<https://www.rte.ie/news/primetime/2020/1124/1180226-eir-customer-service-co
mplaints-broadband-phone/> By Louise Byrne
For large parts of the year, the field of maize to the front of Geraldine
and Gerry Shanahan's home outside Cashel, Co Tipperary, is full of
nine-foot-tall crops. But this summer, underneath the soil, a problem was
developing.
"On June 26, our phone lines went down completely," Geraldine told Prime
Time.
The couple are among hundreds of Eir customers who have experienced serious
issues around connectivity and billing this year. The watchdog that oversees
the communications sector, ComReg, has condemned the issues as "completely
unacceptable".
ComReg reports that official complaints about Eir jumped from 383 in the
first quarter of 2020 to more than 1,000 complaints between July and
September.
The Shanahans spent seven weeks without phone or broadband and the timing
couldnt have been worse.
The couple run a number of businesses from their home office, including the
Coachmans pub in Clonmel. All the administration is done from two desks
opposite each other in the 150-year-old property.
"June is the end of our financial year, and that was the exact period that
we were without our lines. I couldn't pay our VAT because I had no internet
connection," Geraldine said.
In addition to running their businesses, Geraldine was also undergoing
treatment for cancer.
Thick stone walls mean that mobile phone signal is weak, while the fault in
the landline meant the couples monitored house alarm was also knocked out.
"It was just a nightmare. I had no access to Cork University Hospital. I
felt so nervous not being able to contact the hospital if I needed to."
Like many customers across the country, the couple say they endured hours on
hold to Eirs customer care lines.
"You would want to have nothing to do only ring them," notes Geraldine.
It took seven weeks and the intervention of local TD Jackie Cahill before
Eir agreed not to dig up the valuable crop and to instead install a
temporary, overland phone line to reconnect the couple.
Visibly strained by the experience, Gerry describes the seven weeks without
coverage as "total heedlessness" on behalf of Eir.
"It was like a verbal lockdown and with Covid and everything in place. We
were completely locked in with no lines of communication and with all of our
businesses under threat because you couldn't communicate."
In comparison to other providers, Eir's issues appear far more deep-rooted.
While Eir customers made a total of 1,062 complaints to ComReg between July
and September, Vodafone customers made 183. Some 88 Virgin customers
complained to the regulator, while just 44 Sky customers lodged complaints
with the regulator.
Even adjusting for market share the company is by far the country's
largest phone and internet provider Eir had far more complaints lodged
than other providers.
Eir said that reducing customer care wait times was its 'number one
priority'
"The problems with Eir were so deep and so problematic that customers were
really left out in the cold, and that is very unacceptable," Roubert Mourik,
ComRegs Commissioner, told Prime Time.
"All companies that run customer care centres have had to deal with the
problems caused by Covid. But all of the other operators kept the show on
the road."
In a statement, Eir apologised for the delays that customers had
experienced, adding that "resolving care wait times" is its "number one
priority".
And though the company said that the average wait time in the last week was
under 10 minutes, when Prime Time called the 1901 number on Monday, it took
41 minutes for the call to be answered.
Eir said managing its call centres during Covid-19 had been "challenging".
Some 400 staff have transitioned to working from home and a further 119
recruits have been hired, the company said.
"Training does take time but these changes have already led to reductions in
call wait times," it added.
The issues at Eir reached the floor of Leinster House this month.
During a debate in the Dáil, Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl said that
Eir's "appalling" customer service raised "profound questions about whether
ComReg is doing its job."
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar and Minister for Communications Eamon Ryan
<https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2020/1120/1179419-eir-vodafone-complaints/
met Eir and Vodafone last week and said they expect that service willimprove.
