Cancelling deceased mother's account

Curious Scot

I want to cancel my late mother's telephone account.
I called eir last Tuesday (March 12th) to request the cancellation of my late mother's telephone account.  Although I was told that the waiting time was 30 minutes, I was still holding after 50 minutes and couldn't hold any longer.  I called at 8:00 on Wednesday morning and after a 30 minute wait, I finally got to speak with someone.  I told him what I wanted and he asked if I was named as being authorised to deal with the account and when I told him I wasn't, he said that I would have to submit my late mother's death certificate.  I told him that I hadn't got it yet and that it would be a couple of weeks before I could do so.  The nearest Civil Registration Office is 70 km away and it would mean that I would have to take a day off work to go there.  The agent spoke to someone and he came back to me and said that the account would be cancelled without a death cert within 24 hours and that the final bill would be sent out.  My mother's number was still active on Monday night and I sent a message via Facebook messenger repeating my request.  I got a reply stating that they couldn't cancel the account without a death certificate.  I was also asked to submit the account holder's name, address, account number etc.  (I had already provided this information beforehand).  By the time I get the death cert, the account will have entered another two-monthly rental period.
As I type this, my mother's number is still active.
What eir refers to as 'Customer Service' is atrocious.  It seems that one agent doesn't know what the other is doing.  I would have thought that when a customer calls with a query, that the query would be logged and if the same customer called again in relation to the same issue, and was speaking with a different agent, the details of the previous call would be available to both agent and customer.
Will somebody from eir please help me sort this out?  

GrumpyMe

Death Certs are available to order online, IIRC €20 delivered by post within a couple of days.
Make sure to use the OFFICIAL State body https://www2.hse.ie/services/births-deaths-and-marriages/get-certificates/get-an-irish-death-certificate-online.html
Just saying as you may be supplying your own death cert waiting for customer support!

Anteayer

We had this problem a few months ago under tragic circumstances and had to deal with several utility companies and banks. Only Eir were difficult to deal with to the point they caused us considerable upset and hassle.

So much so that I wouldn't ever use one of their products again in any context and cancelled my own landline and mobile while I was at it.

We sent in a copy of a death certificate and an explanatory letter by registered post. They replied in writing and then didn't do any of the things they said they would do in the letter resulting in hours and hours of calls to 1901.

Every other organisation which included: Sky, Energia, Irish Water, Bank of Ireland, AIB, PTSB, AvantCard, Revenue, Allianz etc were sympathetic, efficient and genuinely helpful.

c6ysaphjvqw41k

That's ridiculous. We didn't get my fathers death certificate until a year after he died. We had no issues closing or cancelling anything without it, though I think the solicitor must have done it for us. 

Anteayer

They way they treated it was like they were being incentived by an internal system absolutely not to close accounts and to retain business, even if the customer were dead.

You're put through hoops if you try to leave and they make themselves impossible to contact.

Then you get into the "Computa Says Noooo!" style customer "service" if you do manage to get to speak to someone after well over an hour on hold.

It would be comical if it weren't so frustrating and upsetting.

Nobody seems to have any authority to make any kind or decision and nobody takes ownership of any call. So you're bounced from pillar to post trying to navigate this illogical bureaucracy where nobody seems to know anything.

JeffKenna

RIP

Anteayer

Every other company or organisation basically had a dedicated team or someone at managerial / supervisor to deal with bereavement and had well thought out procedures to handle either cancellation or name transfers.

They all also immediately took ownership of the issue and someone followed through, ensuring that whatever happened to everything went smoothly. For organisations like banks there's serious complications around wills and all sorts of things to be established, yet all of them managed to be very easy to deal with.

Sky was exemplary. They just immediately dropped the corporate stuff and dealt with you like a human and just made everything easy. That's all you would expect. A bit of calm and not to burden someone in a time or huge upset with a load of utter nonsense.

Victor

Titus Strong Knot wrote: »

We didn't get my fathers death certificate until a year after he died. 

While sometimes there are delays (coroner's inquiries, etc.) in issuing a final death certificate, you can usually get an interim certificate quite quickly that states the person has died, but not cause of death.

