Last May my parents opted to go to Pipex from Wanadoo to take advantage of higher speeds (7mbps as opposed to 2mbps) and all was fine for a month until the debit card expired. Simple? We sent in new card details, simple it was not. After about 6 months we got a letter from Pipex demanding money of £145 in which we paid via cheque, then they requested more at £115, £65, £23 and £23. Even though they were continuing to take out direct debits. Rather than having our Internet blocked (which is vital for my mum's work) she paid and sent a letter - no reply. Sent another and the reply we got was related to the bandwidth we were using up (too much apparently) and not related. Fed up we phoned up but Pipex denied reciving such letters or taking direct debits. Sent another letter with one of the cheques and the cheque was indeed cashed, but no reply to the letter and after phoning they deny receiving a letter so this time a letter was sent via Royal Mail recorded delivery with proof from bank statement that Pipex direct debits have been taken out. 3 weeks later and no reply so a few days ago I phoned up and they denied receiving a letter so I gave them the proof of delivery, unbelivably they denied receiving the letter but said they would phone back the next day. Surprise surprise they didn't so phoned back today. This time the operator finally found the problem. They were indeed taking out direct debits but the reason why they didn't see it related to our Pipex account (whcih has since been cancelled) was because it was accossiated with anohter Pipex account, beloning to a man somewhere else in the country. They promised an investigation and a refund. Unbelivable as it sounds but Pipex has managed to accossiate my parents bank account with someone else's Pipex account, we were effectively paying for ourselves and someone else, paying practically double over the year, in todays world this shouldnt be happening, especially with fraud being a major problem. The whole process has been a lot longer than this but I have cut the story short, hours upon hours on the phone isn't pleasing. From monday we have switched to Be* at 15Mbps and rest assured we will not be going back to Pipex, they have lost a customer (I would have switched for the higher speeds anyway). Although this may be an accident it does raise some questions on well established firms treatment on customers and their ability to get their finances correct. In this situation I find it unbelivable they have managed to mix my parents credit card details with someone else's account and refuse to listen to the customer even though we had utmost proof they were in the wrong. This isn't a rant, but something to think about - perhaps we use our credit card without hesitation, too easily nowadays?
I had a similar problem with pipex. Turned out they hadn't closed my old account and still opened a new one (apparantly this doesn't raise flags on their system). So all of a sudden they pulled £125 out of my account (which is a lot for me) and after 3 weeks of ringing, emailing, being very curt, speaking to senior people I got it sorted. They refunded me £300~ (basically 1 years free internet) and two months free. But it was the fact that it was allowed to happen that pissed me off. I'm probably moving to Virgin Media in July because I don't like the way BT handle their end of broadband.
They phoned back just now about a refund. They have the cheek to say my mum will need to go to the bank to get a credit card call back, they will not send a cheque because otherwise the other person we have been paying for will not have their Pipex account due money, they will have been using Pipex's service for free. Hang on now, that isn't our problem its yours! Pipex has given us so much grief its their turn to have a problem. On top of a credit card call back the direct debit is not a direct debit but a montly plan and the only way to stop the payment is to cancel the card - which means we have to contact everyone else who has direct debits with us and give them new card details. Pipex has promised a letter of apology and a measly £10...
Ring and ring and email and email them. Say that you shouldn't be punished for their incompetence. I've got copies of the emails I sent at work and can email them to you on Monday (on a break atm) if you want?
Haven't had problems with Pipex yet (except for my lack of a decent connection from 5pm til 12am, sometimes my upload speed is faster than my download speed ) I'm hoping nothing like that happens when I switch...
A freind of mine had similar problems with Pipex, where he was being charged for 8MB broadband while only receiving 2MB. In the mean time, you could give ofcom a buzz, or good old watchdog and complain about pipex. Sam
Enjoy Be. I'm loving it, so simple and nothing has gone wrong. I do live pretty far from the exchange so I don't get anywhere near 24megs though. Edit: doh, moving house, forgot about the 3 month notice on cancellation.
I know of 4 people including myself that are with virgin media and we have all had trouble with their accounts and lack of customer service, avoid them like the plague. One person had internet for 12 months and they didn't even bill him. My issues with them took 2 months to sort out and a number of calls at my expense.
I'm with Eclipse. Affordable and decent connection speeds (where I live anyway) at any time of day or night. I can't say anything about their customer service as I haven't had to contact them yet (which is good), but their billing is clear and when I placed the order there was a very good "tracking" in place and they kept you quite up to date themselves - not to mention that the time they said my connection would be working was in fact the time it was working (and done I was nicking wireless from some unsecured idiot across the street). I agree with whoever said it somewhere above this post... Contact Ofcom or Watchdog. Even though the issue is finally being resolved, it is completely unacceptable and should be addressed, preferably as public as possible. These kinds of mistakes from companies are in my book because of extreme incompetence and lack of care/caring, not a one-off human error.
Just sue them and be done with it. For the amount of money you will be getting back it should be a problem hiring a lawyer. Or get them to pay for all expenses on trips to the bank and back for you to correct their mistakes. Pipex's customer service is incredibly bad. Thankfully I havent needed to get in touch with them ever ... My account was taken over when they bought out TalkTalk.
I had this **** from them when I "cancelled" three months previous. They kept taking out money so I cancelled the DD so they claimed I owed them when they OWED ME. In the end we came to an agreement after a lot of harsh (non swear) words were said by me.
Nope, but tbh, after all the hassle it had caused and the fact I wasn't paying all of it on my own we didn't bother.
You lot are scaring me. Like I said before we have a Pipex account which might need to be cancelled at some point in the future.
I know that when I leave Pipex in August, I will be contacting my Bank directly and cancelling the Direct Debit
My parents have had similar situations, with difficulties in paying for things like internet and bills because the companys **** it up themselves. For example my dad somehow must've had his card swiped on a holiday trip and someone tried to cash out 4000 pounds! Obviously the bank caught this and alerted my dad, cancelled the card and he has a new one now. But that means all his autopay details assigned to that card are erased! Next day, as if his currentl problem isn't already a pain in the arse the Internet and phone company "threaten" (a customer?) to cut his plan and if he doesn't pay they will charge more for a "reconnection" of the line. I cannot believe in this day and age how companies treat their PAYING customers. Sometimes I really wish I could meet the CEO's of these "companies" (what a joke) and literally slap them with a big stick.
