{"id":411620,"date":"2026-03-30T14:26:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T14:26:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/411620\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T14:26:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T14:26:12","slug":"eirs-repeated-let-downs-overwhelm-a-pensioner-customer-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/411620\/","title":{"rendered":"Eir\u2019s repeated let-downs overwhelm a pensioner customer \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cI have never in my life come across so much inefficiency and unprofessionalism,\u201d a reader called Aileen says in her mail before going on to outline an absolutely ludicrous litany of let-downs from Eir<\/a> that have driven her and her husband to the brink. <\/p>\n

Be warned. It is going to get very confusing, very quickly.<\/p>\n

Her tale of woe began on February 23rd when she signed a contract with the telecoms company for broadband, landline and mobile phones.<\/p>\n

By the time she decided to write to us \u2013 a full four weeks after the saga started \u2013 she had not even come close to getting what she had signed up for, although many promises had been broken.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am really at my wits\u2019 end with this situation,\u201d she says at the outset. \u201cI have cancelled my direct debits with Vodafone and signed new direct debits for Eir. Both my husband and I are pensioners in our mid-70s and struggle with technology at the best of times.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aileen says she has tried to be brief in detailing her experience and has \u201conly included the essential information to help you investigate this situation if you are prepared to \u2018suffer\u2019 reading it\u201d. <\/p>\n

She says she and her husband \u201care not in good health and have a number of medical appointments and cannot possibly continue with this situation. It is really frustrating as I can never get to speak with somebody at Eir who is willing to see what is going on and take responsibility for this. As I am now in my mid-70s and not very \u2018technology literate\u2019, I am really feeling overwhelmed and hope that you can assist me on this matter as I am beginning to lose the will to live.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018No clear answer\u2019: Aer Lingus and Facebook struggle to support sick and grieving readersOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Aileen then gets to the meat of the story. <\/p>\n

She signed up for a broadband bundle in an Eir store in late February and agreed a price of \u20ac34.99 for the broadband, \u20ac9.99 for an unlimited landline package and the same again for the mobile element, with the total cost coming to \u20ac54.97 per month.<\/p>\n

Aileen signed all the necessary direct debit forms and in-store it was agreed the new service would be installed on March 2nd.<\/p>\n

She subsequently got a text message from Eir confirming the installation date and she clicked on the link to confirm that it was acceptable to her. <\/p>\n

She was told a technician would call her on the day of installation and do so about 30 minutes before they were due to arrive. <\/p>\n

By 4.45pm on the day in question, Aileen had received no call from Eir. She called the telecoms company only to be told that the technician had been delayed on another job and the installation was rearranged for Thursday, March 5th.<\/p>\n

It was a little annoying but not the end of the world and Aileen understood that such things can happen from time to time.<\/p>\n

\"AileenAileen was left waiting for Eir to install her new telecoms service. Photograph: Rui Vieira\/PA Wire <\/p>\n

On March 3rd she received two text messages confirming the appointment was all set for two days later. <\/p>\n

Thursday dawned and Aileen was full of hope it would be the day she had her new telecoms set-up installed by Eir. <\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t to be. <\/p>\n

She waited in the whole day and \u2013 believe it or not \u2013 there was another no-show.<\/p>\n

So she rang Eir again. This time she was told they needed two crews but only one of the crews had been available, so it could not proceed as planned. <\/p>\n

Aileen was not told why no one from Eir had bothered to let her know this at any point over the course of the day.<\/p>\n

She was assured that she would be the first call from its engineers on Monday, March 9th, and with little choice she accepted this.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Eir refuses to refund 91-year-old for a service her family says was cancelled a decade agoOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Later that day, she received two texts from Eir rearranging the installation date for March 10th. She rang the company to find out what was happening and again, with little choice, she accepted the new date.<\/p>\n

Almost as soon as she had hung up she received two further text messages from the company telling her the installation date was back on for Monday, March 9th.<\/p>\n

Then on the next day she received more text messages saying the installation had been pushed back to Friday, March 13th.<\/p>\n

A minute later she received more text messages from the company with an installation date of March 10th.<\/p>\n

