service and nobody can tell me why the appointment was cancelled or what the issue is. I am promised a call-back with some info within 48hrs - this doesn't happen. I phone again - the issue is sent to the escalations team and I am promised another call-back within 24hrs - again this doesn't happen.

This repeats itself a few more times. I am repeatedly told the escalations team are investigating and someone will call me within 24/48hrs. Nobody in customer service can give me any info, let alone an installation date, or tell me why nobody has called me, or transfer me to someone in the escalation dept, or give me the contact details for someone who knows what's going on.

It is now 11 weeks since I placed the order and was given an installation date. Including today, I have phoned on 21 occasions and have been promised a call-back on every occasion. This has only happened twice - on 4th December I got a call from the escalations dept and was told there was no update; on 7th January I got a voicemail telling me that there was no cabling in place (this is not the case as others on the road have been connected, including next door neighbours). Since 7th January, I have phoned on 4 separate occasions, spoken to 4 different people, and been given no further information (except for the advisors to confirm there must be cabling in place if neighbours have been connected). Of course I have been promised a call-back that never happens.

This is farcical. A line installation should be a basic operation for eircom. It is frustrating enough that a line cannot be installed within 11 weeks (and counting). It is beyond frustrating that I have been given zero information in the 11 weeks, and even further beyond frustrating that nobody will take ownership of the issue or even call me back, and that I have been forced on 21 occasions to bang my head against the same brick wall - not including those times I've been on hold for 20+ minutes and had to hang up.

I am at a loss as to what to do. I can provide the names of those that I've spoken to and a summary of the conversations if required. Please advise how I should proceed.

roro2

Unsurprisingly, another promised call-back from eircom did not materialise yesterday.

Could I please get some advice on the best way to proceed here. Ringing customer service, explaining the whole story to another advisor, and then waiting for someone in eircom to call me back clearly does not work and there doesn't appear to be another way of trying to get this sorted.

roro2

Any chance I could get a response today?

burke027

You will be waiting I'd being waiting since the start launch of efibre only to get it installed Tuesday then the engineer left without finishing the tv service left me with nothing. Eircom is a disgrace call backs never happen ring kn networks yourself there the installation company

roro2

What about today for a response from the boards team?

I called 1901 again yesterday and finally got some, incomplete, info. Apparently a technician has said that there is a "cabling issue on the road" that needs some work and the scheduled date for completion is 17th March. The line installation will take some time after that (which will be 5 months after the order date). But the agent could not answer the following:

- What the issue is.
- Why it will take another 2 months (if this date is to be believed).
- Why next door houses with the identical set-up have already been connected (previous agents have confirmed that this means the cabling on the road is fine). And why I was previously told that a minor cabling issue would be resolved by 19th November (2013).
- Why it has taken 2.5 months to get this level of info.

After I explained that, after this long, this response from eircom was spectacularly inadequate, the agent reluctantly agreed to raise a follow-up query based on the above, but he was not hopeful he'd get any more detail from the technicians and I'd simply have to wait. He suggested the technicians are a law unto themselves, and there was no mechanism to question a technician's response (or lack of). The level of disinterest from customer service is staggering.

ComReg are investigating at this stage (but I'm not hopeful here) and they've confirmed that eircom has a statutory obligation to provide a phone line to every house in Ireland, and this doesn't appear to be happening in this case.

Grab All Association

Customer Service Guarantee

eircom operates a customer service guarantee. The service guarantee states that where eircom does not meet targets in relation to installation and fault repair customers may be entitled to a rebate as follows:

Installation: if eircom fails to install a line within 10 working days of eircom agreement to do so the customer can claim a credit of two months free line rental.

The rebate refers to PSTN installation only.

Repair: if eircom fails to clear faults within 2 working days customers can claim the equivalent of two months line rental.

The eircom rebate refers to PSTN fault repairs only and it does not apply in the circumstances outlined below:
Extreme weather conditions (eg storm, lightening, flooding)
Serious damage to telecommunications equipment caused by a third party
When a customer is unavailable to have their fault repaired in two working days
When the customer agrees to an appointment date in excess of two working days
If the fault is diagnosed as a non-fault (e.g. line working when tested, fault not in eircom’s network)
Where a replacement telephone is dispatched by post
Internal wiring and teleccommunication equipment within the customer premises or a third party property

http://www.askcomreg.ie/tell_us/universal_service_obligation___what_it_means_for_your_phone_service.264.LE.asp

roro2

Cheers. 10 working days:rolleyes:

Doesn't look like anyone is going to be much help here either...

woodoo

Your post worries me roro i am in the same position but i only applied a few weeks ago. I ring and ring but nobody calls back and nobody can give me any info or indication of how long it may take.. 

