Read customer reviews of their service at: http://ratemyisp.ie/ratings/imagine/
Beware - some good reviews have reportedly been all coming from one suspicious
source!
2012 UPDATE ADDED!
Short version - Same dead slow service still!
 Eircom Upping Prices And Conditions 11th Feb' 2011 Reports this morning that Eircom has announced a change in their call charges and conditions of use for their services. Reports here and here for example. They have been accused by the Irish Consumers Association of heaping sneaky new charges and conditions on loyal customers. Eircom has conceded that customers can leave service without penalty if they do so by March 10th in writing, due to them changing the conditions of customers contracts. The Chocolate Rip-Off  If you have bought chocolate lately, you might have noticed that your bar seems smaller. If you did - your right! Cadbury
manufacturers are the lastes to do this stunt which in the trade is known as "grocery shrink ray". It’s
so common in the USA that consumerist.com has an entire page devoted to examples of products which have been shrunk in this
way.Here is some examples where sizes have shrunk - and prices haven’t! Maltesers The lighter way to enjoy chocolate? A box of Maltesers has dropped in size from 140g to 120g. Mars The size of a Mars bar shrank from 62.5g to 58g. Snickers Like Mars, Snickers bars have shrunk by 7.2%. Toblerone Tantalising slender triangles – just less of them. Toblerone is one triangle shorter than it used to be. And guess what? They’re still selling it for the same price - like the rest. Yorkie Once 70g, Yorkie bars are now a lean 64.5g. And guess what? The price went up last year in some countries - to add insult to your intelligence in they trying to pull a fast one over you. Why are they doing it? The chocolate companies sometimes claim increases in VAT and rising costs of cocoa – which recently hit a 33-year high - is to blame. Either prices went up, or the chocolate had to shrink. But Cadburys and Nestle have already increased the prices of Kit Kat, Yorkie, Wispa and Dairy Milk by 7%. That’s twice the rate of inflation. A rise in price is straightforward and more honest. You know what you are getting - and can make an informed decision about whether you want to pay more for the same piece of chocolate, or buy something smaller at a cheaper price. Shrinking the size of a chocolate bar or taking the most expensive chocolates from tubs of Heroes – as Bourneville did a couple of years ago – is a lot more sneaky. You are far less likely to notice this. A fact borne out by the way that, when companies increase the sizes of their products, they know they need to make it really obvious: “New! Bigger pack!” they scream at you on the packaging, hoping you’ll buy it because it’s better value for money. Ever seen a “Sorry! Smaller pack!” splashed across anything? No? Well you can bet you won’t see one on Dairy Milk bars either. In their defence, the size of the bar is published on the label. But can you imagine the queues at the newsagents if every time anyone bought a bar of chocolate, they checked the label carefully to make sure it was the same size as last week? Who memorises the sizes of bars anyway? But more than anything, what really makes me mad is the fact that, as well as shrinking their Dairy Milk chocolate bars, Cadbury has actually put prices up. The price of a Dairy Milk bar today is 30% more than it cost three years ago, following massive price hikes year after year.  The Vodafone Fault Fiasco! (...And the ongoing search for any non rip-off Irish decent broadband) 2nd July 2010 ...Or how to keep a customer ringing up every few days about a problem for a month,
hours upon hours on hold listening to the same song over and over again and with a multitute of excuses given WHEN you
get through - and are not cut off in mid conversation - only so that you have to ring up again, go through the whole phone
menu system again and listen to the same song again while you wait for hours to speak to someone, yet again to hear more excuses
and further promises of tomorrow, tomorrow... And thats the short version!
