Eircom customers face massive backdated bills

anncoates · 04-04-2014 10:05AM

counterlock wrote: »

Have you an opinion on it OP?

Have you?

Plazaman · 04-04-2014 10:13AM

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.

Plans for switching all EU countries started back as early as 2008 but the Feb 2014 deadline was mainly advertised in Ireland from early 2012. Eircom had 2 years to get prepared and run their tests but still failed. PS they are not the only company and even one or two of the Banks themselves have made a few FU's.

Anyway in the heel of the hunt they have said anyone who can't afford to repay in a lump some and set up a payment plan with them so they're not monsters.

Eircom has blamed a ‘systems error’ and said it will be talking to customers in a bid to make out payment plans for those who have difficulty paying.

mickydoomsux · 04-04-2014 10:25AM

DeanAustin wrote: »

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.

Their rep was just on the radio and said it was a problem with the bank processing a particular batch of payments due to a SEPA glitch.

How are they punishing their customers by expecting them to pay their bills?

They've stated from the get go that they'll work on payment plans for people who can't sort it out all at once.

This is more rabble-rabble nonsense against a business being a business and victimising the poor little innocent consumer. It's getting tiresome at this stage. Everyone in this country wants to be a victim of some perceived sleight so they can have a good uninformed whinge.

DeanAustin · 04-04-2014 10:36AM

mickydoomsux wrote: »

Their rep was just on the radio and said it was a problem with the bank processing a particular batch of payments due to a SEPA glitch.

How are they punishing their customers by expecting them to pay their bills?

They've stated from the get go that they'll work on payment plans for people who can't sort it out all at once.

This is more rabble-rabble nonsense against a business being a business and victimising the poor little innocent consumer. It's getting tiresome at this stage. Everyone in this country wants to be a victim of some perceived sleight so they can have a good uninformed whinge.

Alright Sunshine, down off your high horse. We're in agreement. Look at my post, I've said they are entitled to their money. They just shouldn't expect it in one go. They aren't. They're being reasonable. Fair enough.

Femme_Fatale · 04-04-2014 10:40AM

People should contact them to organise an instalment plan, which they'd have to provide.
Also, if your bill is really delayed, you're better off checking why instead of leaving it pile up. You're using the service continously and you know you'll be getting billed anyway.

But I suppose bitching and moaning about them and giving abuse to a telephone agent is so much more productive and fun.

This was the main story on Today FM news this morning. Quiet for news at the moment obviously.

the immortals · 04-04-2014 11:07AM

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

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

i went into aib in ranelagh yesterday to cancel a dd debit with eircom, this was before i knew of the hullabaloo going on now, i had other issues with them, i was told by the bank that they will cancel their end of dd but eircom could still take out money if they wanted as i had contract with them, bank said they were just facilitating my contract with eircom

foggy_lad · 04-04-2014 11:23AM

the immortals wrote: »

i went into aib in ranelagh yesterday to cancel a dd debit with eircom, this was before i knew of the hullabaloo going on now, i had other issues with them, i was told by the bank that they will cancel their end of dd but eircom could still take out money if they wanted as i had contract with them, bank said they were just facilitating my contract with eircom

This is wrong but as long as the bank refund immediately any future debits taken by eircon they are doing their bit and meeting their obligations.

What customers must remember is they must tell eircon that they have cancelled the direct debit.

stoneill · 04-04-2014 11:29AM

You can pay over the phone - ironic.

shruikan2553 · 04-04-2014 11:31AM

the immortals wrote: »

i went into aib in ranelagh yesterday to cancel a dd debit with eircom, this was before i knew of the hullabaloo going on now, i had other issues with them, i was told by the bank that they will cancel their end of dd but eircom could still take out money if they wanted as i had contract with them, bank said they were just facilitating my contract with eircom

Once a DD has been cancled with AIB (can't comment on other banks but assume it is similar) eircom can't get money from you, they can request but the bank won't give it. They ask you to cancel the contract because it saves them having to deal with eircom

the immortals · 04-04-2014 11:48AM

shruikan2553 wrote: »

Once a DD has been cancled with AIB (can't comment on other banks but assume it is similar) eircom can't get money from you, they can request but the bank won't give it. They ask you to cancel the contract because it saves them having to deal with eircom

yes i thought this too until i was told in aib in ranalagh that they can still take money out, i was amazed at this information, spoke to 2 customer service women

cuilteanna · 04-04-2014 11:54AM

The money is still in my account waiting as I'm well aware that I owed it and had already deducted it. I rang Eircom after each bill when I saw my DD hadn't left my bank account and they assured me it was paid and they would look into it. Apparently they didn't bother to look very hard since it's taken this long - 5 months - for them to figure it out.

The wording of the letter is basically saying "We will take all of the money at your next bill". Only down at the bottom is there any reference to payment options.

But why do I have to be charged two Failed Direct Debit fees when it's THEIR fault?! Yes it is being reimbursed, but I am very unhappy that I'll have late payments in my credit history when I've been proactive in following it up.

bumper234 · 04-04-2014 11:57AM

cuilteanna wrote: »

The money is still in my account waiting as I'm well aware that I owed it and had already deducted it. I rang Eircom after each bill when I saw my DD hadn't left my bank account and they assured me it was paid and they would look into it. Apparently they didn't bother to look very hard since it's taken this long - 5 months - for them to figure it out.

The wording of the letter is basically saying "We will take all of the money at your next bill". Only down at the bottom is there any reference to payment options.

But why do I have to be charged two Failed Direct Debit fees when it's THEIR fault?! Yes it is being reimbursed, but I am very unhappy that I'll have late payments in my credit history when I've been proactive in following it up.

This could possibly be the difference between someone being granted a mortgage and someone being refused.

No Pants · 04-04-2014 12:10PM

meathenterpr wrote: »

Furthermore demand some sort of recompense for the stress they caused.

What stress?

MS.ing · 04-04-2014 01:17PM

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

bumper234 wrote: »

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

well if you have it in writing that it was them who insisted you paid then thats that. T hey would have had a leg to stand on if they didnt send the letter and it was just a phone conversation (unless you recorðed it) but they did so tough s*** really for them.

Its not up to the person to keep track on DDs leaving their account its up to the business who said theyd take it, but then again a look through terms and conditions you signed might tell you otherwise but judging by the fact they have made this announcement in national media? then they are probably sure the customer has no out except maybe to split up the payment into smaller amounts more often.

mickydoomsux · 04-04-2014 01:35PM

MS.ing wrote: »

well if you have it in writing that it was them who insisted you paid then thats that. T hey would have had a leg to stand on if they didnt send the letter and it was just a phone conversation (unless you recorðed it) but they did so tough s*** really for them.

Its not up to the person to keep track on DDs leaving their account its up to the business who said theyd take it, but then again a look through terms and conditions you signed might tell you otherwise but judging by the fact they have made this announcement in national media? then they are probably sure the customer has no out except maybe to split up the payment into smaller amounts more often.

It's not up to you to keep track of your Direct Debits?

Jesus wept.

questionmark? · 04-04-2014 01:53PM

the immortals wrote: »

yes i thought this too until i was told in aib in ranalagh that they can still take money out, i was amazed at this information, spoke to 2 customer service women

This is incorrect. Under the Direct Debit Indemity scheme funds can only be realised if the customer has giving permission for payments to be made. By telling your bank to stop the DD you have withdrawn that permission. If your bank pays out, tell them to recall it straight away and lodge a formal complaint against the bank. In the same way as If you agreed for a DD to be in place for a set monthly figure and a change was made you must be provided with a minimum of 10 working days notice if you didnt get that the scheme states the funds must be refunded to your account.

04-04-2014 01:54PM

If a direct debit to a company bounces, it us normal practice for them to charge an admin fee for chasing it up.

Customers should counter charge eircom for the time spent advising eircom of this error.

Fair's fair.

questionmark? · 04-04-2014 01:58PM

Strawberry Milkshake wrote: »

If a direct debit to a company bounces, it us normal practice for them to charge an admin fee for chasing it up.

Customers should counter charge eircom for the time spent advising eircom of this error.

Fair's fair.

Depends on the T&C but most companies will have some sort of admin charge.

ScumLord · 04-04-2014 03:09PM

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.

I've had some sort of funny DR euros in my account for the past few days.

the immortals · 04-04-2014 03:09PM

questionmark? wrote: »

This is incorrect. Under the Direct Debit Indemity scheme funds can only be realised if the customer has giving permission for payments to be made. By telling your bank to stop the DD you have withdrawn that permission. If your bank pays out, tell them to recall it straight away and lodge a formal complaint against the bank. In the same way as If you agreed for a DD to be in place for a set monthly figure and a change was made you must be provided with a minimum of 10 working days notice if you didnt get that the scheme states the funds must be refunded to your account.

