Next step in issuing a complaint about exploitation of an elderly customer by Eir?

diarmconnolly

Apologies in advance for the long post - I want to make sure I cover the details.

In April 2015, before travelling overseas for work, I arranged with Sky for my mothers telephone, internet and television accounts to be transferred from Eircom (at the time, now Eir) to Sky packages. 

The Sky rep on the phone assured me that the handover would be handled by themselves and Eir after I gave him our account details including the UAN. I left the country satisfied that my mother was sorted for television, telephone and internet coverage while I was away.

In August of that year, she informed me that she had been receiving telephone bills from Eir and after several phone calls by herself to both Eir and Sky to resolve the issue, the phone line was eventually cut off by Eir. 

Over two days spent using a neighbours phone, trying to find a solution, she was told by Eir representatives that nothing could be resolved until she paid to reactivate the account. At that time, Sky reps were asking for her UAN number once more so they could check what had gone wrong, and the Eir rep flat out refused to provide her with this number until she paid for reactivation.

Once her line was back in order, I was informed of this situation and was furious. My mother convinced me to let it rest as it was now sorted. Imagine my surprise now, a year and a half later, to discover that not only was it not sorted and my mother has been paying two providers for her phone line for 20 months, but also that Eir used that situation in August to tie her into another long term contract!

For almost two years, an elderly lady who spends a lot of time on her own, has been paying two telephone bills silently out of fear she would be cut off once again.

I spent an hour on the phone with Sky this morning, with a rep who had access to all of the details from back in April 2015, and read out to me confirmation of the request sent by themselves to Eircom to cancel the line, as well as the confirmation of receipt of that request by Eircom 3 days later.

After this I spent even longer on the phone with Eir, initially speaking to a very helpful and apologetic customer service agent who seemed to understand the situation but had no access to the details. She transferred me to a colleague in the billing department who was quite frankly rude and confrontational. After spending 5 minutes telling me she had no access to the details from that far back but that if I had given the Sky rep our UAN, the transfer had to have happened automatically. When I pointed out quite clearly that it hadn't, she became flustered and told me I'd have to hang up and call a number to establish which provider was supplying our line. I in turn pointed out that I wasn't prepared to wait another hour to speak to a rep, when we already know the line is still being provided by Eir and asked to speak with someone more senior in order to reach a solution.

She told me my only option was to speak with Customer Services again and placed me on hold for another 6 or 7 minutes. Eventually the same lady (from the billing dept) came back onto the line and told me she suddenly had all the access to the files from back in 2015 but there was no request from Sky to cancel the line. I questioned how the original broadband package had been cancelled if there was no correspondence from Sky but she couldn't answer that and told me I would need to get back onto Sky and request the written confirmation be sent to me. I explained that my next step would be to contact a regulator in order to find a resolution, and once more asked to speak to someone in a more senior position. 

At this point she again told me she would transfer me to Customer Services before promptly hanging up the call. 

As you can probably understand, I am furious and would appreciate any advice on who I can next contact in order to resolve this issue? As far as I am concerned, an elderly lady has been robbed, bullied and coerced by holding her means of communication at ransom.

Eir: Pamela

diarmconnolly wrote: »

Apologies in advance for the long post - I want to make sure I cover the details.

In April 2015, before travelling overseas for work, I arranged with Sky for my mothers telephone, internet and television accounts to be transferred from Eircom (at the time, now Eir) to Sky packages. 

The Sky rep on the phone assured me that the handover would be handled by themselves and Eir after I gave him our account details including the UAN. I left the country satisfied that my mother was sorted for television, telephone and internet coverage while I was away.

In August of that year, she informed me that she had been receiving telephone bills from Eir and after several phone calls by herself to both Eir and Sky to resolve the issue, the phone line was eventually cut off by Eir. 

Over two days spent using a neighbours phone, trying to find a solution, she was told by Eir representatives that nothing could be resolved until she paid to reactivate the account. At that time, Sky reps were asking for her UAN number once more so they could check what had gone wrong, and the Eir rep flat out refused to provide her with this number until she paid for reactivation.

