Eircom - Incompetence reaches new highs !

eircom somehow managed to fail to collect my DD payment last bill, which I didn't notice (but then I don't always check each bill has been paid on time, is that not the whole idea of paying DD !)

So, I get a bill this morning, for twice the normal amount, covering a four month period, to be paid by DD 6 days before christmas.

Now I have no dispute that I owe them the money, but their incompetence in failing to collect payment, then not bothering to communicate to their customers, and then surprising the unsuspecting punter with a double whammy in the most expensive week of the year, it's remarkable.

To top it all off, and I'm not joking, I spent a total of 90 minutes over two phone calls this pm, waiting to speak with a "customer representative", the first time I got through, I was put on hold and then told by the computer that they were busy and I should call back, and then cut off automatically.

When are these people going to brought to account for the way they are treating the Irish public. Not only do we have to deal with their anti competitive business model, but having to talk to computers for hours to even lodge a complaint.

Angry...............

Expletives deleted.

And the answer is...be VERY careful who you agree to pay by DD.

I only pay my mortgage by DD, and only because I was forced to.

Everything else is paid via online banking.
Total control...wonderful.

I agree - I've switched almost everything (bar BUPA and my SSIA) from DD to manual payment via online banking in order to maintain better control over cashflow matters.

Same issue for me, Nially - But they must be improving. It only took me 15 minutes on hold to get through to a human. After navigating my way through their voice-recognition system giving my phone number & account number, the human then asked for my account number again 'Oh no - the computer didn't pass it onto me'. She did the classic oul 'blame the other department' trick with the 'we were told that customers had been informed of this error'.

Roll on single billing via UTV.

Eircom and DDebits

And the answer is...be VERY careful who you agree to pay by DD.

Click to expand...

Why be VERY careful?
It is only as out of control as you let it be!
If you don't like it cancel it!
Then pay all your bills by online banking.
It is simply an instruction to your bank to allowa specified "someone" to do as you do, take money from your account!

Re: Eircom and DDebits

niallymac, this doesn't surprise me. Maybe it's time for you to move to Smart, or some other operator. Out with the old, in with the new.

Many of my friends and family have moved to Smart, which means (for the moment anyway) most of my land line based calls are free. I also get single billing.

Re: Eircom and DDebits

Yes crugers, but getting back money from some agencies can be rather difficult. Once they have it they usually dislike giving it back, even if they've made a mistake. You will end up wasting hours on the phone, as we've seen here.

Also, it gives you power over their performance.
No service?
No pay!

Re: Eircom and DDebits

It is only as out of control as you let it be!
If you don't like it cancel it!
Then pay all your bills by online banking.
It is simply an instruction to your bank to allowa specified "someone" to do as you do,

Click to expand...

RDalton posted a nightmare story here some time back about difficulties cancelling a DD to a credit card account. Even after notifying the bank of cancellation of the DD AND closing the CC account, the bank were still holding him liable for debits submitted to the card.
Mind you, I do you DD's to my credit card accounts (preferably Amex Blue) for paying my utility bills.

eircom automated robot

I figured out how to get past the robot and straight through to (albeit a queue) to a real person.

As soon as he says "Ok, let's start" shout down the phone "i have another request" and he will say "i think you have another.." and hey presto after only about 30 seconds of his moronic voice you are past him.

Re: eircom automated robot

Speaking of closing direct debits, I moved house three years ago and canceled my mortgage insurance (by letter and e-mail) with BOI. Four months later they were still taking money out of my account. I still haven't got it back.
I mentioned this to my cousin a few weeks ago and he had the same experience as me. I then asked around and my father and two friends had the same experience with BOI.
My cousin is the only one to get his money back as he has more time on his hands and is more stubborn than me.
It's a nice way to for BOI to make free money, I wonder how common it is?

Re: eirbot workaround

podgeandrodge, thanks for that public service.
It was driving me spare...>:

same here

Same here - I have a budget account with my Credit Union which pays all my bills etc for me. My Eircom bill came on Friday and I notice the same thing happened there. I was going to blame the Credit Union for not running their autopay on time but having seen this thread it appears the fault probably lies with Eircom. Fortunately as it's a budget account where I average everything and pay it monthly it's not as painful for me . . .

Re: same here

Just got my first bill from eircom for almost 300. Nothing to surprising about usage except for 60 to vodaphone and 60 to 'premium rate' numbers whatever they are (and no, I don't frequent 1-800-Guys-Call-Guys). All I can say is H**Y F***.

Someone tell me where I am going wrong or I'll be on the street in six months.

Re: same here

Are you connecting online? If so then your modem may have been hijacked, there are several discussions on how to remove these nasties. Also google it as well and see what crops up. You should be running spoybot/adaware/AVG and firewalls programs.

Re: same here

Thanks for that but my modem is only connected when I am using it.
I'll post the breakdown of charges if anyone would care to see!

Re: same here

It could still be dialling into a premium line while you use it. These hijacker programs can be quite stealthy.

Anybody else in the house who might be using the 1-800 lines?

Re: same here

OK, I'll get some spyware. Thanks.

That said, the premium rate charges are just part ofthe poblem. Call volume seems respectable, just expensive.