Former Smart residential customer now cut off

This is a long story ...

My mother was with Smart for voice only services. When they unexpectedly went out of this business customers such as herself were forced to switch. Comreg issued warnings/info and put in place a temporary voice calls service. If I recall correctly customers were supposed to switch before Friday October 27th (with the possibility that this deadline was extended further) and the temporary service was in place until Friday November 10th.

My mother signed up with UTV for voice and broadband services on 18th October and they confirmed that her account was up and running on 26th October. She received her router and her broadband worked. Her voice calls were still being routed via the Comreg temporary service.

On 10th November the temporary service ceased and she could no longer make or receive calls. Her broadband was still working but stopped soon after. Effectively her line was dead. UTV never contacted her to inform her that there was any problem with the line transfer but on contacting them they said that the transfer request (to eircom) failed because they rejected the UAN (Universal Account Number) even though it was correct. UTV said that they could do nothing and that the problem lay with eircom.

When contacted eircom said that they could do nothing and UTV had to contact their wholesale department to sort out the OLO (Other Licensed Operator) issues with the line. UTV said that they had tried this without success. eircom's wholesale department won't deal with the general public. Basically the two operators disclaimed responsibility and blamed the other.

So we contacted Comreg who told us to exhaust each operator's complaints process. So we did. eircom didn't respond within the 10 days in which they are supposed to but when they did they just told us the same story. I must have rung UTV about 20 times at this stage and got the same story (the opposite to eircom's) from them. They have not responded to the official complaint that I emailed to them but I have never received any substantive response to any emailed query in the past so I don't hold out much hope. Comreg have the complaint reference numbers but just seem to note everything down and do nothing.

In the meantime UTV charged her the first and second months' broadband fee (€9.99 x 2) and also a contract breakage penalty (€59.99) on the basis that the loss of her line means that she has terminated the agreement prematurely! An attempt to reactivate/reorder the line from eircom was refused on the basis that they cannot do anything until the other operator sorts things out. Real pillar to post stuff.

So we got onto Comreg again and in spite of them purportedly having a consumer protection role in all of this they basically tell us that they can do nothing. Advice from them included getting legal advice on the matter and contacting BT instead because they have a "special team" to deal with this sort of thing. It seems to me that as a consumer protection agency in the telecoms market Comreg are a waste of space.

In the heel of the reel my mother, who happens to be a 75 year old widow living alone, is - through no fault of her own - left without any landline, no prospect of getting it restored/replaced and none of the players involved (the two operators or Comreg) seem willing or able to do anything constructive about this. Crazy and all as it seems we have now resorted to contacting local elected representatives (including the main man since she's in Dublin Central!) since there seems to be no other obvious route to solving this problem.

Anybody else got any other suggestions? She has a mobile for emergencies but it is not a cost effective solution. Neither is getting in non landline broadband and using VoIP. Basically we want to restore/replace her existing landline and get her back to where she was but it seems to be impossible!

Sorry to hear about the situation your Mother finds herself in. All I can suggest is applying to eircom for a new land line but maybe you've already discovered this wouldn't solve the problem?

It seems the priority for her is to have a working land line and since she lost her old phone number when she switched to Smart, a new number shouldn't be a problem. I'd imagine that once she left Eircom they washed their hands of the matter and if Smart were still in business there would be no problem in returning to Eircom. I'd also guess that eircom didn't reactivate her line because she nominated a secondary provider - Utv. Is there any way of finding out what happened with other Smart customers? Someone of her age and living alone should be considered a priority for an urgent connection. If it were me I'd forget about the wrangle between Utv and eircom - at least for now. This is on eircom's web site:
Between now and 29th December you can connect your eircom phoneline for FREE.

Ths FREE offer is available where all line work is completely in place - check how you can be connected with eircom.
Be connected for free terms & conditions

While I have never resorted to seeking assistance from a politician, in a case like this I'd try anything! Good luck.

[broken link removed]

This link suggests the process should be simple - hope so.

