# Former Smart residential customer now cut off



## ClubMan

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!


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## sherib

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.


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## dave28

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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## ClubMan

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?


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?


_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.*


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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## ClubMan

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.


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.


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## Blinder

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.


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## CCOVICH

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


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## sherib

> 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!


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 e_ircom_? 


> 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!


 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.


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## ClubMan

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.


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## Gypsy girl

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.


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## MugsGame

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.


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## ClubMan

Thanks for the further comments.

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


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## ClubMan

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


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## Satanta

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.


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## ClubMan

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?


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## Satanta

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).


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## ClubMan

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.


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## Threadser

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.


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## ClubMan

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?!


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## Towger

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.


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## ClubMan

Good news - her line is back working as of this afternoon. Looks like _Age Action Ireland _were able to convince _eircom _to lift the block on the line in spite of them telling us all along that this was impossible! Hopefully it's not a false dawn and it is, in fact, back for good. I presume that it's routing via eircom right now so the next step will be to go back to _UTV _and see about effecting the transfer that we originally attempted and get them to credit us for the charges levied to date (in particular the contract breakage penalty) as they promised.

_Aodhán O'Riordán _did follow up the issue with me earlier too. And to be fair to _Mary Fitzpatrick _she did also get onto my mother this afternoon having been tied up earlier but at that stage the issue had been resolved.

_Threadser _- if you are not an _OAP _then perhaps you should pretend to be and call _Age Action Ireland_? Only half joking!


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## sherib

> Originally Posted by *ClubMan*
> .....her line is back working as of this afternoon.


That's very good news - and hats off to your mother for thinking of AAI and to Age Action Ireland. 



> Do _UTV _*ever *answer support or emails?!


Yes they do. I've had replies several times, usually after a couple of weeks and when the problem has been solved! I've also found _Utv_ pretty helpful when I've phoned.


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## ClubMan

Thanks. 

Yes - my mother was on the ball. I think that _Brendan _suggested something similar to me (privately) but I never followed up on it myself.

I've rarely received a response (other than an automaticallly generated ticket number) to *any *email sent to _UTV_. Once they did follow up by calling my mobile but that was it. Even a formal complaint which a support person explicitly told me would be answered last week. They are always very nice when I call. In this case they were not really helpful though.

Anyway - the latest twist is that I called _eircom _this evening to check on the account and they don't recognise the number as a domestic number and the _Indian _call centre dude told me that it comes up as a business line on his system.

Maybe the fun hasn't ended yet...?


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## Threadser

Clubman

That's great news about your Mam.  Hopefully her she will have her phone services restored by today.  I can't believe that COMREG advised her to try BT.  I have been emailing them updating them on the fact the although BT wrote to me saying that they had set up a "special team" to deal with the issue, this dedicated team hasn't retured any of my phone calls or replied to any email I sent them!

Thanks for setting up this thread.  Finally the issue might get some attention and some progress might be made in the New Year. Did you hear anything back from Joe Duffy?


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## r2d2

Threadser said:


> Did you hear anything back from Joe Duffy?


 

Sure,sure,sure,sure........


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## CCOVICH

I think it was 'Sure, sure, sure, sure...'


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## ClubMan

Maybe it's because I'm the wrong sex and don't live in _Clontarf_?

Her phone is working since yesterday but _eircom _accounts don't seem to know anything about it themselves. It doesn't appear in their residential line database. The system seems to think that it's a business line but then can't fine the account. She was advised to call 188000 to get an automated announcement of who her current _CPS _provider is but that doesn't work. So it's working but still in limbo as regards service provider ownership goes and I need to get to the bottom of this before attempting the switch to _UTV _again.


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## sherib

Just wondering - did _eircom_ give your mother a new phone number? I suppose that's likely. Since everyone is in "Christmas" mode, maybe the new line is a temporary arrangement until things get back to normal? I'm surprised you got on to an Indian call centre. I only ever got them when I was looking for technical support. Did you ring 1901 and say "Agent"? That always got me through to someone here. If it were me I wouldn't tempt fate and be in a hurry to switch to _utv_ until this recent outcome has been securely bedded down. But you know that yourself.

With regard to the Joe Duffy Show, "normal" complaints issues seem to have been suspended this week and Joe usually likes to get a person on the phone so he can say stir the pot and say "sure, sure, sure..."! Maybe it would be worth trying again in the New Year if only to point older people in the direction of _Age Action Ireland._ It would also be a public service to tell _Comreg _that_ AAI_ solved the problem.


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## ClubMan

sherib said:


> Just wondering - did _eircom_ give your mother a new phone number?


No - her original number is working again. She was with _Smart _for the last few years and before that with _eircom_. The problem is that _eircom _now can't seem to find an account for that number in their system nor are they able to tell me who the configured preferred service provider is (probably _Smart_, _eircom _or _UTV_) or how calls are being routed or charged! I presumed that in removing the temporary out of service block (which they insisted was impossible up until yesterday) the may also have taken over the line (from _Smart_?).


