EIR AND RYANAIR have topped the list of the companies most frequently named by consumers who made a complaint to the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC).

Over 350 queries and complaints from consumers named Eir as the company they were contacting the CCPC about, while 269 contacts were made about Ryanair, according to a new report from the CCPC published today covering the first six months of the year. 

Sky (254 contacts), Vodafone (239) and Harvey Norman (234) followed close behind.

In total, over 22,000 consumers contacted the CCPC for help in the first half of the year, a jump of 18% compared to the same period last year.

Eir and Ryanair topped the list last year too, with 546 and 515 queries and complaints made respectively to the CCPC across the whole of 2023.

The CCPC has called for the government to give it more firepower to punish companies that treat consumers badly. 

“We’ll use all the powers available to us, up to and including prosecution, to detect and penalise lawbreakers,” said CCPC’s director of communications Grainne Griffin. “However, we know that the level of fines issued for breaches of consumer protection law is not always a deterrent, especially for large businesses”.

“Changes to the law are needed to give the CCPC the power to impose larger fines for serious offences, for example, fines that are a percentage of a business’s turnover”, she continued.

Last April, a Dublin District Court judge convicted and fined Eir €7,500 after it was prosecuted by the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) over its former customer complaints procedures. 

Eir said at the time of the ruling that the problem had been remedied.

Responding to the CCPC report, a spokesperson for Eir said it “acknowledges the findings of the report and appreciates the CCPC’s important role in providing consumer information and helping customers understand their rights”.

They added that the company has made significant investments in improving services.

A spokesperson for Vodafone Ireland said they were “committed to providing exceptional service” and are “improving customers’ experiences based on their feedback and on external reports including the quarterly CCPC report”.

Ryanair was also contacted for comment.

Next steps for consumers

Almost 5,000 consumers were referred to the Small Claims Court by the CCPC, an increase of nearly 1,000 people compared to the same period last year. However, Griffen said because of the low claim limit of €2,000, this option is not open to some people.

Vehicles and transport was the sector that received the most number of complaints to the CCPC with 2,904, while home building & improvements was the third highest, with 1,228.

Griffen says many consumers contacting the CCPC in relation to these sectors are automatically excluded from being referred to the Small Claims Court, due to the cap on claims.

This, Griffen says, “is out of step with many of the most basic and unavoidable expenses faced by consumers today”, adding that the CCPC is advocating for the limit to be increased.  

Customer referrals to regulators that handle customer complaints also increased substantially for many organisations over the first six months of the year.

There was a 72% increase in referrals by the CCPC to the Society of the Irish Motor Industry, with over 1,000 consumers forwarded to the consumer complaints and arbitration service dealing with used cars, repairs and services purchased from its members.

ComReg, which handles complaints about telecommunications, received 815 referrals, an increase of 40% over the same period last year.

An Garda Síochána, who deal with all matters relating to fraud, scams and other criminal activity, also received 186 referrals from the CCPC.