Patient’s phone wrongfully cut off while he was in hospital

A MAN who was recovering from surgery in hospital had his phone cut off after being overcharged by telecom company Eir, a court has heard.

Eir was yesterday fined €23,500 for continually overcharging customers – after it told a court it had implemented measures to prevent the problem happening again.

The company pleaded guilty at Dublin District Court to offences under the Communications Regulation Act 2002 in relation to complaints by five people.

One customer received debt collection letters and was in hospital when he was disconnected; one was billed twice for the same service; another was prevented from staying in contact with her mother in the UK; a woman got cut off as a result of what Eir described as ‘human error’; another was overcharged from August 2017 until February 2018.

Comreg compliance analyst Una Milton told the court the first set of charges, with three counts, related to a customer who, in June 2017, signed up for a landline, internet and free off-peak calls to mobiles package.

He was to receive €8 and a €10 discounts in the following months. In November 2017 he got a bill which charged him €62 for off-peak calls to his wife’s mobile.

He complained and was offered a €40 refund but was not told why he had been charged for these calls.

He refused to pay for these calls and in January was told his service would be restricted and he got letters from a debt collector looking for €14.

He was disconnected for three weeks while in hospital.

Ms Milton agreed with the prosecution counsel that the five cases before the court yesterday followed a prosecution last October in which Eir was fined €11,000.

The judge noted in that prosecution – also related to overcharging – Eir said it would take measures to prevent it happening in the future.