We received a troubling story from a reader who contacted us on behalf of her 91-year-old mother, who has been paying hundreds of euro every year for a service for a decade despite never once using it and even after her family cancelled it.

“Mum has just moved to a nursing home, and for the first time we have access to her bank statements,” begins the mail from Rita. “We noticed two payments going out of her account every month to Eir.

Rita notes that “Eir have a special phone number for elderly customers, and I do want to pause here to say that the service from that team was fantastic. They followed up and called back when they said they would and were very helpful.”

There is a but.

“The nub of the matter was that when Mum moved from a town house to an apartment, according to Eir, she did not cancel her old Eircom account and so they have been charging her and increasing the bills for an account they can see is not in use for the last 10 years.”

Rita says that “if it was the case that we did not cancel the account, that would be one thing, but I have my contemporaneous notes from the time (they are rough notes but list all the utilities that needed to be cancelled/moved) and I can see that I contacted Eircom to cancel the account (the account is ticked) and presumably to move the account to her new address.”

She sent us the notes and while they are rough, they do appear to be clear on this matter.

“There is also no version of this story where I would set up her new phone/internet account with the same bank account and not explain that she had moved house and as such was moving the account,” she adds.

After making contact recently, “customer service offered my mother one year’s refund in full settlement of the liability. I declined and asked that it be elevated to the complaints unit. One year out of 10, when I firmly believe that the error is Eir’s is not acceptable,” says Rita.

Eir found no record of a cancellation request for the original account

—  A statement from the utility

“The position of Eir complaints unit is that there are no notes on the original account to say it was cancelled ergo it was not cancelled. They also have limited records as it was 10 years ago and no notes on either account (the old and the new account).

“When I pointed out that Eir frequently make mistakes, they told me that unless I had recorded the original conversation, they would not increase their offer. The fact that she has also been paying for the service in her apartment and no longer lived at that address was irrelevant and the fact that we moved her account was also irrelevant unless we had a recording of the call. As I have no access to their records and they are not interested in my records, I am at a dead end. Eir have marked my complaint as closed (with no payment at all).”

Rita points out that her mother “has had to pay huge money in relation to moving to a nursing home while waiting for the Fair Deal to come through and all her remaining income is going towards her nursing care, as such the money she is owed would be very welcome. I know she should have spotted that she was being charged twice, but she was in her 80s with health problems and is of the generation where she would assume that the utility company was charging her what she owes. At the end of the day, they have been charging a pensioner in her 80/90s twice every month for 10 years, and they consider this to be acceptable, while having evidence that the original account was not being used.”

We contacted Eir and received the following statement:

“Following a detailed investigation and review of historical records, Eir found no record of a cancellation request for the original account. The customer had set up a new landline account at her new address. It is not uncommon for individuals to hold more than one account, such as when owning a second property. Our systems cannot confirm whether payments from a single bank account are intended for multiple services across different properties. We encourage all customers to regularly review their monthly statements and contact their provider directly with any queries or discrepancies. We acknowledge the customer’s position and have engaged extensively; a substantial goodwill gesture has been offered. Today, Eir offers a range of supports for those moving home, including convenient self-serve options, a dedicated home move team and age-friendly care.”