Being charged for "usage charges" despite no Fair Usage Policy on my account

gerard1970 · 29-10-2018 01:18PM #1

What the hell is going on with eir billing? I signed up to the "eir Complete Broadband & Phone" package and confirmed that the Fair Usage Policy didn't apply to this - which eir confirmed. I got an email this morning telling me that my latest bill was available. I went and checked, and they're back charging me the €100 "usage charges". What's going on here eir?

I now have the prospect of having to spend time on the phone trying to get through to eir support to get this issue sorted.

RobiePAX · 29-10-2018 09:19PM

Weird how it's exactly €100 on the point.

On your account you only have broadband and landline? You don't have mobile or sim card which you could had overused?

The bill should explain further what kind of usage you were charged for.

gerard1970 · 30-10-2018 01:35PM

Hi RobbiePAX.

Yep, I only have broadband and landline. The charges I'm seeing are the same as when I was on my "old" account where I was subject to the 1TB Fair Usage Policy.

€100 is the "maximum" (isn't that very nice of them!!) that they'll charge if you exceed their 1TB - which doesn't apply to me anymore as I signed a new contract in September.

eir: Kyle · 30-10-2018 02:46PM

gerard1970 wrote: »

Hi RobbiePAX.

Yep, I only have broadband and landline. The charges I'm seeing are the same as when I was on my "old" account where I was subject to the 1TB Fair Usage Policy.

€100 is the "maximum" (isn't that very nice of them!!) that they'll charge if you exceed their 1TB - which doesn't apply to me anymore as I signed a new contract in September.

Hi there gerard1970

I would suggest calling Care directly because if you were charged for FUP, they will be able to refund and remove the cap.

-Kyle

gerard1970 · 31-10-2018 09:47AM

Thanks Kyle.

I tried calling yesterday evening and spent ~35 minutes on hold before I gave up. I tried again this morning and spent about 20 minutes on hold; again I didn't get to speak to anybody.

I have an email confirming that my new contract will cost €67.99 per month, so I'll just pay this off my latest bill.

eir: Kyle · 31-10-2018 01:28PM

gerard1970 wrote: »

Thanks Kyle.

I tried calling yesterday evening and spent ~35 minutes on hold before I gave up. I tried again this morning and spent about 20 minutes on hold; again I didn't get to speak to anybody.

I have an email confirming that my new contract will cost €67.99 per month, so I'll just pay this off my latest bill.

Hi there gerard1970

We are aware of the call-waiting times and sincerely apologise for this delay but they are the only department that will be able to assist with this

-Kyle

gerard1970 · 02-11-2018 11:12AM

Hi Kyle,

Thanks for getting back to me. At this stage though, trying to get through to the care team is impossible. I don't have time to call during my working day, so I try and call each morning on my way to work and again each evening on my way home from work, but haven't managed to get through.

I'm prepared to pay the €67.99 per the confirmation email that I received when I signed up to a new contract, but I'm not paying for anything else.

I have also logged a complaint with comreg re the inability to get through to anybody on the "care" team.

eir: Kyle · 02-11-2018 02:01PM

gerard1970 wrote: »

Hi Kyle,

Thanks for getting back to me. At this stage though, trying to get through to the care team is impossible. I don't have time to call during my working day, so I try and call each morning on my way to work and again each evening on my way home from work, but haven't managed to get through.

I'm prepared to pay the €67.99 per the confirmation email that I received when I signed up to a new contract, but I'm not paying for anything else.

I have also logged a complaint with comreg re the inability to get through to anybody on the "care" team.

Hi there gerard1970

I completely understand just how frustrated you must be. If you logged a formal complaint with ComReg, they will get in touch with eir Complaints directly on your behalf and try to resolve this for you as soon as possible.

If you logged a formal complaint online on our website, you will get a reference number which you can give ComReg so get this resolved quicker

-Kyle

gerard1970 · 02-11-2018 02:44PM

eir: Kyle wrote: »

gerard1970 wrote: »

Hi Kyle,

Thanks for getting back to me. At this stage though, trying to get through to the care team is impossible. I don't have time to call during my working day, so I try and call each morning on my way to work and again each evening on my way home from work, but haven't managed to get through.

I'm prepared to pay the €67.99 per the confirmation email that I received when I signed up to a new contract, but I'm not paying for anything else.

I have also logged a complaint with comreg re the inability to get through to anybody on the "care" team.