Once her line was back in order, I was informed of this situation and was furious. My mother convinced me to let it rest as it was now sorted. Imagine my surprise now, a year and a half later, to discover that not only was it not sorted and my mother has been paying two providers for her phone line for 20 months, but also that Eir used that situation in August to tie her into another long term contract!

For almost two years, an elderly lady who spends a lot of time on her own, has been paying two telephone bills silently out of fear she would be cut off once again.

I spent an hour on the phone with Sky this morning, with a rep who had access to all of the details from back in April 2015, and read out to me confirmation of the request sent by themselves to Eircom to cancel the line, as well as the confirmation of receipt of that request by Eircom 3 days later.

After this I spent even longer on the phone with Eir, initially speaking to a very helpful and apologetic customer service agent who seemed to understand the situation but had no access to the details. She transferred me to a colleague in the billing department who was quite frankly rude and confrontational. After spending 5 minutes telling me she had no access to the details from that far back but that if I had given the Sky rep our UAN, the transfer had to have happened automatically. When I pointed out quite clearly that it hadn't, she became flustered and told me I'd have to hang up and call a number to establish which provider was supplying our line. I in turn pointed out that I wasn't prepared to wait another hour to speak to a rep, when we already know the line is still being provided by Eir and asked to speak with someone more senior in order to reach a solution.

She told me my only option was to speak with Customer Services again and placed me on hold for another 6 or 7 minutes. Eventually the same lady (from the billing dept) came back onto the line and told me she suddenly had all the access to the files from back in 2015 but there was no request from Sky to cancel the line. I questioned how the original broadband package had been cancelled if there was no correspondence from Sky but she couldn't answer that and told me I would need to get back onto Sky and request the written confirmation be sent to me. I explained that my next step would be to contact a regulator in order to find a resolution, and once more asked to speak to someone in a more senior position. 

At this point she again told me she would transfer me to Customer Services before promptly hanging up the call. 

As you can probably understand, I am furious and would appreciate any advice on who I can next contact in order to resolve this issue? As far as I am concerned, an elderly lady has been robbed, bullied and coerced by holding her means of communication at ransom.

[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]Hi [/font][font=Verdana, sans-serif]diarmconnolly,[/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]Thanks for getting in touch.[/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]I'm sorry to hear of the difficulties your mother has experienced in moving your service to Sky. Are you a registered point of contact on this account? If so can you PM me your full name, along with your mothers & the account number & I can look into this. [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]The type of order you have requested is a winback. This would be processed by the new provider with the UAN number, once the order is submitted correctly all services should be cancelled with eir & moved to the new provider as it is not possible for two providers to provide the same service to a customer. From what you have posted it seems there is an issue with this request, unfortunately eir would be unable to advise as to why the order did not process as we did not submit the order. The new provider would need to advise on this directly. [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]UAN's are only allocated to active lines & once the line is ceased the UAN would no longer be active & this would be why the agent requested for the line to be reactivated. We can only provide a UAN on an active service as when the account is cancelled the UAN would cease to exist.[/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]Thanks,[/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]Pamela [/font]

[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]

diarmconnolly

Eir: Pamela wrote: »

diarmconnolly wrote: »

Apologies in advance for the long post - I want to make sure I cover the details.

In April 2015, before travelling overseas for work, I arranged with Sky for my mothers telephone, internet and television accounts to be transferred from Eircom (at the time, now Eir) to Sky packages. 

The Sky rep on the phone assured me that the handover would be handled by themselves and Eir after I gave him our account details including the UAN. I left the country satisfied that my mother was sorted for television, telephone and internet coverage while I was away.

In August of that year, she informed me that she had been receiving telephone bills from Eir and after several phone calls by herself to both Eir and Sky to resolve the issue, the phone line was eventually cut off by Eir. 

Over two days spent using a neighbours phone, trying to find a solution, she was told by Eir representatives that nothing could be resolved until she paid to reactivate the account. At that time, Sky reps were asking for her UAN number once more so they could check what had gone wrong, and the Eir rep flat out refused to provide her with this number until she paid for reactivation.

Once her line was back in order, I was informed of this situation and was furious. My mother convinced me to let it rest as it was now sorted. Imagine my surprise now, a year and a half later, to discover that not only was it not sorted and my mother has been paying two providers for her phone line for 20 months, but also that Eir used that situation in August to tie her into another long term contract!