Odyssey 2005

A screen shot of the death notice should have surficed in this case. No doubt an Eir rep will be along soon and look for all the account details,then do notthing

eir: Grainne

Curious Scot wrote: »

I want to cancel my late mother's telephone account.
I called eir last Tuesday (March 12th) to request the cancellation of my late mother's telephone account.  Although I was told that the waiting time was 30 minutes, I was still holding after 50 minutes and couldn't hold any longer.  I called at 8:00 on Wednesday morning and after a 30 minute wait, I finally got to speak with someone.  I told him what I wanted and he asked if I was named as being authorised to deal with the account and when I told him I wasn't, he said that I would have to submit my late mother's death certificate.  I told him that I hadn't got it yet and that it would be a couple of weeks before I could do so.  The nearest Civil Registration Office is 70 km away and it would mean that I would have to take a day off work to go there.  The agent spoke to someone and he came back to me and said that the account would be cancelled without a death cert within 24 hours and that the final bill would be sent out.  My mother's number was still active on Monday night and I sent a message via Facebook messenger repeating my request.  I got a reply stating that they couldn't cancel the account without a death certificate.  I was also asked to submit the account holder's name, address, account number etc.  (I had already provided this information beforehand).  By the time I get the death cert, the account will have entered another two-monthly rental period.
As I type this, my mother's number is still active.
What eir refers to as 'Customer Service' is atrocious.  It seems that one agent doesn't know what the other is doing.  I would have thought that when a customer calls with a query, that the query would be logged and if the same customer called again in relation to the same issue, and was speaking with a different agent, the details of the previous call would be available to both agent and customer.
Will somebody from eir please help me sort this out?  

Hi Curious Scot, 

Our condolences on the loss of your mother. 

My apologies that this was not resolved when you contacted our customer care team. 

Could you PM the following details and I will ensure that this is processed?
1. Registered Name
2. Registered Address
3. DOB
4. Account Number. 

As soon as I get this information I will get this resolved. 

Thanks, 
Grainne

Curious Scot

GrumpyMe wrote: »

Death Certs are available to order online, IIRC €20 delivered by post within a couple of days.
Make sure to use the OFFICIAL State body https://www2.hse.ie/services/births-deaths-and-marriages/get-certificates/get-an-irish-death-certificate-online.html
Just saying as you may be supplying your own death cert waiting for customer support!

GrumpyMe, I know that and thanks for your reply.  The official death cert can't be issued until the Death Notification Form from the hospital is presented in person to the registrar.  I have this form but as I said in my original post, I won't be able to register my mother's death for a couple of weeks. 

eir: Grainne

Curious Scot wrote: »

GrumpyMe wrote: »

Death Certs are available to order online, IIRC €20 delivered by post within a couple of days.
Make sure to use the OFFICIAL State body https://www2.hse.ie/services/births-deaths-and-marriages/get-certificates/get-an-irish-death-certificate-online.html
Just saying as you may be supplying your own death cert waiting for customer support!

GrumpyMe, I know that and thanks for your reply.  The official death cert can't be issued until the Death Notification Form from the hospital is presented in person to the registrar.  I have this form but as I said in my original post, I won't be able to register my mother's death for a couple of weeks. 

Hi Curious Scot, 

I have responded to your PM. 

As soon as I get an update I will get back to you. 

Thanks, 
Grainne

GrumpyMe

Curious Scot wrote: »

GrumpyMe wrote: »

Death Certs are available to order online, IIRC €20 delivered by post within a couple of days.
Make sure to use the OFFICIAL State body https://www2.hse.ie/services/births-deaths-and-marriages/get-certificates/get-an-irish-death-certificate-online.html
Just saying as you may be supplying your own death cert waiting for customer support!

GrumpyMe, I know that and thanks for your reply.  The official death cert can't be issued until the Death Notification Form from the hospital is presented in person to the registrar.  I have this form but as I said in my original post, I won't be able to register my mother's death for a couple of weeks. 

I picked it up wrong, sorry and sorry for your loss. Hopefully with Grainne's support you do get it sorted.