A Castlebar councillor is calling on further action to be taken against telecoms provider Eir after it was discovered that the company had a deliberate policy aimed at preventing customers from logging complaints.
The company was branded “a disgrace” by District Court Judge Anthony Halpin last week, saying that Eir should apologise for threatening its staff with disciplinary action if they did not adhere to the company policy.
A €7,500 fine was issued to Eir, following a guilty plea to 12 counts of breaching regulations over how providers should handle complaints.
The court was told by Telecoms regulator ComReg that the investigation discovered a training manual whereby staff were ordered not to process complaints unless customers used “trigger words”, which indicated that the customer knew their rights in the situation.
Any customers who didn’t use “trigger words” were left without a solution to their problem, or told that they would receive a call back.
Castlebar councillor Ger Deere says that it “beggars belief” that Eir would adopt such a policy.
He is calling for other statutory agencies to get involved and investigate the matter further, making reference to the Corporate Enforcement Authority – and even an Garda Síochána.
The Fine Gael councillor has been outlining his concerns to Midwest Radio’s Rian Bailey:
