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View Full Version : totally off the board my woes with ISP pipex WARNING


amarko5
08-06-06, 09:15 PM
I am seething with anger and need to vent it somewhere :twisted:

so here you are if anyone is remotely interested in this post, my letter to the Customer services manager at pipex

Dear Sir or Madam

I have been a loyal happy customer for some 5 years now on pipex up until the last 2 weeks.

let me start by telling you what has happened, I received a phonecall from "Pipex Homecall" from a mr Doug harris, I was offered a FREE UPGRADE to max DSL at the same rate as i am paying now for my service from you, no contract tie in and UNLIMITED as per my current service. This is being offered to 90,000 Long term customers , if they sign up for one of our telephone packages.

When I looked into this it seemed to suit me down to the ground (faster Internet probably around 3 meg whereas previously I could get a maximum of 1 meg) and £22 pounds per month for unlimited calls in the UK.

so I agreed with the proviso that both would transfer at the same time and that the upgrade was indeed FREE with no contract tie ins. this was assured to me. and i was informed that We "homecall" do the phones and "pipex at welyn garden do the internet. Homecall informed me i would get a welcome pack from them in the next few days, and you would contact me regarding the upgrade to MAX.

now then that was some time ago and I did indeed receive the pack from "homecall" but had no word from yourselves.

this started a long and often frustrating chase on telephones , first i contact homecall about no details from yourselves regarding MAX, I am told to ring your Customer services to see what was happening, now it gets painful.

Customer services first call "I am sorry sir we are not aware of anything about this 90,000 loyal customers free upgrade. there is NO such package, after a long and arduous explanation from me i get the same response repeated no not happening, so i ask to speak to a supervisor. my request is answered and the supervisor assures me "I work here and would be the best person to tell you if that was the case, It is NOT the case sir no free upgrades to max, if you want to go to max unlimited it will be £33.00 per month" I repeat all the facts I have been quoted from "Pipex Homecall" and get the same response.

so now i ring homecall Manager Karen Duffy ensures me Pipex Customer support Should definitely know all about it and gives me her direct contact number to pass onto your department.

so i ring back to your customer services in the vain attempt to get to speak to a manager that might have some idea what is going on. a gentleman called courage (very helpful even if no idea about this deal) tells me he will log a callback 1334169. some time passes about 4.5 hours and i am getting progressively angrier .

I contact your customer support again (shelley) I am informed that YOU will not regrade any existing customers at present (not even manually) and anyway the deal with homecall means homecall provide my Internet as well. Now i am getting really angry either you are one company or not one company and go on to explain again what has been said to me.

I get the same answer and am not permitted to speak to a manager just constantly put on hold (obviously while whispers go on in the background) and eventually Shelley informs me "homecall will be my service provider" I am gobsmacked, all i wanted was my free upgrade to max unlimited no ties same rate upgrade that i was promised. at this point I am so exasperated by the incompetence of "PIPEX CS and HOMECALL" that I request my mac code."that will take 72 hours sir" seems like a bit of sour grapes in the tone.

I also ring back "homecall" to cancel the Telephone deal that was going to take place which indeed was accepted with a slight reluctance and the phone hung up abruptly.

so all in all your company has now lost my custom because of a lack of coherent structure and also a lack of communication. you may feel that a mere £23.44 and the loss of the £22 per month contracts are a minor problem, but when i explain to people on the Internet DSL forums I am sure that the number may indeed increase (or it may stop someone going through the process i have)

it is reluctantly that i leave Pipex as it has indeed been a good provider over the years. There are however a lot of deals out there to be had, and if i am not speaking out of term here,but pipex max unlimited at £33.00 is rather steep compared to a lot of the competition and the talk by some of being manually upgraded but locked into another 12 month contract is causing a lot of chatter on the DSL forums.

had the promised free upgrade happened , or indeed if i had any confidence in CS at both sites then I would have stayed put and increased the revenue of pipex via the phone deal, alas however it did not transpire that way.

May I also add that every Email i have sent to customerservices@pipex.net has been flagged back on my outlook mail client as DELETED AND NOT READ as indeed this one may be. if it comes back that way then perhaps i need to use good old royal mail.

Perhaps your mail client needs looking at or the way in which you use the mail client, rejected mails so far have come from
From: Nicholas Crawley [mailto:nicholas.crawley@pipex.net] On Behalf Of Customer Services

Sent: 07 June 2006 13:35

To: 'Mark Davidson'

Subject: Not read: my free upgrade to max

Your message

To: customerservices@pipex.net

Subject: my free upgrade to max

Sent: 06/06/2006 23:45

was deleted without being read on 07/06/2006 13:35.

From: Adam Knights [mailto:adam.knights@pipex.net] On Behalf Of Customer Services

Sent: 07 June 2006 13:14

To: 'Mark Davidson'

Subject: Not read: my free upgrade to max

Your message

To: customerservices@pipex.net; customerservices@pipex.net; customerservices@pipex.net; customerservices@pipex.net; customerservices@pipex.net

Subject: my free upgrade to max

Sent: 06/06/2006 23:45

was deleted without being read on 07/06/2006 13:13.

From: Tamara Curry [mailto:tamara.curry@pipex.net] On Behalf Of Customer Services

Sent: 08 June 2006 07:52

To: 'Mark Davidson'

Subject: Not read: my free upgrade to max

Your message

To: customerservices@pipex.net

Subject: my free upgrade to max

Sent: 06/06/2006 23:45

was deleted without being read on 08/06/2006 07:52.