Comfreycream

roro2 wrote: »

Unsurprisingly, another promised call-back from eircom did not materialise yesterday.

Could I please get some advice on the best way to proceed here. Ringing customer service, explaining the whole story to another advisor, and then waiting for someone in eircom to call me back clearly does not work and there doesn't appear to be another way of trying to get this sorted.

Hi, I'm having the same problem. Waiting since 20 Dec last but unable to get broadband. They wanted proof first which send a solicitors letter stating I own the property etc. but still waiting. Help anyone please!

eircom: Alan

roro2 wrote: »

What about today for a response from the boards team?

I called 1901 again yesterday and finally got some, incomplete, info. Apparently a technician has said that there is a "cabling issue on the road" that needs some work and the scheduled date for completion is 17th March. The line installation will take some time after that (which will be 5 months after the order date). But the agent could not answer the following:

- What the issue is.
- Why it will take another 2 months (if this date is to be believed).
- Why next door houses with the identical set-up have already been connected (previous agents have confirmed that this means the cabling on the road is fine). And why I was previously told that a minor cabling issue would be resolved by 19th November (2013).
- Why it has taken 2.5 months to get this level of info.

After I explained that, after this long, this response from eircom was spectacularly inadequate, the agent reluctantly agreed to raise a follow-up query based on the above, but he was not hopeful he'd get any more detail from the technicians and I'd simply have to wait. He suggested the technicians are a law unto themselves, and there was no mechanism to question a technician's response (or lack of). The level of disinterest from customer service is staggering.

ComReg are investigating at this stage (but I'm not hopeful here) and they've confirmed that eircom has a statutory obligation to provide a phone line to every house in Ireland, and this doesn't appear to be happening in this case.

Hi roro2

I'm very sorry for the issues you are experiencing and the delays forecasted. Unfortunately I'm unable to explain the technical aspects surround the reason for a technicians appointment for works on the 17th of March however this would usually indicate that cabling is incomplete to your house and possible ducting may have to be complete. I really unable to offer more light on this and the best advice I can offer is that if you are making an official comreg complaint on this then I would advise contacting eircom complaints (1800200481) also as they will be able to investigate this for you.

Thanks

Al

roro2

Hi Al,

The ducts are complete - I advised eircom of this last November. The cabling is in place because next-door neighbours, with the identical set-up, have got lines installed. Maybe there is there some unique cabling issue specific to my house that I am unaware of, but nobody in eircom is able to tell me this, despite nearly 3 months of trying to find out. I'm not an unreasonable person - if there is a genuine reason why it will take 5-6 months (at latest estimates) to install a phone line then I'll have to accept that.

And to add to all of that, there was an engineer installing a line at another house on the road on Saturday - I asked him why might be there an issue at getting a phone line. He said some issues with cabling on the road had now been sorted, there shouldn't be any more delays and the March date was nonsense. His advice... ring customer service, tell them the issues are sorted and your neighbours have been connected!

Al - would this be your advice too? Just ring 1901 and repeat the same thing for the 23rd time and hope to get something other than apathy and a call-back that never happens? And rinse and repeat again. And just wait out the 5 months without ever finding out if there was a genuine delay?

There's nothing else that you, or any part of the whole customer service team in eircom, can do because someone put a note on the system that work will be completed on March 17th (a bank holiday)??

roro2

So there'll be no response from the eircom customer service team on boards either?

But not surprising really given the appalling customer service experienced over the last 3 months. And it's not as if I have a strange request for a telecoms company!

My advice to anyone in future - avoid this company like the plague.

roro2

Hi Alan,

I know you weren't able to help previously, but I have again been told by customer service that the escalations team are investigating (since November apparently) and someone would call me with an update. I was also told by an agent on January 23rd that the same agent would call me in 2-3 days with more information, and last Friday that someone would call me on Monday/Tuesday this week with some information.

