There was an onslaught of criticism addressed to the Operations Manager of Eir who joined today’s monthly meeting of Mayo County Council, held online.
Councillor after councillor spoke of what they termed the “appalling service” that the telecommunications company provides to customers.
Director of Regulatory and Public Affairs at Eir, Kjeld Hartog opened his presentation outlining all the services and infrastructure that the company has provided in the county, but in response councillors insisted his presentation was irrelevant and did not in any way address the reason that they had invited him to attend the meeting.
Councillors outlined numerous cases, all across the county, that had been highlighted to them by Eir customers, where customers were days and weeks without a phone service / broadband . In addition, customers attempts to contact Eir about their grievances took excessive time waiting on a phone line, and more often than not the complaints remains unresolved.
The poor mobile coverage service available in places across the county was also raised by councillors.
The fees Eir is charging to local authorities and others for moving telephone poles were also described as “astronomical” and “completely unacceptable”.
In light of the service being provided by Eir in Mayo, councillors considered voting no confidence in the CEO and board of the company at today’s meeting, but opted to ask Mr Hartog to come back with a plan of action and come back with the relevant information before they take that measure.
Councillors asked that Eir would appoint a direct contact link for councillors making representations to it on behalf of customers.
Mr Hartog in response said that Eir's customer services have improved significantly since the company's CEO addressed the Joint Oireachtas Committee last November.
He insisted that the average waiting time for customers waiting to contact customers services is 5 minutes. He admitted however, that waiting time is sometimes longer on a Monday.
We'll have more on this story on Midwest News tomorrow.
