Wednesday 18 June 2008

Hahhaha a last word ... perhaps

I had some spam from Pipex business the other day through the mail. I ignored it.

Yesterday I had a call from them. I told them politely I'd never ever consider going back with them ever.

Tuesday 19 February 2008

Got a reply

By letter saying: Basically its your job to check the price and request a change (Hmm I did mention it on 31st Jan on the phone ... does that not count?)

And by email: Dear Madam

Thank you for your email

I can confirm to you that your account is cancellation pending and will be fully cancelled on the 07/03/2008.

If you have any further queries please don’t hesitate to contact us.

This is a different response to the one I got yesterday from the person who replied originally to my email. Ah well.
Fingers crossed this'll be the end of it.

A cheque would be nice but I won't be holding my breath,

Moral. Check the price every week of your ISP service and complain the minute you're paying too much or the service is rubbish

Monday 18 February 2008

Well it all went too smoothly

I got an email over the weekend stating that pipex were planning to take their direct debit payment at the start of March.
Given that I've cancelled the direct debit, no longer get their service and cancelled (getting a MAC code to switch ISPs on 31st January) I thought they were taking the mickey a bit.

I emailed them telling them I had cancelled the direct debit and would refute any attempt by them to take more money. I had been told on the phone originally when I cancelled that I'd be given a pro-rata refund for any time after I'd cancelled that I paid for.

I'd not got a response by the time I got home from work so I rang them. It's not cheap to do that on their phone line but I felt I really needed to vent my spleen on them.

Three button presses later and I got through to a bloke who at first couldn't find my account as the ID I gave him didn't match up with the name I gave him. Oh what joy. it's been years and still companies have the wrong name on my account information.

The first thing he tried to tell me was I have spoken to someone today about this. I haven't. What he meant is someone has replied to my email but I haven't got it yet. (You don't think it's because their email system is a big laggy on tiscali? )

He then explained that despite me having "cancelled" on 31st January I didn't get a MAC number until 6th February and a MAC code brings with it a 30 day notice period. So basically once you get a MAC code even if you get new internet the next day you have to pay for 30 days of using their internet which you can't get.
[This would take me to 7th March]

Hmm. Sounds really annoyingly bizarre to me. I "cancelled" on 31st - so in my mind even 30 days notice should be up at the end of February but no, here they were demanding more money from me. I had a bit of a go about having been overcharged compared to the new rate. Impossible he tells me that business tarriff has only been out for 10 days. So I tell him at this point I record my phone calls and on the 31st Jan I discussed this new cheaper rate with the girl on the phone so I knew it'd been out for longer than 10 days. He wasn't into discussing that as he was "customer care" and not billing.

So here we are potentially being charged another arm and a leg for internet that was (a) rubbish and (b) not accessible from 14th.

He then told me there is a huge difference between cancelling or requesting a MAC code.

I told her I'd explained to the woman I'd spoken to and she said I was only billed to when the service was changed. He says this was only in the case of quarterly customers. I said this wasn't what she'd told me on the phone.

From Phone call on 31st Jan -
The MAC code is valid for 30 days. You get pro rata credited if you use the MAC before .. you've paid, you pay a month in advance. As soon as the service is with the new provider they will cancel with ourselves and therefore from that day you will get pro-rata credited back.


I asked him to explain the difference between cancelling and asking for a MAC code and he did... but it all seems mad. They claim to drop the tag on your line after 30 days.

Anyway eventually he suddenly changes his mind and says that I'm paid up and won't be billed for anything else. A sudden change of tune but there you go. I've kept the phone calls in a separate folder for listening back to when they try and take the direct debit again.

Anyway it was all going too well so I am seriously expecting them to try and take the direct debit at the start of March.

I'll update you then!

Thursday 14 February 2008

Woohoo new internet is on

As of 14:52 Pipex disconnected us. The phone bipped as if someone had been messing at the exchange and then a short while later we had new internet!

I have newsgroups! Hurray!

Still on pipex... waiting for the changeover

Still on pipex this morning. Was expecting to have no internet when I woke up.

Couldn't get newsgroups at all yesterday so decision to leave is the right one!

Ah well it'll disappear at some point today I spose and then we'll set the new router up!

Tuesday 12 February 2008

New router arrived

I was about to look up my tracking link so I could see where the new router was when Nic told me not to bother.
I was briefly confused until he opened the door and accepted a parcel from the delivery bloke. New router had arrived. Fantastic!

This evening tiscali's version of pipex refuses to let me browse my newsgroups so once again I'm pleased to be leaving!

Sunday 10 February 2008

Router is in the post

Got an email off our new ISP today saying the router is on the way!

this is going remarkably well!

I have written pipex a letter telling them why I'm leaving. Didn't see the point in ringing them again or trying to go through their email system as they don't seem to care, but I felt I had to vent my spleen a bit at them!