> I'm surprised you got on to an Indian call centre. I only ever got them when I was looking for technical support. Did you ring 1901 and say "Agent"?


 1901 and I followed the menus until I got an agent. Maybe it was an _Indian_ guy here in _Dublin_.


> If it were me I wouldn't tempt fate and be in a hurry to switch to _utv_ until this recent outcome has been securely bedded down. But you know that yourself.


 I have already been on to UTV again to retry the transfer so here's hoping!


> With regard to the Joe Duffy Show, "normal" complaints issues seem to have been suspended this week and Joe usually likes to get a person on the phone so he can say stir the pot and say "sure, sure, sure..."! Maybe it would be worth trying again in the New Year if only to point older people in the direction of _Age Action Ireland._ It would also be a public service to tell _Comreg _that_ AAI_ solved the problem.


 Good points. I might follow up on them.


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## sherib

Originally posted by *ClubMan*


> No - her original number is working again.


That's good and suggests that S_mart_ is out of the loop leaving only _eircom_ or _utv_ as possible providers. That is my interpretation. Do you think it might be worthwhile checking with _utv _again? You might find that they are now providing the service - or not. Worth making a phone call I'd say. Information may be slower to trickle down at this time of the year.

My experience with ringing _eircom's_ 1901 is that you have to _interrupt _the various numbers/menus suggested by saying "agent". That got me onto a real live _eircom_ person. That was nearly two years ago now so maybe it has changed.


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## ClubMan

I've already been on to _UTV _and they don't have the line yet but will try the transfer again. 

_"Agent" _still works. Also - it took me a while to figure out that the computer only understands _"zero" _and not _"oh"_ when you dictate numbers to it!


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## Satanta

ClubMan said:


> Also - it took me a while to figure out that the computer only understands _"zero" _and not _"oh"_ when you dictate numbers to it!


Seems like a strange one. I've never heard of anyone in Ireland refer to a mobile phone number with zero (e.g. "zero eight seven" vs. "oh eight seven") and would have assumed "oh" was the more common of the two.


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## sherib

Just one further thought! You can't ring 1901 from an _utv_ enabled home telephone so if 1901 doesn't ring out from your mother's phone that would strongly suggest she is now an _utv_ customer. I discovered that when I tried to book an alarm call dialling 1901 and it didn't ring out.


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## sherib

Sorry - I have to correct my last post. Out of curiosity I dialled 1901 and, lo and behold, I got through to a real live _eircom_ person! So - my suggestion about discovering who your mothers' phone provider now is wouldn't work. The person I spoke to was an Irish woman and very pleasant and ready to help. I didn't press any of the suggested numbers, just stayed on line while listening to messages - making myself out to be an idiot!! That's the way to get through to _eircom_!


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## ClubMan

1901 does not work from my phone. I'm with _UTV_.


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## Satanta

ClubMan said:


> 1901 does not work from my phone. I'm with _UTV_.





sherib said:


> Sorry - I have to correct my last post. Out of curiosity I dialled 1901 and, lo and behold, I got through to a real live _eircom_ person!


Sherib was able to dial 1901 from a UTV line so not quite so clear cut.


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## RainyDay

Just a general suggestion for others who are getting bounced around between two suppliers - I've found it helpful to conference in both parties on a single phone call, so they can't blame each other. Telling them to work it out with each other while I hang on the line proved a powerful technique. This is generally dependant on getting people with authority to do things on the line, rather than call centre jockeys.


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## ClubMan

Trying to actually get hold of a _UTV _and an _eircom _representative simultaneously to conference them together would be pretty difficult based on my experience of trying to get them *alone*!


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## ClubMan

Latest update. My mother just received a bill from _eircom _so it seems that her account is back with them now (same phone number and at least she has a recognisable _eircom _account number now). The bill included a (re)connection fee of about €20 which was cancelled out by a credit of the same amount. I guess that this was under their recent (current?) free line connection offer. So the bill basically charged her for line rental and calls since the line was reactivated. Fair enough. 

Now the issue is to somehow see about getting _UTV _to refund some or all of the money that they charged to date for broadband (even though it was largely not available anyway other than for a few days) and account cancellation (they claim that my mother told them to cancel her account but she did not). If we can get the now reactivated line transferred over to _UTV _(for voice & broadband service) and have them credit these charges to her account (as was promised by some of their support staff but not by the last person that I spoke to in December) then that will be fine. But I did phone and email them with instructions to do this before Xmas and, as usual, they never responded.

BTW - _Comreg _phoned her asking how she got on and she told them fine but no thanks to them and only due to the intervention of _Age Action Ireland_. Comreg told her that consumer issues such as this are not really within their remit in spite of the fact that they invited _Smart _customers to contact them if they had problems at the time _Smart _pulled out of the residential voice only market. Seems to me that _Comreg _are worse than useless when it comes to consumer issues such as this.