Here is the long version: I have been with BT for over 5 years when they managed to do broadband services in Ireland - then the switchover took place and withing 24 hours the problems started. I was paying for a 8 meg service. What I got fron BT was around 6 actually which I could have (and did) live with. As soon as the switchover took place BB (BroadBand) was being cut off, speeds dropped to 2 meg or 2.5 meg on a good day and I was still being charged for 8 meg. I have now rang Vodafone over 20 times now since the beginning of June. I have been ringing them for over a month now - in some cases multiple times daily and at least every few days while "we have to check out something - but we will ring you back" (See Note 1). I have spoken to many service reps' including Chris, Kieran, Brian, Pete and a Peter to name a few - and to each in some cases, multiple times. I have been told at least 14 times "I'm going to esculate your problem and you should hear back from us within... etc" with no result and/or response. Just some of the excuses I have had are: * "Its your modem" - was working fine under BT! * "Its the LLU line" - again all was working fine for years till 24 hours after switchover! * "O' they are upgrading the exchange possibly" - great I thought, I should be getting a better service soon (See note 2 below) * "We see you are only on our system for 3 meg and I can't change it!" * "Eircom is telling us your line can't handle anything over 3 meg" - but got a constant 5/6 meg for the last 5 years under BT! * "You have faulty connections" - they were tested MANY, many times - NOPE! ...and working fine for 5 years with BT but not even 24 hours with Vodafone! * "It could possibly be your filter!" - Changed it - NOPE! Note 1. Although I have been now told at least 16 times "we will call you right back" - only ONE call did I get and that was in the last 24 hours. That call told me "your line was not good enough for over 3 meg - there is nothing we can do" - But it was fine with BT for years and years but not good enough for 24 hours with Vodafone! Note 2. They told me the exchange was being upgraded and would be done by the 15th of June. Rang on the 16th when no change (line dropped/cut off repeatedly) and was told "O' it will be done by the 20th" ...Guess what? NOPE! Rang back. "O' it will be done by the 30th" ...Guess what? NOPE! Its now the 9th of July and still NOPE - no change. * So so far I have spent literally about a week in actual phone time through to their 1907 customer service. * I have listened for hours to the same repeated female solo singer singing the same repeated song while "on hold" for hours. * Even when I get though their phone system ("Press 2, then press 6, then press 2... etc...") while talking to the many reps - I GET CUT OFF REPEATEDLY! ...So I have to ring them back again ...go through the phone system again, wait/hold/cue same female singer, same song music... for 20 to 35 minutes to actually speak to someone and then be told (many, many times) "can you please wait while I go and check something, I'm going to put you on hold" - SURPRISE! O' good, that female singer again!  Well the farce is still on going as of todays date the 9th of July. If anything changes - which I doubt, you will hear about it here. Please return and stay posted. UPDATE: Got this response to an email I sent explaing the situation. Thank you for contacting us with your query. Please accept our apologies for the delay in responding to your query. Upon review of your account I can see that you have been in contact with one of our technical support agents regarding this issue and that they have escalated the issue for investigation.Please accept our apologies for the delay in resolving your issue. If you have any further queries, please call us on FreeFone 1907 and we will be happy to assist you. Yours sincerely Mark O’Brien - Customer Service Vodafone ...So according to him I'm back to just dialing 1907 ...more days, weeks, months(?) of getting nowhere! VODAFONE - An absolutely useless service. UPDATE: 18.20. Friday 16th July. I have now decided to gfo with another provider who will be here on Monday I have been informed, between 2 and 5pm. The system that is being put in is questionable in equal reliability but a person can only try. If this new system is either good or bad - you can be sure that I will inform readers here and who is the culprits responsible or I hope, who deserves praise! P.S.
