Well, it's official. When a company behaves in an outrageously shabby way there is no-one you can ask for help. You have to swallow the shit (pardon the language but I have finally been pushed over the edge) or you have pay bills that are blatant robbery just to end the nightmare that is Pipex.
I made a detailed complaint, first to OFCOM, who directed me to OTELO. I took OTELO's advice and followed Pipex's complaint procedure as far as was possible. No joy, so I went back to OTELO. I listed my problems and the actions I had taken. Today I received their response. Not only did they not read my complaint properly - I had the address and had written - they are not going to do anything. Why was I surprised? Here is their letter:
10th January 2007
Dear Mrs Stephens
COMPLAINT ABOUT PIPEX HOMECALL LIMITED
Thank you for your on-line complaint received on 3 January 2007.
I have tried to contact you by telephone this morning but, unfortunately you were unavailable.
I understand that you had difficulty obtaining the address for the Customer Relations Team. At
this stage, I would advise you to write one last time, providing copies of your previous complaint
correspondence to the following address:
Customer Relations
Pipex Homecall
Christie Fields
Derwent Avenue
Manchester
M21 7QS
Please keep a copy of this letter and allow 10 working days to receive a response. If you are not
satisfied with the way that Pipex Homecall sort the problem out please contact Otelo
If you need any further information please contact us on 0845 050 1614 or e-mail
enquiries@otelo.org.uk quoting the above reference number.
Yours sincerely
Carol Wishart
Enquiry Officer
I mailed them back telling them what I thought of their organisation. Very politely of course.
I am just so sick of all the cowboys and crooks, and feeling so powerless.
Wednesday 10 January 2007
Sunday 7 January 2007
My Problems With Pipex Homecall
I used to be a Pipex Homecall customer. In August I signed up with Talk Talk. I received a letter from Pipex confirming that I was leaving them on the 15th of September and that Talk Talk would be taking over my calls AND line rental.
I then received a bill from Pipex for line rental from the 24th September to 24th October. I phoned them. They said that I had requested that Pipex keep my line rental. Rubbish. I have the letter from Pipex that states otherwise.
I then received bills for October, November, December and now January. I phone them every month and every month they tell me more lies.
I have been told that the bill is for "legacy charges" for July, then August - bills I can prove that I have paid. I have been told that Talk Talk requested that Pipex keep the line rental and that I would be charged £165 to transfer it. Another Lie.
I have written to them twice. They denied getting the first letter. I sent the second one recorded delivery. They denied getting it until I told them that I had tracked it through the Royal Mail website and had a copy of the signature of their employee who had signed for the letter. They then refused to discuss my case further and said that a manager would call me within 24 hours.
On three occasions they have promised 24 hour call backs and have not called. On the last occasion I - being rather wound up - stayed in my house for 24 hours. They did not phone. I called them and they said that they had called at 4pm and got no reply. THEY DID NOT CALL.
I tried to follow their complaints procedure only to be told that the Customer Relations Team, described in their code of conduct document, a) did not exist, b) will not talk to me, c) could not talk to me as there was only one person on duty and he was busy, d) would call me back in 24 hours.
I do not owe Pipex this money. I will not pay it and I am not going to lose my good credit history for this lying, thieving bunch of crooks.
UPDATE: I have mailed Pipex's Press Officer Dana Loftus. I will publish her response here - if I get one.
10th January
UPDATE: After mailing Ms Loftus, I got a response. It sounds very promising. Pity it took mailing her this blog, and others, to get a reaction. Call me a cynic but I will see what the next bill says before I believe that this has been resolved. Here is the response from her office. She obviously doesn't dirty her hands personally with this kind of thing:
Dear Mrs Stephens
Customer Reference: xxxxxxxx
I write in response to your recent complaint correspondence regarding your Pipex Homecall account and services. Please allow me to express my sincere apologies for any inconvenience and stress caused whilst this issue has persisted.
You expressed dissatisfaction in your email, and advised of the actions you have taken in complaint, as you have received bills for an account that you have been advised was cancelled.
I apologise that due to system errors there has been a delay in the full cancellation of your account.
I can confirm that the error has been identified and corrected, and your account should be fully closed on your next billing date. I have also made arrangements to clear any outstanding balance on the account, thus removing any incorrect charges.
Once again, please accept my sincerest apologies for time taken to resolve this issue and any inconvenience caused. I hope that this resolution is to your satisfaction, and should you require further assistance please do not hesitate to contact Pipex Customer Care on 0870 220 2112 who will be happy to answer any queries you may have.
Yours sincerely
Akwasi Atuah
Customer Relations Executive
Pipex Ltd
I then received a bill from Pipex for line rental from the 24th September to 24th October. I phoned them. They said that I had requested that Pipex keep my line rental. Rubbish. I have the letter from Pipex that states otherwise.
I then received bills for October, November, December and now January. I phone them every month and every month they tell me more lies.
I have been told that the bill is for "legacy charges" for July, then August - bills I can prove that I have paid. I have been told that Talk Talk requested that Pipex keep the line rental and that I would be charged £165 to transfer it. Another Lie.
I have written to them twice. They denied getting the first letter. I sent the second one recorded delivery. They denied getting it until I told them that I had tracked it through the Royal Mail website and had a copy of the signature of their employee who had signed for the letter. They then refused to discuss my case further and said that a manager would call me within 24 hours.
On three occasions they have promised 24 hour call backs and have not called. On the last occasion I - being rather wound up - stayed in my house for 24 hours. They did not phone. I called them and they said that they had called at 4pm and got no reply. THEY DID NOT CALL.
