The reply I sent Eircom regarding their E-Christmas Cards!

And that's just unmetered access. I've yet to mention the ridiculous broadband situation. Only eircom could use millions of pounds of state funding trying to put in place ADSL access in this country only for us to find that it is only available in selected parts of Dublin, then waste months doing trials of the system, then release the most stupid prices ever seen for ADSL in the entire world (i.e. over £100 per month), then find the ODTR instructing them to release more reasonable and realistic pricing for the service and then turn around like a spoilt child and threaten to withdraw the service completely if they didn't get their way and charge this ridiculous price! Only eircom! Here we are, a First World country which, until recently, was enjoying huge economic success and we don't have ADSL yet, in Kazakhstan for example, they DO somehow manage to have ADSL. What the hell are eircom on?It makes me sick to see ads on the TV everyday where BT are offering 24/7 unmetered internet access in the UK and Northern Ireland for fifteen quid a month and ADSL for about forty. For God's sake, if I lived just two feet across the border I could get these services no problem so why not here in the Republic? Once again, it all boils down to eircom's reluctance to do anything and offer these services to us, a reluctance based purely on greed, making huge profits and ignoring the needs and wishes of it's customers and the economy of Ireland as a whole in order to beef up it's bank balance. Shame on you, eircom, I say!

Now, I'm sure that if this e-mail is even read, let alone even replied to, I'll get the usual, company-issue reply. "But eircom's prices are amongst the lowest in Europe, eircom is doing this, that and the other to improve our service, we value your custom, blah, blah, blah." Well, I don't want to hear it. In August a seminar was held in Dublin by an internet pressure group called Ireland Offline who are campaigning for unmetered and broadband internet access in this country (just for the record, I am a member of Ireland Offline and a strong supporter of the campaign since the start). Two representatives were sent from eircom, Soula Evans and Pat Galvin. We all hoped they would show up to give us some new information and details regarding what eircom were doing concerning internet access in Ireland and would listen to what we had to say. Instead, Miss Evans got up and spouted the usual company crap for several minutes, which we all knew was totally inaccurate and fabricated to try and put a positive spin on things. When asked questions from the audience she either repeated what she had already said or was unable to answer them. Mr. Galvin was much the same, trying to put a positive spin on things and regurgitating the facts and figures we had already been told. This just went to further show eircom's total disregard for it's customers and the general public and it's total ineptitude when it comes to public relations. Do eircom actually care about anyone or anything but themselves and their profits? It certainly doesn't look like it to me.

Also, at the seminar Mr. Galvin said that he didn't see any reason why their couldn't be "FRIACO by Christmas." Yet, here it is, December 13th, and there is still no sign of it. It looks like this was another case of eircom making promises it couldn't keep, just like the promise of ADSL in September which will not now be available till next year either! Of course, I guessed we missed what Mr. Galvin was really saying. What he said was, "I can't see why there can't be FRIACO by Christmas." What he didn't say was which Christmas!

Speaking of replies (if you do have the courtesy to send me one!), I also do not want to hear things such as, "Well, eircom.net runs our ISP service and they are separate from eircom itself." You're not kidding anyone! They may be separate companies or whatever but kindly forward this e-mail to them on my behalf if that is the case. Don't try fobbing me off with that excuse!

Now, I'll admit that I strayed quite a bit from my original reason for sending you this e-mail, the e-card I received earlier this evening, but I feel it was necessary. I am an average internet user here in Ireland. All I want is reliable, reasonably priced (i.e. £15-£20 per month), 24/7 unmetered dial-up internet access without having to resort to moving to the UK or across the border! ADSL would be great but I, like most other people I know, would settle for dial-up access at this kind of price. Is that really too much to ask of eircom? I would appreciate it if, in future, you didn't send me hollow, empty Christmas greetings such as that I received this evening. Instead, only contact me when you have something decent to offer such as unmetered access. Until then, stop filling my e-mail inbox up with this kind of rubbish. If you really want to send me and other internet users in Ireland something to be cheerful about this Christmas, how about an offer fulfilling Mr. Galvin's promise of unmetered internet access. Otherwise, don't bother me anymore.

Yours sincerely,

Aidan Dunne.

At the bottom of the e-mail I pasted a little image of the Ireland Offline logo with "In Support Of" just above it.

Now, I know the e-mail was very long but the reason why I felt it necessary to point out all those facts was because I reckon that the poor sod who works in Eircom who had the job of sending these things out is probably a typical Eircom employee, i.e. brainwashed by Eircom's crap and doesn't have a clue what's really going on. I felt it necessary to inform this poor person about what Eircom are really up to and to let them know about the existence of Ireland Offline. As someone said a while ago, apparently most of the people working in Eircom don't know who Ireland Offline are or don't even know of the group's existence. I hope that this will enlighten at least one Eircom employee who may then mention it to their colleagues or pass my e-mail on within the company, therefore letting Eircom employees really know what the company they work for are like.

I doubt I'll get a reply from Eircom as I never have before but if I do I'll post it up here. Should make interesting reading!

By the way, if anyone else gets one of these e-cards send it straight back to them with an e-mail of your own also complaining and telling them what cheeky ba$tards they are to be sending this crap out. They might be able to ignore one e-mail from me but I'm sure they can't ignore a whole bunch of similar e-mails sent by all of us. Don't spam, just send a polite e-mail like I did complaining and making your points heard. Who knows, it might make just a tiny, tiny difference in the greater scheme of things in the long run.

I also just want to say that I think it's great that other people seem to have the same idea I had and are sending replies to their $hitty e-cards. As I said, they might be able to ignore my e-mail but I'm sure thay can't ignore every e-mail that they get. This can only be good for spreading the word about Ireland Offline and telling the folks in Eircom what we really think and want from them.

Keep it up, everybody. I still believe that we all can make a difference.

Thanks for the nice words, MS.

Yeah, I'd love to see how Eircom would reply to the facts I made in my e-mail. I reckon those gob$hites would probably turn around and try and sue me for defamation of character or slander or something, probably claiming that everything I said in the e-mail was false even though it's blatantly true. I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest. After all, this is Eircom we are talking about, the company who reckons everybody is against them and can't understand why! lol.