From: Alex Crooks [mailto:alexc@pipex.net] On Behalf Of PIPEX Customer Services

Sent: 08 June 2006 08:55

To: 'Mark Davidson'

Subject: Not read: Is this how you treat long standing customers

Your message

To: customerservices@pipex.net; customerservices@pipex.net; customerservices@pipex.net; customerservices@pipex.net; customerservices@pipex.net

Subject: Is this how you treat long standing customers

Sent: 07/06/2006 14:25

was deleted without being read on 08/06/2006 08:55.

I am sure this is you will agree this is bad for PIPEX CS and the company as a whole. I will of course be sharing my experiences with friends colleagues and the Internet forums.


Yours

sharriso74
08-06-06, 09:24 PM
Jeezs I thought they where of the better ones! I know not to touch Bulldog with a barge pole

amarko5
08-06-06, 10:44 PM
Jeezs I thought they where of the better ones! I know not to touch Bulldog with a barge pole

when dave ricards and mark were in charge they were an excellent company but lately they are going right down the pan.

the stealthily sneaked in a 10gb cap on newsgroups without telling customers a year or 2 back and now are throttling p2p apps (i don't use them but some are complaining) and they are curently trying to tie anyone that upgrades to max into a 12 month contract.

most other providers are going the way of 3 month or 1 month contract deals

it's time for a change, i must admit i became a bit of an ostrich and never looked at other providers until recently.

Ed
08-06-06, 10:48 PM
Talk Talk?

amarko5
08-06-06, 10:51 PM
Talk Talk?

you gotta be kidding :P :lol:

have you read any forums on their service or indeed do you know anyone on their service.

i know 2 and have read the forums on adslguide.org.uk

seems like nildram , ukonline, be (not in my area), Ace internet , zen, and dare i say it AOL are looking like the better choices.

all isp's seem to be doing the throttling and capped services now apart from 1 or 2 who will soon follow.

so i have 30 days to trawl and decide :lol:

Jelster
08-06-06, 10:51 PM
Jeezs I thought they where of the better ones! I know not to touch Bulldog with a barge pole

Bulldog are pulling all their direct consumer business and going "wholesale" only....

And Pipex are a complete shower. They're a business ISP trying to play in the consumer market without the right processes in place and suitably trained staff. DSL is now a commodity like gas & electric and traditional ISPs aren't geared up to deal with it.

I'm glad I'm out of that scene to be honest.

.

sharriso74
08-06-06, 10:54 PM
Great now we can expect leakages of our data as well as our water.

amarko5
08-06-06, 10:56 PM
that's been happening for years :lol:

Chicken
09-06-06, 04:03 AM
I wish this had been posted one day earlier - I had lunch with Peter Dubens and Mike Reid yesterday :wink:

fiveacres
09-06-06, 06:52 AM
give these guys a go - http://www.eclipse.net.uk/

Ive been with them for 5 years now. the only time ive had trouble with them is when their service has gone down, which has been twice.

no contract either - i pay £75 ish a quarter

Hope this helps

Peter Henry
09-06-06, 07:27 AM
Reaks of a miffed customer who did not pay attention to the telephone conversation to me. I don't know...people...always after something for nothing. :?

pingu
09-06-06, 08:24 AM
See I am with Nildram atm which I believe is the same company as Pipex and I have the max interent connection they do plus the phone service and I paid no extra per month.

The only difference is that I was not offered the upgrade via sales I seen it online.

Nildram are great tbh.

Pingu

Peter Henry
09-06-06, 08:31 AM
I use Telefonica myself. Very happy with the service. :wink: :P

amarko5
12-06-06, 10:10 PM
Reaks of a miffed customer who did not pay attention to the telephone conversation to me. I don't know...people...always after something for nothing. :?

Peter I read this the other night but was too tired to rise to the bait.

actually I listened very carefully to the offers and asked a lot of questions.

as you were not party to the conversations you will have no idea, about the deciept and lies / missinformation given.

It was they that offered me something for nothing, not me actively seeking it :?

anyway still no reply , so hows that for customer services :P

Quiff Wichard
12-06-06, 11:19 PM
I have just moved from BT to homecall...

saving £60 a quarter--!

however they did tell me on 3 occassion in writing that the service wasnt avaialable in my area and that it had all been cancelled.. then it went through-

Icomplained- and got a free month !!...



not tempting fate- but no probs yet !

Peter Henry
13-06-06, 06:11 AM
Marko.... :wink:

Iansv
13-06-06, 09:19 AM
have to say i've never had any issues with pipex in 3 years with em, only the 2nd complaint i've ever heard about...

amarko5
14-06-06, 11:47 PM
have to say i've never had any issues with pipex in 3 years with em, only the 2nd complaint i've ever heard about...


erm try reading here :wink: http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=pipex&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=0

didge
14-06-06, 11:58 PM
We have been having many problems with bulldog.

Demonz
15-06-06, 12:04 AM
See I am with Nildram atm which I believe is the same company as Pipex and I have the max interent connection they do plus the phone service and I paid no extra per month.

The only difference is that I was not offered the upgrade via sales I seen it online.

Nildram are great tbh.

Pingu 2nd that - never been a problem over the last 4 years. Last down was last year from what i can remember.

Peter Henry
15-06-06, 06:18 AM
didge wrote:

We have been having many problems with bulldog.


Funny enough my Boxer, Roxy has been a little mischievous of late also......what? :?