Eircom customers face massive backdated bills

bumper234 · 04-04-2014 07:33AM #1

30,000 Eircom customers face bloated backdated bills in payments blunder

http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/30000-eircom-customers-face-bloated-backdated-bills-in-payments-blunder-626893.html

Pretty messed up and going to ask people to pay up in one go!

housands of Eircom customers are to be hit with significantly higher bills after a payments blunder at the company.

The telecoms giant failed to collect direct debits at the start of the year, with some subscribers now being charged for several months at a cost of up to €500.

Eircom admits the failure is the company's fault, but will still be asking customers to pay for several months in one go.

Some of those customers are up to five months in arrears, with no payments taken since October.

mickydoomsux · 04-04-2014 07:44AM

Gasp! Paying for something you owe them for anyway.

The horror.

They've already come out and said it won't be all at one time as well.

counterlock · 04-04-2014 07:45AM

Have you an opinion on it OP?

meathenterpr · 04-04-2014 07:49AM

Was with Eircom years ago but left because of their incompetence. See nothing has changed
Just say tell them you are willing to pay but not in one single payment and stand your ground.
Furthermore demand some sort of recompense for the stress they caused.
Remember they have admitted they are at fault.

whiskeyman · 04-04-2014 07:52AM

System and business processes must be in shyte if there's no checks to confirm DDs taken!
Bet there was some fun meetings in there as it came to light.

bumper234 · 04-04-2014 07:52AM

mickydoomsux wrote: »

Gasp! Paying for something you owe them for anyway.

The horror.

They've already come out and said it won't be all at one time as well.

Am not an Eircom customer myself so not affected by this, Obviously they have to pay their bills and it's obvious to most if the money has not gone out of their account. There will of course be people who have since spent the money that they should have used to pay their bills and will be lamenting how it's all Eircoms fault for not spotting this but surely SOMEONE has mentioned this to Eircom over the last couple of months that cash was not leaving accounts?

Don't know myself, On one hand it's obviously Eircom's fault for not spotting this sooner and if someone is having difficulty with a now large bill they should maybe spread the payments over the space of a few months. On the other hand if my phone bill comes in and is not taken by my provider i would ring asking why it hasn't gone out.

Mr. Incognito · 04-04-2014 07:53AM

People can cancel the dd mandate at the bank and go to decent providers?

bumper234 · 04-04-2014 07:56AM

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

People can cancel the dd mandate at the bank and go to decent providers?

But if they are under contract and now in arrears of €xxx.xx they will still have to pay. What about someone saving for a mortgage? Wonder will this come back as a negative for them now with banks re: credit ratings.

Lisha · 04-04-2014 07:57AM

A friend of mine realised direct debits had not been taken and rang eircom and they said dd had been taken that her bank was wrong. She had a few phone calls with eircom but eircom could not see the problem and insisted she must be wrong.
So I'm not surprised by this

bumper234 · 04-04-2014 07:59AM

Lisha wrote: »

A friend of mine realised direct debits had not been taken and rang eircom and they said dd had been taken that her bank was wrong. She had a few phone calls with eircom but eircom could not see the problem and insisted she must be wrong.
So I'm not surprised by this

Yes apparently they even sent letters to some saying/confirming that DD had been taken and their accounts were up to date.

Lisha · 04-04-2014 08:03AM

bumper234 wrote: »

Yes apparently they even sent letters to some saying/confirming that DD had been taken and their accounts were up to date.

But surely they have to allow people time to pay if needed so!
Bizarre

whiskeyman · 04-04-2014 08:05AM

bumper234 wrote: »

Yes apparently they even sent letters to some saying/confirming that DD had been taken and their accounts were up to date.

Jaysus! The customer is always right wrong!

Flippyfloppy · 04-04-2014 08:06AM

Ew I'm glad I left eircom, I hated being with them.

PizzamanIRL · 04-04-2014 08:10AM

counterlock wrote: »

Have you an opinion on it OP?

Do you care?

allthedoyles · 04-04-2014 08:18AM

bumper234 wrote: »

Yes apparently they even sent letters to some saying/confirming that DD had been taken and their accounts were up to date.

Eircom told me that my bill showed I had paid in full, but in fact the money was not taken from bank account.

Then I got a letter from Eircom to say that there was an error , and they told me that the letter was sent to me in error .

Then Eircom told me they received no money from me , when in fact I h=had been paying them small amounts through mybills.ie , and they backtracked again and said they received these amounts .

I pay 35e a month , and next Eircom confirmed my account balance was minus 33 , but now I get a bill which shows I owe 120.

Its a mess for Eircom customers

NormanNicetouch · 04-04-2014 08:22AM

How could their finance department not notice there was a big and ever-increasing hole in their expected income every month?

jester77 · 04-04-2014 08:23AM

Why is this even a story

You would obviously see that they had not taken the money when you go over your accounts at the end of the week/month. No one would be stupid enough to think they got the service for free. Just leave the money that was already set aside for the bill in the account. Very sensationalist headline, you would think they were ripping people off. They are only taking the money that they previously would have taken.

bucketybuck · 04-04-2014 08:26AM

jester77 wrote: »

Why is this even a story

You would obviously see that they had not taken the money when you go over your accounts at the end of the week/month. No one would be stupid enough to think they got the service for free. Just leave the money that was already set aside for the bill in the account. Very sensationalist headline, you would think they were ripping people off. They are only taking the money that they previously would have taken.

