Eir sold my debt to Stubbsgazette

Johnocarroll

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In 2020 during lockdown I had to work from home.At the time my broadband provider was Eir.The broadband speed I had wasn't nearly good enough to allow me work from home.When my contract was up I switched provider. Now eir have sold a debt of 506 euros to Stubbsgazette. Stubbsgazette are saying I owed eir from July to December,when I cancelled my contract with them.I tried ringing eir on several occasions but couldn't get through to them.My question is if my contract was up did I need to tell them I was no longer continuing with them.
 
My question is if my contract was up did I need to tell them I was no longer continuing with them.
Yes, of course. If you didn't then they presumably kept providing the service to you. Why did you only cancel the service (you say contract which is confusing) with them in December rather than in July when you seem to have switched provider without telling eir that you no longer wanted broadband from them?
 
Unlike some utilities or services where so long as you are out of contract engaging another provider doesn't require alerting your current service (porting a mobile number, electricity and gas), it seems that broadband does require notice and you have to actually cancel the service:
I suspect it's as there are multiple ways that one household can access broadband (copper wire, cable, mobile, satellite even) at the same time, unlike electricity and gas where the same infrastructure is used by all providers so only one at a time can use it; same with porting a mobile number, only one provider can give a service at a time.
 
In 2020 Eir was considered to have the worst customer service possible with delays of hours before a call was answered.

Therefore, unless you were very very patient, it was not possible to reasonably lodge a complaint.

If you can show that the service wasn't used for the period in question, then you should be able to get intrum justia (Stubbs) to bin the claim
 
In 2020 Eir was considered to have the worst customer service possible with delays of hours before a call was answered.

Therefore, unless you were very very patient, it was not possible to reasonably lodge a complaint.

If you can show that the service wasn't used for the period in question, then you should be able to get intrum justia (Stubbs) to bin the claim
I doubt that, as the money is owed.
 
When my contract was up I switched provider.
Followed by.

Now eir have sold at depth of 506 euros to Stubbsgazette.
And did nothing happen between these two events? I would assume eir made at least attempts to contact you by post and email in between.


I switched from eir years ago and they were so difficult to contact that I just cancelled the direct debit with my bank and sent eir a letter of cancellation in the post. It took a while but a final demand for payment arrived by post and email from eir which I duly paid. I would be very surprised if they hadn't attempted the same for you.
 
In 2020 during lockdown I had to work from home.At the time my broadband provider was Eir.The broadband speed I had wasn't nearly good enough to allow me work from home.When my contract was up I switched provider. Now eir have sold at depth of 506 euros to Stubbsgazette. Stubbsgazette are saying I owed eir from July to December,when I cancelled my contract with them.I tried ringing eir on several occasions but couldn't get through to them.My question is if my contract was up did I need to tell them I was no longer continuing with them.

I had a similar experience a number of years ago with credit card debt which was sold on. Its sold on at a discount so I was able to pay about 45% of what I originally owed. Not quite your situation but bear it in mind.
 
In 2020 during lockdown I had to work from home.At the time my broadband provider was Eir.The broadband speed I had wasn't nearly good enough to allow me work from home.When my contract was up I switched provider. Now eir have sold at depth of 506 euros to Stubbsgazette. Stubbsgazette are saying I owed eir from July to December,when I cancelled my contract with them.I tried ringing eir on several occasions but couldn't get through to them.My question is if my contract was up did I need to tell them I was no longer continuing with them.

To answer the main question - how would you feel if you forgot that your minimum contracted term was up and Eir / Sky / Three / Electric Ireland / Bord Gais etc automatically cancelled your service without notice?

All of these services operate a "Minimum Contract Term" and in their cancellation condition (which you checked a box to accept) it will state how you can cancel once the minimum terms is up. Usually it is 30 days notice. Your contract is never "up", just the minimum term has expired


I would try and do a deal with them due to their well documented appalling customer service record and they should be able to see the lack of use of the service. Also, the debt probably has not been sold, Stubbs Gazette offers credit control and collections services to many companies on a fee basis and my guess is this is what this is.

Also you would have had emails / letters in relation to this from Eir - did these not elicit a response from you or a query before this?
 
In 2020 during lockdown I had to work from home.At the time my broadband provider was Eir.The broadband speed I had wasn't nearly good enough to allow me work from home.When my contract was up I switched provider. Now eir have sold at depth of 506 euros to Stubbsgazette. Stubbsgazette are saying I owed eir from July to December,when I cancelled my contract with them.I tried ringing eir on several occasions but couldn't get through to them.My question is if my contract was up did I need to tell them I was no longer continuing with them.
I was out of contract andgive them 1 months written notice. I still cannot work out the extras on my bill because the line rental is paid in advance.
 
I was out of contract andgive them 1 months written notice.
If this is a case then send them another letter saying: "I cancelled my service on XX/YY/2022 via letter attached. I owe no more than the one month as per my contract. Please cancel the remaining debt and give me a corrected bill within ten days. Please treat this correspondence as a complaint." Keep copies and proof of postage.