For almost two years, an elderly lady who spends a lot of time on her own, has been paying two telephone bills silently out of fear she would be cut off once again.

I spent an hour on the phone with Sky this morning, with a rep who had access to all of the details from back in April 2015, and read out to me confirmation of the request sent by themselves to Eircom to cancel the line, as well as the confirmation of receipt of that request by Eircom 3 days later.

After this I spent even longer on the phone with Eir, initially speaking to a very helpful and apologetic customer service agent who seemed to understand the situation but had no access to the details. She transferred me to a colleague in the billing department who was quite frankly rude and confrontational. After spending 5 minutes telling me she had no access to the details from that far back but that if I had given the Sky rep our UAN, the transfer had to have happened automatically. When I pointed out quite clearly that it hadn't, she became flustered and told me I'd have to hang up and call a number to establish which provider was supplying our line. I in turn pointed out that I wasn't prepared to wait another hour to speak to a rep, when we already know the line is still being provided by Eir and asked to speak with someone more senior in order to reach a solution.

She told me my only option was to speak with Customer Services again and placed me on hold for another 6 or 7 minutes. Eventually the same lady (from the billing dept) came back onto the line and told me she suddenly had all the access to the files from back in 2015 but there was no request from Sky to cancel the line. I questioned how the original broadband package had been cancelled if there was no correspondence from Sky but she couldn't answer that and told me I would need to get back onto Sky and request the written confirmation be sent to me. I explained that my next step would be to contact a regulator in order to find a resolution, and once more asked to speak to someone in a more senior position. 

At this point she again told me she would transfer me to Customer Services before promptly hanging up the call. 

As you can probably understand, I am furious and would appreciate any advice on who I can next contact in order to resolve this issue? As far as I am concerned, an elderly lady has been robbed, bullied and coerced by holding her means of communication at ransom.

[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]Thanks for getting in touch.[/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]I'm sorry to hear of the difficulties your mother has experienced in moving your service to Sky. Are you a registered point of contact on this account? If so can you PM me your full name, along with your mothers & the account number & I can look into this. [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]The type of order you have requested is a winback. This would be processed by the new provider with the UAN number, once the order is submitted correctly all services should be cancelled with eir & moved to the new provider as it is not possible for two providers to provide the same service to a customer. From what you have posted it seems there is an issue with this request, unfortunately eir would be unable to advise as to why the order did not process as we did not submit the order. The new provider would need to advise on this directly. [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]UAN's are only allocated to active lines & once the line is ceased the UAN would no longer be active & this would be why the agent requested for the line to be reactivated. We can only provide a UAN on an active service as when the account is cancelled the UAN would cease to exist.[/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]Thanks,[/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]Pamela [/font]

[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]

I will PM you with my details now.

The situation I have outlined has absolutely nothing to do with a winback but I am wholly unsurprised to find yet another Eir agent attempt to deflect from the issue by being obscure and dishonest with jargon. I have encountered this all day from your colleagues in the customer care department, in the billing department and in the loyalty department as well as on twitter

Eir: Pamela

diarmconnolly wrote: »

Eir: Pamela wrote: »

diarmconnolly wrote: »

Apologies in advance for the long post - I want to make sure I cover the details.

In April 2015, before travelling overseas for work, I arranged with Sky for my mothers telephone, internet and television accounts to be transferred from Eircom (at the time, now Eir) to Sky packages. 

The Sky rep on the phone assured me that the handover would be handled by themselves and Eir after I gave him our account details including the UAN. I left the country satisfied that my mother was sorted for television, telephone and internet coverage while I was away.

In August of that year, she informed me that she had been receiving telephone bills from Eir and after several phone calls by herself to both Eir and Sky to resolve the issue, the phone line was eventually cut off by Eir. 

Over two days spent using a neighbours phone, trying to find a solution, she was told by Eir representatives that nothing could be resolved until she paid to reactivate the account. At that time, Sky reps were asking for her UAN number once more so they could check what had gone wrong, and the Eir rep flat out refused to provide her with this number until she paid for reactivation.