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## Threadser

Thanks for the update Clubman.  Looks like the only way I will manage to get my existing line reconnected is to move back to eircom (and pose as a pensioner!).  This means that eircom is effectively blocking competition from other telephone and internet providers which might be of interest to the competition authority. I am just wondering what has happened to the other 40,000 former smart telecom customers.  Were some of them able to switch providers and was I just among the unlucky few who were unable to get the temporary out of service block removed from their phones?

I must contact COMREG again tomorrow to highlight this, although their powers to intervene in this situation seem limited to say the least.


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## ClubMan

Threadser said:


> This means that eircom is effectively blocking competition from other telephone and internet providers which might be of interest to the competition authority.


There seems to be a strong case to me made for the argument that the market is still an effective monopoly alright. Note that _eircom _told us several times point blank that they could not remove the block on my mother's line but in the end (thanks to _Age Action Ireland_) they did just that.


> I am just wondering what has happened to the other 40,000 former smart telecom customers.  Were some of them able to switch providers and was I just among the unlucky few who were unable to get the temporary out of service block removed from their phones?


 As I said _Comreg _told us several times that others were in the same position as my mother but when I asked them for more information (e.g. indicative numbers) they could not or would not give it to me.


> I must contact COMREG again tomorrow to highlight this, although their powers to intervene in this situation seem limited to say the least.


 I wouldn't bother if I was you to be honest. They are useless. Literally all talk and no action in my experience.


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## ClubMan

I have split _caff's _off topic allegations about _eircom _pushing _Smart _out of the market into a new _LOS _thread.

Smart were pushed out of market by eircom


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## Threadser

Finally I have made some progress thanks to the information I received on this thread.  I phoned eircom this morning and asked for the temporary out of service block to be removed from my phone.  They were unable to do so immediately but there are sending out a technician within the next week and I will have my original number restored plus there will be no charge for reconnection.  Once I am reconnected I presume I will be free to switch to another provider, although to be honest I have been so badly burned this time that I'll probably just stay with eircom.

Thanks for posting such useful information.  I have informed COMREG so that they can forward the info onto any other former smart telecom customer who had been left without service.


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## ClubMan

Good to hear. Hope it all goes smoothly from here on in. I don't really understand how they say that they cannot remove the out of service block on the line/number when (a) they did it for my mother and (b) they claim to be able to reinstante your line with the same number some other way (surely the same thing?)!?


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## Threadser

I have no ideal why they couldn't do it straightaway but as long as it's sorted next week I'm happy enough.  I wouldn't be too sure yet that there won't be further problems with the reconnection.....I'll just have to wait and see what happens ...


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## Threadser

Latest update on my phone line is that I got a bill from eircom for line rental although I am still unable to make or recieve calls from my landine.  I can however now use dial-up for the internet so my line has been partially reconnected...or so it would seem!

I have no intention of paying a penny to eircom until I can use the phone for the purpose it was intended...


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## ClubMan

Threadser said:


> I am still unable to make or recieve calls from my landine.  I can however now use dial-up for the internet so my line has been partially reconnected...or so it would seem!


That's very strange because, as I'm sure you know, dial-up *is *a call!


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## Sn@kebite

Threadser said:


> Latest update on my phone line is that I got a bill from eircom for line rental although I am still unable to make or recieve calls from my landine.  I can however now use dial-up for the internet so my line has been partially reconnected...or so it would seem!





ClubMan said:


> That's very strange because, as I'm sure you know, dial-up *is *a call!


Yes that's wierd, dial-up number for me is 1890924042, probably different for you.
Maybe something wrong with your actual phone itself...


Threadser said:


> Latest update on my phone line is that I got a bill from eircom for line rental although I am still unable to make or recieve calls from my landine.  I can however now use dial-up for the internet so my line has been partially reconnected...or so it would seem!


...Or maybe the phone socket, if u use a different socket for your pc and that dial-up works, disconnect the phone line to the computer and plug in your telephone there and see does it work.


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## Threadser

The good news is that I finally have my phone reconnected after 3 months without service!

I rang eircom today and explained that I was now receiving a bill for line rental for a phone that I couldn't use to make or receive calls.  The customer service rep was very unsympathetic and didn't see that it was any "big deal" that I had been left without a phone service for so long.  After months of being patient and reasonable I finally "lost it" and burst into tears.  I told him that it looked like my only option now was to contact Joe Duffy.

He finally relented when I explained that my mother had been admitted to hospital and I needed the phone line to contact the Coronary Care Unit (entirely true).  By the time I returned from work this evening the phone was working, without needing the technician (although I had been told last week that this would be necessary).

I am now a reluctant eircom customer as it was my only option.  I probably won't change providers again as I don't ever want to be caught up in a similar situation again.


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## ClubMan

Glad to hear you got sorted. Sorry to hear that it was so traumatic. Like my mother's case it seems to have been more of an ordeal that it should have been especially since in both cases _eircom _were ultimately able to sort things out even though they claimed that they could not all along. I am going to retry the switch to _UTV _mainly because they have already charged €80 for effectively no service. If they don't reactivate my mother's account and credit her with the charges to date then we're off to the _Small Claims Court_ because they charged broadband subscription fees while the broadband was not available and a cancellation fee because they claimed that my mother told them to terminate her account even though she did not.


