Why Pipex Broadband Suck
I haven’t blogged for a while. Sorry. Life has been rather busy and stressful but I needed a rant so hang on tight.
You would have thought with the recent press of broadband and MAC codes that some companies might try to start getting it right. However, my experience of Pipex is nothing but complete incompetence with a service that is about as useful as an ass-hat and a customer service about as polite as Saddam Hussein.
Due to their recent somewhat undesirable DSL performance I decided to move to a different provider. But getting a MAC code out of them is a completely different matter altogether. You see, the problem with Pipex is that they are one of those last companies out there in the UK broadband land that decide to give you a 12 month contract. They do this to tie you in, because before you know it you’ll be dialling those 0845 support numbers wondering why things aren’t working. This ‘contract’ gets renewed every time you decide to re-grade your service. Beware. I joined Pipex back in 2004 and was very happy with the service they gave me. 512K was quite some connection if you’re used to dial-up as I was. When 2MB became available in May 2005 I upgraded, and then downgraded in September 2005 to 1MB as the connection was cheaper.
When 8MB became available in 2006, I upgraded but this was when the problems started. I decided to upgrade online using the wonderfully unintuitive Pipex Control panel. I requested the ‘Go’ product as I wanted a capped service. But they rolled out the Max service to me by mistake (as admitted via email to me from them in September 2006) which was £10 a month dearer. So until September I was on a service that I didn’t ask for, or apply for and was still paying for (or at least I thought I was). Which brings me onto their other issue which is their billing department. Pipex want to charge you £2 per month extra if you’re paying by debit card. So when I upgraded Pipex Go/Max/Whatever, I switched my payments to direct debit. Four instances of their direct debit appeared in my online banking area but they never actually took any money from me. From June 2006 until January 2007, they never charged me for their service, but waited until January 2007 to contact me saying there was a problem with the direct debit. I had a bill of £175 waiting to be paid. Kids I’m sorry, there won’t be any McDonalds Happy Meals for you this month etc.
So due to their wonderful ‘contract of service’ offered by Pipex coupled with the bad network performance I had been experiencing, I decided to move to a different provider. I phoned customer support and requested my MAC code. No problem they said, I was put through to their retention department ‘juke box’ which played music at a 8kbps quality down my phone line at 50p per minute. I hung up after 30 minutes. Secondly, I requested my MAC code by email. I never received a reply. And today, I phoned them up asking them for my MAC code, only to be greeted by customer service saying I’m tied in until the September 2007 and will have to pay a cancellation charge. The reason of September 2007 you may ask? Because that was the time a year ago when they ‘regraded their mistake’ they made. Complete fools I tell you. The customer service adviser even had the balls to tell me that when this service was regraded, I was informed that it was a 12 month contract. I can tell you now, when you corrected your mistake, I wasn’t notified via the telephone. You sent me an email apologising. Remember? Naagghhh!11!
So the reasons you shouldn’t go with them?
- Do you really want to be tied into a 12 month contract when others offer a 1 month contract?
- They rarely answer customer support emails.
- Billing Department doesn’t know difference between arse/debit card, elbow/direct debit although this may have been sorted recently.
- There are much better providers out there.
And the reasons you should?
- David Hasselhoff seems to like them.
April 20th, 2007 at 8:08 am
That’s pretty awful service. I’d speak to Watchdog
I hope you can escape the clutches of Hasselhoff soon and join a decent ISP like Zen
April 21st, 2007 at 8:19 am
you say in your blog that it was Pipex mistake that you ended up on “max” so you shouldnt be locked into a 12 month contract but you also say that you requested “go”.
If thats the case then you would still be in a 12 month contract anway….
not trying to defend Pipex here, just merely pointing out why they are entitled to charge it to you
If you feel that you shouldnt have been on the “max” service then you should have kicked up the fuss about it at the time and got it changed to “go” as you requested.
April 21st, 2007 at 11:24 am
Hi George. I upgraded to ‘Go’ in May last year, I’d say my 12 months are up anyway. After the first mail from them stating that I was placed on the Max service, I contacted them straight away informing them of their mistake. It took them until 2nd September to acknowledge their mistake after numerous emails and phonecalls. I’d say there aren’t entitled to charge me as my 12 months are now up, hence the phonecall requesting my MAC code.