Once her line was back in order, I was informed of this situation and was furious. My mother convinced me to let it rest as it was now sorted. Imagine my surprise now, a year and a half later, to discover that not only was it not sorted and my mother has been paying two providers for her phone line for 20 months, but also that Eir used that situation in August to tie her into another long term contract!

For almost two years, an elderly lady who spends a lot of time on her own, has been paying two telephone bills silently out of fear she would be cut off once again.

I spent an hour on the phone with Sky this morning, with a rep who had access to all of the details from back in April 2015, and read out to me confirmation of the request sent by themselves to Eircom to cancel the line, as well as the confirmation of receipt of that request by Eircom 3 days later.

After this I spent even longer on the phone with Eir, initially speaking to a very helpful and apologetic customer service agent who seemed to understand the situation but had no access to the details. She transferred me to a colleague in the billing department who was quite frankly rude and confrontational. After spending 5 minutes telling me she had no access to the details from that far back but that if I had given the Sky rep our UAN, the transfer had to have happened automatically. When I pointed out quite clearly that it hadn't, she became flustered and told me I'd have to hang up and call a number to establish which provider was supplying our line. I in turn pointed out that I wasn't prepared to wait another hour to speak to a rep, when we already know the line is still being provided by Eir and asked to speak with someone more senior in order to reach a solution.

She told me my only option was to speak with Customer Services again and placed me on hold for another 6 or 7 minutes. Eventually the same lady (from the billing dept) came back onto the line and told me she suddenly had all the access to the files from back in 2015 but there was no request from Sky to cancel the line. I questioned how the original broadband package had been cancelled if there was no correspondence from Sky but she couldn't answer that and told me I would need to get back onto Sky and request the written confirmation be sent to me. I explained that my next step would be to contact a regulator in order to find a resolution, and once more asked to speak to someone in a more senior position. 

At this point she again told me she would transfer me to Customer Services before promptly hanging up the call. 

As you can probably understand, I am furious and would appreciate any advice on who I can next contact in order to resolve this issue? As far as I am concerned, an elderly lady has been robbed, bullied and coerced by holding her means of communication at ransom.

[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]Thanks for getting in touch.[/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]I'm sorry to hear of the difficulties your mother has experienced in moving your service to Sky. Are you a registered point of contact on this account? If so can you PM me your full name, along with your mothers & the account number & I can look into this. [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]The type of order you have requested is a winback. This would be processed by the new provider with the UAN number, once the order is submitted correctly all services should be cancelled with eir & moved to the new provider as it is not possible for two providers to provide the same service to a customer. From what you have posted it seems there is an issue with this request, unfortunately eir would be unable to advise as to why the order did not process as we did not submit the order. The new provider would need to advise on this directly. [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]UAN's are only allocated to active lines & once the line is ceased the UAN would no longer be active & this would be why the agent requested for the line to be reactivated. We can only provide a UAN on an active service as when the account is cancelled the UAN would cease to exist.[/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]Thanks,[/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]Pamela [/font]

[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]

I will PM you with my details now.

The situation I have outlined has absolutely nothing to do with a winback but I am wholly unsurprised to find yet another Eir agent attempt to deflect from the issue by being obscure and dishonest with jargon. I have encountered this all day from your colleagues in the customer care department, in the billing department and in the loyalty department as well as on twitter

[font=Verdana, sans-serif]Thanks [/font][font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font][font=Verdana, sans-serif]diarmconnolly,[/font][font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font][font=Verdana, sans-serif]I'll be back to you shortly. This type of order is classed as a winback order & this is why I would have advised on the process.[/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]Thanks,[/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]Pamela [/font]

 

diarmconnolly

Eir: Pamela wrote: »

diarmconnolly wrote: »

Eir: Pamela wrote: »

diarmconnolly wrote: »

Apologies in advance for the long post - I want to make sure I cover the details.

In April 2015, before travelling overseas for work, I arranged with Sky for my mothers telephone, internet and television accounts to be transferred from Eircom (at the time, now Eir) to Sky packages. 

The Sky rep on the phone assured me that the handover would be handled by themselves and Eir after I gave him our account details including the UAN. I left the country satisfied that my mother was sorted for television, telephone and internet coverage while I was away.

