Contract exit fee

Banner12

Dear,


I am seeking your assistance.

My father received a call from a Telecom company (.... Telecom) in late March. He is 73 years of age and hard of hearing and when he received the call he believed that it was a call from Telecom Eireann (as he would have known it) and the person on the phone was calling to advise of a more advantageous package with Eircom ( The telecom part in the name of the other company threw him). He agreed to the package and thought no more until he received a bill from the other company. In addition he received a bill from Eircom for early disconnection amounting to 401 Euro (plus other charges).

This has caused great confusion and upset to my father. He has been an Eircom (and its predecessors) customer since 1974. He has no idea why he should be liable to pay such an exorbitant charge to exit from a contract that he wasn't aware of.

1. I would like a copy of the terms and conditions of the contract from which he is expected to pay such a massive fee to exit, as I feel that somebody, somewhere is taking advantage of an old man. The sales rep from ....Telecom did not make my father aware of any contract exit charges from his eircom contract and he most certainly would not have agreed to a contract with ...... Telecom if he had to pay this charge.

2. To resolve this I think that if my father could revert to the situation before, i.e. receiving phone and broadband services from eircom with the exorbitant fees waived.

3. I would also like to know if it is possible to set up something where cold calling companies are blocked from contacting my parents by phone. They are still quite independent but feel bamboozeled by cold-callers offering services without providing some written information for them to consider in their own time.

This has caused great upset to my parents who rely on their phone & broadband to keep in touch with their children and grandchildren in Ireland, Sweden, the Netherlands and Australia. As I said they are quite independent and only came to me as a last resort.

They have give me copies of both bills so I have the relevant account numbers etc if you wish to check any details.

Kind Regards

eircom: Colm

Banner12 wrote: »

Dear,


I am seeking your assistance.

My father received a call from a Telecom company (.... Telecom) in late March. He is 73 years of age and hard of hearing and when he received the call he believed that it was a call from Telecom Eireann (as he would have known it) and the person on the phone was calling to advise of a more advantageous package with Eircom ( The telecom part in the name of the other company threw him). He agreed to the package and thought no more until he received a bill from the other company. In addition he received a bill from Eircom for early disconnection amounting to 401 Euro (plus other charges).

This has caused great confusion and upset to my father. He has been an Eircom (and its predecessors) customer since 1974. He has no idea why he should be liable to pay such an exorbitant charge to exit from a contract that he wasn't aware of.

1. I would like a copy of the terms and conditions of the contract from which he is expected to pay such a massive fee to exit, as I feel that somebody, somewhere is taking advantage of an old man. The sales rep from ....Telecom did not make my father aware of any contract exit charges from his eircom contract and he most certainly would not have agreed to a contract with ...... Telecom if he had to pay this charge.

2. To resolve this I think that if my father could revert to the situation before, i.e. receiving phone and broadband services from eircom with the exorbitant fees waived.

3. I would also like to know if it is possible to set up something where cold calling companies are blocked from contacting my parents by phone. They are still quite independent but feel bamboozeled by cold-callers offering services without providing some written information for them to consider in their own time.

This has caused great upset to my parents who rely on their phone & broadband to keep in touch with their children and grandchildren in Ireland, Sweden, the Netherlands and Australia. As I said they are quite independent and only came to me as a last resort.

They have give me copies of both bills so I have the relevant account numbers etc if you wish to check any details.

Kind Regards

Hi Banner12

I am sorry to hear that something like this has happened. If you feel the company that signed your father up misled him, I would advise you to contact them and ask that a complaint be made and the call recording be listened into. You can also request a copy of this call recording be sent to you. Finally you can raise a Complaint with Comreg who are the relevant regulatory body in Ireland.

While your Father can return to Eircom, it is likely that he is now subject to a contract with the new provider, so I cannot advise him to return to Eircom without the issue being investigated with the other Company and/ or Comreg. However if it is found that this was mis-sold I can arrange for him to return to Eircom and will arrange for the existing termination charges be waived in this instance.

You can also request that your father be opted out of receiving such Sales calls in the future; This is done by contacting the provider you are currently with for Service.

thanks
Colm