Dirty Finger Given to Consumers & ComReg

Eircom's Directory Enquiry Service operates in breach of all three regulatory obligations

This could have been Eircom's brief to their advertising company. Look up pages 4,5,6,7,8 and 10 of your phone book!
Eircom charges its Meteor customers a minimum of € 1.80 on the 11818 and a minimum of € 1.30 on its 11811 Directory Enquiry Service. Calls from other providers and landlines are slightly cheaper.

After letting Irish consumers getting ripped off with unanounced tariffs for Directory Enquiry services and the novelty "call completion" facility for years, regulator Comreg finally introduced three legally binding guidelines for Conduit and Eircom in August of 2004. (download the full ComReg document "Access to Tariff Information on Directory Enquiry services")

1. All DQ tariffs had to be included in all promotion and advertising of the service.

[ComReg's 2004 "Direction 1
When advertising or promoting its service a Directory Enquiry service provider shall indicate the applicable charges, or alternatively, indicate where such information may be obtained. The cost to a user of obtaining such information should not exceed the cost of a local telephone call. The Directory Enquiry service provider should also publicise their separate customer service number in printed material."]

While the intention sounds good, a gaping loophole, granting providers the possibility to not include the tariffs, but include a note in the ad where consumers could inform themselves about the tariffs for no more than the cost of a local phone call, has rendered the ruling useless: Not a single ad has since been published with the tariffs included.

And if that's not bad enough: In the latest phone book promotion for its 11811 and 11818 DQ service on pages 4 to 10 Eircom does not even give a damn about the lousily minimalist ComReg obligation. Eircom neither includes the tariffs nor gives an indication where the tariffs can be obtained for not more than the price of a local phone call.
And why would Eircom bother to "publicise their separate customer service number in printed material"? Much handier to lead nosy consumers to the dreaded general speech recognition firewall 1901 Eircom number, where Directory Enquiry is not even included in a sub menu.

Check your Eircom phonebook, or the examples in resources 5.

And while DQ services are open 24 hours a day, don't try to get tariff information outside of business hours:
listen to [audio recording 1]


2. DQ providers have to supply consumers with written tariffs for the services on request.

[ComReg's 2004 "Direction 2
The Directory Enquiry service provider shall make available printed tariff information in response to requests from consumers. The display of printed tariff information is subject to ComReg Decision number XX “ComReg Code for Tariff Presentation”.]
Eircom point blank refuses to do that, unless you happen to be an Eircom landline subscriber.

Even during business hours Eircom won't make available printed tariff information (even if you tried patiently, going through all the loops):
listen to [audio recording 2]
listen to [audio recording 3]
listen to [audio recording 4]


3. When DQ customers are offered a "call connection" service ("do you want me to connect you to the requested number?") they have to be informed about the price of the connected call charges there and then.

[ComReg's 2004 "Direction 3
A Directory Enquiry service provider shall provide tariff information when it offers call completion services. Consumers should be advised of the cost of using the service from most landlines and should be advised that costs will vary depending on the network/service provider used.

The following text is a guideline on the minimum set of information a Directory Enquiry service provider must provide – “Would you like to have your call connected? Calls from most landlines cost Xc per minute – Charges will vary when using your mobile phone or an alternate provider for telephone calls”
Service providers, to whom this specification applies, should note the provision of the foregoing information is the minimum requirement for the purpose of satisfying their obligations pursuant to this specification."]

While both Conduit and Eircom were quick to change their DQ tariff structure after ComReg's directive, profiteering from the egregious loophole in directive 1 (by doubling the initial DQ charge, and lowering the call connection charges), Eircom operates in direct breach of the obligation. It does not make consumers aware of the call connection charges as required by Direction 3:
listen to [audio recording 5]

Conclusion: Eircom's highly profitable Directory Enquiry service operates in direct breach of all three regulatory obligations.

As we have niggling doubts that ComReg Commissioners will follow their statuary obligation to work to "the principles of
• integrity
• impartiality
• professionalism
• transparency [and]
• effectiveness" and will put an end to these illegal practices on their own accord, we have written to Minister Dempsey and the Oireachtas Committee for Communications to put things right. See resources 1.

Resources:


(1)
Open letter to the Oireachtas Committee for Communications and Minister Noel Dempsey

The incumbent is openly sticking up its dirty finger to the Irish consumer and the regulator, in the certain and correct knowledge, that this entity will not act.

Eircom's DQ services 11811 and 11818 operate in direct breach of all three obligations set up by communications regulator ComReg in October 2004. (See also website article for documentation of breaches.)

1. Eircom advertises and promotes its Directory Enquiry service 11811 and 11818 in direct breach of ComReg's DQ direction: On nearly a dozen pages in the 2006 phonebook and the 2006 Yellow pages – publications with extremely long shelf life and with over 3 millions of copies each, reaching every household and business in Ireland – eircom's 11811 and 11818 DQ services are advertised and promoted, without any respect to the regulatory obligations. No price information is given, or at least the information where the tariff information can be obtained for not more than the cost of a local phone call.
Since DQ became for-profit services in 2002 the Irish consumer has been left in the dark about the pricing of this service.

2. Eircom also refuses to send out the price information on request, as the DQ directive demands.

3. Eircom also is in breach of its obligation to inform customers about the price of call connection, at point of offering the service.

Please see full documentation on http://www.comwreck.com/blog_49_feb.html.