In August of that year, she informed me that she had been receiving telephone bills from Eir and after several phone calls by herself to both Eir and Sky to resolve the issue, the phone line was eventually cut off by Eir. 

Over two days spent using a neighbours phone, trying to find a solution, she was told by Eir representatives that nothing could be resolved until she paid to reactivate the account. At that time, Sky reps were asking for her UAN number once more so they could check what had gone wrong, and the Eir rep flat out refused to provide her with this number until she paid for reactivation.

Once her line was back in order, I was informed of this situation and was furious. My mother convinced me to let it rest as it was now sorted. Imagine my surprise now, a year and a half later, to discover that not only was it not sorted and my mother has been paying two providers for her phone line for 20 months, but also that Eir used that situation in August to tie her into another long term contract!

For almost two years, an elderly lady who spends a lot of time on her own, has been paying two telephone bills silently out of fear she would be cut off once again.

I spent an hour on the phone with Sky this morning, with a rep who had access to all of the details from back in April 2015, and read out to me confirmation of the request sent by themselves to Eircom to cancel the line, as well as the confirmation of receipt of that request by Eircom 3 days later.

After this I spent even longer on the phone with Eir, initially speaking to a very helpful and apologetic customer service agent who seemed to understand the situation but had no access to the details. She transferred me to a colleague in the billing department who was quite frankly rude and confrontational. After spending 5 minutes telling me she had no access to the details from that far back but that if I had given the Sky rep our UAN, the transfer had to have happened automatically. When I pointed out quite clearly that it hadn't, she became flustered and told me I'd have to hang up and call a number to establish which provider was supplying our line. I in turn pointed out that I wasn't prepared to wait another hour to speak to a rep, when we already know the line is still being provided by Eir and asked to speak with someone more senior in order to reach a solution.

She told me my only option was to speak with Customer Services again and placed me on hold for another 6 or 7 minutes. Eventually the same lady (from the billing dept) came back onto the line and told me she suddenly had all the access to the files from back in 2015 but there was no request from Sky to cancel the line. I questioned how the original broadband package had been cancelled if there was no correspondence from Sky but she couldn't answer that and told me I would need to get back onto Sky and request the written confirmation be sent to me. I explained that my next step would be to contact a regulator in order to find a resolution, and once more asked to speak to someone in a more senior position. 

At this point she again told me she would transfer me to Customer Services before promptly hanging up the call. 

As you can probably understand, I am furious and would appreciate any advice on who I can next contact in order to resolve this issue? As far as I am concerned, an elderly lady has been robbed, bullied and coerced by holding her means of communication at ransom.

[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]Thanks for getting in touch.[/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]I'm sorry to hear of the difficulties your mother has experienced in moving your service to Sky. Are you a registered point of contact on this account? If so can you PM me your full name, along with your mothers & the account number & I can look into this. [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]The type of order you have requested is a winback. This would be processed by the new provider with the UAN number, once the order is submitted correctly all services should be cancelled with eir & moved to the new provider as it is not possible for two providers to provide the same service to a customer. From what you have posted it seems there is an issue with this request, unfortunately eir would be unable to advise as to why the order did not process as we did not submit the order. The new provider would need to advise on this directly. [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]UAN's are only allocated to active lines & once the line is ceased the UAN would no longer be active & this would be why the agent requested for the line to be reactivated. We can only provide a UAN on an active service as when the account is cancelled the UAN would cease to exist.[/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]Thanks,[/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]Pamela [/font]

[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]

I will PM you with my details now.

The situation I have outlined has absolutely nothing to do with a winback but I am wholly unsurprised to find yet another Eir agent attempt to deflect from the issue by being obscure and dishonest with jargon. I have encountered this all day from your colleagues in the customer care department, in the billing department and in the loyalty department as well as on twitter

[font=Verdana, sans-serif]Thanks[/font][font=Verdana, sans-serif],[/font][font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font][font=Verdana, sans-serif]I'll be back to you shortly. This type of order is classed as a winback order & this is why I would have advised on the process.[/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]Thanks,[/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]Pamela [/font]

 

A winback is when a customer wishes to leave the services of a company and a rep convinced them to stay with a company by offering various incentives or offers.