As it's obvious that I am not going to get a call, could you advise what I should do? Surely that is the point of this forum.

I am simply trying to find out what the problem is that is causing a 5-6 month delay on getting a phone line installed, particularly given that a technician on site has said that all the problems are fixed. I don't think this is unreasonable.

eircom: Alan

roro2 wrote: »

Hi Alan,

I know you weren't able to help previously, but I have again been told by customer service that the escalations team are investigating (since November apparently) and someone would call me with an update. I was also told by an agent on January 23rd that the same agent would call me in 2-3 days with more information, and last Friday that someone would call me on Monday/Tuesday this week with some information.

As it's obvious that I am not going to get a call, could you advise what I should do? Surely that is the point of this forum.

I am simply trying to find out what the problem is that is causing a 5-6 month delay on getting a phone line installed, particularly given that a technician on site has said that all the problems are fixed. I don't think this is unreasonable.

Hi roro2

Can you PM me the order number please? I'll look in to this right away.

Thanks

Al

roro2

Hi Al,

PM sent 6th Feb. Any update?

Thanks

eircom: Tony

roro2 wrote: »

Hi Al,

PM sent 6th Feb. Any update?

Thanks

Apologies for delay in getting response to this roro2, I hope to have information or get you the promised call-backs to follow up on this.
Tony 

roro2

I have been waiting for information from the customer service team or from the escalations team in eircom since mid-November. I have been calling once or twice a week since then and I have never received a promised call back or any helpful information.

I have registered a formal complaint. This has not been responded to.

I have been waiting on information via this forum since January 21st. I have now posted 10 times and sent a PM with all the details.

Tony/Al - What do I need to do to find out why eircom will not install a phone line???

paulhardman

I'm in exactly the same boat as you @roro2 - order placed on Dec 5, technician came out on Dec 11, did some "testing" but somehow couldn't identify where the cable from the floor box outside my house was running to, despite the neighbours cable clearly being attached to it.  

All I want is for someone to come to my house, pull a cable through ducting (that has a rope threaded through it) and attach it.  

I've reported to Comreg, my case has been escalated over and over again including to the "National TCC" whatever that is, but still not a single call from anyone at Eircom since the day before the technician's visit.  Ash on Twitter also looked into my case, but could give no further info.

If someone tells me it won't be installed until March, fine.  But this line of "oh, it's been escalated" is just a joke!

roro2

paulhardman wrote: »

I'm in exactly the same boat as you @roro2 - order placed on Dec 5, technician came out on Dec 11, did some "testing" but somehow couldn't identify where the cable from the floor box outside my house was running to, despite the neighbours cable clearly being attached to it.  

All I want is for someone to come to my house, pull a cable through ducting (that has a rope threaded through it) and attach it.  

I've reported to Comreg, my case has been escalated over and over again including to the "National TCC" whatever that is, but still not a single call from anyone at Eircom since the day before the technician's visit.  Ash on Twitter also looked into my case, but could give no further info.

If someone tells me it won't be installed until March, fine.  But this line of "oh, it's been escalated" is just a joke!

Exactly. If there's a problem, so be it. Just explain to me what it is, how long it will take to fix, and why it will take that long. 3 months later, and nobody in the company can even tell me that much.

And nobody is bothered by that either - pass the buck, the non-existent escalations department are investigating, "of course you'll get a call back", "no, there's no managers or supervisors here you can talk to"...

eircom: Tony

roro2 wrote: »

paulhardman wrote: »

I'm in exactly the same boat as you @roro2 - order placed on Dec 5, technician came out on Dec 11, did some "testing" but somehow couldn't identify where the cable from the floor box outside my house was running to, despite the neighbours cable clearly being attached to it.  

All I want is for someone to come to my house, pull a cable through ducting (that has a rope threaded through it) and attach it.  

I've reported to Comreg, my case has been escalated over and over again including to the "National TCC" whatever that is, but still not a single call from anyone at Eircom since the day before the technician's visit.  Ash on Twitter also looked into my case, but could give no further info.

If someone tells me it won't be installed until March, fine.  But this line of "oh, it's been escalated" is just a joke!

Exactly. If there's a problem, so be it. Just explain to me what it is, how long it will take to fix, and why it will take that long. 3 months later, and nobody in the company can even tell me that much.

