Pipex

[Mudster]

Under no circumstances ever deal with this company, their incompetence knows no bounds, their service is simply appalling.

We have had to stop our direct debit as they simply withdrew random amounts of money at random times during the month for no reason.

I had to threaten court action to obtain a refund as they simply refuse to recognise the Direct Debit Guarantee scheme operated by the banks of which they are a member.

It took 6 months and in excess of 25 calls to them to get the account set up correctly how they had sold it to us.

This month they decided to no longer send out paper bills, they issue ebills...except they don't send them to the email address you use they send them to a username account which I'm yet to get an explanation of how to access.

The service is a joke, the internet throttled to 300kbps, the only way to contact them is via a premium rate 0871 number then talk to Manilla.....

I've had enough, I called in yesterday to request a MAC code - which takes up to 5 working days......our phone was cut off this morning less than 12 hours after the code request which has yet to be supplied.

The incompetence of Pipex is astronomical, how they are still in business is a miracle!

I'm considering Virgin Media...any horror stories about them?

 

[Dieselman]

I'm considering Virgin Media...any horror stories about them?

Not the cheapest but their packages do what they say and broadband runs at full speed.

 

[Mudster]

Not the cheapest but their packages do what they say and broadband runs at full speed.

I'm less concerned about the deal, more concerned about quality (within reason of course).

When Pipex asked me what I'd like to stay I explained if they offered me the service I'm currently getting for free I'd still want to move...

So far I've only heard good things about Virgin and as we're in a non cable area we can only take phone and broadband and have to stick with Sky for TV.

 

[flango]

I have heard some real horror stories about PIPEX and your post makes me glad I went no where near them. I'm on Sky on a 8 meg connection never had any issues 100% reliable although a couple of pals are on Virgin media and again 100% reliable but not the cheapest. I got my deal from Sky as part of a TV Multiroom, phone, Internet package. Pay £57 per month for full Sky (every channel) in 3 rooms, Phone including unlimited free calls to UK landline numbers day or night and an 8 meg broadband connection. I had to negotiate hard but they did the deal in the end, Just a thought if you can get Sky in your area. I also have friends with lesser packages with Sky inc BB which you can get for £17.99 / month

 

[kwakdonut]

I have been with Sky since last year and suprisingly, have found them to be trouble free and very helpful when needed!! This is probably flukey and a one off though.....lol

Nice fast, reliable broadband (have just done a speed test and am getting 5Mb on a Saturday lunchtime!!!)

 

[flango]

I have been with Sky since last year and suprisingly, have found them to be trouble free and very helpful when needed!! This is probably flukey and a one off though.....lol

Nice fast, reliable broadband (have just done a speed test and am getting 5Mb on a Saturday lunchtime!!!)

My experience too, speed and reliability have been brilliant, no complaints from me :bannana:

 

[Sp!ke]

I dont think you'll have an entirely satisfactory experience from Virgin either... amd you'll be tied in because there's no competition and you'll no longer have a BT line.

 

[HughJarse]

I moved from pipex to sky for exact same reason. Been here 2 years and never had problem.

 

[Dryce]

I had to threaten court action to obtain a refund as they simply refuse to recognise the Direct Debit Guarantee scheme operated by the banks of which they are a member.

This so-called direct debit "guaratee" is worthless.

DDs are fine when everything works but it just takes one to go wrong and it's like stopping a juggernaut to unwind the ensuing mess.

 

[Shude]

It's a shame that Pipex have this side of their business screwed up as they were one of the last of the old-school, traditional ISPs and the first in the UK.

 

[rf065]

I moved to Sky & have found them to be excellent, you can check your bill etc on line & make any changes your package, usually within half an hour.

Virgin media have some real horror stories in the press & TV, when it goes wrong.

TV expert tip for top broadband services last week was Zen for a month to month contract, Sky for normal broadband and 02 came third, but only if you are an existing customer, otherwise the cost is higher.


Russ

 

[fuzzer]

ive got virgin media and found them to be alright.

Ive had a Virgin.net account since 1996 before they were bought over by NTL and i can say as long as you get the callcentre in wales you are fine. I Make a point of hanging up on the asian based callcentre in order to get through to wales. It works on a round robin and you eventually get them .

Branson only has a small share ... somewhere around 5% so its just NTL with a fancy name above the door.

 

[mw2510]

I'm considering Virgin Media...any horror stories about them?

if you don't have cable and have to use the phone line i would not recommend virgin from my experience. they were ok until about a year or so ago then there service became terrible especially slow speeds and customer service.



mark.

 

[recycled]

never had a problem with sky too.
I tend to associate virgin anything, with trains so i stay clear.

 

[Mudster]

We don't get cable, so that rules out a lot of options fo us.

Sky we can only get "Sky connect" @ £17 a month minimum broadband only i.e not the decent service.

So Virgin is effectively NTL? Well that rules it out if we haven't got cable....

Looks like it's BT then for the internet....I've not had problems with them at work or all the years I had them at my other home....

Unless anyone else has any other ideas?

 

[nickcc101]

Been with BT total broadband for a couple of years without any problems. When i thought to change to SKY BT dropped the monthly charge from £26.99 down to £19.99 with free weekend and evening calls. It pays to haggle if you can.

 

[rf065]

We don't get cable, so that rules out a lot of options fo us.

Sky we can only get "Sky connect" @ £17 a month minimum broadband only i.e not the decent service.

Looks like it's BT then for the internet....I've not had problems with them at work or all the years I had them at my other home....

Unless anyone else has any other ideas?

I think Sky charge £17 a month for the TV service with free broadband up to 2MB. If you want to upgrade the broadband to 8MB or 16MB it costs an extra £5 and £10.

I moved from BT to Sky & pay £8 a month less, but get hundreds of TV channels that I never had before. Plus, I've found Sky customer service to be far superior to BT.

Russ

 

[nickcc101]

I think Sky charge £17 a month for the TV service with free broadband up to 2MB. If you want to upgrade the broadband to 8MB or 16MB it costs an extra £5 and £10.

I moved from BT to Sky & pay £8 a month less, but get hundreds of TV channels that I never had before. Plus, I've found Sky customer service to be far superior to BT.

Russ

Tried for free Sky broadband, as per tv advert, but not in my area. Sky wanted £17.99 per month for broadband plus Sky + charge.

 

[Mudster]

Tried for free Sky broadband, as per tv advert, but not in my area. Sky wanted £17.99 per month for broadband plus Sky + charge.

Same problem I have, to give us any service at all we were up over £50 a month before any premium channels were added.

I think our lack of cable makes us a BT customer (I've never really had major issues with them over the years like all these other package companies).

 

[HughJarse]

If you use Sam Knows, it will tell what you can get and what maybe coming
www.samknows.com
and the search option
http://www.samknows.com/broadband/search.php