# Eircom Charging Me Before Line Connected?



## DubShelley (12 Oct 2010)

Hi There,

Just wondering if anyone has had a similar experience. I ordered a phoneline on Tuesday 28th September. I got the number straight away over the phone and was told that the line would be activated within 48 hours. By Friday, the phoneline still wasn't working so I contacted Eircom again and they said they couldn't see any issue on their side so they would have to send an engineer out to have a look, which could take up to 10 working days.

On Tuesday I gave them a quick call to see what the process was, i.e. would I get much notice of when the engineer was calling as I was in work all week. And lo and behold they couldn't find any record of my fault report so they had to report it again! 

So basically, 2 weeks later I still have no phoneline but of course, I just got a bill for almost €30 to cover line rental from 28th September to mid October!!! I called their customer service and spoke to a very rude person who basically said it wasnt Eircom's fault, it was "just unfortunate that the phone line wasn't working".

Are they within their rights to do this, even though I have not had any service?


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## JMR (12 Oct 2010)

Had a similar experience with NTL a few years ago (am now with SKY).

The basics were the same as your story, service disrupted for a number of days so following many phone calls in which I demanded a refund for the outage period they refunded something like €6 to my bill.

It might seem like pennies and it may well have cost more in my time and effort but sometimes you have to stand up for your principles and I believe you should not have to pay for a service if the service has been disrupted through no fault of your own.

Don't know what it says in the small print of your Eircom contarct though.....


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## DubShelley (12 Oct 2010)

*Update*

Double Post


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## DubShelley (12 Oct 2010)

*Update*

Thanks for your reply JMR!

I called Eircom expecting a fight...but they issued a credit straight away so that I'm only charged line rental from today!

I may have only saved around €12 but better in my pocket than theirs!!


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## MissyMoo (12 Oct 2010)

Hi DubShelley
I returned to Eircom from Vodafone on 6th August to a Bundle costing €51.78pm. I have just received a bill today for €267.68!!!. I called Eircom in a total panic and was told that my service and connection charges were €145.72 (charge for line and broadband)and were up to Dec. I am totally confused as I thought I would be getting a bill ion the region of €104. Can any body help? Do I have to pay these charges? I was provided with nothing from Eircom. Help!


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## DubShelley (12 Oct 2010)

MissyMoo said:


> Hi DubShelley
> I returned to Eircom from Vodafone on 6th August to a Bundle costing €51.78pm. I have just received a bill today for €267.68!!!. I called Eircom in a total panic and was told that my service and connection charges were €145.72 (charge for line and broadband)and were up to Dec. I am totally confused as I thought I would be getting a bill ion the region of €104. Can any body help? Do I have to pay these charges? I was provided with nothing from Eircom. Help!


 
Hey MissyMoo,

On my bill it has the charge for line connection at -44.04 under the "Free line connection promotion". I connected with the bundle of around €42 per month for phone and broadband. This was a brand new line in our house - never had a phone before, I'm not sure if this makes a difference to the charges.

Shelley


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## MissyMoo (12 Oct 2010)

thanks for that. I am about to call them now. Will let you know how it goes.


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