problems with pipex and natwest

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15 Jun 2004
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756
To summarize the situation (bit you dont need to read);
I'm a student and last year our house had broadband with pipex. There was an error on the contract they sent me to sign and it didn't specify that the introductory price ever ended. I phoned and complained when they put my quarterly bill up from £45 to £72 and they dug out the contract and after i kicked up a huge fuss they agreed to give me the lower price for the 12 month duration of the contract.

They never sent me a refund (as promised)
I called repeatedly and then the next quarter i was charged £58 which was odd.

When i called back they told me that I had agreed to pay £55 a quarter, at which point i told them to stop the bare faced lies and go and get my contract. I asked for a photocopy of it to be posted to me. As soon as i asked for this they mysteriously lost my contract. Eventually I agreed to pay £55 a quarter (still a big discount) and i told them to send me my refund immediately. I still recieved no refund after a month so I called them back again. By this point I had a direct number to the supervisor at the office.
When i called they told me that i was due no refund, and my next payment would be £60 as agreed on my last call.

By this point i was very, very angry with them. I demanded to speak to this supervisors boss and she wouldnt tell me who it was, said they didnt deal with customer service issues. Even when i said that I wasn't making a complaint about my service and that i wished to make a complaint about the supervisors conduct I was told where to stick it.

Eventually they got so sick of me calling every day to ask for my refund they said they would call it quits and not charge me for the final quarter. This means that the sum of what I had payed was less than if they had just charged me £45 a quarter in the 1st place.
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And now the important bit.


I requested a mac code at the end of my 12 months and moved to UKOnline who have been superb. During this process i confirmed with pipex that i would not be charged by them again. They confirmed this.

A couple of days before that switch was complete (In JULY) a direct debit went out of my acount for £78 odd to pipex. Now I was really mad, i called them and they promised to send me a cheque as they had done many times before and i wasnt satisfied.

I went into the bank and asked for them to reverse the unauthorised direct debit near the end of july. They said it should take a month or so at the most.
It is now mid october and I am still without my money, the bank have just told me they cant do anything until mid november, when they can ask pipex to give the the money AGAIN and then nothing can be done for two months after that. I think that two and a half months is long enough to see that pipex have no intention of refunding me and to pursue my money with a little more dilligence than just a request.
The most irritating this is that i have to go into the bank every 8 weeks and register that I am still holding that complaint or they just close that file.

Is there anyhting i can do or say at the bank to get them to give me my money back, 80 odd quid is quite a lot for a student to be down, but its the principle more than anything.
 
they are breaking the law then, as any unauthorised direct debits have to be refunded by law...

Either way i'd write them a threatening letter that if you don't have the £78 back in your account by Xth of X you will begin legal action against the company for theft

>| Raoh |<
 
thanks, after having poste dthis i;ve gone and read up on the direct debit guaruntee and the bank are also inthe wrong, as they should have immediately refunded my money regardless of who made the error, i'm waiting for a call back from them. One the bank refund me I will contact ofcom and inform them of what happened on the offchance that they can fine pipex, which i would really enjoy :D
 
Ofcom acts as a "mediator" between yourself and Pipex. Also they are the watchdog in the telecomms industries. They have authority over the companies, such as Pipex, BT, etc. and they set them straight when needed.

I used them about 3 years ago, when BT kept charging me for internet costs i didn't have any longer. This further complicated and i was getting nowhere speaking and writing to BT.

After i had made a formal complaint with oftel, a few days later I received an apology phonecall from BT, they refunded my money and gave me a compensation for my grief!!

this should be interesting for you:
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/complain/internet/isp/overcharged/
 
Pipex customer service flat out sucks from my experiences. We have had our package upgraded and we are continually being disconnected. I followed procedures with Pipex after having waited on hold for over 30 minutes. I carried out what they told me to do and called them back like they requested so they could contact BT about the line.

I was on hold for an hour. I hung up. Obviously I was annoyed since the answer message thing says "your call will be answered in approximately 10 minutes". I sent them an email saying to fix our problem by Sunday evening or lose a loyal customer (we've been with them over 4 years) or call me back, because I wouldn't be spending any more time on hold for them.

Needless to say, nothing has been done. I haven't been called back, we're still getting disconnected. So I'll be cancelling our subscription with them.

Granted by upgrading our package we committed to another 12 months of their 'service'. Considering the state of their customer services, I'm not going to hold my breathe, but I'd like to think they will forget this 12 month committment as a token of good will.

Something tells me they won't...
 
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