Sorry guys for lack of update, totally forgot.

So yeh the 'investigation' didn't turn anything good up. They said that the company does record phone calls but only some and that our particular call wasn't recorded. Why they took 1 month to look at their data system to tell me this I don't know why, probably to drag the situation longer or there is some serious lack of communication between their apartments.

So in the end we had to pay, us and them cannot prove that we did indeed cancelled our contract back in september. It's absolutely true that whatever you do regarding cancelling or any other financial matter thats everything should be done on paper, in black and white. The best evidence you got to prove your innocence. This should be a life long lesson for the future and be told to other students who are experiencing their first hand in finance.

Good luck to everyone else who's in the same dilemma as I was. Remember, recorded letters :)

I cancelled in october last year, i immediately cancelled the direct debit and got my mac code (in seven seperate letters for some reason). I phoned and found there was about £5 outstanding for the time i was still connected in October which i paid thinking that was the end of it.

I have been billed every month since then and had several phonecalls emails letters saying that my direct debit had been cancelled, over the past four months i have sent several emails and phonecalls to them each time they say they will sort it out but still havent.

Today i received a letter from Commercial Credit Services for £12.24 !!!! for my Novemeber bill, i have been on the phone all day today and still nowhere, i phoned the credit contol company but they just want their payment..

I was with Giointernet prior to these and the same thing happened with them, i got a bill for £400 3 days before christmas which stupidly i paid knowing i didnt owe it theres n way im paying this time.

JBean PLEASE do not give in to them. They are truly awful people who think they can intimidate us and get us to pay extortionate fees that we do not owe. I too have been having a nightmare cancelling my account howeverI got a letter just prior to Christmas to apologise for any inconvenience and saying they were crediting the outstanding amount which was fictional on their part anyway, and that our account was clear and cancelled - a great end to the crap year or so I thought. January came and the threatening letters and telephone calls have begun again - They are a total joke.

I sought the advice of a solicitor to see if I could take them to court for harrassment but as its a small amount to them it would end up costing me more than its worth. My advice to you is to definitely don't bother ringing them, you get nowhere and end up repeating yourself constantly and you pay for the priviledge. Keep a copy of every letter you write to them and any correspondence you get back from them, also keep a detailed summary of everything that has gone on, if possible giving dates, names of who you have spoken to etc showing clearly what each of you has done to resolve the matter. They could take you to court but they haven't got a leg to stand on, stand your ground, we all have to stick together and stand up to them and hopefully they will eventually be shut down.

It looks like you are going to have to either dig your heels in and write a few letters or pay up. It's not your fault, There is nothing at all wrong with phoning and cancelling. I suspect that they are being silly if they are pretending there's no record of your other calls as well. Personally I would be inclined to do all discussions on the matter by letter now. Be sure to keep copies though as they'll probably pretend they don't get those as well.

~*Update*~

Seems like bad news. Got a late call form Pipex today (they said they get back before new year but failed to). We were asked to pay money again, we told them the story from the start about the investigation and asked for the results. The caller knew on his screen there was an investigation but cannot see the details of it, the fact he took action taking money based on nothing astounds me. He went off for 5 mins and came back, he said there was no records of the cancellation, we asked if it was deleted (assuming he was referring to the voice call) he said no because otherwise it would turn up as a deleted note in the records, oh so he means the actual cancellation; the same thing we knew and was told right from the start to the 2nd call back in december. They said they'll give us a ring on thursday to check if the voice conversation in the first cancellation was recorded, as in hearing what went on.

Funny that, because I'm pretty sure that's what they should of done in an investigation. So seems you're right maxsteam, they spent a month doing nothing, no investigation, nadda, then they thought they'll happily call us in january and ask for money again. Victory seems bleak, If I can pay them £70 (large sum of money from a poor student) and just run away as far away from them as possible, i'd be happy to, but since we cancelled in december and it takes 30 days, it's now £103 and it's hurting my wallet bad. We're still trying to get us a cut from the letter admission fees and the december fee but let's not hold on much hope for that.

I can understand that we didn't cancel through paper from in a recorded delivery so in some ways it's sort of our fault. However we never anticipated that the telephone cancellation which is their other method of canceling would give us this. Went through all the procedures, planned months ahead to cancel just as the contract is going to end and it didn't. Takes one lazy person not putting the cancel order ahead to give two innocent people who did everything right, months of hassle, stress and threat and none of us even raised our voices or said anything rude back because nothing gets sorted that way. I'm sorry if I'm ranting, I just can't help feeling cheated and it's so horrible to see others in the same shoes like us.

I'll let you guys know what happens thursday.