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## Sn@kebite

ClubMan said:


> If they don't reactivate my mother's account and credit her with the charges to date then we're off to the _Small Claims Court_ because they charged broadband subscription fees while the broadband was not available and a cancellation fee because they claimed that my mother told them to terminate her account even though she did not.



That's just irresponsible of them!!!  And the fee for the small claims court would probably be close to the amount you would get out of them in the first place. Or does the SCCourt charge the loser of the case a bit more?


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## ClubMan

The _SCC _fee is €15. The charges to date are at least €80. If it comes to the _SCC _route then I will claim for the charges levied to date, less an amount in respect of the short time that the broadband did work and plus the _SCC_ costs. Not sure if that's the norm but I'll certainly try it if necessary. First off however I'll try to get back onto them tomorrow and see if they can sort this amicably - as they previously told me (verbally) that they could/would.


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## ClubMan

Latest update...

She (well I because it's currently on my _Laser _card! ) was charged the following:
October 2006 statement
Subscription [broadband] charge: €1.98 - which is presumably in respect of the October 26th-31st initial part month.
Advanced subscription charge: €9.99 - covers November

November 2006 statement
Advanced subscription charge: €9.99 - covers December
Extra charge: €59.99
Credit: €59.99
This was the cancellation charge which they levied when they claimed that she had asked them to cancel her account (she didn't) and since then they seem to have credited it but it did not get lodged back to my Laser/current account and it's not yet clear (i.e. _UTV _didn't know!) if this remains as a credit on her account.

December 2006 statement
Advanced subscription charge: €10.72 - covers January 2007. I don't understand why this is €10.72 and not €9.99 and _UTV _were unable to explain either! Her package is supposed to be €9.99 for the first three months and €15.99 thereafter so perhaps because of her initial part month in October there is some pro-rata calculation of the higher charge included this month?! 

Bear in mind that the broadband only worked from October 26th to about November 10th and hasn't worked since then so the [advanced] subscription charges are for a service that is not being delivered. The credit of the early termination charge is progress except I don't know where the credit has gone yet!

I suspect that I am going to have to put all this in writing (a letter - not email since they never answer those) to try to finally resolve the whole mess.


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## CCOVICH

I don't think that you can take a SCC case against UTV as they are not an Irish company.  Open to correction on that.


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## ClubMan

ClubMan said:


> November 2006 statement
> Advanced subscription charge: €9.99 - covers December
> Extra charge: €59.99
> Credit: €59.99
> This was the cancellation charge which they levied when they claimed that she had asked them to cancel her account (she didn't) and since then they seem to have credited it but it did not get lodged back to my Laser/current account and it's not yet clear (i.e. _UTV _didn't know!) if this remains as a credit on her account.


OK - my mistake. I just trawled back through the statements and my _Laser _card transactions and it seems the cancellation charge of €59.99 was credited in time for it to cancel the charge before it hit my card. So it was never actually charged and is irrelevant after all.

I have written a letter to _UTV _summarising the billing and line transfer issues so hopefully that will be more effective that emailing them (pointless!) or taking to their support staff (all very personable but seemingly unable to sort this stuff out).


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## Threadser

In fairness to BT they have just sent me one bill and that was for 0.00 euro.   Their broadband did work for a while so I will probably be billed for that now that I have cancelled my order with them. It will be interesting to see if they charge me a cancellation fee also. I will be very reluctant to pay up considering the apalling customer service.  Hope your mother manages to change over to UTV without any further hassle.


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## ClubMan

A week on and no reply from _UTV _to my letter. Hmmm.....


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## bond-007

CCOVICH said:


> I don't think that you can take a SCC case against UTV as they are not an Irish company. Open to correction on that.


Nope not in the republic, but you could issue proceedings in an NI court if you were so bothered.


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## ClubMan

I see - thanks. For the sums involved at this stage the legal route would not be justified.


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## ClubMan

Still no reply from_ UTV_. Second (follow up) letter sent the other day.


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## ClubMan

Still not a peep. Somebody (not sure if I should name them so I won't for now) in the NCA has kindly contacted me via _PM _and has taken it upon himself to raise the issue directly with an _NCA _contact in _UTV _so hopefully, like _Age Action Ireland _were able to do with the original line blocking issue, _NCA _can do on the ongoing broadband service unavailability and unwarranted charges front.


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## ClubMan

_NCA _contact with _UTV _has at least kick started some more communication.

I pointed out to _UTV _that their code of practice doesn't seem to be available on their website in spite of this being [broken link removed] and they emailed me the links:

http://u.tv/talk/code.asp?loc=ie
http://u.tv/utvclicksilver/code.asp

However I still can't find out how to navigate to these from the home pages and have asked them for clarification on how to do this.

