Eir accused of ‘disgraceful’ customer service in Mayo

SEVERAL households in a small West Mayo community remain without landline or mobile phone coverage following Storm Isha.

Residents from the Drummin area have described the length it is taking Eir to restore their landline as ‘disgraceful’, with once local councillor accusing the company of providing ‘a very poor service for the west of Ireland’.

Many households in the locality require landline phones to make phone calls as there is little to no mobile phone coverage in the area.

The Mayo News understands that at least eight households are affected, including two elderly people. This includes one woman in her eighties whose daughter must visit her daily to communicate with her.

The outage is believed to have been caused by a telephone poll which was toppled during Storm Isha between January 20-21.

Mary Hastings, who previously contacted this newspaper regarding her lack of mobile or broadband coverage, has been without a landline since Christmas Eve.

Locals have contacted Eir and IFA Telecom on numerous occasions to have the issue resolved.

Ms Hastings contacted IFA Telecom – who provide broadband and landline to IFA members – on over 20 occasions and was told it was a matter for Eir to resolve.

Workers have since visited the area and placed a yellow ribbon near where the poll was damaged.

Ann Hastings, of Derrymore, Drummin, said she was told by Eir’s customer service to ‘hound’ the company to get the issue resolved.

“I have rang Eircom [Eir] on several occasions and they said the last time I was talking to customer service, he said we needed to hound them,” Ms Hastings told The Mayo News.

“I didn’t think you’d have to hound to get a service that we’re paying for, paying on the double for, that half the time is gone.

“There’s a man out the road who home help has to come out to and he has no phone since the day of the snow.

“There’s a woman, and she’s over 80, and her daughter has to come out to her every day because she cannot ring her on the phone, about 20 miles to her, and I had to drive three miles to get a signal to ring you. It’s disgraceful.”

Ann Hastings had to travel three miles from her home to obtain a mobile signal to speak to Eir and The Mayo News.

Criticising Eir’s customer service, Ann Hastings said he was left waiting on the phone for over an hour to speak to an Eir representative.

A notice telling her she would be waiting for approximately 18 minutes remained in place for roughly 40 minutes during one phone call.

“I said ‘I hope yee compensate me for the petrol I’ve used going to and from a signal to try and contact yee,” she said.

“I got through to the customer service,” she continued. “‘Is it customer care?’ I said. He said ‘Yes’.  I said ‘but do yee care about yeer customers? Because if yee do I can’t imagine yee having many customers.’

“We have no mobile coverage. And there is people that had no one to talk to and it’s a mental health issue, to be left so long with no outside contact from anybody. There is one man who can’t drive, people in need of medical attention. It’s absolutely disgraceful, if the nurse is trying to ring them or anything, it’s way out of order.”

SEVERAL REPRESENTATIONS

FIANNA Fáil county councillor Brendan Mulroy, who has received several representations on this issue, said Eir were providing ‘a very poor service for the west of Ireland’.

Minister of State, Dara Calleary TD, has also made representations to the company on the issue.

Cllr Mulroy described ongoing repair works in the area as ‘remarkably slow’.

“I’ve spent a lot of time on the phone to these guys and it’s an absolute disaster,” Cllr Mulroy told The Mayo News.

“I must have nearly 20 to 25 if not 30 people reported to them, and I’d say out of them 30 people I’d say there’s about seven or eight of them that have been repaired.”

Cllr Mulroy also echoed criticisms regarding Eir’s quality of customer service.

^{Cllr Brendan Mulroy (Pic: Michael McLaughlin)}

Eir appeared before Mayo County Council in 2021 to answer questions regarding its customer service.

The company, formerly known as Eircom, has been called to appear before Mayo County Council by Ballinrobe-based Fianna Fáil councillor Damien Ryan.

“It’s disgraceful behaviour and particularly with elderly people who need phone lines and particularly for their panic button. With some people that’s the only contact they have with the outside world is their telephone, particularly elderly,” said Cllr Mulroy.

In a statement to The Mayo News, Eir said: “Storms Isha and Jocelyn have caused unprecedented damage to telecommunications infrastructure, particularly in Ireland's North West, with areas in Mayo experiencing the severest impact. Our teams are working tirelessly, seven days a week, to repair faults as swiftly as possible.

“Within the last month they have repaired 1,300 faults across Mayo. Additional engineers have been dispatched to accelerate recovery. For the area of Drummin there are 14 remaining faults, which are being treated as urgent, including the highlighted case. We apologise for any delays in restoring services to affected customers.”