Eircom forced staff not to use its own rules for complaints

A JUDGE has described as ‘disgraceful’ how telecom giant Eircom threatened staff with ‘disciplinary action’ if they handled customer complaints according to its own code of conduct and in compliance with Irish law.

At Dublin District Court yesterday, Judge Anthony Halpin fined the company €7,500 after it was prosecuted by ComReg over its former customer complaints procedures. Eircom also paid €10,000 in costs and pleaded guilty to 12 offences for breaching the Universal Service Regulations for two years starting in mid-2021.

The court heard that a mother who was unable to make 999 calls when her daughter needed ‘urgent’ medical attention was wrongly told there was nothing wrong with her service. Her dad also ended up in hospital after a missed delivery of his breathing machine.

Barrister Shelley Horan, for ComReg, said Eircom did not adhere to the legal requirements and made ‘deliberate decisions’ not to handle complaints in an acceptable manner.

ComReg compliance analyst Michelle O’Donnell said customer care staff were warned not to give out the right customer complaint numbers or web address unless callers used specific ‘trigger words’. She said several Eircom customers informed ComReg that they could not make complaints.

The analyst outlined the offences, which included failing to comply with and implement a code of practice to settle unresolved disputes, acknowledge a complaint, and respond to the problem within ten working days.

After ten days, the firm must provide a specific number, email and link to the code of practice to assist the customer.

However, Eircom agents were not permitted to give customers the complaints number or code of practice, otherwise, according to their training manual, they would face ‘disciplinary action’.

The manual says calls would be transferred to the complaint line only if the customer used ‘trigger words’ such as ‘code of practice’, or mentioned ComReg.

Hugh McDowell BL, for Eircom, said the firm has rectified the problem, and he was instructed to apologise to customers. However, Judge Halpin demanded: ‘What about your apologies to Eircom employees?’