Why does Eir hate me?!

[Firenzeflower]

I’m in London and attempting to get Wi-Fi for an elderly relative in rural Ireland. Eir have finally put in the infrastructure close to her place so she can get Wi-Fi. But I just cannot get them to actually do it. First they got her name wrong, then her address and now after two months of trying they have got her post code wrong. Every time something goes wrong I have to wait two weeks for someone else in another department to change it.
I want to book it so I can go over and be there when it’s installed.
Should I just give up on them? Have I been unlucky or are they just useless?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Err.. they're not brilliant TBH.. although once it's in it shouldn't be too bad (although then I have my yearly call when they tell my my deal's ended, the price is going up to some stupid amount, and I tell them I'll go to Sky then, and they put it back down to a sensible amount)

I find it's best to try and get everything sorted in one call otherwise it can shoot off sideways - and even then, when we got Eir here, nothing was delivered when they said it would be, and the engineer just randomly arrived one day.

When he did arrive he did a decent job though - not like the sky guy in the UK who just drilled through the wall, ruined the wallpaper and took a chunk out of my settee doing it..

I take it she doesn't have decent mobile signal? There's always Skylink?

@CleftChin I had a disaster with Sky and a wall. All internet providers hate me.
I’ll persevere with Eir and hope I eventually get it sorted. I’m over to see her soon so maybe I’ll have more luck when I’m in the country.
She’s a sweetie and happy as anything but I just want her to have better connections and communication.

I think we can all, if not many of us, relate to this @Firenzeflower .
The so called providers are not always adequately providing, alas.
There may be great individuals within the companies, but the system is often somewhat Cowboys/Wild West.

Maybe your relly is just happy with her landline tho, if that is what she has.
Sometimes I wish that was what I had as back up!

Eir got a terrible review on Liveline, which is a phone in radio show with a huge listenership ( for Ireland ).
Listening to the show and the treatment meted out to customers by Eir made me vow I would never use them.
You could Google "Liveline / Eir" to get a flavour of the customer service.

@Villagetoraiseachild I want to put cameras up so I can just make sure she’s ok. Just outside the property. I know it might sound a bit like I’m stalking her but I worry and I just want to make sure she gets back home ok. I need Wi-Fi for that.

@deeahgwitch Really? When I call they’re all lovely. Just useless. I’m starting to wonder if they actually want me to buy their Wi-Fi.

She’s so important to me and so far from me I want a bit of extra security. She has great friends and neighbours but I just want to make sure she’s safe.

Eir might not give a damn two hoots

As for Liveline, people who cant cope with the real version of the program can pick up the general flavour 'as it happens' ( so to speak ) at

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058365436/liveline-im-down-in-the-hood-im-on-tik-tok-sez-joe/p306

It is truly ghastly

There is a remote prospect the Mr Duffy the 'presenter' may disappear into retirement soon

Eir is fine when it works, but when it doesn’t they’re a bloody nightmare. I nearly cried when my mother told me she had switched everything - broadband, landline, mobile - to Eir two years ago. In fairness, the deal they offered was very attractive and she’s had no issues since.

They have an Age Friendly Helpline which I found really good when she needed to renew her contract and deal with an outage.

OMG Eir, they are so annoying. I have a holiday house in a very rural location and had an Eir phone and very slow internet for a huge cost. We have now changed to StarLink (I keep calling it Sky Net, and I don't think I'm entirely wrong there), but disentangling from Eir has been painful.

I had to go through a lengthy 'customer retention' conversation with a long script, the answer to which was always "the StarLink is already in place and being used so I don't want to keep Eir". Eventually they closed the account, and then sent me a bill. I thought they hadn't taken the final direct debit before closing the account so I payed it, but when I checked my bank account it turned out to be an extra payment. I couldn't check what it was for online because my account was closed so tried the phone but couldn't speak to anyone because you have to input your account number, which wasn't recognised because the account was closed. Eventually, in desperation, I made a complaint on their Facebook page and engaged with a representative on FB messenger. It turned out that they were charging me because I hadn't sent back my router, except it was MY router not theirs. They guy could not understand that people used to buy routers and wanted to know what other company had supplied it. Eventually I told him that if the company wanted my at least 16 yr old router that was waiting to go to the electrical recycling I would send it to them, and he gave me a refund.

So, now I have a refund (€45) sitting on my account that no longer exists so I can't access it and I'm not sure that I really have the emotional strength to sort out getting it into my bank account.

Anyway, by comparison StarLink has been a breeze and is a good speed.

Thank you. I’m going to investigate Starlink. I’m over with her next week so we might get some progress.

The Starlink requires installation. My brother did it himself, but if you Google Starlink installer and your aunt's county there will be people who offer an installation service. I pay €50 per month and the speed is the same as the Virgin connection that I have in Dublin. There is a higher up front cost because you have to buy the dish (€349) and she will need to have a clear view of the sky from where the dish is mounted. Apparently it's not suited for gamers because there is a tiny lag (because the signal is routed through satellites), but it's not noticeable for regular users.

@BlackAmericanoNoSugar Thanks so much.

I had a woeful time trying to end my eir contract too. I couldn't get anywhere with the call centre. Eventually they closed it but kept sending me bills saying I had a credit of about €4. Which I had no way to claim. I can't remember fully now, it was a number of years ago, but I had to go searching for a postal address and write a letter to get them to do anything.

Have you looked at something like bonkers.ie online? I think if you enter the house eircode, it will give you a list of suppliers who cover the property/area. Also if you know any neighbours, especially anyone who needs good broadband to wfh, ask who they use.

Good luck!!

You ask, in your title of this thread "Why does EIR hate me ?"

If it's any consolation it's not just you.
I think they hate customers.
All customers 😀

Judging by complaints I heard on Liveline.

@IrritableVowel I’m going on Saturday so I’ll ask. I get there about 3 and by 4 every neighbour will be there for a catchup. They’re all older but I think they will know.
@deeahgwitch Nice they hate you as well. Maybe no one told them they need to be pleasant to customers. Virgin is the same over here in London. They hate me as well.