Hi all,
I thought I should share my experience with Pipex after being covertly switched to the Tiscali platform, I would urge anyone thinking of joining Tiscali or Pipex to reconsider as I would not wish the experience I continue to be put through on anyone else.
Buyer Beware as they say.
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From: Kenny Stuart
To:
customerservices@pipex.net;
gary.rodgus@pipex.net
Subject: Pipex ADSL Service
Date: Tue, 9 Sep 2008 10:41:03 +0000
Dear Mr Rodgus,
A short while ago I received a call from pipex inviting me to take advantage of a special offer of reducing my pipex max unlimited broadband service costs from £24.99 to £17.01 and also reducing my line rental costs a little, the reason given for making this offer was the that I was a longstanding and loyal customer, my primary concern was that there would be no change to the broadband service I currently receive and was repeatedly assured both by the operator and her supervisor that there would be no change to my broadband service, I understand you record all calls and would invite you to review the call to establish the validity of what I have said.
I have now discovered that my broadband service has been fundamentally changed in at least two ways, firstly, without my knowledge or consent I have been migrated from the pipex network to the tiscali network, a noticeably poorer performing network, secondly, and again without my knowledge or consent, my broadband service has been changed from pipex max unlimited to pipex lite, with a light user usage cap of just 3GB, further, without being informed beforehand I am being charged for any usage above 3GB and have just been issued an invoice in the absurd amount of £94 for a month of service.
In not being properly informed by your operator or her supervisor of the real changes pipex intended to make to my service I was clearly and deliberately mislead by your company, a contract acquired in such a manner is legally null and void and you are obliged to return my service to the status quo before any such changes took place, alternatively you may provide me with a migration authorization code and allow my broadband service to be properly migrated to another provider, this would be preferable as I shall be moving from pipex either way.
In view of the above the bank has been instructed that direct debits from your company are no longer authorized, equally I am informing you that your company is no longer authorized to make direct debits against my account, once the charges reflect what they would have been before the inception of this void contract and I can see confirmation of this online and in an email from a person of authority in your finance/accounts department I shall instruct the bank to honor such direct debits once again.
Yours sincerely,
Kenny Stuart.
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From: Pipex Customer Services (customerservices@pipex.net)
Sent: 11 September 2008 00:48:11
To: Kenny Stuart
Dear Customer Recently you requested personal assistance from our on-line support center. Below is a summary of your request and our response.
Subject
Pipex ADSL Service
Discussion Thread
Response (Janice Capule) 11/09/2008 01.48 AM
Dear Kenny Stuart,
Thank you for your recent correspondence.
In order to initiate a migration request please contact our Customer Care on 0871 222 5550. Opening hours: 9am - 6pm, Monday - Friday.
This enables us to perform the necessary security checks to ensure all requests originate from the account holder. It also gives us the opportunity to discuss your reasons for migrating.
Please note that the migration of your broadband connection may incur a cancellation fee if you are still within your contract period. The cancellation fee would consist of any remaining months of your contract.
If you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Kind regards,
Janice Capule
Customer Care
Pipex Internet Ltd
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From: Kenny Stuart
Sent: 11 October 2008 17:21:15
To:
customercare@pipex.net
Unfortunately I have been very busy of late and unable to spend the time dealing with the issues regarding my account with you until now.
It is very disappointing that despite having made a number of premium rate phone calls, and been made a number of commitments by your company, those agreements remain unfulfilled and the issues still unresolved.
On the 10th September I spoke to your finance department, after explaining the issues I had with my service charges I was told that charges totaling £63.75 would be credited against invoice number SIN4605691.
Also on the 10th September I spoke with your retentions department and was offered a new service agreement detailed as follows:
A rolling monthly contract allowing me to terminate service in any month without incurring extra costs.
8Mb unlimited broadband.
Free weekend calls in the UK and a selected number of other countries.
Free phone line rental.
No changes to my email accounts.
Service charges of £9.99 per month.
On the 11th September, after being left a message indicating that my service could be suspended, I called your accounts department and was asked to pay the full amount (£94.89) of the invoice previously mentioned, I recapitulated my previous conversation with the finance department and again the operator agreed to remove £63.75 from the invoice, I asked for confirmation of this in writing before renewing my direct debit agreement, I was told that I should receive that letter by the end of the week, however I received a letter the next day demanding £94.89 that I assumed to be a cross post sent prior to my latest conversation.
Becoming increasingly concerned I also called your retentions department on the 11th September to confirm the details previously discussed with them and get assurance that the new service was in effect, I was told it was being processed and that I would received confirmation of the details of the agreed service within a couple of days.
One month on and I have yet to receive a letter reflecting the corrections to my account or the email confirming the new service level agreement made with your retentions department, to add insult to injury I now see that the latest invoice (SIN4627673) indicates that my service level agreement has not been changed. Despite it's posturing, it would appear that your company has taken no notice of the efforts I have made regarding these issues.
Given the commitments your company made to credit £63.75 of invoice SIN4605691 and switch my service contract to the one detailed above I calculate the actual outstanding balance on my account to be:
SIN4605691 £19.99
SIN4627673 £ 9.99
Total £29.98 (inclusive of VAT)
Given the conversations I have had with your company I require confirmation by letter that you will not attempt to draw more funds than the total stated above for those invoices, I also require that you confirm the service as agreed with your retentions department and that it is the current service level agreement I have with you.
On receipt of these confirmations I will renew my direct debit agreement with you.
Although I do not wish the extra inconvenience, if this situation is not satisfactorily resolved withing the next five working days, or you suspend my service, despite this debacle being caused by the inability or unwillingness of your company to move forward on the commitments it made on the 10th September, I shall refer the matter to CISAS for adjudication and take my complaint to the Telecommunications Ombudsman.
I would ask that you avoid causing further anxiety by resolving this issue in a timely and professional manner.
yours sincerely,
Kenny Stuart.
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