This post is laughably naive.

mickydoomsux · 04-04-2014 08:43AM

jester77 wrote: »

Why is this even a story

You would obviously see that they had not taken the money when you go over your accounts at the end of the week/month. No one would be stupid enough to think they got the service for free. Just leave the money that was already set aside for the bill in the account. Very sensationalist headline, you would think they were ripping people off. They are only taking the money that they previously would have taken.

Previously state owned company and as we well know they are all bastards as far as the public are concerned.

jester77 · 04-04-2014 09:09AM

bucketybuck wrote: »

This post is laughably naive.

In what way

Do you think Eircom did this on purpose or are going to take more money than is owed to them? Eircom are the losers here, they have lost the interest on the money they should have collected.

everdead.ie · 04-04-2014 09:18AM

jester77 wrote: »

Why is this even a story

You would obviously see that they had not taken the money when you go over your accounts at the end of the week/month. No one would be stupid enough to think they got the service for free. Just leave the money that was already set aside for the bill in the account. Very sensationalist headline, you would think they were ripping people off. They are only taking the money that they previously would have taken.

My main issue is people who called up saying they hadn't been DD and told they were paid in full. They go spend the money after receiving conformation and now told they have to pay beck the money.

It reminds me of the time I moved to a new apartment and changed from airticity to ESB and then three months later airtricity threatened to cut me off and charge me a disconnection fee. I was livid took three weeks before they admitted they were wrong.

If the customer brings up the issue and told they are fine they should receive a discount in my opinion.

force eleven · 04-04-2014 09:19AM

Another SEPA balls up. Whenever you hear the EU want to harmonize stuff, you know it will be bad news for the ordinary joe soap.

The Backwards Man · 04-04-2014 09:20AM

jester77 wrote: »

In what way Do you think Eircom did this on purpose or are going to take more money than is owed to them? Eircom are the losers here, they have lost the interest on the money they should have collected.

I think he means naive about the way people manage their finances. It's criminal the amount of people wouldn't have a clue what comes in and out of their account every month, where iy came from and where it went.

Balance = spending money.

DeanAustin · 04-04-2014 09:23AM

meathenterpr wrote: »

Was with Eircom years ago but left because of their incompetence. See nothing has changed
Just say tell them you are willing to pay but not in one single payment and stand your ground.
Furthermore demand some sort of recompense for the stress they caused.
Remember they have admitted they are at fault.

Good to see the compo culture is alive and well.

Eircom should work with their customers here. There complete and utter balls up. The should allow time for people to pay the bills. As someone else said, their finance people should be kicked in the hole as well.

Mr Simpson · 04-04-2014 09:25AM

jester77 wrote: »

Why is this even a story

You would obviously see that they had not taken the money when you go over your accounts at the end of the week/month. No one would be stupid enough to think they got the service for free. Just leave the money that was already set aside for the bill in the account. Very sensationalist headline, you would think they were ripping people off. They are only taking the money that they previously would have taken.

I'd say a very large chunk of people will only ever check their bank accounts once their card has been declined in a shop. The amount of people I talk to on a daily basis who have no clue whats going out of their bank account is unbelievable.

Uriel. · 04-04-2014 09:29AM

meathenterpr wrote: »

Was with Eircom years ago but left because of their incompetence. See nothing has changed
Just say tell them you are willing to pay but not in one single payment and stand your ground.
Furthermore demand some sort of recompense for the stress they caused.
Remember they have admitted they are at fault.

:rolleyes:

Feckin hell.

jester77 · 04-04-2014 09:46AM

The Backwards Man wrote: »

I think he means naive about the way people manage their finances. It's criminal the amount of people wouldn't have a clue what comes in and out of their account every month, where iy came from and where it went.

Balance = spending money.

Mr Simpson wrote: »

I'd say a very large chunk of people will only ever check their bank accounts once their card has been declined in a shop. The amount of people I talk to on a daily basis who have no clue whats going out of their bank account is unbelievable.

You can't blame Eircom for that.

Mr Simpson · 04-04-2014 09:49AM

jester77 wrote: »

You can't blame Eircom for that.

I didn't....

DeanAustin · 04-04-2014 09:51AM

jester77 wrote: »

You can't blame Eircom for that.

No but they should be reasonable about this. It's their cock up. To punish their customers for their mistake is very poor. Eircom are entitled to their money but their customers should be entitled to not take the hit in one go.

keeponhurling · 04-04-2014 10:03AM

NormanNicetouch wrote: »

How could their finance department not notice there was a big and ever-increasing hole in their expected income every month?

I suspect there are some pretty awkward conversations in the Eircom Finance Dept. alright.
that does seem incredible that they wouldn't notice

murpho999 · 04-04-2014 10:04AM

force eleven wrote: »

Another SEPA balls up. Whenever you hear the EU want to harmonize stuff, you know it will be bad news for the ordinary joe soap.

This not a SEPA balls up. It's Eircom's.

SEPA has been coming down the line for years and companies had to prepare for it.

Eircom have clearly failed to do this.

Having had issues myself with their billing that led to me leaving them I am not surprised.

Eircom customers face massive backdated bills

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