I agree Pipex Beware. I have been a broadband customer of these of a number of years and had no problems unitl.... I changed my bank 2 years ago. Contacted Pipex and change the direct debit details. They set up the direct debit. Then they never used it. It took them 14months to realise, they blocked my internet connect, it took several calls on a 0870 number befor I finally got to the bottom of it. Then they expected my to pay £475 there and then in one go. I admit I should have realised they weren't using the direct debt. But they culdn't explain why this had happened, they insisted they had tried to contact me (the strange thing was I was then bombarded by emails, letters and phone calls).

They were good enough to let me pay if off month by month but I had to telephone them again on an 0870 number to make the payment by debit card.

I also complained 14 months ago but haven't had a reply.

I want to change providers but I know this is going to be a difficult process also as it happened to someone else I know it took them months and various excuses including that they hadn't done the cancellation properly.

When I actually managed to get through to someone in Pipex's credit control department in the UK by phone, I was told that "John" had left the company a long time ago (if, indeed, he ever existed).

Anyway, if you're not happy with CCS, try sending an email to mleech(at)ccsg.uk.com. That's the contact email address, according to the website of the Credit Services Association (http://www.csa-uk.com/csa/), of which they're a member. It worked for me.

Thanks Xepip.

OTELO solved our Pipex billing issue. They asked PIPEX to write off the debt, and provided a cheque for £125 to cover our phone line re-connection.

Thankyou OTELO !

Well my saga is still continuing even though I have spoken to a number of people now, promising to get things straightened out. Worst still, I received an email this morning which seems to be "auto-generated" stating my account has been fully cancelled, yet I still owe money when they actually owe me!!!! There is a another customers name at the bottom of the email which certainly is not me!

The email address this came from was pipexwm AT uk.tiscali.com and was carbon copied to unworkable AT pipexrightnow.com

I shall keep you updated.

Make a complaint with OTELO if you have all the evidence to backup your claim like I did.

They will sort it for you.

I think you need to check whether you should raise your complaint with OTELO or with CISAS. It depends on the type of service that you were/are receiving, and which subsidiary of Tiscali was/is providing it. If I remember correctly, this was mentioned in earlier postings.

Either way, OTELO/CISAS will probably want to see proof that you've followed, and exhausted, the supplier's own complaints process before they'll take on your case. That generally means that you have to raise a formal complaint in writing to the supplier, and then either wait 12 weeks or obtain a "deadlock letter" from the supplier.

Initially, Pipex declined my request for a deadlock letter, even though they had already refused to meet my demands for the resolution of my complaint. Eventually, as the 12 week deadline was approaching, they sent me a deadlock letter and at the same time agreed to meet my demands.

Pipex's policy for dealing with customer complaints seems to be based on the principle of causing as much confusion and distress to the complainant as possible, in the hope that you'll just shut up, give up and pay up. My advice is to persevere, frustrating as that may be. You'll get there in the end!

Xepip - you are a star.

Finally - this Pipex monster is slain - and it only took 2 days after your advice.

Here's the reponse I received today from the (very helpful and effective) Craig Perkins at the Commercial Credit Services Group:

Further to my email yesterday I have taken this up with Pipex and they have confirmed that charges on this account have been credited in full. Obviously the account should not have been sent to us in the first instance and please accept our apologies on behalf of our client for this oversight.

I have arranged for our file here to be closed and can confirm that our involvement in this matter will in no way have had an adverse effect on your credit rating. I have listened to the calls and spoken to the Collections Manager who will have a word with the supervisor concerned.

Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience which may have been caused and hopefully Pipex will also be writing to you to confirm the situation. If I may be of any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact me.

I too have had the misfortune to come into contact with Buldlog/Pipex. Below is a letter I sent recorded delivery to the Chief Executive Pipex 22 January 2009.

"I moved my account away from Bulldog in June 2008 which resulted in a credit on my account of £9.75. I had anticipated this being returned in the manner payments were collected but this was not the case. In the circumstances I attempted to contact Bulldog but all my emails were returned. I originally contacted Pipex via email 13 August 2008.

Following numerous chaser email reminders later – each one frustratingly followed up by your standard response saying:-

“Normally we respond to all emails from our customers within 48 hours, however, sometime this isn’t possible so please bear with us if you haven’t heard from us within this time. Please also note, if you haven’t done so already you will need to send us 3 of the following pieces of information, we are very sorry for this further inconvenience but it’s a Data Protection requirement. Customer Account number, Account holder’s full name, Account holder’s address including postcode, Account holder’s date of birth” .

I eventually received a communication dated 11 November 2008 which reads as follows:-

“Thank you for your email, the contents of which have been noted.