Comments:
From Westfra: Aaaaa .... yes seems so familiar. Could just had been a exact copy of my experience! I at least eventually know why I'm getting 0.2 - 0.4 Download speeds - seemingly "unlimited" has different meanings to different people - you will get capped with speed if you go over 30GB download.They hide behind the fair policy clause - my advice to them - if you cannot supply a reasonable service to customers, don't over subscribe. Also beware of the phone service lots of issues. Personally I have been misled by 2 ISP's Eircom once and nearly a second time. By claiming the lines is better than what they actually are, even with NGB at the exchange and now Imagine with their sneaky "unlimited" statement. Now I must make a choice - 2 MB speed + unlimited download or 5 - 7 MB (providing I don't dare download a thing) and get a "generous" :) 32 GB "LIMIT" Heard good things about UPC, but same old, same old... "Check our website for updates" - might be next year, but we promise nothing! A
Short Walk Saves Rip-off. Needed to buy a replacement PC cd-drive for a friend's machine. I went to a local "Office Centre" shop and asked (after been kept 15 minutes waiting) "how much to buy one?" The answer was €70. I was nearly floored. All I wanted was a simple CD-drive. Nothing special. 'Bugger that' I thought to myself and walked out politely stating I would have to check with the friend as to what he was willing to pay. I knew in my heart and soul however that he wouldn't be willing to pay that amount - and who could blame him! So I went to a second shop two hundred yards away which sold similar replacement parts and asked the same question "how much?" The reply was "just give me ten quid" - SOLD! The lesson noted was that the rip-off culture existing in Ireland, shows no signs of going away yet. Until it does, I will continue to shop around and I will continue to advise others to do similar and not just meekly accept the first price that is thrown at you by chancers! Admin. |
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Imagine Wimax 7 Meg Service
One Customer's On Going Nightmare!
It seems at least for the admin of this site (and many, many others
HERE) the quality of Imagine's Wimax service is open to question. What is listed below is just how bad their service is for
one person, on a seemingly never ending ongoing ability - or inability more like. Listed are speeds that should be
around the 7 Meg per second service - thats whats being paid for - but in fact in reality,
are very much different.
After many, many hours of being on a high rate phone number to them (for which they could be charging me to report their faults too!), with over 40+ phone calls and even many, many, MANY more excuses so far since June 2010 (it is now 25 Jan' 2011), there is no light at the end of the tunnell - or line! Thats over 40 times having to give my account number, over 40 times having to confirm my details of who I am, over 40 times of having to do tests after tests, after more varied tests with PC's and laptops, having to use wireless connections and ethernet connections and at least three times forty per call, the number of times I've been put on hold for ages - thats when after previously ringing and waiting (sometimes up to 45 minutes waiting) to get someone to actually speak to - and been cut off more than once - that this problem has been long, long ongoing... Thinking of signing up to them? Do your homework, read the experiences of others first - see link above!  
Please note - at times I have tested the speeds deliberately at night when there should be without doubt, much LESS users on the Wimax system generally. so if they try and claim that their speeds are bad because of a system been overloaded (which it shouldn't be if they are doing their job right anyway), is frankly a load of cobblers to say the least!
 After being promised that the service was a reliable alternative
to Vodafone (see item on top left) and their dire experienced service, Wimax continues to NOT live up to their promises. The
admin of this site has now spent hours on the phone to them and in the few months of use of it service, has had to make
over twenty-five fault reporting phone calls and a massive amount of always varying excuses. Between being cut right off to
desperate slow speeds - most of the time not reaching close to the service speed that is being paid for, Wimax service and
promises continue to be open to question.