In this case, an elderly lady has been blackmailed into resigning with a company who threatened her ability to contact her family or friends. She was misled and deceived by agents who could simply have explained the situation to her if they weren't so interested in scamming another €45 a month from her pocket.

In my book, there was no order and you are being deliberately obtuse.

Eir: Pamela

diarmconnolly wrote: »

Eir: Pamela wrote: »

diarmconnolly wrote: »

Eir: Pamela wrote: »

diarmconnolly wrote: »

Apologies in advance for the long post - I want to make sure I cover the details.

In April 2015, before travelling overseas for work, I arranged with Sky for my mothers telephone, internet and television accounts to be transferred from Eircom (at the time, now Eir) to Sky packages. 

The Sky rep on the phone assured me that the handover would be handled by themselves and Eir after I gave him our account details including the UAN. I left the country satisfied that my mother was sorted for television, telephone and internet coverage while I was away.

In August of that year, she informed me that she had been receiving telephone bills from Eir and after several phone calls by herself to both Eir and Sky to resolve the issue, the phone line was eventually cut off by Eir. 

Over two days spent using a neighbours phone, trying to find a solution, she was told by Eir representatives that nothing could be resolved until she paid to reactivate the account. At that time, Sky reps were asking for her UAN number once more so they could check what had gone wrong, and the Eir rep flat out refused to provide her with this number until she paid for reactivation.

Once her line was back in order, I was informed of this situation and was furious. My mother convinced me to let it rest as it was now sorted. Imagine my surprise now, a year and a half later, to discover that not only was it not sorted and my mother has been paying two providers for her phone line for 20 months, but also that Eir used that situation in August to tie her into another long term contract!

For almost two years, an elderly lady who spends a lot of time on her own, has been paying two telephone bills silently out of fear she would be cut off once again.

I spent an hour on the phone with Sky this morning, with a rep who had access to all of the details from back in April 2015, and read out to me confirmation of the request sent by themselves to Eircom to cancel the line, as well as the confirmation of receipt of that request by Eircom 3 days later.

After this I spent even longer on the phone with Eir, initially speaking to a very helpful and apologetic customer service agent who seemed to understand the situation but had no access to the details. She transferred me to a colleague in the billing department who was quite frankly rude and confrontational. After spending 5 minutes telling me she had no access to the details from that far back but that if I had given the Sky rep our UAN, the transfer had to have happened automatically. When I pointed out quite clearly that it hadn't, she became flustered and told me I'd have to hang up and call a number to establish which provider was supplying our line. I in turn pointed out that I wasn't prepared to wait another hour to speak to a rep, when we already know the line is still being provided by Eir and asked to speak with someone more senior in order to reach a solution.

She told me my only option was to speak with Customer Services again and placed me on hold for another 6 or 7 minutes. Eventually the same lady (from the billing dept) came back onto the line and told me she suddenly had all the access to the files from back in 2015 but there was no request from Sky to cancel the line. I questioned how the original broadband package had been cancelled if there was no correspondence from Sky but she couldn't answer that and told me I would need to get back onto Sky and request the written confirmation be sent to me. I explained that my next step would be to contact a regulator in order to find a resolution, and once more asked to speak to someone in a more senior position. 

At this point she again told me she would transfer me to Customer Services before promptly hanging up the call. 

As you can probably understand, I am furious and would appreciate any advice on who I can next contact in order to resolve this issue? As far as I am concerned, an elderly lady has been robbed, bullied and coerced by holding her means of communication at ransom.

[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]Thanks for getting in touch.[/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]I'm sorry to hear of the difficulties your mother has experienced in moving your service to Sky. Are you a registered point of contact on this account? If so can you PM me your full name, along with your mothers & the account number & I can look into this. [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]The type of order you have requested is a winback. This would be processed by the new provider with the UAN number, once the order is submitted correctly all services should be cancelled with eir & moved to the new provider as it is not possible for two providers to provide the same service to a customer. From what you have posted it seems there is an issue with this request, unfortunately eir would be unable to advise as to why the order did not process as we did not submit the order. The new provider would need to advise on this directly. [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]UAN's are only allocated to active lines & once the line is ceased the UAN would no longer be active & this would be why the agent requested for the line to be reactivated. We can only provide a UAN on an active service as when the account is cancelled the UAN would cease to exist.[/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]Thanks,[/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]Pamela [/font]

[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]

I will PM you with my details now.