Another complication in all of this mess was that my mother was claiming the usual SW Household Benefits Package telephone allowance (which more or less covers the line rental for claimants) when she was with _Smart_. When her line was eventually resurrected with _eircom _this disappeared and she was billed in full by _eircom _for the two monthly billing periods that have elapsed since her line was restored. So now she also has to claim this again from _SW _and try to get it applied retrospectively to the most recent _eircom _bills (if possible).

Will this saga ever end...


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## Sn@kebite

ClubMan said:


> _NCA _contact with _UTV _has at least kick started some more communication.
> 
> I pointed out to _UTV _that their code of practice doesn't seem to be available on their website in spite of this being [broken link removed] and they emailed me the links:
> 
> http://u.tv/talk/code.asp?loc=ie
> http://u.tv/utvclicksilver/code.asp
> 
> However I still can't find out how to navigate to these from the home pages and have asked them for clarification on how to do this.
> 
> Another complication in all of this mess was that my mother was claiming the usual SW Household Benefits Package telephone allowance (which more or less covers the line rental for claimants) when she was with _Smart_. When her line was eventually resurrected with _eircom _this disappeared and she was billed in full by _eircom _for the two monthly billing periods that have elapsed since her line was restored. So now she also has to claim this again from _SW _and try to get it applied retrospectively to the most recent _eircom _bills (if possible).
> 
> Will this saga ever end...



That's a farse!!!

So i understand the statement you made except for the "(if possible)" part at the end of the post?
Are you refering to the _backpay_ from the money she had to pay to _eircom_ from her own pocket? Or, are you refering to her even qualifying for the _"phone allowance"_ with the new Service Provider _eircom_?


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## ClubMan

Sn@kebite said:


> So i understand the statement you made except for the "(if possible)" part at the end of the post?


I thought that I read somewhere that strictly it cannot be backdated. However maybe I was wrong?


> Are you refering to the _backpay_ from the money she had to pay to _eircom_ from her own pocket? Or, are you refering to her even qualifying for the _"phone allowance"_ with the new Service Provider _eircom_?


The former.


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## Sn@kebite

ClubMan said:


> I thought that I read somewhere that strictly it cannot be backdated. However maybe I was wrong?



I can't really answer this question because i don't understand it. Sorry


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## ClubMan

What I mean is that my mother was getting the _SW _telephone allowance up to October 2006 when she was with _Smart_ until they stopped supplying her with a phone service. For most of November and December she had no telephone service so was not billed for phone services at all by anybody. Then at the end of December she became an _eircom _customer again and she has since been billed in full with no credit for the _SW _telephone allowance. She is trying to find out (a) how to claim this allowance again and (b) if she can get it backdated for her most recent _eircom _bills. She contacted _SW _and they simply said that it takes a few bills before she will get it (!?) but didn't clarify if it would be backdated.


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## Sn@kebite

ClubMan said:


> What I mean is that my mother was getting the _SW _telephone allowance up to October 2006 when she was with _Smart_ until they stopped supplying her with a phone service. For most of November and December she had no telephone service so was not billed for phone services at all by anybody. Then at the end of December she became an _eircom _customer again and she has since been billed in full with no credit for the _SW _telephone allowance. She is trying to find out (a) how to claim this allowance again and (b) if she can get it backdated for her most recent _eircom _bills. She contacted _SW _and they simply said that it takes a few bills before she will get it (!?) but didn't clarify if it would be backdated.



Oh, well i will enjoy the closing end of the saga of Ms. ClubMan, please let me hear how the series concludes.


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## ClubMan

Right - where's that mulberry bush...

_UTV _are investigating on foot of the _NCA _contact and have come back to say that _eircom _tell them that they (_eircom_) put the original _TOS _(temporary out of service) block on the line, that they had valid reason to do this and it also caused the _UTV _broadband service to be blocked. As avid readers of this thread will already know _eircom _previously disclaimed responsibility for the _TOS _block, told us that they had no idea why it was in place and told us to take it up with our service provider (i.e. the then effectively - as far as voice only residential customers were concerned - defunct _Smart_). They also said that they could not lift it even though they obviously could and did in December. Another issue is that my mother's line numnber did not change but seemingly her _UAN (Universal Account Number) _did and that is what _UTV _need to attempt the transfer again. I checked the eircom bill and there is nothing that is obviously the _UAN _but there is an 8 digit number that I suspect is the one. Obviously it's looking more and more like eircom are mainly at fault here but _UTV _certainly could have kept us better informed on matters such as why things such as the broadband and line transfer were not working at their end instead of us having to chase them up all the time to be generally met with a "nothing wrong here" style answer. I feel like I have aged about 10 years since last October over this debacle...


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## jpd

As a previous Smart telephone only customer, I switched to Perlico after the demise of SMART - I refuse to move to EIRCOM at any cost. 

