In administering the telephone allowance scheme, my Department notifies Eircom of customers who become entitled to, or lose entitlement to, a telephone allowance. In the case of an award of entitlement, Eircom applies the allowance to a customer's telephone bill. In the case of a termination of entitlement, Eircom removes the allowance from a customer's telephone bill. The relevant details are transmitted to Eircom electronically on a monthly basis.
Recently some difficulty was experienced by my Department in the exchange of telephone allowance information with Eircom. Analysis of recent figures shows that approximately 3,500 awards and terminations have been referred back to my Department for further examination. Such referrals are a normal part of the supporting business process but the numbers have increased significantly since August 2004. My Department expects the underlying cause of the recent increase in referrals back to it to be diagnosed and resolved very shortly.
Customers affected, who received a notification of award of the telephone allowance and who subsequently received a telephone bill with no telephone allowance applying, will, in most cases, contact the Department. They will be advised that the allowance should appear on their next or subsequent bill and that it will be backdated to their correct date of entitlement. None of those customers who are entitled to the telephone allowance will lose any benefit from the entitlement as a result of recent difficulties as the allowance will be backdated to their correct date of entitlement.
In some cases, where a large credit is due, my Department will arrange to pay the customer directly by payable order if they so wish. In other cases, where the customer has incurred a large bill, my Department will contact Eircom and make arrangements for the customer to make partial payment only until the allowance can be applied. Any inconvenience caused to the customers concerned is regretted.
