Response to complaint

kat939

I moved house in April last year. I called eircom in March 2013 in order to cancel our broadband account and was told that the contract was set to run until May 6th. I asked that the contract be cancelled at that point and was told that would be fine, as it covered the 30 day notice period and the contract was due to run out anyway.

Next thing the service kept running and bills kept arriving - I didn't realise this for some time because I wasn't living in the house - but when I discussed it with the new tenants they were happy to keep paying for the service and wanted to keep it. I said that was fine but asked that they change it into one of their own names which obviously never happened. 

Later on the summer I got an email saying that the bill was overdue. I phoned straight away and explained the situation and asked that the service be cancelled as I was no longer living in the house. I was told again about the 30 day notice period. Once again it wasn't cancelled. I rang again in September/October and was told for the first time to send a letter to the 'cancellations' address, which I did on October 1st. Once again it wasn't cancelled. I didn't know this until the landlady called me to say it, as I had stopped getting emails so had assumed that it had been cancelled. 

When I rang again I was told (again for the first time) to send an email, but that there would still be a 30 day notice period. I explained again how long I had been trying to cancel this account and the agent I spoke to suggested that I ask the tenants and the landlady to write in, which I did. As I understand it the account was then cancelled. However the last two months were not paid. I didn't know that either until this past April, when I recently received a letter from a debt collection agency looking for the outstanding amount. Considering the numerous attempts I had made to cancel the account, and the amount of time I've spent trying to sort this out, I am not prepared to do that.

I called Customer Care at the end of April to try and find out what was going on. I was told that the various calls were noted on the system but not the content, so a complaint would be opened and I would hear back within 5-10 days. I hadn't, so I called again today. After nearly half an hour on the phone, talking first to customer care, being transferred to cancellations and then transferred back to customer care to be told that as there was no evidence that I had contacted eircom they could not issue a refund. At that point there appeared to be a problem with the connection and I was cut off, and not called back. 

I have no intention of paying an outstanding amount on a bill for a house I haven't lived in for over a year, not when I have made every effort to cancel the account, doing exactly what I was asked to do at each stage. How come there was evidence of me contacting eircom regarding this 3 weeks ago, and today there was suddenly "none"? Why did I have to call myself for a response to a complaint that I had made? And why should I be expected to pay an outstanding amount when I had tried everything I could to cancel this account?

matt360

Eircom have the worst customer service. Ordered broadband in January. Only got a line in this week. Rang loaf's of times to be told a technician would be out in 7 days. Someone would come not finish the job and go home.

Unless I rang eircom I wouldn't hear anything from them. I'd ring and be told, another 7 days. A different technician would turn up, not finish and go. Again no contact from eircom. Another 7 days, original technician. Apparently the other guy undid the work he did blah blah blah.

So 3 weeks ago I rang Vodafone. The same technician that came out the first ever day from eircom arrives at the door. 2 weeks later lone is in. Technician called 3 times. Each time they left I was rang by Vodafone with an update.
I wonder do Eircom want the bother of new customers.

eircom: Alan

kat939 wrote: »

I moved house in April last year. I called eircom in March 2013 in order to cancel our broadband account and was told that the contract was set to run until May 6th. I asked that the contract be cancelled at that point and was told that would be fine, as it covered the 30 day notice period and the contract was due to run out anyway.

Next thing the service kept running and bills kept arriving - I didn't realise this for some time because I wasn't living in the house - but when I discussed it with the new tenants they were happy to keep paying for the service and wanted to keep it. I said that was fine but asked that they change it into one of their own names which obviously never happened. 

Later on the summer I got an email saying that the bill was overdue. I phoned straight away and explained the situation and asked that the service be cancelled as I was no longer living in the house. I was told again about the 30 day notice period. Once again it wasn't cancelled. I rang again in September/October and was told for the first time to send a letter to the 'cancellations' address, which I did on October 1st. Once again it wasn't cancelled. I didn't know this until the landlady called me to say it, as I had stopped getting emails so had assumed that it had been cancelled. 

When I rang again I was told (again for the first time) to send an email, but that there would still be a 30 day notice period. I explained again how long I had been trying to cancel this account and the agent I spoke to suggested that I ask the tenants and the landlady to write in, which I did. As I understand it the account was then cancelled. However the last two months were not paid. I didn't know that either until this past April, when I recently received a letter from a debt collection agency looking for the outstanding amount. Considering the numerous attempts I had made to cancel the account, and the amount of time I've spent trying to sort this out, I am not prepared to do that.

I called Customer Care at the end of April to try and find out what was going on. I was told that the various calls were noted on the system but not the content, so a complaint would be opened and I would hear back within 5-10 days. I hadn't, so I called again today. After nearly half an hour on the phone, talking first to customer care, being transferred to cancellations and then transferred back to customer care to be told that as there was no evidence that I had contacted eircom they could not issue a refund. At that point there appeared to be a problem with the connection and I was cut off, and not called back. 

I have no intention of paying an outstanding amount on a bill for a house I haven't lived in for over a year, not when I have made every effort to cancel the account, doing exactly what I was asked to do at each stage. How come there was evidence of me contacting eircom regarding this 3 weeks ago, and today there was suddenly "none"? Why did I have to call myself for a response to a complaint that I had made? And why should I be expected to pay an outstanding amount when I had tried everything I could to cancel this account?

Hi kat939

I'm sorry to hear of the ongoing issues you are experiencing,

I can confirm that the procedure entails that a 30 day notification is required by email, this is advised when calling cancellations as the cancellations department on free phone 1901 cannot cancel accounts themselves over a call. Can you confirm that you sent the email to cancel this account?

Can you please PM me your eircom account number and I will look in to this further.

Thanks
Al

kat939

Hi Alan
The first time anyone mentioned putting it in writing was last September. I had phoned several times prior to that and was told it would be sorted following the phone call, which it never was.
I didn't send an email-I sent a letter (as I was asked to do) which your cancellations department claim not to have received. By the time I was informed of any email address I had been trying for 6 months to cancel this account and did not want to add another 30 day notice period, so was told the landady should write in to explain the situation.
My contract expired last May. I did not sign a new one. Clearly then I cannot be held liable for a bill from last November, even aside from the fact that I tried several times to cancel the account & at every stage did exactly as I was asked to do.
PM sent.

eircom: Alan

kat939 wrote: »

Hi Alan
The first time anyone mentioned putting it in writing was last September. I had phoned several times prior to that and was told it would be sorted following the phone call, which it never was.
I didn't send an email-I sent a letter (as I was asked to do) which your cancellations department claim not to have received. By the time I was informed of any email address I had been trying for 6 months to cancel this account and did not want to add another 30 day notice period, so was told the landady should write in to explain the situation.
My contract expired last May. I did not sign a new one. Clearly then I cannot be held liable for a bill from last November, even aside from the fact that I tried several times to cancel the account & at every stage did exactly as I was asked to do.
PM sent.

Hi kat939

Thanks for your PM, I will have this investigated in full and get back to you as soon as I have any further information.

Thanks

Al