I would now love to move my broadband from Irish Broadband to Perlico's fixed line offer but given Eircom's necessary presence in this scenario, the above story doesn't encourage me to go down this route even though the savings would be substantial for a similar level of service.


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## ClubMan

jpd said:


> As a previous Smart telephone only customer, I switched to Perlico after the demise of SMART - I refuse to move to EIRCOM at any cost.


Just to recap: my mother had *no choice *here. In order to get her line back up she had to become an _eircom _customer. In theory she should be able to switch now but there is still some confusion about what her new _UAN _is and this is what other providers need to transfer her. In addition _eircom _are now saying that they have a valid reason for the original _TOS _on her line and the fact that her broadband remains unavailable but nobody seems to know what it is! Finally to date _UTV _have basically said that none of this is their problem and defended their right to charge for broadband even though the service is not actully available to here. Hopefully the current _NCA _driven _UTV_ investigation will yield some more progress ASAP.


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## Threadser

jpd said:


> As a previous Smart telephone only customer, I switched to Perlico after the demise of SMART


I am amazed that you were able to move your line to Perlico as like the previous poster when the smart service was discontinued I spent 3 months trying to move my phone line to another provider (BT) and was only able to get my phone reconnected when I cried with sheer frustration to the eircom customer service agent who eventually reconnected my line.  I had no choice but to move to eircom or I would still be without a service.

Sent a final email to COMREG explaining that I was now a reluctant eircom customer and explaning how I finally got reconnected...that's almost a month ago and I never received any reply from them...


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## ClubMan

Forget about _Comreg _- waste of space. 

Maybe try the NCA since they have kindly offered to help me with our problem and are in the process of doing so.


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## panathon

Hi Clubman

My situation while not completely similar to your mothers may help or not. Just my input because I think it's absolutely disgusting that at her age somebody at the end of a phoneline won't put their back out for her. Comreg from other issues I have are a complete waste of time and I don't know what they actually are there for. I moved into a new house in the middle of December. The previous owner was a customer of smart. They neglected to pay their bill from October onwards so the line was held by smart telecom and we were told by Smart, Eircom and BT that nothing could be done to activate a functioning line with us as new account holders. (Just as an aside BT are involved through a work related thing and we have to use them as a DSL provider).

For the last 6 weeks, I have rung all 3 companies, previous owner, comreg the works. Finally out of complete and total frustration I rang smart again, not expecting anything and was told I couldn't discuss an account that wasn't in my name but re-explained my frustration in minute detail to the person on the phone - he sighed and said - ok I'll end this now - 2 mins on hold and the previous owners line was shut down - just the right person at the right time.

Rang eircom the following day 8 times in 3 hours to push it forward

First response - line not released
Second response to my partner ringing (5 mins later different person) - line released, will be active in 28 days
Third response (I rang to question the 125 euro line setup charge) - line hasn't been released, the eircom representative then proceeded to hang up on me after questioning on how another eircom representative had said different!
Fourth Phone Call - Line not released, get back on to smart
Fifth Phonecall - Line is waiting for release, 28 days, service charge is to reinstall wires over smart
Sixth phonecall - line is released, but has technical issues
Seventh phonecall - line has not been released get onto smart telecom
Eight phonecall to the new customers/sales department - finally - a girl called miriam in the sales department said "I have no record of a request for a line at your address (!), but on checking it I can see that smart relinquished all hold on the line approx 8 hours ago, the reason you are being shoved from pillar to post is when you dial 1901 (and in an obsolete kind of way she suggested that those operators were lower in the food chain in eircom!) "they can't see what I can"

I now have a phoneline and broadband 7 days later - not 28.

Basically what I am, suggesting to you first and foremost is take UTV out of the equation for now. I personally think who you should be calling is Smart for line relinquishment, stress her age and situation and ask for the manager. They still hold the line somehow. Get the line re-established through eircom - forget 3rd parties, it's not right but they control everything. And then put UTV into the equation.

It is the most frustrating, dire situation I have ever seen (my previous posts on broadband say what I had to deal with with BT) but ultimately the problem lies with eircom and their monopoly and what happened smart telecom but I do believe who you should be calling is smart and then eircom sales. If you need phone numbers let me know, I don't have them at hand at the moment

Panathon


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## ClubMan

Thanks for your comments.


panathon said:


> I personally think who you should be calling is Smart for line relinquishment


I don't think so. _Smart _are out of the picture as far as I can see now. My mother is now an _eircom _voice line customer, her phone line works and she is currently billed by _eircom_. _eircom _have now told _UTV _that it was they and not anybody else who put the original _TOS _block on the line for "valid reasons" which they have never told us. In fact they previously disclaimed responsibility for this _TOS _block altogether every time I spoke to them and blamed it on _Smart_! Her _UTV _broadband stopped working when they put this block on the line but UTV never alerted us to the problem and they continue to bill us for the service which is not available. Basically both _eircom _and _UTV _are culpable in this situation for different reasons. I spent about three full days in December calling _eircom _and _UTV _to no avail (well - I did managed to get _UTV _to credit the account termination penalty fee back since they levied this claiming that my mother had cancelled her account when she had not). Only _Age Action Ireland _were able to make progress and managed to get _eircom _to do what they claimed they could not do, namely lift the _TOS_ block which they claimed had nothing to do with them (the same one they now admit to having put in place for "valid reasons") and reinstate her line (with the side effect of her becoming an _eircom _customer since then).