The situation I have outlined has absolutely nothing to do with a winback but I am wholly unsurprised to find yet another Eir agent attempt to deflect from the issue by being obscure and dishonest with jargon. I have encountered this all day from your colleagues in the customer care department, in the billing department and in the loyalty department as well as on twitter

[font=Verdana, sans-serif]Thanks[/font][font=Verdana, sans-serif],[/font][font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font][font=Verdana, sans-serif]I'll be back to you shortly. This type of order is classed as a winback order & this is why I would have advised on the process.[/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]Thanks,[/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]Pamela [/font]

 

A winback is when a customer wishes to leave the services of a company and a rep convinced them to stay with a company by offering various incentives or offers.

In this case, an elderly lady has been blackmailed into resigning with a company who threatened her ability to contact her family or friends. She was misled and deceived by agents who could simply have explained the situation to her if they weren't so interested in scamming another €45 a month from her pocket.

In my book, there was no order and you are being deliberately obtuse.

[font=Verdana, sans-serif]In the telecommunications industry a winback [/font]is also a type of order[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font][font=Verdana, sans-serif]diarmconnolly. [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]This is when a customer moves their services to another provider. When the order is processed the new provider would[/font][font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font][font=Verdana, sans-serif]winback the service from the old provider by taking the service. When they process this the service with the old provider would automatically be ceased as it has been taken and no longer active. If this is placed incorrectly such as placed as a new order with a different line or broadband number the order will not be ceased on our side as it has not been taken. [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]Thanks,[/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]Pamela [/font]

 

diarmconnolly

Not according to the representative at Sky who clearly explained to me what a winback is and how it is not applicable here. Nor according to a friend of mine who works for the same company as you do.

To be honest, this coupled with the inane questions you are asking me via PM doesn't fill me with confidence that you are willing or able to be of any use to me here. Seeing as your colleagues on the phone are equally inept, I am going to pass this on to ComReg to find a solution.

Eir as a company from top to bottom has come across as a chaotic, dishonest and extremely unhelpful organisation. How anyone would consider dealing with them at all is beyond me. 

Eir: Pamela

diarmconnolly wrote: »

Not according to the representative at Sky who clearly explained to me what a winback is and how it is not applicable here. Nor according to a friend of mine who works for the same company as you do.

To be honest, this coupled with the inane questions you are asking me via PM doesn't fill me with confidence that you are willing or able to be of any use to me here. Seeing as your colleagues on the phone are equally inept, I am going to pass this on to ComReg to find a solution.

Eir as a company from top to bottom has come across as a chaotic, dishonest and extremely unhelpful organisation. How anyone would consider dealing with them at all is beyond me. 

 
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]I'm sorry you feel this way diarmconnolly however I need to ask you these questions in order to get a better understanding of the situation.[/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif] I understand your views on[/font][font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font][font=Verdana, sans-serif]this[/font][font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font][font=Verdana, sans-serif]however[/font][font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font][font=Verdana, sans-serif]I can assure you that what I have advised via boards.ie is fully compliant with industry regulations approved by[/font][font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font][font=Verdana, sans-serif]ComReg. You are welcome to submit this to ComReg and they will be able to offer you further clarification on this.[/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]-Pamela [/font]

 

Twelve Bar Blues

diarmconnolly wrote: »

Apologies in advance for the long post - I want to make sure I cover the details.

In April 2015, before travelling overseas for work, I arranged with Sky for my mothers telephone, internet and television accounts to be transferred from Eircom (at the time, now Eir) to Sky packages. 

The Sky rep on the phone assured me that the handover would be handled by themselves and Eir after I gave him our account details including the UAN. I left the country satisfied that my mother was sorted for television, telephone and internet coverage while I was away.

In August of that year, she informed me that she had been receiving telephone bills from Eir and after several phone calls by herself to both Eir and Sky to resolve the issue, the phone line was eventually cut off by Eir. 

Over two days spent using a neighbours phone, trying to find a solution, she was told by Eir representatives that nothing could be resolved until she paid to reactivate the account. At that time, Sky reps were asking for her UAN number once more so they could check what had gone wrong, and the Eir rep flat out refused to provide her with this number until she paid for reactivation.

