TÁNAISTE LEO VARADKAR has said he expects Eir customer relations to “improve” after he met with the company and discussed ongoing problems being experienced by customers trying to make contact with the provider.

The Tánaiste and Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications Eamon Ryan met with Eir and Vodafone separately this morning to relay concerns they have been receiving regarding poor customer service.

The issue has been raised by both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael politicians over the last number of weeks.

Fine Gael’s Patrick O’Donovan, Emer Higgins and Michael Creed raised customer complaints at a recent parliamentary party meeting.

While Fianna Fáil’s Robert Troy tweeted a letter he received from elderly constituents about the lack of customer care.

The constituent, in his 70s, wrote to the TD seeking help in getting his service reconnected.

“He and his wife are alone – their children live overseas and they have been trying to get their service back for the past 6 weeks,” said Troy.

This has really upset me. A constituent in his 70s has written seeking my help in getting his @eir service reconnected. He and his wife are alone - their children live overseas and they have been trying to get their service back for the past 6 weeks. pic.twitter.com/E57XdvsiWB

— Robert Troy TD (@RobertTroyTD) November 12, 2020

TDs across all parties acknowledge that it is a huge political issue at constituency level. 

Following the meeting, the Tánaiste said: 

“This is something which is causing a huge amount of frustration for people. This mornings meetings were useful. It was good to hear first-hand from the companies. Both companies set out their plans to resolve the issues causing problems, so I really hope we see things improving for customers soon.”

Minister Ryan said

“It was important to relay the level of dissatisfaction being experienced by people who are doing their best to work from home. The two companies outlined the solutions they are working on, and we should see improvements in the near future. While we are rolling out the National Broadband Plan, we also need existing services to offer a high standard of service.  ”

Both ministers also thanked Eir for their work in supporting  the acceleration of the National Broadband Plan and encouraged further engagement to ensure broadband can be brought to every home, farm and business in the country as quickly as possible.

It is understood that the company acknowledged that there is a problem, and that a lot of it was down to increased demand, as well as staff working home during the Level 5 restrictions.

Met with @eir & @VodafoneIreland today with @EamonRyan. Have been hearing a lot about poor customer service from constituents. Causing huge frustration. Useful meeting, really expect things to improve

— Leo Varadkar (@LeoVaradkar) November 20, 2020

In a recent statement, the company said resolving care wait times is their number one priority.

Eir said it wishes to “apologise for the delays some customers have experienced. The Covid-19 pandemic has made managing our call centres in Sligo, Limerick and Cork challenging, with more than 400 care agents transitioned to working from home overnight, the closure of our retail stores, and a dramatic increase in call volumes caused by more households working and learning from home”.

“We have been recruiting nationally since restrictions eased during the summer. We are proud to have hired 92 new recruits to our care team, with further team members joining in the weeks ahead. Training does take time but these changes have already led to reductions in call wait times.”

Eir said it has introduced priority care hours in their retail stores for elderly and vulnerable customers and for carers before 11am Monday to Friday.