Pipex (Avoid if possible)

[Ch3tan]

Heh, I still insist I'm with Telewest/Blueyonder. Getting emails from Virgin:Ntl is worrying.

On another note, Virgin:Ntl are apprently getting ready to pull Sky One from their cable Tv service. If they did that I would have to get Sky, get a BT phoneline and probably have to get ADSL.

 

[Trem]

Why would they do that though? Doesn't make sense.

 

[Skyler]

Sky can force them to.

I expect Sky will probably remove as many of their channels from all their rivals as they can, forcing people to get a Sky box and thus probably Sky broadband and Sky phone.

I doubt they'll want to see Virgin offering such great deals of TV/phone/mobile/internet.

I know they will probably make their three free channels on Freeview PPV soon, which means they will require a Sky Box just to watch, meaning another way for them to get a piece of Sky equipment in the home.

 

[Kryten]

Indeed. Sky are absolutely shitting bricks - it was recently announced that there's more people using Freeview/DTT than Sky. Not good for the monopoly at all.

 

[Kryten]

grumble.
Pipex's member site has been dead since Thursday. Phoned this morning 3 times in 2 hours, to which their systems were all dead. Great professional ISP this, can't even keep their own systems runing straight.

Contract ended 9th Feb. Lock on line as I said - and no, it wasn't a MAC. They had just locked it for no apparent reason, according to the 17 year old female ex-macdonalds employee that I spoke to. I suspect one or more of her spots popped whilst she was on the phone, too :|

And best of all, it's gonna take them another 4 days to do that. "Why wasn't it done on the 9th?" I asked.

"I dunno"

Fantastic. Lets see where that email to the ISPA and Pipex's ISPA contact goes.

 

[Ch3tan]

Sky can force them to.

I expect Sky will probably remove as many of their channels from all their rivals as they can, forcing people to get a Sky box and thus probably Sky broadband and Sky phone.

Actually Sky are running ads asking Virgin:Nthell customers to phone up and let ntl know they still want sky one provided. It is ntl that are planning to pull Sky one, nothing to do with Sky.

 

[Skyler]

Why would they pull Sky One? What could they possibly achieve by doing that?

 

[FozzySon]

To whom it may concern,
This information is all dandy an all, but it is of no use. Could you please send me my MAC code to this email address: xxxx I am sick of the poor service, let alone paying £33 for a 2meg connection, when I can go somewhere else and get 8 to 24meg for £25 and the added bonus of more upload speed.

I'll type the email address out again, as the last time we gave you an address to send the MAC too, it never arrived and we got cut off without any warning. The address is: xxxx
---------------
Hopefully everything will go through smoothly....

 

[Kryten]

Good luck Fozzyson. Don't forget, as of tomorrow the rules re MAC issuing change and they, by law have to do it within 5 days or get fined millions in Pipex's case. (something like 10% of their annual worth, can't remember"

I felt the need to remind them of that yesterday.

"As you may or may not be aware, the rules regarding MAC code issuing change, and failure to comply with those results in a very hefty fine on your behalf. These rule changes were brought about after many complaints about ISP's such as yourselves abusing the system and not acting in the customer's best interests"

ISPA are being very slow re my last email mind :|

 

[FozzySon]

Yeah, Kryt. Was reading the thinkbroadband forum and someone requested a MAC, Pipex said they cant send one, as soon as he mentioned ofcom and the new law they said they would send it within so many hours. Oh, and and an update re, the payment issue I was talking about in IRC, it was their fault, some dickhead said the credit card was out of date, the date on the card is 12/07. Pathetic, tbh.

 

[Kryten]

Just got in from quitting my agency "job" to find a nice email from Pipex's ISPA contact again.

Grovelling all over again and removed the "marker on the line" instantly. So why can he do it instantly but takes the customer service fucklamps up to 4 working days to do it.

"Markers" on the line sounds odd - as I said, wasn't a MAC code - just an actual block stopping any other ISP acting on it.

 

[TdC]

I am glad it got sorted Kryten, though I must say they are a bunch of tards to force you to threaten them before they shift their arses. I know that companies can be extremely busy; I mean, I work for a large company and I have about 150 unread emails waiting for me every day on top of my normal workload, but surely an ISP will have streamlined this process you were in to take the very least amount of time to do regardless of how long they say it will take.

I ramble, but I guess I mean that not only is it stressful to you but now it's also stressful to them and it's all so unnecessary!

 

[Kryten]

I perfectly understand the workload these people are under, however if they can't handle it, they shouldn't be doing it. Staff should be correctly trained, kept informed of issues, be able to see all of a customers details without having to pass the buck round the office 6 times.