The sad thing is that a number of their customer support staff are facing redundancies.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/04/17/pipex_job_cuts/
May 2nd, 2007 at 2:58 pm
I’ve been trying to get £22.49 out of pipex for nearly 2 months. That’s the cost of a month’s subscription and a modem for a service which, because my village is rural, cannot be provided. They promise it will be in my account in 5 working days, then 7-10 working days, then they admit they didn’t do it and will chase it, then they have the nerve to say I’m not entitled to it and it’s a goodwill gesture, then I call today and some halfwit has credited it to my closed broadband account…..
My argument is that surely, if the service is not being provided (turns out the BT lines won’t support it), I’m entitled to a refund…. I call and email and call and email and just end up completely frustrated.
May 8th, 2007 at 12:39 pm
Oh dear, I also feel your pain, but i wont use the comments section of your blog to rant about the imcompitence of Zen Internet.
I moved over to these guys:
http://www.ukfsn.org/
They are mega in every way.
Also where do I get an Ass Hat?
May 16th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
I feel your pain re Pipex but your story pales when compared to mine
In summary:
Asked for MAC (was loyally being shafted on extortionate Solo1000 package for 3 yrs).
They sold me the Midi on reduced cost (£14 cf £19) FREE firewall/AV s/w. I take it.
Charged me for FREE firewall/AV s/w. Also charged me £4 extra for line. No upgrade.
Called - they say I have to wait 2 months for upgrade and I will face downtime while they upgrade my exchange (I am on an LLU). OH ? that was never mentioned before. In that case I want my MAC.
Am hotlined to some specialist retention person who sweetens the deal promising IMMEDIATE upgrage and NO downtime. Fine - put it in writing and I’ll have it.
No response. All deals are off, I want my MAC.
Eventually given MAC. New ISP says its been used already. Call Pipex,,, ah yes the one we gave you was invalidated by the second one we generated. Great, so give me the second one.
New ISP say now 2nd one is invlaid. WHAT ? Call Pipex… ah yes the 2nd one is invalid as we have started your upgrdae. Hold on a minute ….. what upgrade? I dont want your upgrade, I told you that already. Give me a working MAC!! Okay, we promise to get it once the upgrade completes - 2 days max.
No MAC. Call Pipex. Has the upgrade been done yet ? What upgrade? There’s no upgrade order on your line. And no MAC will work cos your on an LLU. I know that, my future ISP knows that and they say they can use an LLU MAC. Just give me a working MAC or else I’m going to Ofcom!! Ok , ok wait 5 days please. Fine
No MAC. Call Pipex. Where’s my MAC. What MAC ? theres no request on your records.
And so on.
Have written formal letter to Cust Rels. Letter soon to be sent to Which magazine. maybe Watchdog. Then Ofcom. Meantime I have cancelled their DD so await inevitable bill for 2 months usage.
July 20th, 2007 at 4:29 pm
Hehe. Well, my fingers are crossed.
I tried to regrade my Solo1000 package the other day and was told that, due to being on an LLU circuit, it wasn’t possible at the moment and I should try again in a month.
But I want a static IP now.
So I decide to move to Zen. I phone Pipex, and after no more than 5 minutes worth of waiting on hold I’m passed through to cancellations. The guy on the end of the phone was obviously keen to keep me on board, but when I cited the specific reason he put his hands up (well, metaphorically at least) and said that the LLU problem was unlikely to go away. He also said he could give me a MAC but that it may not work (?!).
So I’m now waiting a period of 3-5 days (shyeah right) for my MAC to arrive via email.
I’ll let you know…
August 5th, 2007 at 8:36 am
I’m having the same problems as Jas.
I’ve only been waiting 3+ weeks for my MAC which they said would take 5 days.
3 phones calls and 3 email (which they dont respond to) later - still nothing.
They are an absolute nightmare….
And I too have fallen foul to there incompetent billing service.
They called me out of the blue wanting 5 months £125+ payment because they ‘forgot’ to charge me!.
they really are shocking, avoid at all costs…