The Commission for Communications Regulation has demanded a comprehensive report from Eircom into the circumstances which led to 31,500 customers being overcharged by an estimated €409,000 through billing errors.
Eircom admitted today that it overcharged some of its customers for its call management services.
Following a customer bill query, Eircom said it discovered a fault in its processes that led the company to bill customers incorrectly for its call management services. Eircom said the amount it incorrectly charged is estimated at €409,000 in total, affecting 31,562 customers.
Call management services include call answering, call barring, call tracking and number divert.
Eircom said it will refund customers in full as soon as possible and, as a gesture of goodwill, it will also apply the same amount again in credit to each customer.
Eircom said it regrets these errors and wishes to apologise to all affected customers. It said the issue came on to light on Friday July 23 and that ComReg has been advised of the overcharging.
It said it will write to all the affected customers advising them of the steps the company has taken to correct the problem. A freefone numer - 1800 201027 - has also been set up for customers who have queries relating to the issue.
Eircom said that a 'thorough' check of its records indicated that 18,291 customers who ordered call answering since June 1 free of charge of part of the company's 'Talktime' packages were incorrectly billed at an average charge of 1.57 euro.
The company then reviewed its call management charges before June 2004 and identified a further 13,271 customers who have been charged for duplicate call management services. Eircom says this equates to about 2% of customers of who call management services.
The average amount overcharged is €28.62, the large majority of which arose after 1999.
ComReg said it is demanding a report on the Eircom overcharging. It said this must answer how the billing errors arose, why internal safeguards failed to prevent them and what steps the company is taking to address the matter.
'It is disappointing that the largest telecoms company has discovered that there were errors within its billing system,' commented Commissioner Isolde Goggin.
'ComReg is seriously concerned that internal systems failed to adequately protect consumers. The recent incidents of over-charging among a number of telecoms companies has seriously affected consumer confidence and trust in billing systems,' she added,
Last month ComReg Chairman John Doherty wrote to the phone companies here requiring each company to review its billing arrangements to confirm that systems are sufficiently robust to minimise the likelihood of errors. A report from each company is due by August 12.
Earlier this year it emerged that O2 overcharged 136,535 customers a total of €721,892. Vodafone overbilled 22,436 customers a total of €147,739.
ComReg said it will continue to monitor the Eircom situation and will intervene, if necessary, in the interest of protecting consumers.
