Eircom Limited, which is now known as eir, has been hit with a €2.45m penalty by the Commission for Communications Regulation, ComReg, as part of a settlement following investigations into the overcharging of its customers.
Eir will implement a series of "backward-looking measures" to identify customers who have been overcharged historically and have not been refunded for the overcharge and will refund these customers appropriately
Around 76,000 customers may be affected with up to €6.7m in refunds potentially involved.
The "backward-looking measures" will focus on customers that were incorrectly charged due to an issue with a "broken bundle" on the customer's account.
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They will also include customers that were charged in circumstances where the customer had requested their service be ceased and eir did not process the customers cease request, and customers that were charged early cease charges in circumstances where the customer was permitted to cancel without penalty.
ComReg said that eir has begun the process of identifying customers impacted and will commence the refunding of all those affected with immediate effect.
The company is planning to have "forward-looking measures", aimed at improving its billing processes, fully implemented by the end of December 2023 at the latest.
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The settlement follows a series of enforcement actions taken by ComReg against eir resulting in the company being convicted in 2015, 2017 and 2018 of offences totalling 26 breaches related to overcharging.
In addition to these convictions, ComReg started two investigations into Eir for further instances of overcharging.
One of the investigations related to the period June 2018 to March 2019, while the other related to the period from September 2019 to September 2020.
"The information obtained in these investigations demonstrated incidents where customers were overcharged by Eircom and had successfully sought a refund for the overcharge," ComReg said in a statement.
"However, ComReg was also concerned that there were many more customers also overcharged by Eircom that had not identified the overcharge nor had they successfully disputed the overcharge with Eircom," ComReg added.
In a statement, eir said it is engaging with ComReg regarding its concerns about the possibility of the "historical and inadvertent" overcharging of certain customers in respect of its electronic communications services.
The telecoms company said it had already started a review process of an agreed cohort to identify any unresolved instances of incorrect charging.
It added that it will ensure any such customers are reimbursed as soon as possible.
"Eir apologises unreservedly to any customer who we identify as part of the review, as having been inadvertently charged incorrectly and has committed to actively processing any refunds that may be identified," the company said.
"As part of its commitment to improved customer service and the resolution of legacy billing process issues, eir will also undertake a robust review of current billing practices, to ensure their effectiveness. eir has engaged an independent auditor to verify both its historic and forward-looking reviews," it added.
