Eircom says thousands of customers who were overcharged as a result of a software fault will have to wait until next month to be repaid.
An initial investigation by the company has established that 100,000 customers were affected by the fault, which first emerged when callers to a Late Late Showpremium-rate competition line found they had been charged for attempted but uncompleted calls.
However, the investigation has found that the problem extends to other competitions, freephone and even fixed-line calls. About 500,000 calls made to 30,000 lines between April 24th and May 17th last are involved, or about 0.3 per cent of all calls made over the Eircom network during the period.
The company still cannot say how many customers were overcharged, but a spokesman said half the affected calls would not have incurred a charge or if they did would have incurred a charge of about 5 cent a call.
However, the typical charge for affected calls to premium-rate competition numbers would be €1 a call.
The spokesman said Eircom hoped to correct the overcharging on bills that have not yet been sent out, while customers who were already billed for affected calls would receive a rebate from next month.