Hello there everyone,

Well since my last post I have been playing tennis with the 'customer services' experts down at Pipex - they have come up with an even better suggestion for my invoice this time.....

I actually owe them £30 for 2 months worth of broadband, but they are claiming that I owe them £67.50, £30 extra for 2 months in which my broadband was not connected due to the ridiculous technical problems and another £7.50 for modem postage (which I am happy to pay to never hear from them again). So, according to Pipex I must pay for the postage, the 2 months of broadband I used AND the 2 months that I didnt, and that as 'a gesture of good will' (I quote) they will at some point refund me £30 - yes, 2 months free!!! Surely that means, if they will allow me 2 months free broadband that I should only owe them £7.50??? Can anyone explain this logic??

I have been with Pipex for 4 year on 1mb then 2mb broadand with no complaints until earlier this year I went to 8mb broadband service. The connection was slow, often not getting connected to the service or being dropped, speeds were as low as 10kbs at times.

I spoke to the tech support at Bulldog last night because I have been having problems with my connection. Apparantly all the IPStream customers are being switched over from Pipex's IPStream system to the Bulldog LLU system. This is likely why my Bulldog connection has suddenly dropped in its max speed by about 1.5mb. The line keep dropping as well.

It would appear most of Pipex's problem's at the moment are integration issues.

At least thats the impression I am getting at the moment anyway.

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'Now, I have become Death, the destroyer of worlds.'

PIPEX INTERNET LTD is little short of a nightmare.

Having been a CUSTOMER of theirs for over five years we were forced into a situation where we had to terminate our business with them if we were to remain a credibel organisation. After issuing the correct letters of termination in accordance with Pipex's published terms and conditions of business they still failed to do anything. They refused to answer letters from me or from my solicitor, yet they continue (to this day) to withdraw their monthly fees from my account despite being told by thier bank to stop.

The posting person "Beutifulexpe" or whatever you wish to call yourself is simply another sad and deeply dellusioned person - possibly even the maniac who heads this organisation and does not live in the real world of their beleagured user-base.

Writing and telephoning and even e-mailing Pipex DOES NOTHING so stop with this sanctimonious blathering that you insist on writing and do your job (or whatever passes for it). Perhaps if you stopped berating the hard working people who only wish to have a GOOD experience with your company you might achieve your objectives - as for a petition - put me down for it and I'll sign with pleasure.

PS: Looking forward to our day in court Pipex! IT HAPPENS SOON!

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For every positive action, there's an equal and opposite government plan.

Been with Pipex internet for around 4 years so I am what you would think to be a loyal customer of thiers!

anyway, I asked to be release from my 12 month contract via email due to the connection keeps dropping, it goes slow often to 1mb speeds and connected over christmas at 1/2mb line speeds instead of the previous 8mbs I had been getting for 3 months. It's so unstable, one minute 4mbs throughput, then 1, then 1/2mb ect. I play alot of online games, but its useless with crap ping rates. Funny thing though is when everyone was at the sales on boxing day I had a stable 5mb thoughput which lead me to think they are over suscribed. I went though all the usual things with technical support, like its your filter sir, oh then its your modem, oh now its your pc, oh its now a virus slowing it down. Wel I pulled the setup from my next door neighbours whos on BT, pc, modem, ADSL filter the lot and connected it straight to my main BT socket and it was the same poor speeds.

Was promised by Pipex they would sanction for a BT engineer to check my line within 6 days, 15 days later nothing so I phoned them again today and asked if BT had checked the line, they had no record of this, infact they told me they would sanction BT to call again, but when the engineer would come they had no idea and to call back tomorrow.

I also find they have not been taking any monthly payments via direct debit for 5 months due to a systems error and now I have just been told they want £112 right on christmas. They say no payments taken since June, but i found they have Junes payment looking at my bank statement and told them but they say they want me to prove it by sending them a copy of the bank statement. This company is a joke, they don't know thier ass from thier elbow. I want out of this contract as they have broken it in my eyes in many ways.

If your thinking of joining Pipex, then Don't, you have been warned!!

This is an email they sent after I complaining about the poor speeds and direct debit errors they made, no sorry sir for the trouble we caused, just rude reply. So much for customer care :(


"Thank you for your email.



The termination of your broadband connection will incur a cancellation fee as you are still within your contract period. The cancellation fee will consist of the remaining months on your contract.



If you wish to cancel this service please reply to this email.


If you have any further enquiries please do not hesitate to contact us.

Regards


PIPEX Customer Care email team

that is incredible - i got EXACTLY the same reply from some cretin at their customer services - in reply to an email telling them that i wish to cancel and NOT pay any cancellation fee - due to their appalling speeds.

something has to be done - watchdog, ofcom, small claims court - something

can you imagine if this was marks and spencers or sainsburys and you had bought something so bad?!?
you'd get your money back immediately, no problem.

i find it staggering that people are paying for hi-speed internet access and simply getting dial-up speeds - and theses idiots at pipex are happily taking everyone's money.

this is not only unbelievable, but it is getting serious now...

OK The situation is simple.

Once you have exhausted the normal 'mail' routes you must then make a formal request for a "LETTER OF DEADLOCK" which Pipex may (or more likely will not) reply to. If you DO get a formal letter of deadlock, you can then go to CISAS which is the UK's arbitration service and can be found at: http://www.arbitrators.org/cisas.

If you do not get a reply from Pipex (as is more normally the case) then you must revert to the small claims court to sue for any money that you are owed.

Now for the GOTCHAS!

1. OFCOM and all the other official bodies could not give a monkeys about you or Pipex. Write to them by all means but they will do nothithing and it is a waste of your time and money doing so.

2. DO NOT USE A CREDIT/DEBIT CARD TO PAY FOR ANY SUBSCRIPTION not just to Pipex but to any ISP. For some reason best kept to themselves, the UK Banking system will honour any credit/debit card payment even after the card has expired! It is then up to you to monitor your bank balance and to notify your bank under the "Disputed Card Use" process each time. In Pipex's case they could not care how much this costs you to sort out each time but I suggest you charge them for your time and invoice them properly.

3. The Office of Fair Trading AND Trading Standards CAN help you and I strongly urge anyone to get in touch with them at your earliest opportunity. Google search for your nearest office and be concise about your complaint.

4. Pipex is not alone in achieving the Zenith of Crapdom awards for 2004/5 and 2006 consecultively. In my unique Sphincter Irritation Scale - Pipex gets awarded the rare and much non-coveted 10.0 together with AOL and NTL - the other sewage rats of the ISP world who appear to adopt the same customer-hostile approach to service and performance.

The only way to get these companies to sort out their acts is to hurt them where they are most sensitive and that is their wallets. You are entitled to charge ANY company or person for wasting your time and to invoice them accordingly. Do it properly and then chase them through the courts the way that you would be chased if you failed to pay them or provide what they wanted.

Time to stand up and be counted!

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For every positive action, there's an equal and opposite government plan.

Hi all Pipex Problem sufferers,

I have been at my wits end with these people and I am just in the process of researching the situation so I can take the best action. It seems the company have had some troubles but this is no excuse for the appalling customer service I have received over the past three months regarding two billing errors (one of which I believe to be theft).

My situation is regarding a Business Account I had with them for approximately three years. During that time I had good service apart from when I moved house, I was asked to pay a new connection charge (common practice for ISPs). I disputed this with my Account Manager and he waivered the fee, sending me a copy invoice as proof of waiver. This was in April 2005.

I, fortunately, still have this invoice. Not that it has so far done me any good.

Now I cancelled the account in August and they continued to bill me into October. I called them up (an extremely painful experience, hours on hold) and they said they would refund me in full. This has not happened as yet, although I have recently received notification from them that they would refund me £35, not the full £41 they owe me - what reasoning is behind that I don't know.

Now regarding the connection charge. Last month I noticed a random £65 from Pipex on a new DD had come out of my current account. THEY HAD SET UP A DD WITHOUT MY CONSENT USING MY ACCOUNT DETAILS THEY OBVIOUSLY STILL HAD ON RECORD. I consider this to be theft. When I called Pipex they said it was for the set up fee from 18 months ago.

More phone calls, more lies, more pain.....

I have faxed them my copy invoice twice, I have spent a total of about 6 hours on the phone to them. I have spoken to supervisors, been advised of what the oh so illusive Finance Dept are CONSIDERING doing.

Net result - I am over £100 down.

DD's have to be consentual, I am positive they have breached their own terms and conditions. I am the victim of a salesman breaking the rules but I have the evidence and I WANT MY MONEY BACK!!!

If someone can give me some good advice I would appreciate it. This has been a very painful experience with no sign of a resolution.

I have no idea how Pipex win any awards for broadband or website hosting. It's beyond me why a bunch of unprofessional people can be allowed to run a limited company.

