Cable firm NTL has moderated late payment fees introduced last year for customers as well as a planned charge for not paying by direct debit.
Following intervention by the National Consumer Agency (NCA), the company has agreed that pensioners and customers with special needs will not have to pay the €2 a bill charge for not paying by direct debit.
However, all other customers not using direct debit will have to pay the charge from next April.
NTL has also agreed to issue a written reminder to customers before imposing the €7.60 charge for overdue bills. Subscribers will be notified that the fee will be imposed if the bill is not cleared within a specified timeframe.
This is a change from the position adopted last November, when the company started charging the fee 14 days after a bill date. In a further concession in response to widespread public criticism of the charges and following three meetings with the consumer body, NTL has said it will increase staffing at its call centres. Customers had complained of being unable to contact a company representative about service issues, let alone get action to deal with matters.
Ann Fitzgerald, consumer agency chairwoman, said the body had received hundreds of calls about the new charges.
"Following our meetings, we are pleased that NTL has amended its decision on late payment fees so that consumers have a chance to rectify the issue before being charged."
Ms Fitzgerald said the agency did not have the power to instruct any company on its commercial decisions but was pleased that NTL had varied its original decision.
NTL chief executive Robert Dunn yesterday said it was investing heavily in upgrading the cable network and had spent €10 million on a new customer care centre in Limerick.