I hope you are right! The customer service girls in aib ranelagh were quite adamant about it,

NormanNicetouch · 04-04-2014 03:25PM

the immortals wrote: »

I hope you are right! The customer service girls in aib ranelagh were quite adamant about it,

In my experience a lot of frontline bank staff these days don't have much of a clue and are quite poorly trained. It's usually best to double check anything you are told by contacting the telephone banking service and even then you are not 100% guaranteed to be given correct information as they also suffer from poor training.

shruikan2553 · 04-04-2014 04:30PM

the immortals wrote: »

yes i thought this too until i was told in aib in ranalagh that they can still take money out, i was amazed at this information, spoke to 2 customer service women

Thats odd, I had a DD issue and my bank is AIB. They sorted it out and got me a refund in 2 days. If they want to be awkward can just close your account and go elsewhere. Its a pain in the ass but its better than having money taken out of your account each month.

Conor98 · 04-04-2014 05:28PM

If eircom has insisted you paid the bills and have sent you written letters confirming payments and the dates paid, what rights do they have to now say oh we're wrong give it back? Shouldn't our written proof of payment count as a receipt of purchase? And the fact they want to add charges on top this is a complete joke, I'm in the mind state right now to say screw them cancel my payments and ignore there attempts to claim it

bumper234 · 04-04-2014 06:28PM

Conor98 wrote: »

If eircom has insisted you paid the bills and have sent you written letters confirming payments and the dates paid, what rights do they have to now say oh we're wrong give it back? Shouldn't our written proof of payment count as a receipt of purchase? And the fact they want to add charges on top this is a complete joke, I'm in the mind state right now to say screw them cancel my payments and ignore there attempts to claim it

If you have a bill for services used then you need to pay that bill. Charges on top is a no go and no way would i pay them but advocating non payment will just get you a bad credit rating and cost you more when you end up in court for non payment.

Fred Swanson · 04-04-2014 06:40PM

This post has been deleted.

jahalpin · 04-04-2014 06:53PM

Under SEPA rules, consumers can have a direct debit reversed without a reason within 8 weeks of the payment being taken from the account

Under both SEPA and the IPSO dd schemes the originator must take the money from the customer within a few days of the originally advised date

It is a disgrace that it has taken Eircom so long to notice that the dds had not been taken correctly.

What probably happened was that the direct debits were presented as first presentation rather than a recurring presentation, in this case the instructions would automatically fail as the mandate would already exist in the system so would not be a first presentation

I can't really understand why it took them so long to notice that they hadn't actually received the money in their account

bumper234 · 04-04-2014 07:03PM

Fred Swanson wrote: »

Eircom are not members of the ICB so that argument does not fly.

So DD's that were returned unpaid will not show up on a bank account?

chasm · 09-04-2014 03:59AM

murpho999 wrote: »

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.

AXA now having the same issues. I note that they are blaming their bank too.
I don't understand how all these companies were not ready for this??

"THOUSANDS of home and motor insurance customers of Axa have missed payments after the company failed to collect direct debits.
The insurer has admitted the mistake has now happened twice and is blaming their bank for the error.

They have claimed that their bank has yet to get their systems set up to deal with changes to direct debit payments from the new EU-wide single euro payments area (Sepa) initiative."

http://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/thousands-hit-by-insurance-firms-direct-debit-glitch-30168169.html

Shedite27 · 09-04-2014 09:22AM

chasm wrote: »

AXA now having the same issues. I note that they are blaming their bank too.

I don't understand how all these companies were not ready for this??

"THOUSANDS of home and motor insurance customers of Axa have missed payments after the company failed to collect direct debits.
The insurer has admitted the mistake has now happened twice and is blaming their bank for the error.

They have claimed that their bank has yet to get their systems set up to deal with changes to direct debit payments from the new EU-wide single euro payments area (Sepa) initiative."

http://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/thousands-hit-by-insurance-firms-direct-debit-glitch-30168169.html

It's the banks who weren't ready. They've been feeding awful incorrect information back to companies, which means the companies can't get an accurate picture of who has paid their bills and who hasn't

Fair play to AXA for calling them out, albeit without naming the bank.

bnt · 09-04-2014 09:39AM

Conor98 wrote: »

If eircom has insisted you paid the bills and have sent you written letters confirming payments and the dates paid, what rights do they have to now say oh we're wrong give it back? Shouldn't our written proof of payment count as a receipt of purchase? And the fact they want to add charges on top this is a complete joke, I'm in the mind state right now to say screw them cancel my payments and ignore there attempts to claim it

Oh yeah - like Eircom doesn't have lawyers, and would just do something like this without talking to lawyers first. Power to the Consumers People! :rolleyes:

Eircom customers face massive backdated bills

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