DONEGAL TD Thomas Pringle, has lodged an official complaint with ComReg over Eir’s failure to respond to customers.
Deputy Pringle said: “There has been a constant stream of Eir customers contacting my office because they have been unable to reach Eir, or they haven’t gotten a response to the problems they reported.
“This pandemic, and the restrictions we’re living with in Donegal, have highlighted these issues because reliable telephone and broadband services have become such crucial means of communication. Eir’s lack of response is disgraceful.
“We have gotten on to the communications regulator in the past and they want us to go through all the processes with the company first, but the company won’t respond to us. That’s a great way of preventing someone from contacting ComReg, if you can’t reach them to go through their processes.”
Deputy Pringle said his Killybegs office has received calls from Eir customers on a range of issues, but an overall problem has been their inability to make contact with Eir, whether they try to reach them by phone, online, or via Facebook.
He said: “We have heard from people who said they have been left waiting on the phone for hours, only to be cut off during the call. We have heard from people unable to see even the simplest issue resolved, from collecting Eir equipment left in a customer’s garden to fixing a telephone pole that left several residents without a landline connection.
“We have heard from a family who have made many attempts since April to cancel the Eir account of a loved one who died. At this difficult time they are still faced with monthly bills.
“And when it comes to broadband, Eir seems to have washed their hands of any responsibility for intervention areas, referring people to National Broadband Ireland. Again, this is not nearly good enough.”
Deputy Pringle said Eir owes its customers a reliable customer service as well as reliable phone and broadband services.
He added: “This is not just a Donegal issue. Eir should be there to serve their customers. Customers are not there to serve Eir.”