And nobody is bothered by that either - pass the buck, the non-existent escalations department are investigating, "of course you'll get a call back", "no, there's no managers or supervisors here you can talk to"...

Guys I do agree with you here. Though this has been escalated and call backs requested we can only apologies that you have not received this information. I will take the details of both cases again and see what I can find out for you.
Our sincere apologies that you have had to come back again for this.
Tony

eircom: Alan

roro2 wrote: »

paulhardman wrote: »

I'm in exactly the same boat as you @roro2 - order placed on Dec 5, technician came out on Dec 11, did some "testing" but somehow couldn't identify where the cable from the floor box outside my house was running to, despite the neighbours cable clearly being attached to it.  

All I want is for someone to come to my house, pull a cable through ducting (that has a rope threaded through it) and attach it.  

I've reported to Comreg, my case has been escalated over and over again including to the "National TCC" whatever that is, but still not a single call from anyone at Eircom since the day before the technician's visit.  Ash on Twitter also looked into my case, but could give no further info.

If someone tells me it won't be installed until March, fine.  But this line of "oh, it's been escalated" is just a joke!

Exactly. If there's a problem, so be it. Just explain to me what it is, how long it will take to fix, and why it will take that long. 3 months later, and nobody in the company can even tell me that much.

And nobody is bothered by that either - pass the buck, the non-existent escalations department are investigating, "of course you'll get a call back", "no, there's no managers or supervisors here you can talk to"...

[font=Times New Roman","serif]Hi roro2

I have received your PM and I have requested urgency with your case. Unfortunately I have yet to have confirmation with an installation date for you. I can see that the required works have been completed in your area to go ahead with the installation which is why I would like to assure you that I will actively chase this up for you and obtain an installation date as soon as possible. I understand the delays are very disappointing and I sincerely apologise for this.

Thanks

Al[/font]

roro2

Another 5 days with nothing. I am now waiting 16 weeks.

Is it too much to expect that this can be treated with priority given the ordeal I have experienced since last November??

eircom: Alan

roro2 wrote: »

Another 5 days with nothing. I am now waiting 16 weeks.

Is it too much to expect that this can be treated with priority given the ordeal I have experienced since last November??

Hi roro2

I'm very sorry I do not have an update on this for you, I am actively chasing this up and will continue to do so.

Thanks

Al

roro2

Hi Al,

I can only take your word that you're chasing this up. But it seems bizarre that nobody in eircom thinks that this situation and delay is unacceptable, and will contact the necessary people internally to sort it out.

In any properly-functioning organisation, a new customer experiencing a 4-month delay with zero information or contact made with that customer despite 30+ contacts from them, formal complaints made, etc would cause serious alarm bells to ring. It would be escalated to a level where it could be immediately sorted out and whatever arrangements needed to be made would be.

Eircom clearly don't work like this.

eircom: Alan

roro2 wrote: »

Hi Al,

PM sent 6th Feb. Any update?

Thanks

[font=Times New Roman","serif]Hi Roro2

I have received confirmation that required ducting on the Lapwing Road is still to be completed and cabling to be pulled in there. [/font]
[font=Times New Roman","serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman","serif]I am afraid we cannot complete your order until this infrastructure is in place. Unfortunately we do not have a forecast date for this at present.[/font]
[font=Times New Roman","serif]Our apologies that we are unable to supply this service at this time and for inconvenience cause you.[/font]


[font=Times New Roman","serif]When I have further information on these works I will let you know however at present I have no information surround timeframes on this.[/font]


[font=Times New Roman","serif]Alan[/font]

roro2

Alan,

This is the message from last November! A next door neighbour got their line installed late Dec/early Jan - I have sent you their phone number - how can this happen if there is no cabling or ducting on the road?! This is a serious question.

An eircom technician on site on January 25th confirmed that the issues are sorted and there was no reason for any further delays. How can he talk to me about the layout of the cabling on the road if it doesn't exist??

roro2

Alan,

Can you give me any idea as to why neighbours on the road have had lines installed if there is no ducting/cabling on the road?

Can you also tell me why there seems to be a policy in eircom of not acknowledging or responding to formal complaints? I presume its similar to the policy of ignoring promises of call-backs.