1850 contact numbers

1874

Why do Electric Ireland (EI) not provide a geographic number for contact?
I have been told by customer service over the phone that after a number of minutes on a call EI covers the cost of the call?
Ive read in this forum that an EI rep stated 2 or 3 minutes, can you confirm how many minutes it actually is? and does this apply if calling from a mobile.

Electric Ireland: Brige B

Hi 1874,

Thanks for getting in touch.

All of the contact numbers available for Electric Ireland can be viewed online here.

We recommend customers call the 1850 numbers listed, as they direct the caller to the most relevant department for their query. However, there is also another number available (01 8529534) for customers who cannot call 1850 numbers, or customers ringing from abroad. Please note, customers calling from abroad will need to include the international prefix (00353).

The cost of a call to the 1850 numbers will vary according to the customer's telecoms operator, and whether they are using a landline or mobile. The maximum cost per call is 35 cent (mobile) and the lowest is 6.6 cent (landline). These are Republic of Ireland prices only.

We hope this helps. Should you have any other questions, please let us know.

Thanks,
Brige

1874

That doesnt answer what I asked,
which was
Why does EI not provide a geographic number?
If you call 01 8529534, they will not answer questions, instead they direct you to the 1850 number nor will they put you through, they are either unable or unwilling to, I dont know which, but I suspect it is that staff are instructed to refer customers to the 1850 numbers.

and

Does EI cover the call costs of 1850 calls after a set duration? that is what I was told on the phone, Im just trying to confirm if this is accurate or not, and in what circumstances.

1874

Electric Ireland: Una

Hi 1874,

(01) 8529534 automatically connects the caller to Electric Ireland Customer Service (including Pay As You Go and Electric Ireland Rewards). The Customer Service agent who receives the call does not know that the call has come in via the non 1850 number.

If the caller wishes to speak to someone in Sales however, the Customer Service agent needs to advise the caller to telephone Sales on 1850 30 50 90 or 1850 30 50 95. If the caller says that they cannot telephone 1850 numbers, the agent will try to transfer them to Sales, however if all the Sales lines are busy, the transfer is not possible. Sales can also be contacted by email however (please see the link Brige provided above). If you would like to arrange a call-back from Sales through ourselves here on Boards.ie, do indeed private message us your name and telephone number. The same as the above may apply for customers who wish to speak with Home Services, whose email address is also on the list that Brige provided (and we can send them a call-back request too).

An 1850 telephone number is a Call Save number, which is charged to the customer at a flat rate per call (what this rate is, depends on whether the customer is telephoning from a mobile or landline phone, and which phone provider they are registered with) regardless of how long the customer stays on the line. The company that they are telephoning then picks up the balance of the call charge on a per-second basis.

Regards,
Una