Eircom sends courier for modem - why bother?

odckdo

Cancelled eFibre contract a couple of days ago after price increase. With them 1 year.

They never said anything about collection of modem until courier arrived today.

Why do they bother? What will they do with it? Sky let you keep the equipment for example.

TheChizler

Refurb and give it to someone else? The technology hasn't become redundant yet.

odckdo

Maybe.

Though if I was a new customer I wouldn't take a refurb.

guil

odckdo wrote: »

Maybe.

Though if I was a new customer I wouldn't take a refurb.

Why? It's as good as new and they replace them if any problems.

TheChizler

guil wrote: »

Why? It's as good as new and they replace them if any problems.

Exactly. OP you've probably used a refurbished box at some stage, especially if you have Sky or UPC.

mass_debater

odckdo wrote: »

Maybe.

Though if I was a new customer I wouldn't take a refurb.

How would you know it was a refurb?

colm_mcm

You wouldn't know the difference. They have peel-off sticky backed plastic the same as a new one

odckdo

Didn't realised they replaced them for free if there was a problem. Had an older modem with Eircom before which broke down, for a replacement one I had to extend my contract.

Didn't realise they tidied them up with plastic to make them look new.

Once with Sky I ordered a new box with a bigger hard drive - ran into problems with box - Sky said they would replace but couldn't guarantee new or refurb. Having paid for a new one I made sure the installer had a new one for me by ringing his company in advance.

mass_debater

odckdo wrote: »

Once with Sky I ordered a new box with a bigger hard drive - ran into problems with box - Sky said they would replace but couldn't guarantee new or refurb. Having paid for a new one I made sure the installer had a new one for me by ringing his company in advance.

You got a refurb in a new box with shiny plastic. Only new customers get new boxes with Sky, all other replacements are refurbs, always.

colm_mcm

odckdo wrote: »

Didn't realised they replaced them for free if there was a problem. Had an older modem with Eircom before which broke down, for a replacement one I had to extend my contract.

Didn't realise they tidied them up with plastic to make them look new.

Once with Sky I ordered a new box with a bigger hard drive - ran into problems with box - Sky said they would replace but couldn't guarantee new or refurb. Having paid for a new one I made sure the installer had a new one for me by ringing his company in advance.

There aren't any moving parts or real consumables in a modem. They supply a new power supply, so there's no issue.
Customers don't stay customers forever, so sometimes a model might only get a year use before bring returned. It doesn't make sense to keep buying modems and binning perfectly good ones.

mass_debater wrote: »

You got a refurb in a new box with shiny plastic. Only new customers get new boxes with Sky, all other replacements are refurbs, always.

Yep. You genuinely wouldn't know the difference though.

odckdo

mass_debater wrote: »

You got a refurb in a new box with shiny plastic. Only new customers get new boxes with Sky, all other replacements are refurbs, always.

At the time I paid for a new 1TB box which after a few weeks played up. Was the replacement one a refurb? The installer's company and installer guaranteed me it was new. Though I never knew about the plastic trick back then!

In general I was surprised when the courier turned up today. Maybe as I was about 6 months into a 18 month contract they wanted it back. If I gone the full term would I have been allowed keep it? I was thinking of selling it on.

mass_debater

odckdo wrote: »

At the time I paid for a new 1TB box which after a few weeks played up. Was the replacement one a refurb? The installer's company and installer guaranteed me it was new. Though I never knew about the plastic trick back then!

Definitely a refurb, Sky installers carried a stock of them separately, new installs got new, already installed got refurbs every time. No way could you have got a new one. It just looked new.

odckdo

mass_debater wrote: »

Definitely a refurb, Sky installers carried a stock of them separately, new installs got new, already installed got refurbs every time. No way could you have got a new one. It just looked new.

At the time there weren't many 1TBs around - I think I paid 200 euro for it so I hope the first one I got at least was new!

The post above mentions a modem not been overworked so could be reused.

I always thought a Sky box was more fragile + ringing Sky about a faulty box meant them charging for a replacement or extending contract - so now I find out that the replacement box could be a refurb, could break more easily and my contract has been extended! Glad I have freesat!

Calibos

With Sky you've bought and own the box, with upc and Eircom you are renting the equipment. The give away for our HD boxes that came packaged like new was the scratches around the HDMI sockets on the back where people reach around the back to blindly insert their HDMI cables.

ED E

Eircom used to rent the handsets, not the modems. Modem is yours, but presumably is free based on completion of contract. Same way you cant get an iPhone on contract and leave after a month, just not quite as valuable.