Good luck. Remember though that sometimes promises that are made on the phone are not kept. I reckon that it is still worth writing a letter if you don't hear anything by the end of December. In the letter you should mention all the phone calls so that what has happened is recorded in black and white.

Thank you so much for your detailed help :)

Before I read your reply I contacted them by phone and the reciever said that they will contact their failed cancellation team to check whether any internet was used during the 6 months (as I moved out in late June) and records etc and told us that we don't have to pay until they find out about it more, which will be by the end of December. Hopefully I don't but i'll update as soon as I find out.

JBean:

By correspondence back up, do you mean

I just mean copies of letters saying why you feel that you shouldn't have to pay (Dear Sir/Madam, Thank you for the recent bill. This bill is disputed because the agreement finished on completion of the 12 month term. The ending of the agreement was confirmed by myself by phone in September 2008 .....etc....). If you phone up, your only record might just be a note of the time and date of the call. With letters, you can produce details of exactly what you've told them and, if they reply, details of the response.

If it goes to court, it wont cost you anything unless the magistrate decides that you are wrong in not paying. Anyone who takes you to court will have to pay court fees but you don't pay these unless you lose the case.

I doubt that you will be taken to court if you are willing to stand up to these people and if you make it clear that, if it does go to court, you will attend and you will dispute the bill. Their tactics are to intimidate you in the hope that you will pay up to avoid any more hassle.

If it did go to court and if you did turn up and if, for example, you produced a letter detailing your reasons for not paying with recorded delivery tracking showing that the letter arrived and no reply was sent back to you then the magistrate would be likely to find in your favour simply because the broadband provider hadn't made a proper effort to resolve the dispute before resorting to court action.

If it is going to cost you more than a bus fair and a small inconvenience to get to court, you can make a counterclaim for the expenses.

If you do tell them that you are happy to go to court, they are likely to simply take no further action.

By correspondence back up, do you mean my housemate who I share the bradband service with?

Before writing a letter I tried to speak with them on the phone today, even though the account should be in a shared name with me and my housemate as well as a joint bank account, the reciever was certain I didn't have the account holder's name (I'm a girl and my housemates a guy) but a '3rd party' and that I couldn't talk about the account with them. Something tells me that the account might not even be cancelled like we wanted the second time round if she was able to pull up our account details through her computer screen.

I'm a bit clueless about law and order, if it does end up in court do I have to pay for a court session? If I do have to pay for court, it seems that time and money is a problem for me as a uni student and so will probably pay the £70 and hopefully they'll deduct the £25 and hope this is all over. It really is unfortunate that people have to go through this terrible broadband service and pay extra for it as well. For all I know there might be people like me that can't take them to court and just pay up whatever they ask for, that seems like a really dodgy company.

Word of advice to new users: Please don't use this broadband, they will never let you go.

First you need to be sure that all direct debits and similar mandates are cancelled with your bank. You then need to reply to all correspondence stating in writing that you dispute the amounts that are being requested and explaining why (as you've done above).

You are likely to be threatened with black marks on your credit file, legal action and so on. You will also be told in no uncertain terms that you "have to" pay. As long as you have correspondence to back up your case, you ought to take the attitude that, if necessary, you will take a day off work to attend court and let the magistrate decide who is right. If they take the matter to court, they need to use a court that is local to you and they need to tell you the time and date in advance.

Sometimes people like this will have someone at court who will talk to you and tell you that you can go home and everything is settled. They will then put the matter to the magistrate after you've gone. More often though, once you've said that you are willing to go to court, they will know that their case is weak and they will not pursue the matter further.

In September 2008 my housemate who I share the bank account for the broadband phoned bulldog/pipex to cancel the broadband service with them as we were moving house and because the 12 month contract ended the same month this year. Two and a half months later he recieved a letter saying we have an outstanding payment of £70, plus £25 for sending us more than one warning letter. We havn't recieved any previous outstanding payment letters as we don't live in that old address anymore, recieving this re-directed one from my old landlord was just lucky.

We moved out late June which means I actually paid couple months extra for not using the internet (stupid I know, but I calculated that an early cancellation would cost me more than just terminating the 12 month contract when the times up). My housemate called Pipex as soon as he recieved the re-directed letter and they told him that the account has now been cancelled but we will still have to pay the £95 (£70 plus £25).

I don't see why i'm charged for something that Pipex got wrong (not cancelling our account with them) plus a £25 administration fee for send us a pre-written piece of paper than does not cost them £25 to print and send. Even if i'm paying a month extra after 12 month contract because it takes them 30 days to cancel, I shouldn't be charged 2 months worth plus £25 even though they know I don't live there anymore.

I been looking online and seeing all these horror stories with Pipex cancelling. Can anyone advise me on what I can do to get Pipex to wipe the outstanding payment and not charge us anymore?