Readers' forum have your say

A switch saga with odd Eircom promises

A reader got in touch with a most troubling problem in connection with her phone providers. Last June, her small retail business switched from Eircom to Vodafone and she signed a contract for a year. Within weeks, she got a visit from an Eircom representative who informed her that, as she had left Eircom, he could offer her a cheaper rate to lure her back.

“At the time, I didn’t have any experience with Vodafone so I told him that I would like to see a few Vodafone bills first, before I could decide if it was worth my while changing again.” She says the rep came back in October “and again explained that he could still offer us a really great rate if we decided to go back to Eircom. He explained that existing customers couldn’t avail of this rate, but new customers could. He looked at my Vodafone bills and showed me how Eircom could do better. I knew we were in a contract with Vodafone, so I specifically said ‘I thought we couldn’t change to anyone because we are in some kind of contract with Vodafone,’ to which he replied – and this is the most important part of the whole story – ‘don’t worry about that, I’ll sort that out for you’. When I heard that, I honestly believed that Eircom could just over-ride the Vodafone contract.”

She returned to Eircom and in January got a bill for €362.05 from Vodafone for cancellation. “I immediately believed that this was an error on Eircom’s part, because they obviously hadn’t sorted out the contract so the first people I rang were Eircom.” She explained to a woman in Eircom’s customer service that she obviously wouldn’t have agreed to going back to them if she thought it was going to incur such a bill, “that would be stupid. Why would I bother doing that when the difference between the two companies is pretty insignificant? She agreed that she could see my point, and told me she would get back to me.” In February, Eircom told her they were investigating the matter and suggested she try to sort it out with Vodafone “and see if I could get the money back from them, but I told him that I had already spoken with them, and that the problem is with Eircom, because the rep told me that he would sort out the contract”.

Earlier this month, Eircom eventually told her there was no way they could refund her and they said she could “go back to Vodafone, because they have an offer whereby if you go back to them, they will refund any cancellation charges. I was so glad to hear that I would finally be finished with this that I immediately rang Vodafone. However, I learned that you would have to go back with them within six months of moving in order to qualify for this, and my six months were up on May 3rd – I was 10 days out. If Eircom had sorted this out when I first contacted them I would now be a Vodafone customer again, and this ordeal would be over.

We contacted the company and received the following statement. “We are genuinely sorry that has had such a poor customer experience with us. We absolutely understand how annoyed and frustrated she must feel. Our representative should never have advised her that we could assist her in getting out of her existing contract with another provider. Furthermore, it is not standard practice for our representatives to handle queries in such a manner and we will be following up with the employees involved.” The company went on to say it would be calling our reader to personally apologise to her and “to assure her of an immediate resolution”.

Not a lipsmacking price

A couple of weeks ago, we reviewed lip balms and among the products included was Carmex, one of the most popular brands in the world. In Ireland, it sells for €3 a pop, a fact which prompted Keith Nevin to get in touch to tell us that exactly the same lip balm costs the dollar equivalent of a single euro in the US.

A money-off promotion that’s music to our ears

We have given out – and indeed more than once – about concert promoter MCD, so it is only fair we give them a bit of praise when they do something consumer-friendly. People in possession of tickets for Oxegen are being offered discounts at Eurocycles, A|wear, the Great Outdoors and Gourmet Burger Kitchen. If you have a ticket, you’ll get 10 per cent off all bikes at Eurocycles and 15 per cent off parts and accessories. There’s 20 per cent off camping products at the Great Outdoors, a 20 per cent discount at A|wear stores and 10 per cent off at all Gourmet Burger Kitchens.