This is a re-post from here: https://andrzejl.eu:30303/wordpress/2016/03/18/48-hours-later-eir-ireland-related-frustration-continuous-and-a-diamond-in-the-pig-shit/
Some people could not access the original post due to “security settings”.
Afternoon…
It’s been 2 days since my pleasant exchange of words with Lee – manager at Eir’s 1901 helpline.
9:25 in the morning, I am at work and I got an e-mail that a private message awaits me at the Eir forum. Turns out that one of the moderators or admins did not like my thread because I used a word bastard in the title of my post…
I replied promptly…
Now… Was I a bit harsh? Sure… Did I lied? No…
The forum is constantly being a massive flood of spam. I counted 15 messages like this over the weekend. You may say “Oh but it was St. Paddy’s day – staff wasn’t there to delete the messages… First – this screenshot was taken at 18:05 on Friday… second – there are mechanisms that block spammers that can be activated. I am a forum owner / administrator. Never had a single spammer on it… Registration approval. Simply not allowing users to post links until they have posted at least 3 posts. Captcha puzzle, that a user must solve before he can post his first 3 posts. Normal users are almost not affected. Spammers keep away.
Later while at work I’ve decided to call the 1901, give them the order number I received from Lee and set up the residential account. I ran around 10:45 during my tea break. I spoke to a guy from business helpline who told me that I am no longer a business account holder and I need to be transferred to the residential support. I was on hold for 3 – 5 minutes and I got connected to Patrice. Patrice told me that I am not a residential account holder and that I need to speak to business support… I was on hold for another 2 – 3 minutes and I spoke to a person from business service who basically laughed at the residential support team then told me to wait and transferred me to a guy from the residential support team – Rakesh. Rakesh told me that before he can do anything more time must pass because the changes that Lee applied “did not went thorough yet” and I need to call them back on Monday. Also I was told that my residential account does not have the e-fibre on it so first they need to check if my line is capable of running e-fibre and then they will have to send technician to my house to get the e-fibre connected. The price of e-fibre will be €45 including vat per month. Not more not less. I tried long and hard to explain that I have the e-fibre / e-fibre F2000 modem at home right now but Rakesh kept insisting that if I already have e-fibre then what do I want from him. Later I’ve figured out what happened. Lee has ceased my business account. This caused my account number to change. The old account had e-fibre on it. New account that Lee created had ordinary broadband on it. Basically Rakesh was unable to help me. I thanked him and disconnected as my tea break was over. I had to go back to work.
I’ve decided to wait till after work to give the Eir guys another call. My conversation with Lee took place around 16:20 – 16:35 – I thought that maybe after full 48 hours will pass I will be able to get something done today. I rang the 1901 around 16:30 today and got thru to Kevin. Kevin listened to my story, I gave him the order number, the telephone number and both old and new account numbers, I was told it’s a residential support thing and he will transfer me. Then I got thru to Rakesh. Rakesh told me that it’s a business support thing – “You need to speak to business team and tell them to transfer your account to residential before I can do anything”. I was put on hold and got thorough to Alice. Alice listened to me for the first 30 seconds and then either she disconnected me or line dropped…
I have then noticed the reply on my Eir community forum… Replies like that just make me feel worse… She obviously didn’t read my post because by then she would know that I don’t give a flying fuck about her “being sorry”. I replied and…
… I called the 1901 again. This time I spoke to a guy called Ian or Kean… Not sure. I explained the whole situation yet again. I gave him all the info he needed. I then explained that I called few minutes ago and that I was being transferred from one person to another and what those people told me… He said that he will take care of it. He will call the residential support in my name and explain to them what’s been happening and then they will be forced to help me. I was on hold for few minutes and then I spoke to Ray. Ray had no idea of what has been going on. No one talked to him. I am just another customer. Ray was polite, listened to me and then told me that my account is a business account and that I have an ordinary broadband and not e-fibre. I was being a bit harsh while chatting to Ray – he insisted he was right and I insisted that he was wrong. You will understand my surprise when HE FINALLY UNDERSTOOD what was happening… He said that in order to undo this mess I need to speak with someone from Loyalty department. I was on hold again. This time I got thru to Daniel. And now shocker… No. Really. Daniel listened to me patiently, then checked something and said “You’re on a normal broadband. I will need to test your line and send technician to install e-fibre”. At this moment I said “No no no no no no NO!”… and I have explained some more details to Daniel. Daniel got slightly irritated – I cannot blame him I was a bit unpleasant… but his phone manners were still perfect. He LISTENED to what I said. Asked to put me on hold and after few minutes he came back and said “yes – I can see that you are actually using e-fibre – but it’s very weird because you’re still on the old system and you have 2 account numbers – both are starting with 9”. Now I knew that Daniel did actually checked something. He was correct. He actually bothered to look deeper and uncover the truth. Daniel offered to transfer me to the new system. He told me that the whole “transferring process” will be painless and I won’t even notice it. He told me that if I stayed with the old system I will be billed bi-monthly €36.64 including VAT (€29.79 excluding VAT) for each month. If I will move to the new system I will be able to avail on some new promotions and so on but the e-fibre broadband alone will cost me €45 including VAT. I asked to be moved. New system was mentioned to me several times so far. I know that Eir is moving everyone to this “new system” anyway and that it is suppose to be easier to use for the support and (this is what I am hoping for) Eir will finally be able to solve this entire mess they call “a company”. Next few minutes I was back on hold (I was praying that the line didn’t drop at this point as Daniel asked that I stayed online as he needs some details from me…). When he came back, Daniel told me that what was done so far was:
a) I was transferred from ceased business account to residential account on old system
b) I was transferred from residential account on old system to the residential account on new system (I just hope I won’t end up with 3 bills – one for each of those account numbers…)
c) All the bells and whistles on my account were cancelled (calls forwarding etc.)
Daniel said that this is as much as he can do for me today. 24 hours must pass for all the changes to apply before he can apply e-fibre to my new account. He gave me two options. He will leave a note on the system for the next person and I can call Eir 1901 on Monday OR he will call me between 13:00 and 14:00 on Wednesday. I chose the latter and also asked to leave the note on the system just in case he couldn’t reach me on Wednesday. I am sticking with this guy. I thanked him several times (still not enough I think). This guy should get a golden star and a freakin raise. Polite, great telephone manners AND he actually knows what he is doing and how to listen. He understood that my harshness at the beginning was a result of frustration gathered over the last two months of being a pushover for the Eir customer support people. Seriously… Give this guy a raise. He is a diamond in the pig shit. One of a few. One of a few that didn’t say that they were sorry that this happened to me and that actually helped.
There is a hope. A little one – but still. I believe that Daniel will call me on Wednesday and that he will sort this issue once and for all for me.
I will write some more if / when that happens.
To be continued.
Andrzej