Hi everyone, I posted my problems earlier and have still had no joy with Pipex, so they have left me no option but to set up www.pipexproblems.co.uk

This site is now live and has a full forum where you can list the problems you have suffered at the hands of pipex.

Please note that this site is exclusively for Pipex users.

Maybe if enough complaints are concentrated in one place, their PR department will sit up and take note of them.

Sara, you can count me in. Let me know what you need. We definitely need to make Pipex sort all this stuff out.

How arrogant was the poster who called you a dim wit? Did he really think that he would be the first person to come up with that idea? I have tried, on many occasions, to speak to a manager. No joy. And I am sick of waiting in for their "call-back within 24hr" promises. Talking of dim witted...

I might take the advice on this forum and bill them for wasting my time.

I have a Pipex blog which I will mail to Pipex at regular intervals. Please feel free to post.
http://pipexbroadband.blogspot.com

Can't say much just now, but WATCH THIS THREAD in the next 24 hours - I might have some interesting news ...

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For every positive action, there's an equal and opposite government plan.

Just an update.
After 5 months of hassle with Pipex, I emailed xxxxxxxxx their Press Officer, on Sunday with links to my Pipex Blog, this forum and a few others. I got this reply yesterday.

"I write in response to your recent complaint correspondence regarding your Pipex Homecall account and services. Please allow me to express my sincere apologies for any inconvenience and stress caused whilst this issue has persisted.

You expressed dissatisfaction in your email, and advised of the actions you have taken in complaint, as you have received bills for an account that you have been advised was cancelled.

I apologise that due to system errors there has been a delay in the full cancellation of your account.

I can confirm that the error has been identified and corrected, and your account should be fully closed on your next billing date. I have also made arrangements to clear any outstanding balance on the account, thus removing any incorrect charges.

Once again, please accept my sincerest apologies for time taken to resolve this issue and any inconvenience caused. I hope that this resolution is to your satisfaction, and should you require further assistance please do not hesitate to contact Pipex Customer Care on 0870 220 2112 who will be happy to answer any queries you may have."

Yours sincerely

XXXXXXXXXX
Customer Relations Executive
Pipex Ltd

It will be interesting to see what the next bill says.
And there's that number for their ever-so-helpful customer care line. Not.

Hello, I left Pipex in August 06 and have been with Talk Talk ever since. So why am I posting on a Pipex thread?
Just before Christmas Pipex rang me and said I owed them some money. I told them I was no longer one of their customers and they must be mistaken. The girl on the phone said she'd look into it.

A few days later I received a letter which said I owed them £70.00. I wrote back and asked them to explain why I owed them this money.
I received a letter in reply, which said they were sorry, they had mixed my account (No longer a customer) up with somebody elses, they were sorry for any inconvenience caused, however I still owe them £14.99 !!!

I wrote back and again asked them to explain in detail why I owed them £14.99

I received a letter in reply which said my outstanding balance was now clear and they were sorry for any inconvenience caused.

No problem then you would think. Wrong

They took £12.76 on 11/12/06 and one for £2.23 on 22/12/06 out of my bank account without my permission. Its important at this point to remember I am not a customer of Pipex.

Furious, I wrote back and told them I considered this theft because they had accessed my bank account without my permission. My letter asked them to address a number of points and I insisted they remove my bank details from their records immediately.

A few days later I received an email which said I still owed a payment from May 06 !!! and there would be no refund.

No refund!!! I didn't even ask for one. What an unprofessional, inadequate reply. They had failed to pick up the fact that I was writing to complain that they had removed money from my bank account, without my permission and I was not a customer of theirs anyway.

Obviously I have written back and I await their reply.

Are they really sorry for any inconvenience caused?

Pipex homecall sucks full stop, the call centre staff coming on here trying to advise us is rubbish, how they can sit back and sell us these lies stinks. Unlimited downloads is a lie, tiscali servers are crap p2p throttling is bad, but why dont the call centre staff tell us this at the time of ordering? So why should we believe what they say here too.

I was with pipex for four years without a problem until one day a chimp from homecall offered me a great deal, so foolishly i went for it and am now paying for a crap service for 12 months unless somewhere here can suggest a legal way to take them down.

We all know emails dont work, letters dont work, their tech support is second only 2 sky tvs lot.

These fraudsters and their staff should be closed down and all contracts declared nul and void.

Is there any ex-homecall staff willing to come here and suggests ways to help because those still working for them are probarbly feeding info back to those monkeys runing the service.

Idiots.