Another very important point to note is that every time you have to ring them, you have to do so through their high rate number. Your being charged by them for reporting their servicer problems. Talk about sticking the boot in when your down - sometimes literally in line service! Ireland is crying out for many forms of new or updated legislation. One of these areas as broadband continues to roll out, is legislation that is needed in relation to actual guarenteed recieved speeds, guarenteed quality of line use and express and clear service contractual details (no more small print!). Its the view of admin' that currently the previous listed, are a national disgrace and the Irish public are being ripped off in general!  Wimax Broadband - The Admin' Of Unitedpeople Experience! From June 2010, nothing but problems, many excuses and ABSOLUTE DIRE speeds! ...And thats when its working! As I speak right now onto Wimax. 19.44pm, 25th January 2011 (Awaiting a call-back from a "knock" department, was promised a call from them) UPDATE: Now 21.19 and NO call! Not that this surprises me - its normal quality of service the admin of this site is getting from them. Rep' stated "Knock section" or he would call back - neither did - and this not the first time this alone has happened. Now logged over 40 calls to this company about faults with NO positive results/answers in conclusion. Wimax Broadband for the admin of this site, have consistently failed to do this. That must be the "reliable" part of their service they like to go on about! Update 1st Feb 2011: They finally ring back! Rang a week later on the 1st of February. Claimed that their broadband signal is coming from wrong aeriel and they are going to re-adjust box system on top of house - and this will miraculously solve everything. I will believe it when I see it! Update 4th Feb 2011: After over 8 months, they finally get someone to come out and look at the system installed. They have tried realigning the Wimax box to a specific area mast. If this works and provides any form of consistency, I'll keep visitors here posted. Update 13th Feb 2011: Just over a week now and Wimax service yet again for the umpteenth time, is down again - near five hours! As its a Saturday, (PLEASE BE AWARE OF THE FOLLOWING) there is NO BROADBAND TECH HELP OVER THE WEEKENDS provided by Imagine Wimax - well they stupidly tell you to email them if you have broadband problems (how the hell do you email them from home if your broadband is down?). So if your having problems at the weekend with Imagine services - your screwed - and if you have the phone and broadband package with them as I do, your twice screwed as that at the same time goes down as well! So you can't ring them either via your house phone. So you have to pay then more expensive mobile charges just to try and report their faults - if there was anyone to answer the phones! Good luck trying to start up a business or continue running one with this quality of service! Update 15th Feb 2011: Internet connection yet again down from 11.30am to 12.23pm Tried ringing Wimax (after three trys from a mobile and home phone and getting disconnected and then listening to half an hour of elevator "waiting" music) when eventaully got talking to them, discovered that the last lot they sent out to physically look at my problem, had actually robbed my ethernet cable for connecting a testing laptop to their "Thomson" modem box! If its not one bloody problem with this crowd, its another! Between tech problems, disconnections and virtually no speeds, I've now rang Wimax fourty (plus) times since June 2010 -and thats WHEN you can get them - NO SERVICE AT WEEKENDS OF ANY DESCRIPTION! Further Update: Same day, now been managed to be cut off yet again after a few hours of re-connection to a slow service. Once it was turned back on again, it stayed on only for a few hours - then off it went again. Imagine Wimax - stay away from it like it was the Black Plague!  UPDATE 25 FEB' 2011: Speed
now dropped again for the may time down to one fourteenth of what I'm actually paying for! I
now cannot connect to Imagines own speedtest facility as they have kopped on that I too am recording
the speed rates they are providing me with - or was!
I can only guess that if and when this farce gets to court that they will argue that other speed tests are wrong and/or that I'm making the whole thing up! Reading the broadband section on boards.ie HERE - I leave the reader to judge who is telling the truth about Imagine Wimax and the quality of service from them.  Admin also got the following email from an ex-Imagine Wimax employee:
As a former employee for Wimax I agree with everything you say. We were selling the product and I can say that there were people that never even got the service after 6 or 7 months, despite giving all personnel and bank details to us, due to problem after problem with the equipment. We always had constant complaint calls about the service not working at all or even stopped working. The phones were big problems as well especially since if the power goes or Wimax service goes down you have no phone. Wimax is aware of all the problems with the sites and aerials but kept pushing it to the max they could to get customers for more money. Its not about the service as everyone that has it knows especially trying to get through to support. I would advise everyone to avoid it. Says it all... Don't say you weren't possibly warned! This screengrab (picture below) is the web page one gets now when trying to connect to their speed test page - please note the web address - it is the correct one and now they are not allowing me to connect to it for over a month now! I wonder why!
Click Above Picture To Enlarge
UPDATE 26th Feb' 2011: Contacted Wimax at 18.40
to complain about speed of 0.37 when I am paying for 7 meg. Been in formed that I'm supposedly downloading over 70 gig
a month - and as such they say now maybe this is why my speed is slow! UPDATE
January 2012 Its now 5th January 2012 - and the promises of the last Wiman rep I spoke to have once again for the umpteenth time, currently fail to live up to the many, many, many promises they gave on the phone! Remember! I'm paying for a 7 meg service - see below what I'm getting on a good day!  |
