Government demands Eir and Vodafone to ensure better service to customers

DUBLIN: Government intervention to ensure better service to Eir and Vodafone customers. Tanaiste Leo Varadkar and Communications Minister Eamon Ryan have called on telecom service providers Eir and Vodafone Chiefs to improve customer service.

It is learned that both the companies have assured that the service will be of excellent quality. Representatives of the Eir and other companies have been asked by the government to appear before the Transport and Communications Oireachtas Committee next Wednesday.

Both Varadkar and Eamon Ryan told Telcos that there is widespread dissatisfaction with the quality of customer service. They also mentioned that more complaints was against Eir. Minister Eamon Ryan made the statement in the Dail last week about the widespread criticism of Eir.

Ceann Comhairle Sean Ó Fearghaíl said Eir’s service was intimidating and that ComReg should check to see if it was doing its job.

Consumers are struggling to report faults, switch mobile phone Sim cards or move providers. Many customers are hugely frustrated trying to contact the utility’s customer care staff.

Mr. Varadkar said thousands of people in his constituency are Eir customers and they were all in great frustration. The Tanaiste said that he had informed the company representatives about all these matters and hoped that better service would be available.

Minister Eamon Ryan said the level of dissatisfaction being experienced by people who are doing their best to work from home. However, Eir Chief Executive Carolyn Lennon and Vodafone Chief Executive Anne O’Leary attended the meeting, but did not comment on this.

Eir said it had made a big mistake in resolving customer complaints last week and regretted it. COVID-19 pandemic has put the operation of call centres in Sligo, Limerick and Cork in crisis. More than 400 care agents were forced to work from home overnight. There was a significant increase in call volume due to more employees working and studying from home. Since the summer, Eir has recruited 92 people to its care team. More will be hired in the coming weeks.

Vodafone also said that the COVID-19 Pandemic has been challenging the business since this week. The company employed 100 new customer service agents this month. Vodafone said the new agents will be in place from early December.