broadband connection rigmarole...

paup.ie

I will try to summarise as succinct as possible what has been, unfortunately, a rather poor experience to date.

Move to a new house (renting)...
Called Eircom 28th Dec looking to get connected...
I was told - phone line at new place has been disconnected for over 2 years so engineer will need to come check. Understandable so far, cool, so I waited.

I was told it would be a couple of weeks.


14th Jan received a text from eircom saying Engineer would be at site 15th Jan between 9:30 and 1pm. KN Engineers arrived around 3pm - sound guys, couldn't fine a line connection, so they had to call for civil works team to "dig in" a new line.
Seemingly "there is an exchange/sub-exchange only a couple of hundred meters from my house so it should be straight forward enough"...

Friday 24th Jan get a call from someone at KN - new cable would be installed on Monday 27th.
Took the morning off work to be there to let them in to test the line once cable was installed. No one turned up, no calls received from anyone. Called Eircom to ask what's going on - Eircom said "don't know why, we will escelate to (insert team name here), and they would call me back".

Sometime later that week/early the next week I called Eircom to follow up and ask what the story was. They said 7-10 days someone will be in contact. 

Got a call from an install team one morning with notice (I was already at work) - "We're here to install your line, we can do it without out you being here". Great!
Later that afternoon (3pm'sih) - got a call from another install engineer - "I'm here to test the connection in the house", Sorry I said I wasn't expecting anyone to come and can't be home until 5pm at the earliest. So he said sorry, we'll have to reschedule.

13th Feb about 6pm get a call from KN - engineer will be on site tomorrow (Friday 14th) - I was a bit annoyed at the pretty late notice, but hey, beggers can't be choosers!!

Engineer calls me on the way to the house, nice guy, says he'll do whatever he needs to check on the pole first, then he will let me know if he needs me to come to the house. About an hour later he calls, I drive back to the house, he installs a new socket! Bobs your uncle - phone line working. 
I will add, this engineer had no information at hand on my connection - he didn't know what had/had not been done prior to his arrival - I find that a bit strange...
Anyway, he tells me the line needs to go through some commissioning tests so leave it until Monday before calling Eircom.

Monday 17th Feb call eircom.
May I add at this stage that I really dislike the rigmarole of calling eircom - I call up give them an order number and it always seems like it's a surprise to them... " Is this a new line sir?" - I explain the story (stupidly), Technically it's not a new line.... bla bla bla.... Silence....
YES seems to be the right answer.
Any, 17th Feb - talk to some guy... Same old 5-7 days to "test" the line...

Monday 24th call back - "sorry sir, it's more like 7-10 days for testing"... I'll escalate the case and call you back personally in the next 24hrs.....

Wednesday 26th (3 full working days later), no call back, so I did the same thing I do every time - Call 1901, wait for the guys to stop talking, press # (my phone number is not recognised), press 1, press 1 again..... wait! Surprise I have an order number...
Anyway get through to a guy who has answers, well.... an answer, then no answers - really helpful!
"Sorry Sir", he says "no port available at the exchange".... "you can't get broadband until a port becomes available".
Now we're getting somewhere - I say "thank you, it's nice, for once, to get a straight answer" (not being sarcastic).
So I ask "how long do I have to wait, or, is there someone I can talk to to get this port made available?" - Stone Wall... Don't know how long, no, there is no one you can talk to.


So in the countless hours of my blossoming relationship with Eircom and all her prommises of the joys of "next generation" broadband, or eFibre and eVision if you're lucky... I get a, lame story of no available ports!!! Not a too far from an exchange, not a we don't service your area...


In the space of 2 months - not a single phone call has been received from anyone at Eircom. I've had lots of "sorries" when I call up, but that's all pretty hollow when the person saying sorry never seems to follow up, or doesn't have the power/ability to follow up...

So I'm here asking this question on a public forum as there seems to be no other way to find someone to help...

"How can I get my broadband connection?"

explodingonion

paup.ie wrote: »

I will try to summarise as succinct as possible what has been, unfortunately, a rather poor experience to date.

Move to a new house (renting)...
Called Eircom 28th Dec looking to get connected...
I was told - phone line at new place has been disconnected for over 2 years so engineer will need to come check. Understandable so far, cool, so I waited.

I was told it would be a couple of weeks.


14th Jan received a text from eircom saying Engineer would be at site 15th Jan between 9:30 and 1pm. KN Engineers arrived around 3pm - sound guys, couldn't fine a line connection, so they had to call for civil works team to "dig in" a new line.
Seemingly "there is an exchange/sub-exchange only a couple of hundred meters from my house so it should be straight forward enough"...

Friday 24th Jan get a call from someone at KN - new cable would be installed on Monday 27th.
Took the morning off work to be there to let them in to test the line once cable was installed. No one turned up, no calls received from anyone. Called Eircom to ask what's going on - Eircom said "don't know why, we will escelate to (insert team name here), and they would call me back".

Sometime later that week/early the next week I called Eircom to follow up and ask what the story was. They said 7-10 days someone will be in contact. 

Got a call from an install team one morning with notice (I was already at work) - "We're here to install your line, we can do it without out you being here". Great!
Later that afternoon (3pm'sih) - got a call from another install engineer - "I'm here to test the connection in the house", Sorry I said I wasn't expecting anyone to come and can't be home until 5pm at the earliest. So he said sorry, we'll have to reschedule.

13th Feb about 6pm get a call from KN - engineer will be on site tomorrow (Friday 14th) - I was a bit annoyed at the pretty late notice, but hey, beggers can't be choosers!!

Engineer calls me on the way to the house, nice guy, says he'll do whatever he needs to check on the pole first, then he will let me know if he needs me to come to the house. About an hour later he calls, I drive back to the house, he installs a new socket! Bobs your uncle - phone line working. 
I will add, this engineer had no information at hand on my connection - he didn't know what had/had not been done prior to his arrival - I find that a bit strange...
Anyway, he tells me the line needs to go through some commissioning tests so leave it until Monday before calling Eircom.

Monday 17th Feb call eircom.
May I add at this stage that I really dislike the rigmarole of calling eircom - I call up give them an order number and it always seems like it's a surprise to them... " Is this a new line sir?" - I explain the story (stupidly), Technically it's not a new line.... bla bla bla.... Silence....
YES seems to be the right answer.
Any, 17th Feb - talk to some guy... Same old 5-7 days to "test" the line...

Monday 24th call back - "sorry sir, it's more like 7-10 days for testing"... I'll escalate the case and call you back personally in the next 24hrs.....

Wednesday 26th (3 full working days later), no call back, so I did the same thing I do every time - Call 1901, wait for the guys to stop talking, press # (my phone number is not recognised), press 1, press 1 again..... wait! Surprise I have an order number...
Anyway get through to a guy who has answers, well.... an answer, then no answers - really helpful!
"Sorry Sir", he says "no port available at the exchange".... "you can't get broadband until a port becomes available".
Now we're getting somewhere - I say "thank you, it's nice, for once, to get a straight answer" (not being sarcastic).
So I ask "how long do I have to wait, or, is there someone I can talk to to get this port made available?" - Stone Wall... Don't know how long, no, there is no one you can talk to.


So in the countless hours of my blossoming relationship with Eircom and all her prommises of the joys of "next generation" broadband, or eFibre and eVision if you're lucky... I get a, lame story of no available ports!!! Not a too far from an exchange, not a we don't service your area...


In the space of 2 months - not a single phone call has been received from anyone at Eircom. I've had lots of "sorries" when I call up, but that's all pretty hollow when the person saying sorry never seems to follow up, or doesn't have the power/ability to follow up...

So I'm here asking this question on a public forum as there seems to be no other way to find someone to help...

"How can I get my broadband connection?"

I am having pretty much the same problem..
I ordered Efibre on Thurs 16th Jan, KN installed phone line on Sat 27th Jan, Eircom called to install Efibre modem on Wed 5th Feb. Modem would not pick up on signal, installer left & took modem with him, saying that the port was not activated. He assured me he would log a call with the office. I phoned Eircom on Fri 7th Feb to enquire about the issue. They escalated to (some team in the abyss) and gave me a case number. I phoned again to follow up on Wed 12th Feb and was told to wait 7-10 working days. I waited......... and phoned back today (15 working days later!) and was told to wait again. I am "under contract" so cannot leave or will have to pay a cancellation fee. So..I'll just have to wait for the "team" to get back to me.

I also rang another provider to see if I could order broadband with them (seeing as Eircom are not interested or getting in touch with me) who said the phone line is not active or available for them to use.
So Eircom pretty much have me by the balls..I cannot get the service from them or any other provider..

It is coming up on a month & half since I ordered.
Any suggestions as to what I can do?

paup.ie

explodingonion wrote: »

I am having pretty much the same problem..
I ordered Efibre on Thurs 16th Jan, KN installed phone line on Sat 27th Jan, Eircom called to install Efibre modem on Wed 5th Feb. Modem would not pick up on signal, installer left & took modem with him, saying that the port was not activated. He assured me he would log a call with the office. I phoned Eircom on Fri 7th Feb to enquire about the issue. They escalated to (some team in the abyss) and gave me a case number. I phoned again to follow up on Wed 12th Feb and was told to wait 7-10 working days. I waited......... and phoned back today (15 working days later!) and was told to wait again. I am "under contract" so cannot leave or will have to pay a cancellation fee. So..I'll just have to wait for the "team" to get back to me.

I also rang another provider to see if I could order broadband with them (seeing as Eircom are not interested or getting in touch with me) who said the phone line is not active or available for them to use.
So Eircom pretty much have me by the balls..I cannot get the service from them or any other provider..

It is coming up on a month & half since I ordered.
Any suggestions as to what I can do?

Hi explodingonion, it's a nightmare!!!
I'm pretty sure under the "Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act"

Under this Act the purchaser of goods has a number of rights - the main ones are

• Goods must be of merchantable quality – goods should be of reasonable quality taking into account what they are meant to do, their durability and their price
• Goods must be fit for their purpose – they must do what they are reasonably expected to do
• Goods must be as described - the buyer must not be mislead into buying something by the description of goods or services given orally by a salesperson or an advertisement.
  

[*]

You would certainly not qualify as being "under contract" - paying for a broadband contract and not getting broadband certainly qualifies.

But yes, unfortunately, it's true... a private company appears to own the telecoms infrastructure of the whole country so none of the other providers can help you with a fixed line solution unless Eircom connect you to the network!