Smart Telecom on Gerry Ryan Show

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nt00deep

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Heard a guy call in to Gerry Ryan Show on 2FM today. Domestic Eircom account in his name, his wife is met with Smart Telecom sales guy at home. Smart Telecom guy scans a copy of husband's recent Eircom bill and takes it away to prepare some customised comparative pricing for them.

Next they hear, Eircom ring them to confirm that their account has been closed as they are moving to Smart.

The guy was so mad that if Smart had offered him free telephony, he would not go with them. Neither his wife nor himself had signed or consented to anything. Eircom call centre had told him that because he handed over his confidential account number, there was little they could do.

I did not get to hear any follow-up to the story. Was there any follow up? I would love to hear what explanation both Eircom and Smart would have come up with.
 
I have heard a number of these stories going back many years . Do not 'show' your bill to any door to door salesman from any telco whatsoever is the message .

Eircom do the same thing with their 'winback' people calling around. The key is to get the ACCOUNT number any way you can
 
But my understanding is that you have to consent either by signature or answering questions over the phone in a recorded call?
 
The same thing happened with me excpet it was Eircom who switched my account from UTV TAlK back to Eircom without me consenting.
Sales guy called, we are moving soon so enquired about getting a line installed at new house, gave him my details and then a few weeks later we realise we are switeched back to Eircom and have a big bill to pay.
He used the universal account number to switch us, I signed nothing.
 
A while back I was thinking of moving from eircom and so i rang BT and eventually asked them to change me over when broadband was available in my area. I rang back the very same day and asked for that order to be cancelled. Done, no problem (so they said). When broadband became available I got a bt router delivered to me with my brand new account info. I rang up really angry about it as I had asked them to cancel. They said they had no record of me cancelling it. It was a problem for me as I wanted to go with smart telecom. But you cant change from bt to smart directly. Not exactly the same issue but it shows how ruthless these companies are.
 
So in practice, which of the following two scenarios is it ...

1) Smart Telecom are deceiving Eircom Customer Services by impersonating their customers...
Smart Guy: "Hi, Eircom?"
Eircom Guy: "Yes."
Smart Guy: "I would like to switch my account to Smart."
Eircom Guy: "No problem at all. Who are you and what is your a/c #?"
Smart Guy: "Ahem, I am Mary O'Neill, and my a/c number is abcd1234"
Eircom Guy: "And your address?"
Smart Guy: "Blah Blah"
Eircom Guy: "Thanks Mrs O'Neill. That is done there now."
​
or

2) Eircom are thick
Smart Guy: "Hi, Eircom?"
Eircom Guy: "Yes."
Smart Guy: "Mr. Smart here. I would like to take one of your customers"
Eircom Guy: "Ah you can't do that. You need their consent."
Smart Guy: "Ah sure I have that. Sure didn't I even get her a/c # !"
Eircom Guy: "Why didn't you say that in the first place? Just give me the details so"
Smart Guy: "Blah Blah"
Eircom Guy: "Thanks Mr Smart. I wish you luck with our previously satisfied customer"
​
 
Last edited:
nt00deep said:
So in practice, which of the following two scenarios is it ...

1) Smart Telecom are deceiving Eircom Customer Services by impersonating their customers...
Smart Guy: "Hi, Eircom?"
Eircom Guy: "Yes."
Smart Guy: "I would like to switch my account to Smart."
Eircom Guy: "No problem at all. Who are you and what is your a/c #?"
Smart Guy: "Ahem, I am Mary O'Neill, and my a/c number is abcd1234"
Eircom Guy: "And your address?"
Smart Guy: "Blah Blah"
Eircom Guy: "Thanks Mrs O'Neill. That is done there now."
​
or

2) Eircom are thick
Smart Guy: "Hi, Eircom?"
Eircom Guy: "Yes."
Smart Guy: "Mr. Smart here. I would like to take one of your customers"
Eircom Guy: "Ah you can't do that. You need their consent."
Smart Guy: "Ah sure I have that. Sure didn't I even get her a/c # !"
Eircom Guy: "Why didn't you say that in the first place? Just give me the details so"
Smart Guy: "Blah Blah"
Eircom Guy: "Thanks Mr Smart. I wish you luck with our previously satisfied customer"
​
Click to expand...
eircom cant switch you over to smart
 
The Eircom guy who called to me rang up and pretended to be my husband to get my universal account number. He told me he needed this to process my application for a new telephone quicker as connection would be done quicker if he had all the paper work filled in advance. He said he was Mr Bamhan, and asked for his universal account number from UTV TAlk and they gave it to him no bother.
 
That is just amazing. So armed with an account number, the telco providers accept a request to change providers without written consent.

To contrast with that, when I moved house recently, because we were moving to a different exchange (although 4 miles as the crow flies) we needed new tel # and account number, WITH EIRCOM. i.e. Requesting an account change with the same company.

Eircom would not process the request without me putting it in writing. Although a bit of a pain at the time, looking back now, I am glad they requested the written consent. In light of that, to hear that I could call up and request a change of provider and they not require written consent is confusing.

... unless Mr Smart is writing to Eircom in the customer's name, granting the written consent?
 
eircom cant switch you over to smart
Click to expand...

rkeane: Technically, that may be the case, but the guy on the radio got a letter/call from Eircom confirming that whatever they had been requested to do to facilitate his move to Smart had been completed.

So maybe Smart cannot request it, but the point is it sounds like Smart masquerading as me can request it.
 
I switched from Euphony back to Eircom recently. Eircom messed it up and started billing me for talktime but my calls were still being routed through Euphony so I was getting 2 bills. The easiest solution appears to be to switch to Perlico which I am in the process of doing. I emailed a complaint to Eircom and the reply is below:

Dear Mr XXXXX,
I am emailing you in response to your recent complaint.
I am very sorry that your request to return to eircom was not processed.
I wish to advise you that the charge of 26.14 ex. VAT for Talktime was refunded to your account on 19/06/06.
There is now a request on your account to move your line and calls to Another Licensed Operator.
I am very sorry for any inconvenience you have experienced. As a gesture of goodwill I have applied a refund of 2 months line rental 48.36 incl. VAT to your eircom account. There was a bill issued on 20/06/06 for line rental only, the credit I have allowed will cover this.
If you have any queries in relation to the above please do not hesitate to contact me on 01 7013XXX or by email.
Kind regards,
Lisa XXXXX
eircom Channel Support Dublin
 
That is just amazing. So armed with an account number, the telco providers accept a request to change providers without written consent.


I was saying yes it would appear that they can to this point.
 
and thats why door to door sales people including eircom winback ones always want to see your bill. If they don't see the bill they cannot get the account number and you are safe.

The nicking of customers in the telecoms business is called SLAMMING
 
It is also defined on [broken link removed] but no other references on their site other than to the definition of the term.

Have asked them for details on how the practice is dealt with (if at all) in their jurisdiction.
 
What is to stop someone getting the account number from someones bin or everyone on the streets bins. That is a crazy situation!!!
 
2Pack said:
and thats why door to door sales people including eircom winback ones always want to see your bill. If they don't see the bill they cannot get the account number and you are safe.

The nicking of customers in the telecoms business is called SLAMMING
Click to expand...
Slamming is sooo ironic. Its what I do after being on the phone to BT.
 
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