I wouldn't be so upset if it was just my problem - I'm such a selfless person by nature. I stumbled across thinkbroadband.com's forums when I was looking for ADSLGuide - and found just how unhappy the average Pipex user is looking under that particular section. Made me sick, how many people had exactly the same issues, debits coming out that shouldn't, poor customer service, pig-ignorance of MAC codes and good practice, and dreadful performance.
Shame to see what used to be one of the top 3 ISP's fall into areas you expect from AOL and Tiscali. I've had better, far far better service from both of those in the past.

I just hope those forums get decent publicity - they're a fantastic resource and shows people's real opinions and problems rather than hiding behind ISP's marketing hype/bullshite. The mods there are also very good - most of them being in direct contact with people like the ISPA and are happy to take up complaints for you!

Also very happy with the ISPA too. Fantastic response times and great service.

 

[Chilly]

Kryt - their willingness to settle with you out of court implies they know full well they are boned, if you are up to it and can afford it take the ***** to court for the full amount and fees. It will get coverage and scare ISPs into (hopefully) being slightly more fair and not such assholes.

 

[TdC]

I perfectly understand the workload these people are under, however if they can't handle it, they shouldn't be doing it. Staff should be correctly trained, kept informed of issues, be able to see all of a customers details without having to pass the buck round the office 6 times.

I know, and believe me I'm not making excuses for them. My most hated thing about a company, any company, cutting costs by reducing the skill in the frontline working teams is that customer satisfaction goes down the drain and the workforce has to take all the shit from both the dissatisfied customer and from their management who see the rise in complaints.

The small, expertly staffed ISP for example, will grow through word of mouth trumpeting how good they are, and once big enough will have to put "big company" measures in place just to keep on top of the expanding user base. This will inevitably lead to a drop in quality (imo) due to several factors unless they actually manage to make the transition to a big ISP. Also, if they want to be both big and give uber service, they're going to be expensive. In the balancing act of service vs cheapness the customer is going to be the scapegoat, partially due to his own fault.

oh dear, my fever shining through

 

[old.user4556]

Woah, wtf - Kryt, i think i got your bandwidth.

I've got from 20k per sec on a good day to several hundred kbytes a sec tonight. Did Pipex turn it up to 11?

Edit:

Speed Down 3145.00 Kbps ( 3.1 Mbps )
Speed Up 384.42 Kbps ( 0.4 Mbps )

 

[Lazarus]

would someone like to come and help me get my finger out my arse and get my letter sent to Pipex to have mine sorted out?

 

[Bodhi]

would someone like to come and help me get my finger out my arse and get my letter sent to Pipex to have mine sorted out?

Only if you don't make me sniff it again.

 

[Lazarus]

my response (and Bodhi - finger available for smelling if you really want.)


Dear Sir,
Thank you for your response dated 21/12/2006. Unfortunately, due to business travel commitments, I have been unable to respond prior to today. I assume from your response that you are responding on behalf of Pipex as a complete company since I have had no similar correspondence from Pipex Homecall.

Before I begin, I do understand the support structure in place at Pipex with regard to escalation – these are similar across many large companies. The reason is fairly simple; I was tiring of receiving so many different reasons for not having had my service provided on the agreed date (01/07/2006).

Unfortunately, your response has simply provided one more different excuse for the lack of closure to my questions, that I feel I again need to escalate and so have copied this to Mr. **** yet again.

From your response, it seems that you are now claiming that Pipex were unable to match the promises made by the Pipex Homecall sales force. Let me be VERY clear on this from the beginning. The offer made to myself during the cold call was to have both my internet speed increased (up)to 8mb and change my Voice provider to Pipex Homecall. If you recall from my original correspondence, the only reason for taking on Homecall was due to the promise of a speed increase. Now, you claim that this was a pre-registration exercise? I’m sorry – there was absolutely no mention, nor discussion of this service not being available by the 01st July – a date promised by the Homecall salesperson.
Am I to assume that I have been mis-sold this service on the basis of your claim?

Not withstanding, my claim remains. A FULL refund of the additional funds which Pipex Internet withdrew from my Bank Account, at the same time as my account was being debited for the Homecall combined services. This should cover the Months of July 2006 until November 2006 inclusive.

I would dearly like to know what service I am ACTUALLY enrolled with for Internet usage – something which CLEARLY states what I can or cannot do.

My understanding is that I remain on an 8mb uncapped service.

I am again travelling on business between 19/02/2007 and 04/03/2007 – I would hope to have this resolved, or at least some form of communication from yourself.



lets see what they come back with.

 

[Lazarus]

HOORAH!!!! FINALLY!

received a letter back today from Pipex (day after I threaten legal action against them via recorded delivery)

sorted :

getting 8MB uncapped broadband for £6.50 per month
receiving a refund of £105
they are waiving the 1 year contract.

bout bloody time.

 

[dysfunction]

Well done Laz!!

Took bloody ages though but I guess its the result that matters.
No wonder Insurance cases can be in and out of court for 10 years...