Once her line was back in order, I was informed of this situation and was furious. My mother convinced me to let it rest as it was now sorted. Imagine my surprise now, a year and a half later, to discover that not only was it not sorted and my mother has been paying two providers for her phone line for 20 months, but also that Eir used that situation in August to tie her into another long term contract!

For almost two years, an elderly lady who spends a lot of time on her own, has been paying two telephone bills silently out of fear she would be cut off once again.

I spent an hour on the phone with Sky this morning, with a rep who had access to all of the details from back in April 2015, and read out to me confirmation of the request sent by themselves to Eircom to cancel the line, as well as the confirmation of receipt of that request by Eircom 3 days later.

After this I spent even longer on the phone with Eir, initially speaking to a very helpful and apologetic customer service agent who seemed to understand the situation but had no access to the details. She transferred me to a colleague in the billing department who was quite frankly rude and confrontational. After spending 5 minutes telling me she had no access to the details from that far back but that if I had given the Sky rep our UAN, the transfer had to have happened automatically. When I pointed out quite clearly that it hadn't, she became flustered and told me I'd have to hang up and call a number to establish which provider was supplying our line. I in turn pointed out that I wasn't prepared to wait another hour to speak to a rep, when we already know the line is still being provided by Eir and asked to speak with someone more senior in order to reach a solution.

She told me my only option was to speak with Customer Services again and placed me on hold for another 6 or 7 minutes. Eventually the same lady (from the billing dept) came back onto the line and told me she suddenly had all the access to the files from back in 2015 but there was no request from Sky to cancel the line. I questioned how the original broadband package had been cancelled if there was no correspondence from Sky but she couldn't answer that and told me I would need to get back onto Sky and request the written confirmation be sent to me. I explained that my next step would be to contact a regulator in order to find a resolution, and once more asked to speak to someone in a more senior position. 

At this point she again told me she would transfer me to Customer Services before promptly hanging up the call. 

As you can probably understand, I am furious and would appreciate any advice on who I can next contact in order to resolve this issue? As far as I am concerned, an elderly lady has been robbed, bullied and coerced by holding her means of communication at ransom.

From previous experience the Eir UAN is either the same as your customer account number or your landline number, and so does not require reactivation of services to simply provide the number.

If your Mum now has Sky TV, BB and phone PLUS Eir phone what might have happened is that Sky placed the order. Placing the order should have been followed with a request to Eir to port their phone number to the new Sky service.
If this request wasn't made (I've seen it happen) or there was a reason Eir didn't release the number (outstanding bill, contract) with poor monitoring your new Sky services can go active. A new phone number on Sky phone which isn't actually in use as the Eir phone, with the original number, has also been left active.
Leaving you in the middle, with two contracts, and two providers blaming each other.
If part of your agreement with Sky was that they would handle Eir, and they didn't, that might be your get out.

dilallio

diarmconnolly wrote: »

Over two days spent using a neighbours phone, trying to find a solution, she was told by Eir representatives that nothing could be resolved until she paid to reactivate the account. At that time, Sky reps were asking for her UAN number once more so they could check what had gone wrong, and the Eir rep flat out refused to provide her with this number until she paid for reactivation.

I understand your frustration but this really sounds like a Sky issue. If her number had ported over correctly to Sky, it would have ceased on Eir's side, and the Sky Rep would not need to ask her for her UAN number as they would have had it in their system.

It sounds like your mother (through no fault of her own), assumed that she was being billed for a landline by eir which was being provided by Sky, when in all probability, due to a failed Port-In on the Sky side, the service was still being provided by and billed by Eir.

The fact that when your mother complained to Eir and her services were disconnected confirms this - only one operator can provide a service at any one time and if Sky were providing it, Eir (Retail) would not have been able to disconnect it.

If I was in your position, I would call Sky again, and ask them

a) Were all or just some services (Voice, Broadband, and TV) ported successfully when you first moved to Sky
b) If not, why not, and why did they not inform your mother immediately
c) Why did they continue to bill for a service they were not providing and when was the issue resolved on their side
d) How are they going to compensate your mother for their mistake.