There is no acceptable excuse for Eircom. Eircom knows exactly what it is doing. Eircom fought each case I brought against them (DQ sponsorship on national TV weather-forecast, which was pulled by the Broadcasting Complaints Board on my request; 11811 radio advertising on RTE and TodayFM which was also condemned by the BCC and the BCI) and is fully aware of its DQ obligations – but it thinks that it can come away with anything under ComReg Commissioner Mike Byrne's eyes, and unfortunately eircom has been right so far. I could cite despicable details of how ComReg personnel (!) even (unsuccessfully) intervened against upholding the ComReg directions (!) in the RTE DQ advertising case.

There is no acceptable excuse for ComReg.

ComReg is under statuary obligation (2) to work to "the principles of
• integrity
• impartiality
• professionalism
• transparency
• effectiveness."
With regards to regulating Directory Enquiry services ComReg fails on all 5 of its obligations. Its regulatory efforts are a shamble which fail the consumer and further undermine its own authority:

For decades DQ was an integrated free service for telephone customers. The change to a for-profit service left most consumers in the dark about the fact that it was now a priced service and about the tariffs.
With the introduction of expensive "call completion" both Eircom and Conduit made millions from unsuspecting users.
ComReg stood idly by, and eventually produced a pathetic "Consumer Guide" which changed nothing.(3)
When public and political pressure was mounting, ComReg obliged DQ providers to inform users about the price of "call completion", but failed to bring forward effective regulation on general price information of the DQ services. ComReg pretended to demand price information at all promotion and advertising for DQ services, but actually left a loophole in its directive. Not a single ad has since been published that included price information – the stated objective of ComReg's directive.
Both Conduit and Eircom were quick to adapt and to change their DQ service pricing structure after the ComReg directive: They slashed their "call completion" prices (as they now had to inform the user at the point of offering the service!) and hiked up the initial call charge, and they not only use the directive's egregious loophole, but Eircom directly disregards all three ComReg directives:
– directive 1 in the latest telephone book and Yellow Pages promotion, where no price information or information where tariffs can be gotten is given
– directive 2 by refusing to send out written pricing information and
– directive 3 by not informing customers about the call completion tariffs at point of offering the service.
That this is allowed to happen right under the eyes of Commissioner Mike Byrne is astounding.


What has to happen?

1. Consumer interests and the authority of the regulator have to be upheld. Remedial action is required to uphold the consumer interest. Millions of calls to 11811 and 11818 should not be made with consumers unaware of the hiked up costs (minimum call costs from Eircom's Meteor customers to 11818 are now € 1.80, to 11811 they are € 1.30; from other providers and landlines minimum call costs are from € 0.75 upwards for 30 seconds) of the calls. No company should be allowed to profit through such outrageous behavior. Short of closing down Eircom's DQ services Eircom should be directed to preface its 11811 and 11818 services with a short message informing callers of the rates before the pricing starts, for the shelf-life time of the phonebooks, i.e. 1 year.

2. Eircom should be obliged to get all its DQ advertising and promotion vetted by the regulator in advance for a period of time.

3. The loophole in the current ComReg DQ directive 1 (allowing providers not to publish tariffs in their promotion and advertising) should be closed as a matter of urgency. The very sensible ICSTIS rules should be used as a blueprint. (4)

4. If ComReg is unable or unwilling to uphold its authority in this simple and straightforward case it should be replaced by an effective body. The known legislative shortcomings with regards to ComReg's powers are no excuse for such failure.
If there is no retribution for a company that breaches the regulator's regulations other than that they have eventually to stop doing so, why would the company not breach the next and other regulations likewise?
And likewise, if there is no retribution for a Commissioner responsible for this area, who fails to reinforce and develop the core values of integrity, impartiality, professionalism, transparency and effectiveness – as is his legal obligation – other than to get promoted to head of the Commission in the year next...


Regards

CONSUMER AFFAIRS 2003
"Directory enquiries charges:
ODCA received complaints regarding the non-disclosure of an additional charge when the call is connected by a directory enquiries service. The matter was brought to the attention of ComReg, which has published a Consumer Guide to Directory Enquiry Services."
We have demonstrated the nonsense of ComReg's "Directory Enquiry" consumer guidelines (still available on ComReg's website!) on comwreck.com. See here and here and here

(4)
The very sensible ICSTIS rules regarding Premium and DQ services can be downloaded here. No harm to look across the fence.

(5)
Cut-outs from the Eircom phone book and Yellow Pages, to document the significant DQ advertisement/promotion in breach of ComReg's regulations:

Phone Book, inside cover (no tariffs or references given, as obligatory):



Phone Book, page 3, (no tariffs or references given, as obligatory; giving a web site address for the tariffs is not sufficient or part of the DQ guidelines. A BCC [Broadcasting Complaints Commission] decision of 2/2005 [Ref 32/05], turning down a 11811 ad on RTE for example stated: "The supply of a website address is insufficient to meet this information requirement...The Commission was als cogniscent of the fact that the majority of listeners do not have ready access to the web."):



Telephone Book, page 4, (no tariffs or references given, as obligatory):



Telephone Book, page 5, (no tariffs or references given, as obligatory):



Telephone Book, page 6, (no tariffs or references given, as obligatory):



Telephone Book, page 7, (no tariffs or references given, as obligatory):



Telephone Book, page 8, (no tariffs or references given, as obligatory):



Telephone Book, page 10, (no tariffs or references given, as obligatory. Giving the general eircom.ie website address for tariff information is totally insufficient):



Yellow Pages, page 1, (no tariffs or references given, as obligatory):



Yellow Pages, page 2, (no tariffs or references given, as obligatory):



Yellow Pages advert, to show the impact of the illicit 11811 advertising. Up to a quarter of a million consultations per day, up to a quarter of million times the 11811 promotion in breach of the ComReg rules, could be viewed: