Pipex - Worst Customer Support Ever!

[ytrebil]

I've been with them for a good few years now (possibly around 5 years+) when they were still fairly new. At the time I signed up to their 1/2 meg connection for about 20 odd quid. I found the connection pretty decent but they went through a patch when they were very short staffed, I was suffering connection problems and I was hanging on the phone for them for sometimes over 1 hour just trying to get hold of someone in customer service - this was at all hours of the day! Anyway I stuck by Pipex and got their 1 meg connection probably around 2 1/2 years ago (maybe more) of which I paid around £25/month.

Since then I've not really had any problems (apart from my phone line that BT sorted out which gave me dropped connections). The other day I just saw an advert for Bulldog and their 8 meg connection, so I checked my control panel on Pipex website and noticed I could get a maximum of 2 meg for something like £14.99/month. At the time I didn't know how much I was paying for my 1 meg service, so I called them up.

She told me I was paying £25/month of which I explained that they are offering 2 meg now at £14.99/month - not really a great start! I'm paying over the odds for a service which is half as good. Some people could say that is my due diligence, I say that being a valued customer my prices/service should have been altered/upgraded like how NTL, BT etc upgrade their customers FOC - it's a nice gesture from the ISP's to show their valued and loyal customers a bit of respect. Anyway, we're just touching the iceberg here....

I went on to ask her to upgrade my connection to 2 meg so I had a faster connection and my monthly bills were cheaper. Her reply was, "well, you'd have to pay a DOWNGRADE fee to 2 meg and looking on my screen your line doesn't support it". WTF!? Downgrade fee from 1 meg to 2 meg - NEVER HEARD SO MUCH CRAP!

She then went on to say, "we do have a MAX service and you could get up to 3 meg"... right let me get this straight - my line doesn't support 2 meg, but I can get this MAX service 3 meg connection...."however, we are only offering the MAX service to new customer...." - Fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's not all folks - when I was online checking my control panel and looking at my 2 meg possible upgrade at the bottom it said, "as you pay by credit card / postal order, a £1 surcharge will apply". I quered the lady at customer support as I pay by credit card - direct debit comes off each month - she said that debit cards are classified as credit cards so the £1 surcharge applies to debit cards as well!

Totally gobsmacked. I can't believe how a company like Pipex can expect to keep existing customers with this level of service and ignorance.

I managed not to swear at her (she was really getting me annoyed at this point) so I asked her to cancel my contract. She replied, "okay", then I asked when it comes into action and she replied, "30 days"..... so she wanted to get another payment out of me! B*stards.

I will be cancelling my direct debit to Pipex this afternoon and have already told my friends I recommended them to a few years ago to seriously consider changing their ISP.

I used to think Pipex were a good ISP - even recommending them to anyone who wanted a good ISP.

How wrong I was!

If you are considering Pipex as your ISP, think about it that little bit more! This is just an example of what customer support you could be receiving somewhere down the line.

Thanks for reading.

[Flibb]

The £14.99 is a capped service, your current one isnt.

She probably ment regrade fee not downgrade.

I believe the max services require an upgrade in the exchange, hence it gives more speed than your current max. They dont offer it to existing customers yet, but are due to roll it out soon.

You need to fill out a direct debit mandate rather than use a debit card, I think cards using VISA carry a surcharge to the supplier.


I am also tempted to change my serice (pipex) or switch provider, but am waiting to see what happens in the market. If you cahne withing popex or go to another company you will probably have a new 12 month contract, thats what put me of upgrading. Also my exchage is due to be unbundled soon.

[ytrebil]

Thanks for the reply.

If I went for 2meg uncapped which is only about 50p more than what I currently pay, it would have been "regraded" for free, but as it was less, she wanted money for me to switch service. I think it's a joke that I'd have to pay them more money because the package is less. If I wanted a 1 meg uncapped, do you think it would be the 25-27 odd quid I'm paying at the moment or less? Considering 2 meg uncapped is about 25 quid, I'd assume it would be a lot less!

So why can't they upgrade the exchange for me to receive 2 meg??? Even so, they should be offering valued customers the upgrade to the Max service - in fact existing customers should have been granted access first! That's not taking care if those loycal to you.

That's the first I've ever heard of being charged a surcharge on a debit card where money is coming straight out of my bank. My dad used to own a shop and I'm 99% sure he never had to pay for the service of customers that paid with debit cards.

[listy]

we were with pipex till we moved house since didnt want to get on traffic management

service was good customer support was sometime but off

and we got charged regrading fee when we went from 1meg to 2meg

[ytrebil]

I'm going to do some shopping around - send a few emails off to different companies seeing what they can offer me.

[Flibb]

Originally Posted by ytrebil

I'm going to do some shopping around - send a few emails off to different companies seeing what they can offer me.

I was looking at bulldog, but I think I they are dropping retail and going wholesale on LLU exchanges.

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/communicatio...9274638,00.htm

The maket seems to be very fluid at the moment, thats why I cancelled my pipex upgrade so I wasnt tied in to a new contract. Will give it a month or so then look around again.

[JimNastics]

I've just switched from Pipex to IDNet after 4 years. That company has completely gone down the pan, and is sinking even further. It's such a shame as they were a fore-runner back when 512k consumer broadband burst onto the market in early 2002.

[ytrebil]

After some email exchanges with one of the sales guys @ Zen, looks like they could well be my next choice for the max adsl service. They're not a flash company offering new customers special deals - they have good reviews and I am impressed with the responses from this salesperson.

[Stoo]

Zen's tech support is ace

You tend to pay more, but I think it's worth it - FWIW I moved from Pipex to Zen about 2 years ago, and haven't looked back since

[Moby-Dick]

Zens support Team are very good - While they are not the cheapest ISP on the market , they do score constently well ( and where a pleasure to deal with when I had contact with them )

I'm back on my pipex service which I kept ticking over during my Fibre Trial , it feels like being back on dialup ( was used to 10 meg down 2 meg up ) but I know that I can't get any speed upgrades due to being in a bit of a DSL blackspot. I'l have to wait for DSL max I guess

[ytrebil]

Just phoned my bank to see if I can stop a payment coming out of my account on the 5th of July from Pipex. My bank said they can't do that at the moment, but VISA need 15 days cancellation period for a payment. Therefore, as it's 17 days until my payment comes out, my bank said that after 15 days notification they take out a payment, my bank can get the money back for me.

I phoned up Pipex after holding what seemed like ages to speak to someone and they said that when I signed up I agreed to 30 days notification - so I'm not sure where I stand.

I asked her to send me a migration code and told her that I am cancelling my subscription. I am going to send an email today to customer support to say I am cancelling my susbcription to Pipex.

If I get my bank to retract charges made after the 15 days cancellation notice, is this illegal?

Is my bank right or is Pipex? 30 days is a joke, esp when they take payment out on the 5th of each month - they're always going to steal an extra month.

[Flibb]

When you canel the accound should still be active untill the end of the billing period, just get your new ISP to start when the old one finishes. That way you get the full amount from you last subscription.

[listy]

when we changed pipex held the line for 30days till we phoned and said were coming back with you after house move and changed to 7days

then went with dcomms but thinking of moving again since i get connection problems on bf2 servers at night

[shaithis]

I recently left Pipex because of their crazy policies.

I signed up with them because they touted "No usage limits".......no sooner was I signed-up, they then add the "acceptable usage" nonsense.....

Then they 'released' ADSLMax.....3 months of trying to get upgraded, constantly being told "Only new subscribers, please wait until we add it to your control panel upgrade options" was enough for me.

Now with Bulldog (16 meg ), its been a rocky start with them but things do seem to be getting better. Hopefully the last few glitches will be ironed-out soon.

[Drobbins]

Well get this i rang pipex yesterday becuase i have a direct debit which leaves my account on the 14th of every month becuase i migrated from another ISP they said that i got 3 months free.....fair enough so the first payment went out fine i have had 3 months free and now it comes to this month, 14th June payment is ment to go out...payment dosent go out.

So now we have a problem is their something wrong at the bank? Maybe pipex have problems? I ring them up and wait on the phone for well over 15mins when i finally get to a CS rep i asked him about the problem and he told me that it could take up to 7 days for a DD to be released from my bank after request and it would be a good idea for me to ring back on the 21st, i got to my bank today to ask if their was a block on the payment and everything seems fine....the CS that pipex offers is shocking it appers when talking to them that they havent got a clue what ur talking about.

I wish i had never signed up with them now,
Drobbins

[zulander]

Pipex in recent times have become a complete joke. The adsl max roll out to exsisitng users is a complete and utter farce, my pipex has been down for around 3 weeks now and it was only supposed to be down for a weekend - i wonder if this is why pipex CS can't give answers to billing questions - the my pipex site suggests that account information will be unobtainable by cs reps??. There are now several reports appearing on adslguide that users are being contacted by Homecall (who pipex have bought) trying to get exisiting users signed up for the homecall phone service with the carrot of 8mb adsl max upgrades being thrown in but what actually happens is the user gets signed up for home call and not the broadband - very very dodgy. If it wasn't for the stability of the connection im not sure i would stay with pipex becuase the CS which was never great - is now dire the left had doesnt know what the right is doing.