My mother is in her 70's, living alone & so is entitled to free line rental. My advice to her a few years ago was not to mess about trying to save a small amount of money - just stick with eircom for everything - that way there are no complications. She's glad she took my advice now.

Thanks for the feedback. Just to address a few of your points.

sherib said:

Sorry to hear about the situation your Mother finds herself in. All I can suggest is applying to eircom for a new land line but maybe you've already discovered this wouldn't solve the problem?

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Tried that but eircom say they can't/won't do anything until the problems with the current line are sorted. But neither they nor UTV nor Comreg seem to be capable of doing anything. It's like her line is effectively disconnected and ownership is in limbo. Even if we could get a new number it would be an improvement but eircom say no.

Is there any way of finding out what happened with other Smart customers?

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UTV say that they've had the same problem with some other Smart customers. Comreg as well. Neither could/would give me even rough numbers.

Someone of her age and living alone should be considered a priority for an urgent connection. If it were me I'd forget about the wrangle between Utv and eircom - at least for now. This is on eircom's web site:
Between now and 29th December you can connect your eircom phoneline for FREE.

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Tried that - no joy. eircom told me that they would reject new line orders for her address until the other thing was sorted. Catch 22!

dave28 said:

My mother is in her 70's, living alone & so is entitled to free line rental. My advice to her a few years ago was not to mess about trying to save a small amount of money - just stick with eircom for everything - that way there are no complications. She's glad she took my advice now.

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Fair point. But my mother switched to Smart of her own volition and nothing in this case justifies or excuses the situation in which she finds herself now.

Threaten to bring the story to the attention of the press , how an elderly lady living on her own is bering giving the run around by the big businesses.

And if they still say they can't do anything, do get the press involved.
It will get those businesses moving and sorting this out.

I'm sure she is not the only elderly person in this situation.

UTV and eircom passing the buck? Sounds familiar. I had to hound UTV to cease the line in my new house.

Originally Posted by ClubMan
Tried that - no joy. eircom told me that they would reject new line orders for her address until the other thing was sorted. Catch 22!

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It's really disgraceful that an elderly person living alone is being treated this way. I agree with Blinder but I'd hate the publicity; still you could always threaten it and see if they react. What about telling the story to the local Gardai Station - they may have someone who deals with community affairs and might put pressure on eircom?

In the meantime UTV charged her the first and second months' broadband fee (€9.99 x 2) and also a contract breakage penalty (€59.99) on the basis that the loss of her line means that she has terminated the agreement prematurely!

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This suggests that she no longer has a contract with Utv, in which case there is nothing to sort out - that would be my interpretation anyhow. Also make sure to convey that to Utv. Did you say that to eircom? (Sorry if you've done this already.)

I'd also suggest to eircom that due to her age (!) she isn't good at using a mobile phone and what would happen if there was a fire or other emergency call required. Scare the bejapers out of them!

What about calling in to the main Eircom office? It used to be on St Stephen's Green beside the Unitarian Church. I'm sure you know that if you phone Eircom on 1901 (from an eircom enabled phone) and interrupt "press 1,2,3, etc" and say "Agent" you get through to a live person. I'd start off by being very nice (they can't all be so totally unhelpful) and if that failed say you're going to the Press because of your grave concern for your Mother.

Thanks but I have done all of the above other than contacting the press. In all the calls both I, my mother and the people at the other end in the various organizations have been very nice. But nice doesn't seem to get the job done.

Clubman, this is scandelous that neither company is taking responsibility for or are willing to sort out, is this a sign of the times were now living in?

You said you tried everything except going to the press, well why not contact the Joe Duffy Show it's worth a try at least.

Very frustrating. You've probably tried something like this, but just in case:

Remove UTV from the situation so that there is a single point for you and Comreg to pressurise.
1. Request an account closure from UTV and pay everything they say you owe (reclaim it later via Small Claims court.). Get something in writing to say account closed and all sums paid. Give that to eircom. You may need a three way conference call with yourself eircom and UTV to remove UTV from the picture.