Hi there gerard1970

I completely understand just how frustrated you must be. If you logged a formal complaint with ComReg, they will get in touch with eir Complaints directly on your behalf and try to resolve this for you as soon as possible.

If you logged a formal complaint online on our website, you will get a reference number which you can give ComReg so get this resolved quicker

-Kyle

Thanks Kyle, yep, I have that number from eir too.

tuxy · 02-11-2018 02:51PM

If you were an existing customer before you signed up for that package then this is completely normal.
Everyone on here who has tried to have the FUP removed has had issues.

gerard1970 · 02-11-2018 03:03PM

Thanks Tuxy.

I have a PM from Tracey on Sep 14th saying "I can see Fallon submitted a request to change your landline package which will also allow change over to unlimited allowance. I contacted her for an update and she has advised that it will take a week to complete however if you exceed your allowance in the meantie she will waive these charges. "

Another question for Kyle - if Tracey was able to see my account (after I gave her my account number), why can't the other reps here do the same thing instead of sending us on a goose chase calling 1901?

gerard1970 · 05-11-2018 10:06AM

Just an update on this.

I logged a call with ComReg on Friday morning and got a confirmation email from them on Friday afternoon. Also on Friday, I logged a formal complaint on the eir website https://www.eir.ie/complaints. 

The complaints department got back to me on Friday afternoon and said "I have been reviewing your account and I can see on that date that in fact you did call and there was only an order placed but it was only for a change of package on your land line and no order for any broadband.

The old package was eir talk mobile world, the new package you are on now is called eir talk off peak 2018, so with no new order for your broadband those charges would stand and would valid."

I replied and said "From looking at some web sites, I found out that the 1TB usage cap was being removed from all new accounts from mid-July (I can’t remember the exact date, but I think it was sometime around then). When I read this, I called up and signed up for a new package. Before confirming the order, I verified with the sales rep that the 1TB limit WOULD NOT apply, and this was confirmed to me – from memory, I think the sales rep name was Fallon. On September 17th I was sent an email confirming a new contract for “eir Complete Broadband & Phone” which had ”eir Talk Mobile World” and “eir Fibre Extreme 150 mb”. When I was talking to Fallon, I told her that I didn’t use my land line to make any calls to land lines or mobiles and that the only call package I wanted was for off-peak to land line only. I also confirmed again with Fallon that as I was signing a new contract that the 1TB would no longer apply – and she confirmed that this was correct.

Are you saying that the information I was given by Fallon was incorrect?"

Just now, I got another mail from getmore@eir.ie with details of a new contract. I then got a reply from ccm@eir.ie saying

"Firstly, I would like to apologize for the inconvenience caused to you.

I have been reviewing your account, I have waived the outside bundle usage of €100.00 and I also change your broadband to the new one, which is unlimited, you will receive a new welcome email to confirm that, just be advised your contract expiry date still remain the same 17/09/2018.

Once again apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Thanks
Regards
Ayo"

So my advice to anybody who's having trouble getting through to eir support is to do the following

1. Go the Comreg site and click on "Queries & Complaints". https://www.comreg.ie/queries-complaints.
2. Click on got a question. There's an option there to start a WebChat, but this wasn't working on Friday, so I just filled in the on-line form and laid out the facts, as I saw them.
3. When that was done, I then went to the eir Complaints page - https://www.eir.ie/complaints, clicked on "Log a Complaint" tab and clicked on the option to send an email.

It's a bit more effort, but it certainly took less time than trying to get through via 1901.

JTMan · 09-11-2018 02:43PM

eir: Kyle wrote: »

gerard1970 wrote: »

Hi Kyle,

Thanks for getting back to me. At this stage though, trying to get through to the care team is impossible. I don't have time to call during my working day, so I try and call each morning on my way to work and again each evening on my way home from work, but haven't managed to get through.

I'm prepared to pay the €67.99 per the confirmation email that I received when I signed up to a new contract, but I'm not paying for anything else.

I have also logged a complaint with comreg re the inability to get through to anybody on the "care" team.

Hi there gerard1970

I completely understand just how frustrated you must be. If you logged a formal complaint with ComReg, they will get in touch with eir Complaints directly on your behalf and try to resolve this for you as soon as possible.

If you logged a formal complaint online on our website, you will get a reference number which you can give ComReg so get this resolved quicker

-Kyle

Unbelievable that a company is telling it's customers to go to the regulator in order to get an answer from their own call centre.

This is outrageous.

Being charged for "usage charges" despite no Fair Usage Policy on my account

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