esatbt billing problums

bizmark

its been about 6 months or so since i got esats new 125hour internet package and telephone

and since then they never ever send bills out on time....and some times never this month i got hit with a 4 month bill because the fools didnt send their bills out to my house or email .........

i was wondering if anyone had or has the same problums

other than that esats a great service much much better and cheaper than eircon cant wait to be able to get broadband (if ever)

vampyre

From the day esat started offering residential phone services years ago they have provided a jaw dropping, totally mesmirising on going display of complete incompetence when it comes to billing. They are absolutely incredible. As I said ages ago they were charging VAT twice on the Netsmart bill which is a fairly major error. They kept on billing me 8 months later for a bill that was paid and their policies about insisting on direct debit and no credit card payments (I use a designated visa to pay all business expenses and it makes life very simple), or credit card payments (via dd only) accepted for one product but not another. They are the worst run company for billing imaginable. and everything involves paperwork. You can't just change a package, you must reapply from scratch. If they must have paperwork (and thay insist they legally must) could they not print of a change of package form instead of all this how long have you lived at your current address, been with your bank etc? they have had all those details for years in my case. To say thay have no emphasis on customer satisfaction beyond that actual product is an understatement.

BoneCollector

their policies about insisting on direct debit and no credit card payments

Hmm.. i have no probs paying by credit card?

spongebob

Originally posted by vampyre
They are the worst run company for billing imaginable. and everything involves paperwork.

This is very true.

The Billing system was incapable of rating and packaging netsmart when the product was launched as a spoiler against UTV .

Thats because the system insisted on a per minute rate over the nn hours in the package which then had to be credited and hidden before the bills were sent out.

I heard that the billing people vehemently objected to Netsmart because they knew their system could not handle it, being designed for step billing as it was.

M

eth0_

Originally posted by vampyre
From the day esat started offering residential phone services years ago they have provided a jaw dropping, totally mesmirising on going display of complete incompetence when it comes to billing

You're so melodramatic, Vampyre, have you thought about a career on the stage? :OP

Did you stop to think maybe they don't accept credit cards because residential customers paying by credit card may have become "bad debtors"? IIRC they used to offer DD for SNL..Direct Debit seems to offer a little more recompense to companies from what I can see..

dahamsta

I don't see a whole lot of difference between CC and DD when it comes to debtors tbh. You're billed a month in advance with both, so they're on an equal footing there. The only way you can screw them is to go absolutely ape with your account, but again the effects will be the same. You can do a chargeback on your credit card, but it's not as easy as people think, and you can object to a DD payment too. You can stop your credit card, but it's actually easier to stop a DD. Care to elaborate eth0_?

If anything, the opposite is true in this case because EsatBT's billing procedures are (apparently) so bad, which could result in months of bad debts. But then they'll just send out incredible, fraudulent demands to a random selection when they fold anyway, eh?

adam

spongebob

I don't see a whole lot of difference between CC and DD when it comes to debtors tbh.

If a vendor takes a DD twice, and get caught for their mistake and accepts it then they may simply charge it back. The customer cannot contact a bank to get them to do it for you. In must be sorted out between yourself and the vendor. I only give DD mandates to banks (mortgage) and the ESB, everyone else can feck off

The combination of Credit Cards and an Incompetent Billing Department is potentially lethal to a vendor.

Unlike a DD, you can contact the CC company who can instigate a chargeback for you. You could contact ESAT who can charge it back too. It is much easier to Get Visa to do though. If I had a CC charge item dispute with anyone and failed to resolve it reasonably sharpish I would immediately contact Visa who would do it for me no problem.

Once chargebacks agreed by the customer and CC issuer hit 5% of a vendors TOTAL CC business, they then get mangled with extra charges by the CC company with whom they have a merchant agreement. This 5% would be an admixture of fraud and incompetence by the vendor. In a low margin bizniss like telecoms, 5% is a lot and quickly spirals out of control if you exceed the limit because of the punitive charges.

ESAT should basically not accept CC as a form of payment....save from established customers of 2 years standing or so, and should simplify their application form. The form is grossly intrusive and not justifiable as a protection against fraud, an example of how they have too many chiefs in their Billing and Customer Care departments who all have to be satisfied during their interminable meetings.

Eircom DON'T ACCEPT CC's EITHER because they recognise one major pitfall of having the most incompetent customer care staff of all. Accepting that your staff are complete sh1te and therefore simplifying their work for them shows good management practise somewhere. Biddy does DD or Cheque only, cash goes to Post Office .....someone elses problem.

Note Pls ESAT .

M

eth0_

Originally posted by Muck
ESAT have a long history of employing obnoxious and arrogant incompetents (with foreign accents) who self importantly swan around the place pretending to manage. I have never met a senior ESAT person with a normal Irish accent.....even if I suspected them to BE Irish.

What's wrong with having a foreign accent? Do remember Esat is owned by BT, so there's bound to be British people at least in management at some level...

But I really don't understand why you're complaining about someone's accent!

spongebob

Originally posted by eth0_
What's wrong with having a foreign accent?

Nothing! Especially when you are foreign.

Anything else wrong with what I said?

eth0_

Originally posted by Muck

Anything else wrong with what I said?

No Sir! Nothing at all! *backs slowly away from grumpy Muck*

dahamsta

Well, I can't argue with your logic Muck, but that's CS issue, not a genuine substantive difference. As to the foreign accents, there was no need to be so snappy with eth0_ -- if you don't have an issue with foreign accects, there was no point in mentioning it.

adam

spongebob

Originally posted by dahamsta
[B. As to the foreign accents, there was no need to be so snappy with eth0_ -- if you don't have an issue with foreign accects, there was no point in mentioning it.

adam [/B]

/me backs away too

memories of 1999 period ESAT came flooding back......sorry.

dahamsta

Let's all have a big group hug and glare over our shoulders at the nasty EsatBT.

heh

adam

MDR

one would have though that one of the best ways to compete with Eircom would have been to offer decent customer service ... obviousily Esat never coped onto this ....

dahamsta

I'm surprised by this actually. Obviously the whole point of bringing in a new fella was to imrpove the bottom line, but one would have thought he'd have the brains to recognise that in the Internet age, CS is the new decider, the new crunch factor.

adam

vampyre

Originally posted by eth0_
You're so melodramatic, Vampyre, have you thought about a career on the stage? :OP

Did you stop to think maybe they don't accept credit cards because residential customers paying by credit card may have become "bad debtors"? IIRC they used to offer DD for SNL..Direct Debit seems to offer a little more recompense to companies from what I can see..

I am perfectly well aware of what a bad debtor is. CC are accepted via online banking which is something that took those clowns years to provide. my main issue is they have had a credit history and perfect credit rating since they started way back in Dec 1st 199x. Thay could actually have the decency to accept that not everyone is a crook when they have evidence to the contrary. Not everyone actually has a bank account btw, some people still rely heavily on the post office and therefore are excluded from the services.