After an on-going battle with eir over my generally poor and currently non-existent (for the last two weeks) broadband service, I tried to cancel my contract yesterday. I was told a €250 penalty would apply. I argued as I was getting no service, the contract was void, but it made no difference to the guy on the phone who threatened debt collectors in the event of non-payment.
I then tried Pure Telecom and discovered to my horror that the technicians who can't fix line faults after multiple attempts and lots of promises are the same no matter what retailer I pay. Which makes a nonsense of shopping on price for broadband as the level of after-sales service will still be appalling.
I'm currently tethering to my iPhone to get internet access and found over the last two weeks, despite the assurances on their web-site, complaints about service cannot (will not?) be escalated by the phone jockeys. The on-line chat facility is a joke too, staffed by non-native English speakers / typists. Ashkar or Akshar told me s/he couldn't verify my security check as I was spelling my own name incorrectly (well s/he said wrong actually). I gave her “Joe Murphy”, “Joseph Murphy”, “joseph murphy”, “MR JOE MURPHY” and s/he rejected all of them saying my spelling of *MY* name was incorrect. I pointed out to him/her that I was at a disadvantage as s/he was not a native English speaker and s/he did not grasp the cultural significance of any or all versions of them being acceptable in this country. Oh wait, maybe it’s a cheap chat line provider like eir's cheap modem/router that failed on Thursday night!!
Come back BT, all is forgiven, well almost.