2. Ask eircom to reconnect the line. If the normal processes don't work, hound them until they give you contact details for eircom wholesale. Go back to Comreg at this point as maybe they can be of more help once UTV are out of the loop.


The other approach might be to band together with other affected Smart customers and approach eircom/Comreg/the press as a group. Ireland Offline might be willing to take this on. A post here and on boards.ie (perhaps on the end of the Smart threads) could help publicise such an effort.

Neither of these are likely to resolve things before Christmas -- I think Joe Duffy and "old lady without phone coming up to Christmas" is probably the best bet for a speedy resolution. Only your mother's first name would need to be mentioned on air.

Thanks for the further comments.

I am seriously considering the "Joe Duffy" route at this stage.

I never thought I'd live to see the day but I have just emailed joe@rte.ie!

I'd also try to get it mentioned on "The Last Word" with Matt Cooper and any other show that will deal with issues.

The continued non-performance of comreg and abuse of the system (as it should be) by Eircom is getting out of control.

Yeah. My mother's case may be an unusual/extreme one (although Comreg keep hinting that she is not alone) but surely it is precisely the sort of situation that a consumer orientated regulator should be dealing with rather than just passing the buck like all the other players?

While your mothers case is one of an extreme, it is only the tip of the iceberg. I have no doubt there are even worse cases out there.

The situation is being faced on a daily basis with no improvement from either Eircom or Comreg. Every one of the regular posters to the IT section here on AAM will have numerous examples of situations similiar (if not quite as bad) as this (my own all Eircom problems, due to lack of time to go the comreg route knowing results would be doubtful).

Update: no reply to an email to [broken link removed]/Labour HQ sent via his website. No reply to an email to an email to [broken link removed] sent via the FF website. Fobbed off by his FF councillor daughter [broken link removed]. No reply to an email to Joe. At least Aodhán O'Riordán (Labour councillor) did respond, called Comreg and tried (but failed - no surprise) to get through to eircom but just got the same stories as we did. Fair play to him for trying and taking an interest. My mother finally contacted Age Action Ireland and they also tried to do something constructive. They contacted eircom on her behalf and, on foot of this, the story now is that her line should be unblocked/reenabled by tomorrow. We'll see. So kudos to Aodhán O'Riordán and Age Action Ireland for at least taking and interest and trying to do something. None to the others.

Hi,

Like your Mother, I am a former smart telecom customer who has been left completely cut off of communication from home. Unlike your Mother, I tried to change my service to BT, but I have had a similar experience as herself and am now without a landline, dial up or broadband failities and this has been the case for the past two months. I have also been in contact with COMREG who have replied to my emails but seem to be powerless to act on the consumer's behalf. It seems a ridiculous situation and there is no sign of it being resolved anytime soon.

I feel your pain! It's a deeply frustrating experience. Have you tried ditching the old line and trying to order a new one from eircom? It probably won't work as it didn't for us but it might be worth trying. Do you have any other plans for dealing with the situation? Even ditching the landline and using non landline (e.g. cable or wireless if available) broadband and VoIP? That would be my preferred option but I can't find out if ntl: is available at my mother's address and I would not consider Irish Broadband given my past experience with them.

Ironically, as I mentioned above, another of Comreg's bright ideas was for my mother to contact BT (bringing a fourth service provider into the loop to add to Smart, eircom and UTV) because they have a "special team" dedicated to dealing with "locked" former Smart landlines.

BTW - UTV have not responded to an official complaint emailed to them (on the advice of one of their support staff) and in spite of being assured that a response would be received last Friday. Do UTV ever answer support or emails?!

If you have names and are getting no results, you could contact the head of their HR department and complain about them. I have see it work wonders in a company I once worked for. Don't email they are just ignored in this day in age, write letters, send faxes or phone them. Look for the head of the company, if you can't get talking to them get their direct fax number, they will give it, just to get you off the phone.

Towger.