> They still hold the line somehow.


 I don't believe that this is the case. _eircom _now hold the line.


> Get the line re-established through eircom - forget 3rd parties, it's not right but they control everything.


 We already did.


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## ClubMan

My mother called _eircom _today asking for her current _UAN_. They refused to give it to her saying that they don't give out such information!


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## ClubMan

Turns out her new _eircom _account number *IS *her new _UAN_. But _eircom_ couldn't tell her that because it's a big secret!  She called _Comreg _to complain about this and they said that they couldn't do anything unless she had the name of the person in _eircom _to whom she had spoken this morning.  They also said that telcos are not obliged to give out the _UAN _(the number required for switching providers don't forget!) on bills or over the phone but if you write to them then they must write back with it. What a joke!

_UTV _are attempting to reenable broadband now with the new _UAN_. Then they will attempt the line rental transfer. They are still stalling on crediting/refunding the charges to date though. They are asking why the block was put on the line even though I have explained that we don't know other than _eircom _originally telling us that this was _Smart's _doing and only they could lift it. This in spite of the fact that _eircom _did manage to lift it, that they are now telling _UTV_ that it was their own (_eircom's_) doing and that they had valid reason for doing so. Basically _UTV _are saying that they incur costs every time something happens (e.g. broadband enabled, broadband disabled, broadband reenabled) even if this is due to a _TOS_ block being imposed and then lifted and they need to establish that the block was not my mother's responsibility before they can consider refunding/crediting charges.


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## ClubMan

Still no joy. The _NCA _called my mother asking what the story is. She told them it's still unresolved. _UTV _have not contacted me for a week. All I want at this stage is for them to refund charges levied for a service that was not provided. Last contact from them was to tell me that eircom once again failed to transfer the line because of an invalid _UAN _error.


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## BlueSpud

Eh, three things.
1) When is this saga out in hardback, and 
2) ClubMan, glad to hear you have a mum.  I often wondered if you were an e.t. being.
3) Have found in cases like this that it is often cheaper in terms of time & frustration to let go of some of these injustices.   Feck 'em, learn & move on.


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## ClubMan

I'm not yet willing to pay c. €60 for the privilege of learning a lesson about the incompetence of telecom service providers and the regulator.


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## BlueSpud

How much time have you put into it so far, and how much will you have to, What value do you put on your time, now how much of that €60 is left?

I had a similar saga with a tile & flooring company who gave me a raw deal in Castleblaney.  And I almost went to the small claims court in Monaghan, when a friend of mine told me I was being stupid.  It was going to cost me a days pay, even if I won, I lost.  Tis a wise warrior that picks his battles.

p.s. I dont work for UTV (although I am a happy customer of theirs)


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## jpd

I'm with Clubman on this. Making a stand like he's doing is the only way some of these organisations will ever improve their customer service. It is obvious that they are in the wrong and hats off to Clubman for fighting for his rights (or rather his mother's). If more people did this, the service levels in Ireland would improve dramatically. Walking away and saying it's only €60 or whatever is a sure recipe for continuing bad service.


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## BlueSpud

jpd said:


> I'm with Clubman on this. Making a stand like he's doing is the only way some of these organisations will ever improve their customer service. It is obvious that they are in the wrong and hats off to Clubman for fighting for his rights (or rather his mother's). If more people did this, the service levels in Ireland would improve dramatically. Walking away and saying it's only €60 or whatever is a sure recipe for continuing bad service.



I didn't say do nothing.  The very fact that he has put the matter on this forum will make people reconsider dealing with UTV, and if he influences one potential customer, he has relieved UTV of much more than €60.............


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## ClubMan

Still no joy, still waiting for a response from _UTV _regarding (a) if/when they will issue a refund/credit and (b) if/when they can effect the transfer of her line from _eircom_. I faxed them a copy of my mother's eircom bill last week for them to double check her eircom account number and/or UAN but not a peep since. The _NCA _contact who was involved seems to have disappeared and I think I'm on my own again in dealing with _UTV_. My initial positivity about the _NCA _is unfortunately dissipating.


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## ClubMan

Ah ... I'm going to miss this thread ... but not just yet... 

At last she is a _UTV Clicksilver/Talk _customer with her broadband working and her line rental transferred over (to be verified). _UTV _have also refunded the full €65.61 charged to date. All that remains on that front is to see if her new service agreement and 6 month contract period starts from scratch now (i.e. €9.99 p.m. for broadband for the first three months and €16.49 thereafter) and to get them to apply her _SW Household Benefits _line rental subsidy.