I tried to follow their complaints procedure only to be told that the Customer Relations Team, described in their code of conduct document, a) did not exist, b) will not talk to me, c) could not talk to me as there was only one person on duty and he was busy, d) would call me back in 24 hours.
I do not owe Pipex this money. I will not pay it and I am not going to lose my good credit history for this lying, thieving bunch of crooks.
UPDATE: I have mailed Pipex's Press Officer Dana Loftus. I will publish her response here - if I get one.
10th January
UPDATE: After mailing Ms Loftus, I got a response. It sounds very promising. Pity it took mailing her this blog, and others, to get a reaction. Call me a cynic but I will see what the next bill says before I believe that this has been resolved. Here is the response from her office. She obviously doesn't dirty her hands personally with this kind of thing:
Dear Mrs Stephens
Customer Reference: xxxxxxxx
I write in response to your recent complaint correspondence regarding your Pipex Homecall account and services. Please allow me to express my sincere apologies for any inconvenience and stress caused whilst this issue has persisted.
You expressed dissatisfaction in your email, and advised of the actions you have taken in complaint, as you have received bills for an account that you have been advised was cancelled.
I apologise that due to system errors there has been a delay in the full cancellation of your account.
I can confirm that the error has been identified and corrected, and your account should be fully closed on your next billing date. I have also made arrangements to clear any outstanding balance on the account, thus removing any incorrect charges.
Once again, please accept my sincerest apologies for time taken to resolve this issue and any inconvenience caused. I hope that this resolution is to your satisfaction, and should you require further assistance please do not hesitate to contact Pipex Customer Care on 0870 220 2112 who will be happy to answer any queries you may have.
Yours sincerely
Akwasi Atuah
Customer Relations Executive
Pipex Ltd
Saturday 6 January 2007
Welcome to the site
If you have any comments regarding Pipex Broadband or Pipex Homecall please feel free to post them on this site.
Reason for this Blog
I have been treated extremely badly by Pipex Homecall and cannot get any sastisfaction from their customer service people. I need somewhere to vent my spleen before I give myself a coronary.Details of my "case" to follow.I would like anyone who has been treated badly, mislead or lied to by Pipex to post on this site. I will the e-mail the site to Pipex at regular intervals until they get the message.Thanks.
Who to contact at Pipex
I will work at getting a comprehensive list of people to contact at Pipex. I think if I make it personal I might get a response.
I'll start with Mark Carberry. He is Director of Customer Operations for Pipex Homecall.
Address: Pipex Homecall, Christie Fields, Derwent Avenue, Manchester M21 7QS
I have written to this chap twice. Pipex deny getting either letter even though I sent the second one recorded delivery and have a printed copy of the signature of the person at Pipex who signed for the letter from Royal Mail.
I will post contact details for broadband users as soon as I get them.
Another contact:
Press Officer Dana Loftus
can be mailed at dana.loftus@pipex.net
Here is a great site for you to visit, register and comment about Pipex:
www.pipexproblems.co.uk
Another site - made me laugh this one:
www.poopex.co.uk
Take a look at these forums and blogs:
http://forum.moneysupermarket.com/forums/thread/3929.aspx
http://forum.moneysupermarket.com/forums/thread/5769.aspx
http://pipexcommunicationsplc.com
http://kierenmccarthy.co.uk/2006/12/01/pipex-on-determined-route-to-self-destruction/
http://www.broadband-help.com/providers/reviews/61
http://pete.nu/blog/2006/12/pipex-dont-care-anymore
http://safle.org/wordpress/2006/12/14/what-isp-is-best-not-pipex-homecall.html
This links to a review of Pipex Business Broadband Services. Makes interesting reading:
http://www.platinax.co.uk/blog/10-bt-business-broadband/
Reason for this Blog
I have been treated extremely badly by Pipex Homecall and cannot get any sastisfaction from their customer service people. I need somewhere to vent my spleen before I give myself a coronary.Details of my "case" to follow.I would like anyone who has been treated badly, mislead or lied to by Pipex to post on this site. I will the e-mail the site to Pipex at regular intervals until they get the message.Thanks.
Who to contact at Pipex
I will work at getting a comprehensive list of people to contact at Pipex. I think if I make it personal I might get a response.
I'll start with Mark Carberry. He is Director of Customer Operations for Pipex Homecall.
Address: Pipex Homecall, Christie Fields, Derwent Avenue, Manchester M21 7QS
I have written to this chap twice. Pipex deny getting either letter even though I sent the second one recorded delivery and have a printed copy of the signature of the person at Pipex who signed for the letter from Royal Mail.
I will post contact details for broadband users as soon as I get them.
Another contact:
Press Officer Dana Loftus
can be mailed at dana.loftus@pipex.net
Here is a great site for you to visit, register and comment about Pipex:
www.pipexproblems.co.uk
Another site - made me laugh this one:
www.poopex.co.uk
Take a look at these forums and blogs:
http://forum.moneysupermarket.com/forums/thread/3929.aspx
http://forum.moneysupermarket.com/forums/thread/5769.aspx
http://pipexcommunicationsplc.com
http://kierenmccarthy.co.uk/2006/12/01/pipex-on-determined-route-to-self-destruction/
http://www.broadband-help.com/providers/reviews/61
http://pete.nu/blog/2006/12/pipex-dont-care-anymore
http://safle.org/wordpress/2006/12/14/what-isp-is-best-not-pipex-homecall.html
This links to a review of Pipex Business Broadband Services. Makes interesting reading:
http://www.platinax.co.uk/blog/10-bt-business-broadband/
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