I tried calling you today; however, you were unavailable, so I left a voicemail message. I have escalated a request for a cheque refund of £9.75 to be sent to you. Please allow 28 days for this request to process. Please accept my apologies for the delay in issuing your cheque to you. Thank you for your patience and assistance with this matter. If you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Kind regards, Pipex Customer Relations”

I responded the following day:-

“Good evening. Whilst I am appreciative of the attempted phones call to both my mobile and home phone I am appalled that the process to reclaim my refund has taken in excess of 5 months and numerous emails and then that I have to wait 28 days for the cheque to arrive. Suffice to say I do not rate your "customer service" very highly and can well understand that many a person may have given up months long ago - what a result for you!!!”

They replied to me 13 November 2008

“Thank you for your correspondence, the contents of which have been noted.

In relation to your recent email, I can see that your cheque refund is in the process of being sent out to you. I understand how frustrating this issue has become, and I assure you it was not our intention for this matter to continue for this period of time. I sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused, and I trust that this matter will be resolved for you. If you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact our Customer Services Department on 0871 663 3300. Kind regards, Pipex Customer Relations”.

I had thought the situation was finally resolved – sadly not. The cheque is yet to arrive. I emailed again 3 January 2009

“It is now far in excess of the 28 days within which you assured me the refund cheque would arrive and coming up for 7 months since the credit appeared on my account - why am I not surprised?? Please ensure this is process without further delay - my patience with this matter have all but gone”

Other than receiving automated responses I have heard nothing further. Please be assured if I do not receive my refund along with compensation for the wasted time, effort, inconvenience and frustration I have endured over the last 7 month period by 6 February 2009 I will initiate official complaint procedures via Watchdog, Trading Standards, Consumer Direct, Ofcom, CISAS, ISPA and any other official bodies as being actively encouraged on an extremely long forum discussion within MoneySupermarket.com under the heading “Beware Pipex”. I look forward to hearing from you."

So, where does that leave me today? Without my refund!! - and good to my word I have initiated complaint proceedings via ISPA saying "I am aware from the extremely long forum discussion within MoneySupermarket.com under the heading “Beware Pipex” that this is not a lone case and can only thank myself lucky that it is not for a larger sum of money and that I had already initiated the move to my new Provider before Pipex became responsible for my service. I cannot praise 02 highly enough.

I will let you know the outcome...

Note: Personal details removed. Please ensure you read the moneysupermarket.com Community Standards and Terms of Service before posting. Thanks.

RESULT - well sort of. I received a phone call from Pipex earlier today assuring me that my cheque is now being drawn and a "goodwill gesture" amount of £10 added. I did ask him to forgive my cynicism but this is the 3rd time I have been promised the cheque. Only time will tell.....

I voted with my feet. After being a Pipex for 7 years I called them to request a MAC code on the basis that I was going over to BT to get their 'To Go' broadband package.

They tried a retention tactic on me and offered to cut my monthly bill by almost 50%!!! I would have taken this but when i enquired about removing the Homecall package they then offered me a £4.99 deal instead. Obviously I accepted. I was paying £25 a month.

Following month I checked my statement - £25 charged.....called, queried....oh sorry Mr Randall....it hasnt been processed on system yet, sorry Mr Randall, there was a problem with the order, its been put through now and so on.

Each time I got the call centre people to check the history of conversations and each time they confirmed that I should be being charged £5. I'm a patient guy, what can I say - I really didnt want to leave them (changing email addresses etc) but earlier this month I gave it one last shot. Same story...sorry sorry , processing error - done for you now and then my Feb end bank statement....£25!!!

Called back - got through to Manila call centre in Phillipines. The girl tried to tell me that my £25 charge was some rental fee and a one off.....then i pointed her at the £25 charge for the previous month and she changed her tune and admitted that this was the monthly charge on my account. Then when I got her to read the history on the account and asked her what happened to £4.99 she had the gall to tell me that this was only ever a DISCOUNT offer e.g. that my standard bill would be discounted by £4.99 ...not that I would be charged £4.99 per month. A total misrepresentation of the facts and I challenged her to review recorded calls but she accepted that I had probably been misadvised (on repeated occasions).

Last straw. After another failed call back promise I got on the phone to Ofcom and registered a complaint and then called Pipex and got my MAC code.

They have made enough margin on me as a long standing customer - they have systemically failed to act in a manner which is fair and not misleading and I look forward to my new Broadband provider doing a better job.

Moral of the story....dont trust them, dont use them.

I can totally relate to this post.I have been paying pipex/homecall to bar withheld numbers from my landline.This is not happening. So after a fruitless conversation with the Phillipines I decided to request a MAC code even though I have 8 months left of a 12 month agreement. The Phillipino girl told me I would have to repay the discount (£5.24) X every month outstanding I thought £40 ish to get away from these halfwits was worth paying. When I called to request my MAC code I was told this information was incorrect (surprise,surprise) and that I would have to pay the remainder of my contract at £19.99 per month.

Add this to the fact that I have had no call backs , as promised, to previous issues. and I was given my existing number when I moved house , despite asking for a free of charge new number, Now they are not providing the service I am paying for (barring witheld numbers) I feel Pipex/Homecall are in breach of contract and I will now be contacting Ofcom to discuss if I have any grounds to take my business elsewhere without paying the remainder of my contract off.

When homecall was totally UK based , 4 years ago, I had no problems Now Since Pipex/tiscali got hold of it my message to anyone considering using them is as above

A shocking service a lousy lying company

Well this saga continues, Today I got a bill from CSS (Commercial Credit Services) debt collection agency threatening legal action against me, also adding costs not yet incurred and interest. Now I decided to be polite and dial the 0871 number to be greeted by a woman called Angela, and was treated like a dose of syphilis. However, I let her follow her debt collection procedure and refused to give her my email address or mobile number.

In true Doctor Livingstone fashion, I asked her to hold her horses, however she insisted on treating me like sysphilis as most debt collection agencies do and refused to listen to anything I had to say until she actually ran out of steam.

I informed her, it is Bulldog/GXnetworks/pipex/tiscali and Centrica Company (which owns British Gas too for those interested), actually owe me money.

I told Angela she will have to send the file back to Tiscali as what is owed, is in dispute and legally a requirement. Still she was not interested.. By now I am wondering when this woman "lower than a snakes belly" would shut up and listen.

Eventually I told her this case is with High Level Complaints and gave her the name of the person I am dealing with including the direct line number, she then said right, I will email him and was insistent I still owed money.

You can also add CCS to your list of "spineless people". Hopefully in her rage, you might find our recorded conversation on You Tube at some point in the future that she used as a weapon. You are guilty until proven innocent!

Really, you have to laugh about this abuse. I am not about to compromise my case until it is finalised. At that point I shall make some details public, to prevent others having to go through this systematic abuse.

Regards,

The Home Guard aka Dads Army hahah

Hi, I'm new to this forum but just want to add my pennyworth to what has been said about Pipex. I had been with homecall for years with great service. The telephone line o/s the house was in bad state of repair and I asked Pipex to please get it repaired as I was paying them money for broadband and telephone service. Open Reach arrived last July and left again without doing anything about the problem. In Nov.'08 I decided the only thing to do was join B.T. to get them to repair the line as all lines are owned by them. I did so over the internet where they say they will take care of leaving the previous provider. I got a MAC code from Pipex, sent it to B.T. Everything appeared to be going great - the telephone line was fixed which took an entire day and I was very happy with the broadband which never fell out, and I could start hearing people who were 'phoning me.

Then at end of December '08 I received a letter from Pipex headed Outstanding Balance £18.85 - the next four paragraphs were taken up with how I could pay it but not telling me what it was for. Many automated phone calls then usually at eight o'clock in the morning asking me to phone them. I did pay this bill against my better judgement, and was 'rewarded' with a letter on 27th January, '09 from them saying they would refund the £18.85 pence once they received a 'Go-Live' letter from B.T. (I asked B.T. about this 'go-live' letter but they said that once the MAC code is put in place by them then automatically I receive the broadband from them as I only have one moden and it can only take one server.) End of problems, I thought, with Pipex, but no ........

On 9th February, '09 another letter received from Pipex headed Outstanding Balance £28.01 threatening to put a temporary bar on my outgoing call facility and not explaining what the bill was for and despite the fact I had been with B.T. from beginning of December. I did not pay the amount requested. On 5th March, '09 letter received from Pipex saying there had been system issues with cancelling the broadband service from the account and the writer had tried processing a request for cancellation again! I had no broadband service from them from 27th November until I put in the hub from B.T. which, incidentally, does not need to be wireless but can go through the phone line. The latest letter sent from them on 9th March, states that the bill is not now £28 but has risen to £52.45 with the threat that if payment is not received immeddately they will give the matter to an external debt collection agency. With this threat on me I did the VERY BEST THING and got in touch with the CITIZENS ADVICE BUREAU who were very helpful and have managed to get Pipex to stop all letters to me until they look at all the information. SO I WOULD SUGGEST THAT ANYONE HAVING A PROBLEM GO TO THE CITIZENS ADVICE BUREAU. They are extremely helpful and Pipex do listen.

Sorry to contradict the last poster, but that's just the problem: Pipex don't listen. Good luck!