Confused? So are we. And so was Aileen.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this point I should say that I spoke to numerous customer service agents and while I found this situation to be totally unacceptable and unbelievable, I was at all times patient and polite. Mind you, I don\u2019t know how I held my patience at this stage,\u201d she writes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe agents were apologetic but nothing changed, and the texts kept coming but the installation never did,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

On the Friday she got another text message asking her to follow a link to reschedule her appointment, but when she clicked it, she was bought to an error page.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, March 7th, she got yet another text message telling her the installation was set for March 19th, and then 60 seconds later got another one telling her that installation was set for March 20th.<\/p>\n

It gets worse.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, March 10th, Aileen woke up to a text message confirming the installation would take place that very day and then an hour later another message landed telling her the date was set for Friday, March 13th. <\/p>\n

She stayed at home on that Tuesday just in case and \u2013 miracle of miracles \u2013 shortly after midday a technician arrived at her house. <\/p>\n

Happy days. <\/p>\n

Sadly not. The technician \u201cspent quite some time examining the external part of the house and he also examined several rooms in the house, which is detached and on approximately one acre but has a short double driveway off a main road.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aileen makes the point that her neighbours already have fibre broadband installed. <\/p>\n

The technician confirmed that installation would take place on March 20th and he left. Not long after he had departed, Aileen got another text telling her that March 31st had been set as the date for installation.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0The trouble started for our reader after switching from Eir to VodafoneOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Aileen got no texts on March 11th or 12th but on Friday, March 13th, she was sent a message at 8.05am telling her the installation was happening that very day.<\/p>\n

She waited, but in vain. \u201cI really didn\u2019t expect any show,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

\u201cAt this point I should mention that I received a phone call at approximately 10am from a technician who explained that he was in my area with a new modem to be fitted, but said that this was impossible and there was no point in him calling as the \u2018outdoor\u2019 crew needed to have completed their work, which obviously had not been completed. He also commented on the number of times the appointments had been cancelled and apologised, but he stated that March 31st would be the definitive date for the connection to take place.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Monday, March 16th, she received two separate messages saying March 19th was the new date, and on that day she got another message saying installation was happening imminently. There was no show.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018I\u2019ve paid Eir \u20ac3,000 more than I needed to, can I get a refund?\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

So poor Aileen called Eir again \u2013 for what she says must have been the 20th time \u2013 and was told that the appointment was \u201cdefinitely\u201d March 31st.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The customer service agent] actually stated how surprised she was that I was being polite and said she would understand if I expressed extreme annoyance with whoever I managed to speak with at this stage. I explained that I am in my mid-70s and don\u2019t believe in \u2018shooting the messenger\u2019. However, I did ask her (as I had previously asked other Eir agents) to please send a communication\/email to a senior manager. She did say, I think quite convincingly, that she would certainly do so, but that it could be up to 48 hours before I hear back.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was at this point in the saga that Aileen contacted us and we immediately sent her long, long story of let-downs to Eir. <\/p>\n

A couple of days later we heard from Aileen again to say she had been contacted by senior representatives of Eir to say that the installation had been scheduled for last Wednesday. <\/p>\n

In response to our queries, an Eir spokeswoman sent the following statement:<\/p>\n

\u201cEir has been in contact directly with this customer to apologise for the experience they have had, which fell short of our standards. The installation of the customer\u2019s broadband has now been completed. The issue arose due to additional works being required at the premises and a failure within an ordering system, which together resulted in conflicting updates being issued to the customer. <\/p>\n

\u201cEir is reviewing its communication and escalation procedures to reduce the likelihood of a similar issue in future. Eir also wishes to highlight its age friendly care service, providing dedicated customer care and technical support for older customers. To contact the team, call 1800 252 252 (Monday-Friday, 10am-4pm).\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018I feel so stupid\u2019: Victim\u2019s shame at falling for \u2018classic\u2019 \u20ac30,000 invoice scamOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI have never in my life come across so much inefficiency and unprofessionalism,\u201d a reader called Aileen says…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":411621,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[73],"tags":[79,2190,8970,18,19,17,6641],"class_list":["post-411620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-cost-of-living","tag-eir","tag-eire","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-pricewatch"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116318593603089885","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=411620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411620\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/411621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=411620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=411620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=411620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}