Sir, - On December 17th last my wife Mary and I decided to contact Telecom Eireann to arrange barring access to premium services/numbers from our home telephone line. We referred to the current telephone directory, page 93, where it syas to contact "local telecentre on 1901 free of charge". I did this and informed the operator that I wished to have access to premium service/numbers barred from my line.
On January 21st we received a bill and statement from Telecom Eireann. You can imagine our shock to find itemised the amount of £16 for "change of service". Also itemised was £1.74 "rental to current bill". As a result of barring the premium services/numbers, Telecom has increased the telephone rent from £2.20 to £6.20 per bill.
I have checked the telephone directory and nowhere can I find a mention of the cost of having premium services/numbers barred nor of the on-going increase in rental as a result of this.
As our children are aged 10, 12, 14 and 16 years, we feel it is our duty to protect them from exposure to material that is totally unsuitable for minors.
Imagine the utter lunacy of a firm demanding money from a customer for discontinuing access to a service that the customer did not ask for in the first place. - Yours, etc.
From Michael Milmoe
Barton Road East, Dundrum, Dublin 14.