If this does not resolve the problem with eir take it to Comreg, the government body for handling complaints. See here.
 
I’m currently going through this with Stubbs Gazette. Contract was out in May2020, tried for hours upon hours to cancel with Eir but could not get through. I then cancelled by letter, email, registered letter with no reply. Posted back router. Stubbs reckon I owe them 440€, rang me today offering to take half as a settlement, obviously won’t be taking up their offer, anyone have any experience with them taking matters further. Surely there isn’t a judge in the country would entertain this??
 
I went through this too, cancelled my broadband in 2018 returned the modem, they kept sending me bills, called them multiple times spending over an hour waiting. Long story short stubbsgazette rocked up a few months ago looking for 400 odd euro. Emailed them all the correspondence I had and they admitted they no longer had any records of my original contract. Thought it was all sorted but then got a letter now saying it was a TV package I had, again sent all my evidence and have not heard anything since. Will never return to EIR, their customer service is a shambles.
 
I suggest you check with ComReg (https://www.comreg.ie/contact/).

My understanding is that your are entitled to switch provider once out of contract provided you supplied new provider with your UAN and they ported the service (if a new installation didn't occur and you simply received a new router and connected to new service you were likely ported)
https://www.comreg.ie/advice-information/switching-providers/.

It is the responsibility then of the new service provider to cancel your old service as part of the porting process.

If in doubt contact ComReg and they will direct you.
You will need to lodge a complaint with old provider (EIR) (online form is quickest - https://www.eir.ie/complaints/forms/ ) and wait 10 working days for them to reply with the aim of receiving a case number (they may not but you will have a confirmation email of complaint being lodged which you'll need to supply to ComReg instead of case number).

I won't detail any further steps as ComReg will direct you for you individual case.

Persist and don't give in to the harassment and intimidation tactics of legal threats if the debt claim is false.

Best of luck.
 
The above information from Stevo C was very helpful, Thank you so very much! My case is very similar to those outlined above and dates back to 2020 when customer service from Eir was in a complete shambles. I, too, am now being harassed by representatives of Stubbsgazette.
 
I really do not seem to live in the same world as any previous poster.

In my world you just ignore demands for payments you do not owe.

If they send you a court summons then you will have to deal with that, but they won't.

In my world I receive demands for money which I do not owe frequently, this week alone, E7.15 to An Post and E6.30 or so to eFlow. While I doubt that An Post or eFlow are actually behind the demands I have received, there is little difference between the action of the people sending me those demands and Eir selling debt it has not proved (a legally supportable statement, though I would like to use a stronger) to a debt collector. Stubbs Gazette is a venerable name, interim justitia has a very different reputation.
 
Do Stubbs actually buy debts ? I think they just manage the collection for a fee of the recovered amount, c 20% .
 
In 2020 during lockdown I had to work from home.At the time my broadband provider was Eir.The broadband speed I had wasn't nearly good enough to allow me work from home.When my contract was up I switched provider. Now eir have sold a debt of 506 euros to Stubbsgazette. Stubbsgazette are saying I owed eir from July to December,when I cancelled my contract with them.I tried ringing eir on several occasions but couldn't get through to them.My question is if my contract was up did I need to tell them I was no longer continuing with them.
Hi.

Just wandering if you got this sorted?

I was in a very similar situation. I asked Eir to cancel my broadband/internet at the start of lockdown. They never did. Next to impossible to get through to them. On hold for up to an hour and then when I did get through I kept having to ask the same thing over and over and also on their chat service. I kept receiving bill after bill each month. Luckily I had some screen shots of the 'chats' & still had some copies of the emails.

I also received demanding letters from Stubbs Gazette. I was paying them €50, €100 here and there just to get them off my back, because again it was impossible to get to speak with anyone in Eir.

Took it to Comreg and finally the full amount was recalled. Now just trying to get back the money that I paid to Stubbs Gazette which was over half the amount. I would highly recommend opening a case with Comreg. They were extremely helpful and professional. There have even been articles in newspapers about how bad the service with Eir was/is.

Good luck
 
Eir have a habit of not engaging with people and selling the debt on.

I had a similar story regarding my mobile phone. I understood I was on a 1 year contract coming to the end of my contract I rang up on 3 occasions to sort out my unlocking code so I could move network. I explained on all the calls that i was nearing the end of my contract.

Moved to a different network and was landed with a final invoice saying I broke my contract a year early. I sent two emails asking for a supervisor to call me but none ever did. I was getting monthly email saying my bill was over due.

About 2 years after I moved I get a letter saying they had sold the debt to Stubbs. I sent a new email asking why they did this when they had not engaged with me. Dont a token answer it was now out of their hands. I rang stubs offer 40% then or could wait to payday for 75%. They took the 40% there and then. They did mention they got the complaint alot about Eir not engaging with complaints.
 
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