Scargill

“Thank you for continuing to hold, we value your call…”

Does that sound familiar? Does it make you want to pick up a shotgun and blow the phone to pieces?

I have a broadband account with Pipex – one of their £14.99 accounts. I took this up a year ago and a couple of weeks ago I got a letter from Pipex so say we owed them some money. It turns out the credit card I used had timed out. I went to their website to change the card details last week and while I was there I noticed that they now offer what I’m paying £14.99 for – for £9.99 – I queried this and was told “it’s just a newer offer”. So I suggested that as the account was a year old I’d like to move to the new tariff – NO PROBLEM was the reply (how many times have you heard that?)

Today I received an email to say that they had the new credit card details – thank you very much – and just to confirm I’d be charged £14.99 a month from now on.

Erm, no.

Rather than start another email trail I rang them up today (Saturday morning 2nd Feb) and after a considerable period I finally got through to someone .

I spoke to a lady to explain that the £14.99 charge was NOT what we’d agreed – that I’d asked to be moved to the £9.99 account. She explained that she could change this now no problem – then came back to say the system would not allow her to do this – and gave me a telephone number – 08045 0772537.

I rang that number and once again listened to “we value your call….” this time with a warning that it would take at least 6 minutes to answer the call.

I’m sorry, there IS only one reason for these messages – and it’s not too many customers – it’s TOO FEW STAFF! Like many big companies – they can’t care THAT much!! The call cost I could care less about – I value my TIME!!

When I finally got through, I explained I wanted to transfer to the £9.99 account – no problem, but THEN I was then told that due to technical difficulties they could NOT transfer me to the cheaper number!! I suggested that if they could not do this, I’d like to CANCEL the account, get my MAC number and go somewhere else – there are plenty of options out there.

I was polite through all of this… yet the operator made NO attempt to keep my business.

“No problem – ring 0871 2225550 and press option 4” said he..

Well, actually there was no option 4, it was option 1 THEN option 4…

The automated voice on THAT number told me that in fact if I wanted to cancel the account, I should ring 0845 072 2865.

This I did and I was then told by ANOTHER automated voice that this number was no longer valid and I should ring 0871 222 6366.

The automated voice on THAT number told me that the office is closed and I should ring back on Monday.

Is it possible for a company to get any nearer to gross incompetence than this? At times, Orange come a close second but I think this beats the lot – 6 telephone calls over 3 days only to get NO-WHERE.

I rang them back on Monday and I spoke to a gentleman – sounded mexican – who was very difficult to understand. I explained I wanted a MAC code and to cancel the account. He said I could not do both at once. After a long conversation he told me I’d receive the MAC code via email WITHIN 5 WORKING DAYS (I can’t help thinking it takes seconds to organise). I then have to go to another provider within 30 days and THEN let Pipex know that I no longer need the account.

As he was thanking me and putting the phone down – I asked him if he had space on the record for NOTES. I asked him to make a note to state that at NO time had anyone asked me WHY I was cancelling the account. He said he would make a note (had it been me I’d have asked there and THEN why the customer was leaving – but I guess that’s why I dont’ work in a call centre).

I await my MAC number…. such a shame, they could have sorted this out if they could have been bothered.

Pipex. Just say NO!