Pipex is fast becoming the benchmark for appalling customer service worthy of losing the loyalty of existing customers and rejection by prospective customers.
Why?
The company themselves recognise how appalling they are at coping with customers, agents appear to be inadequately trained in the companies organisational structure, and have a propensity to make attempts to resolve problems that they neither have ability, knowledge or desire to fulfil.
A straightforward application for changing the process of payment from credit card to direct debit exposed that this deplorable business are incapable of completing a simple request.
The nightmare began on 14th Oct. Initially given a timescale of 7-10 days (a timescale banded about by most ISP’s) for completion.
It was 2nd Nov 06 I was asked for account details I returned this information by email, this done I expected no more problems.
HAH!
My details will be passed on to the appropriate department I was informed this on 7th Nov.06 by the finance department.
On the 14th Nov. someone telephoned from the same department asking to take payment by credit card because they were too late to set up the direct debit request. I reluctantly agreed, this meant monthly direct debit payments would start in January 07, this they agreed will be the case - it was their fault and they were sorry.
On 15th Nov I received email from the same department telling me they could not do anything as I had an amount outstanding on my account. I returned the story so far.
Checking bank statements on 22nd Dec, I found that no payments had been taken at all, I rang and after a wait of 14 minutes I spoke to agent Chris, he informed me that nothing had been done, yes it was completely their fault, but there was nothing he could do about it until billing was open. I was angry and asked to speak to someone in authority, this did not happen, I said this service was appalling I had been a customer for almost 3 years, I was told that it didn’t matter how long I thought I had been a customer they only identify customers on a yearly basis. I was angry and requested a MAC code, as I would go elsewhere, the operator was very abrupt and unpleasant and was reluctant to give it to me, and he at length said it would be e-mailed.
When it arrived the disconnect date was 22nd December 06.
On the 23rd November I e-mailed Mr. X Sales & Service Director Pipex, thanking him for the code and told him the story so far and letting him know I would consider whether to migrate or not, and could he close the account on 22nd December as I had paid for the service till 20th January 07.
Pipex were unable to locate my account please send details, these duly returned. On 17th November.
18th December – email from Pipex confirming the account would be open until 20th Jan. 07. I returned an email thanking Pipex and said I would still like to hear from Mr. X.
I had a message from a Mr. Y, a shoddily written one saying sorry and they had taken on board what I had said, -this was purportedly on Mr. X’s behalf.
I contacted Pipex on 19th Dec. asking for clarification of the service I would get should I decide not to migrate, they confirmed the service to continue as is, and payments monthly by direct debit starting 20th Jan. 07. This was duly confirmed and requested that I confirmed that I was NOT migrating. I sent that confirmation asking for all relevant departments to be advised, I received that confirmation and the migration request was cancelled. I returned an email thanking them and looked forward to a future problem free service.
The total people involved at Pipex NINE, all assuring the highest customer service.
But wait there’s more.
On 19th January 07 at 8pm our Internet service became unavailable, I checked the router and all connections and at 9.05pm I called Pipex, they were closed.
Saturday 20th Jan 07 I rang Pipex and was put through to the technical department, Asuf (the agent, my apologies to him if I have his name wrong) did what he could, he gave me another ID to log on with, authentication refused, then he ran a line test and found that there was a ‘seize’ on the line stopping Internet and other services. It turned out that Pipex had not informed BT and they had blocked the line, he couldn't’t do anything about it until Monday, he agreed it was their entire fault; customer services would deal with it on Monday. I asked him if he thought this was fair, he said it wasn’t. I asked to speak to someone in authority, he said the supervisor would ring me back; of course this did not happen.
In the morning of 22nd Jan, I rang the infamous customer service and asked to speak to the imperceptible Mr Mr. X, Gala the agent didn’t know who this person was and what was my user id. I asked if she could give me Mr. X’s phone number, she said they didn’t have a number for him.
I was determined to speak to someone in authority. Gayla was just as determined not to let me. I explained that I needed to speak to someone in authority as I was unhappy, and gave a brief explanation adding - I wanted to discuss some form of compensation for my inconvenience, she told me the line could not be enlivened, so I asked forcefully to speak to her line manager.
A team leader to the phone and before I could say anything said the line could not be enlivened (A strange term), I said that it was their fault; he agreed that point, I repeated I wanted the line restored quickly, and said it was impossible.
So what now? I asked.
I could sign up for a NEW contract was his reply.
Would this contract be the same as the old one?
NO – It would cost £7 per month more making it £24.99
Will this tie me in to Pipex for 12 months?
Yes, it would.
I told him I wanted the same service they had broken, without a further 12month tie in, cant be done he said.
I asked to speak to his superior, he said he wouldn't’t come to the phone, I asked again - he became quite loud and told me I could not tell him what I wanted and accused me of being abusive – he was still shouting when I hung up. We were getting nowhere.
The technical service backed up the fact that the seize could not be removed, agreeing that it seemed it was their fault as he read an email of theirs to me confirming the migration had been cancelled on 29th Dec. 06.
I tried to speak to Gayla - but couldn't’t, so Shane checked the account. An Invoice raised on the 20th Jan 07 showed no value due, I was checking to see if they had taken money without providing a service, I told him that I wanted my account closing and all personal information removed from their system, only time will tell as I cannot check online, and they have not contacted me.
Pipex sees itself as a leading communications provider. It boasts of awards they have won, yet, they seem to be the worst for customer service among most providers, (many forums carry posts - dissatisfied with Pipex.).
They have people like Mr. X who are un-contactable, or do not exist, yet send e-mails. I believe their TV adverts should carry a warning about their inability to service simple requests from customers, and that they close in the evenings and at weekends, heaven help those who have technical problems, it seems that collectively this company could not be relied on to do anything that remotely resembles customer service.
Being disabled and partially sighted the internet brings the world to me, my wife uses it for shopping and banking, and our children need it for research, 2 are doing degrees and 2 A levels, another GCSE |