During her brief time back with _eircom _(December 2006 to now) she was not getting the _SW _subsidy and although told by _eircom _to pay the bill net of the subsidy until it came through (and she included a note to this effect with her payment) they still sent her an arrears/overdue notice when she did this. She tried sorting it out with them but once again met with a brick wall. Only _Age Action Ireland _once again were willing to try to sort this out and are trying to do so at the moment.

So - in this saga (so far) kudos to _Age Action Ireland _for being very proactive in assisting an _OAP _consumer in dealing with the various bureaucracies involved. Thanks to the _NCA _for putting me in contact with somebody in _UTV _who could actually do something about sorting the problem out even if subsequently _NCA _seemed to fall by the wayside in terms of mediating on the issue (I think the _NCA _person originally dealing with matters left or something and the new person wasn't really much help). Thanks to the guy in _UTV _who did deal with this issue on a daily/weekly basis and managed to sort things out eventually. No thanks to _eircom _who seem to do everything possible to make things difficult for customers.


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## Threadser

Glad to hear that your mother has finally managed to move to UTV for her landline and broadband.  I decided to give up on my attempts to move to BT and  to stay with eircom, not out of customer loyalty but simply because I had so much stress dealing with Comreg, Eircom, BT etc that I couldn't take any more hassle and I wasn't going to risk being disconnected again!

Apalling service from the lot of them, but definitely most of the blame for what happened to former smart residential customers has to lie with Eircom. No further comment from COMREG when I asked them to investigate this....


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## ClubMan

Threadser said:


> Glad to hear that your mother has finally managed to move to UTV for her landline and broadband.  I decided to give up on my attempts to move to BT and  to stay with eircom, not out of customer loyalty but simply because I had so much stress dealing with Comreg, Eircom, BT etc that I couldn't take any more hassle and I wasn't going to risk being disconnected again!


I don't really blame you. 


> Apalling service from the lot of them, but definitely most of the blame for what happened to former smart residential customers has to lie with Eircom. No further comment from COMREG when I asked them to investigate this....


I agree.


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## Sn@kebite

Hi,  Has Smart Telecom suddenly reopened their service?   My friend has smart in the dublin city-centre. And seeing as it's a really good 4Mbit package for a cheaper price than my 2Mbit imagine package, i was thinking of switching in 5 month time when my contract runs out.

Would it be worth it or does anyone think they might screw up again and i'll have to go through the whole "ClubMan's mother saga"? Because i really could do without that in my life and even reading about it happening to someone else pains my head enough...

Thanks!!


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## ClubMan

Sn@kebite said:


> Hi,  Has Smart Telecom suddenly reopened their service?


They never closed it off other than for residential voice line only customers. Existing and new bundled voice and broadband users were not affected by their recent problems. Not all exchanges are _Smart _broadband enabled though so the voice and broadband bundle from them was not an option for everybody.

Anyway - I was just checking back to give an update on my mother's saga. As previously reported she is now with _UTV _for voice and broadband and they are crediting the charges to date to her account and have her on the original introductory offer _BB _tariff (3 months at €9.99 and then €14.99 thereafter).

We chased up her _Household Benefits _phone allowance with _SW _and it turns out that for some odd reason she was not getting this before August 2004 although she did get it with _Smart _before losing it again after being forced from them back to _eircom_. Particularly odd since she was always getting the _HB ESB _and _TV _license benefits. Anyway they have granted it again and will be paying it to _UTV _as soon as possible but she is also getting €790 paid directly to her in respect of outstanding backdated allowances! Nice one. 

In the meantime _eircom _sent her a final notice threatening legal action for non payment of part of a bill even though she only deducted the equivalent of the _SW _payment on the advice of somebody in eircom in the first place. Attempts to contact them subsequently have been fruitless. Now that she is getting the _SW _allowance backdated she will just pay them in full and write them a letter of complaint about their handling of matters.

Other than that we're more or less done. I think...


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## ClubMan

ClubMan said:


> At last she is a _UTV Clicksilver/Talk _customer with her broadband working and her line rental transferred over (to be verified). _UTV _have also refunded the full €65.61 charged to date. All that remains on that front is to see if her new service agreement and 6 month contract period starts from scratch now (i.e. €9.99 p.m. for broadband for the first three months and €16.49 thereafter) and to get them to apply her _SW Household Benefits _line rental subsidy.


I never did finish this off but in the end _UTV _were very helpful in (manually!) applying the various credits to which my mother was entitled in respect of charges "prepaid" and "restarting" her discount period for broadband. _SW _did sort out her _Household Benefits _line rental subsidy and (as mentioned earlier) backdated benefits were paid directly by cheque. In the meantime my mother has had no problems with here phone and broadband services. In short - we got there in the long run!  Once again I would definitely recommend to any senior citizens who have similar or other problems in dealing with companies/bureaucracies to contact _Age Action Ireland _for advice/assistance. They were extremely helpful and central to getting this whole thing sorted. On foot of this my mother took out membership of _Age Action Ireland_.


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