Bill Pay Phone Not Working, My Rights?

Doff

Hello,

I recently got a new phone on billpay with a different network provider than my normal one, I kept my same number. Due to the nature of my work I'll be travelling so I chose a plan that was a bit more costly at the moment but in the long run it will be cheaper.

Anyway I have a serious issue with the new network where I cannot ring certain numbers, I get told the number is out of service. I have tried every option imaginable from ringing the numbers on another phone, having other networks ring my phone, basically every single option so I can 100% say its not a problem I have caused or can fix. I can text the numbers but that's no good when I'm driving and using voice commands to try ring.

I rang the customer care team of the network 4 times to try get it fixed and each time I'm given the same response of "Turn it off and back on again and the problem should be fixed within 24 hours". So after receiving the same response today I'm now deciding what I should do in regards to my rights on the issue. I signed a 2 year contract with the network and I have the first bill at the end of this month. I'm debating whether or not I should pay the bill or if I should tell them I'll pay the bill when they fix the problem. Although I'd prefer to just have the problem fixed now and carry on as normal.

I don't want to name the network as the customer care team were very polite and understanding but I'd like to know what are my rights regarding this issue?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

foggy_lad

You need to write to them and give them 10 days to come up with a resolution and after that you can refer it to ComReg and only then if the problem is not resolved can you get out of the contract but that may involve a trip to the small claims court and you will have to return any handset etc. They will do nothing unless you go legal on them!

Doff

Thanks for the reply.

If the latest "24 hours" reply doesn't fix the issue I'm afraid I'll have to write a letter to them. Anything I should include in the letter?

I'm hoping the letter will moreso give them a kick up the backside to fixing the problem as opposed to having to go the legal route to cancel my contract and then having to get another contract elsewhere.

foggy_lad

Doff wrote: »

Thanks for the reply.

If the latest "24 hours" reply doesn't fix the issue I'm afraid I'll have to write a letter to them. Anything I should include in the letter?

I'm hoping the letter will moreso give them a kick up the backside to fixing the problem as opposed to having to go the legal route to cancel my contract and then having to get another contract elsewhere.

The letter must be addressed to the shop/online store where you signed up and should outline the issues and what has been done so far to resolve the issues. then you tell them you wish to rescind the contract because of their failure to provide service and their failure to address the issues in a reasonable timeframe. also don't answer any more calls from foreign call centres as all the networks have irish based support services and they should be dealing with this issue for you.

The main issue is that all networks work on agreements/leases with all the other networks for both sending and also receiving of calls and texts. These agreements dictate the terms for networks making calls texts etc and the cost of all network traffic between the networks.

I am on meteor and they must have separate agreements with every other network to make and receive calls and as soon as any agreement is out of date no calls/texts can be sent/received. obviously some agreements have lapsed with your current supplier or maybe they have no agreeement in place with the other network yet?

Bepolite

Have you got any rights under cooling off? Have a look at your contract and have a read up on the comreg website.

There has been a recent change to the law but I'm not sure if it applies if you walk into a shop.

Doff

Hi thanks for the replies.

I got onto them again and unfortunately the representative today was not as pleasant as the previous 5 I had to deal with to date.

I did however get informed that they are getting information from my previous network to see if it is a problem with the porting on there end and that it will be fixed Friday. So I'm going to write up the letter on Friday if it is not fixed.

Unfortunately I don't have any sort of cooling off period and I'll have to go the letter route before small claims court.

Thanks again.

WildCardDoW

Have they advised you to attempt a SIM Swap?

Another option (if possible) is to see if the same issue exists using a different handset.

Out of curiosity what handset did you move from, and what handset are you on now?

Doff

WildCardDoW wrote: »

Have they advised you to attempt a SIM Swap?

Another option (if possible) is to see if the same issue exists using a different handset.

Out of curiosity what handset did you move from, and what handset are you on now?

Hi I moved from a Galaxy Ace 2 to an S5, both manufactured by Samsung.

I tried swapping my sim into another phone and swapping my partners sim into another phone. I tried pretty much everything to fix it myself before having to resort to contacting them