Hi

Sounds like I had a lucky break thankfully I got a very helpful Australian girl who saw the madness of it all bless her,on another note I had`nt realised it was Tiscal ,I was about to sign up with them as they have the best value for money on bundles at the moment, we have a very limited coverage in our area and many of the better providers do something that piggie backs a BT Line which works out more expensive ,then again maybe they would`nt want my money,after being such a persistant pest

Blimey redfebreze, you were lucky having Pipex giving up on you. I have threatened them with everything I can think of but nothing gets through to them at all. Perhaps they've increased their non-cooperation methods since you dealt with them. What I can't understand is why, after all the complaints about this Company that I've seen on the internet and the amount of people who have complained to various authorities about them, has nothing yet been done to make them up their game.

I actually had a phone call a few evenings ago from a Company called Critical Research who were asking about my experiences with Pipex. I told them in no uncertain terms about how bad my experiences had been and why I would never use them again. Like another poster on these forums, I can't understand why this website still portrays them as a recommended ISP. They are the worst of the worst and that's not just my opinion. Mind you, I think we have to remember that it's actually Tiscali that we're dealing with here, need I say more?

anniep09

Hi Folks,I have got my problem with Pipex sorted but felt I had to add my own story ,this dates back to 2006. To cut a long story very short.I decided to change my provider knowing that my contract ended in Nov 2006,or so I thought !!! I quote no madamn your contract is running until March 2007 as you upgraded your package with us March 2006 to 8mb, my reply to this we live in a rural area and don`t even get 2mb on a good day,further more I had`nt upgraded the package the rather polite gentleman then proceed to tell me my husband had agreed to the upgrade,this was unbelievable as my husband had been in hospital unable to walk for two months and heavly sedated so I think the last thing on his mind would have been upgrading the package,Defeated I gave up and waited till March 2007 here we go again !!!!

I requested my Mac code everthing seemed to be going smoothly,then the final bill came £56 which was for the billing peroid after I had cancelled my subscription, which I hasten to add I did not owe .After several messages left on my phone constant phonecalls to and fro , threatening them with Watchdog ,they wanted me to pay a bill that I did`nt owe so it would clear the account and they would refund me the money .Needless to say 4 months later they gave up and this was me cutting the story short.

noahlovesnesquick:

- you may not get anywhere with CISAS),

why do you say that when CISAS is the appointed Alternative Dispute Resolution organisation for Pipex?

Your story almost mirrors mine noahlovesnesquick. I started my trauma way back in June 2008 and it still isn't over. I finally cancelled my account in November 2008, received a MAC code eventually and moved to Sky. Since January 2009 I too have had letter upon letter, email upon email, voicetexts and calls all threatening me with cutting my phone off and sending in debt collectors etc. They have never provided me with a phone service even though they promised to, and I don't owe them a penny. I had yet another letter today threatening even more dire action despite the fact that I had a phone call and an email on 3 March 2009 telling me that I owed nothing, agreeing that I was no longer a customer and offering me £10 to cover the cost of all my phone calls on their outrageous 0871 numbers. They are without exception, the most incompetent, useless Company that I have ever had the misfortune to deal with

I have emailed them, written to them and phoned them countless times. I've emailed Watchdog about them and today I've reported them to ISPA. The only things I've not done yet are a.) contact the CAB but I'm doing that on Monday which is when they're next open, and b.) contact the press. How on earth you managed to get a response from THLC I don't know. I have sent so many emails and letters that I've lost count of them all.

I will be interested to see if you get anywhere with your case and good luck. Keep us posted.

anniep09

Hello everyone. I've been reading with some distress the horror stories that folk are telling about Pipex these days. Let me add my own story.

My list of problems goes back to Autumn 2007, when I was called by Pipex offering me a broadband upgrade. It sounded good - I was on their Xtreme Solo 1000 package, and they offered to upgrade it to Pipex Midi, which would save me a few quid.

I found out soon after that the upgrade was never able to happen, as there was some LLU (?) issue with my line, and it physically couldn't be upgraded (or something). So I carried on as before, on Xtreme Solo 1000.

Then in July 2008, Pipex called up again and said "hey! NOW we can really upgrade your broadband and phone. How about it?" I said YES to broadband but NO to phone (we were quite happy with calls from TalkTalk and line rental from BT). Hey presto, the next online bill showed that I was on Pipex Midi... but also now on the Pipex Anytime International call package, so now paying call charges and line rental to Pipex... even though I had specifically requested not to. By the way, I never received any written confirmation (letter or e-mail) from Pipex of the upgrade, new charges, new contract etc. It was only by checking the bills religiously ever month and phoning up that I found out, well, anything.

Anyway, I wrote a letter, requesting a refund of the line rental charges, which we had already paid to BT. They requested some copies of bills, which I duly sent, and then I received a letter saying that I would receive a credit on my accounts for those charges (the amount, interestingly enough, was unspecified).

So, the months passed and I never saw the credit appear on my bill. Eventually the line rental charges disappeared, I think even this took a couple of months.

I eventually cancelled my whole broadband account with Pipex in December 2008. The chap at Cancellations was really nice, realised that the service I had been receiving was really poor and made a note on my account that I would not have to pay a termination fee. Guess what? My final bill had a big old termination fee on it of £81.17 - then I proceeded to receive letter after phone call after voicetext from Credit Control demanding payment. I never even had written confirmation of the cancellation (but praise the Lord, managed to transfer my broadband account to TalkTalk with no problems at all). I called Customer Service in early January 2009 and had a waiver actioned on the fee, and my account was put on hold. But still the RCC_PM letters arrived demanding payment, and still the phone kept ringing with "an urgent message from Pipex".

I wrote a formal complaint in January 2009, sent it off recorded delivery to both complaints and the registered London address of Pipex UK Ltd. I've not had a reply to it.

It was only when I received a RCC_PM3 payment demand (getting towards the 'final notice' stage) on 12 March 2009 (dated 5 March - thanks for the early posting!) that I really started to unhinge. I was calling Credit Control and Customer Care until I was blue in the face and skint and getting nowhere.

SO HERE'S WHAT I RECKON - and thanks to guys on these forums and elsewhere on the web for hints - if you want a response, make a Public Relations case. State your complaint to the ISPA (a regulator of Pipex UK Ltd. - you may not get anywhere with CISAS), but more importantly:

• E-mail BBC Watchdog

• CC Pipex customer services (their e-mail is on the Pipex T&Cs page)

• CC The Times Money section Troubleshooter, Daily Telegraph, some other bigwig newspaper, Office of Fair Trading etc.

I e-mailed on Friday night and got a personal message regarding my "PR case" from the London-based Tiscali High-Level Complaints (THLC) on Tuesday. SWEET!

The interesting thing is that the person I spoke to at THLC said that I had received that line rental credit - my account was in fact £32 in credit (?!?!?!?)... I asked why I was still getting payment demands, and she's currently investigating that. I can almost smell victory.

SO moan to Watchdog! And the papers! And pray! You may just get a result...

Further bulletins as events warrant. ;-)