stan_deezy
Lieutenant Commander
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2003
- Messages
- 1,539
<Rant mode on><br /><br />So I'm with a telephone company in the UK called Pipex Homecall. Their rates are pretty good: for £12.50 monthly I get to make as many national calls day 24/7 without any extra charges. I also get broadband and line rental through the same company. Up until recently the service was great but then I made a mistake: I asked for a new telephone number (getting too many nuisance calls). Here's what happened next:<br /><br />1. request the number change in November 2005. Repeated phone calls and emails until March of this year and they finally change the number. <br /><br />2. They apologise for the delay blaming "the system"..........hmmmm, methinks they mean "the humans that operate the system".<br /><br />3. Our braodband connection goes down three weeks later. I phone them and get told that they need to disconnect the broadband and then reconnect it to the new number? Eh? But surely the line hasn't changed, only the number? Surely it's a simple switcheroo on a computer? Nope! Apparently I have become a whole new customer. <br /><br />4. More bad news: it will take up to 14 days to reconnect the broadband.<br /><br />5. More bad news: using their dial-up service costs me money (it didn't before!)<br /><br />6. More bad news: they haven't invested in the dial-up service so it drops out between 2 and 5 minutes all the time.<br /><br />7. I start using another ISP which will cost the same phone rate but is more reliable, still on dial-up.<br /><br />8. More bad news: my phone bill arrives and I've been charged full rate for all my calls! Human error is blamed at Homecall. Can I have my money back? Errr, yes, sort of, we will credit you money on your next bill. Hmmm, not good enough, I want my money back in my hand, not on your system. Sorry, "the system" won't allow us to do that! Hmmm, "that pesky system again"!!<br /><br />9. Even more bad news: I wasn't being charged when using their dial-up after all: but I was charged when I used the more reliable one!<br /><br />10. Yet more bad news (and this is a cracker!)......a letter arrives stating "we cannot fulfill your order for Homecall Broadband due to incompatible services on this line. Please phone British Telecom (who own the exchanges and lines in the UK) for help". The letter gives me a BT telephone number that is a year out of date! I phone the correct number. The engineer tests the line and laughs and then says "the incompatible service marked on your line is.............drum roll please..........."Homecall Broadband" sir!" 
<br /><br />11. I telephone Homecall and they inform me that (you know what's coming next don't you?) "the system made a mistake and did not remove the broadband marker on your line". Nope, says I, "the system" didn't make a mistake. The mistake was made by a nethandertal muppet who crawled from the primeval swamp and hasn't evolved opposible thumbs and enough brain cells for rational thought <br /><br />12. As of today I have been told it will take another 30 days before broadband is reconnected.<br /><br />In the last three days I have made five calls to Pipex Homecall and each time I've asked the "operative" at the other end if they know a Mr Carberry........................they didn't, not one of them knew who he was. I do. I know. In fact I've written to him. He's their boss. The director of customer services no less. Strange how not one employee that I've spoken to in customer services knows his name.<br />I have a feeling that when my letter lands on his breakfast table (I web searched and found his home address!) they will shortly afterwards be very well acquainted with his name, perhaps even the inside of his office and, with a bit of luck, the inside of a unemployment office <br /><br />Will I recommend Pipex Homecall as a good telecoms provider? Ha! Ha! Ha! What do you think? </rant mode off><br /><br />oooh I feel better now. A bit light-headed, but better. Time to take my medication and settle down a bit..perhaps a nice cup of tea and some web-surfing...............doh!!!!!
<br /><br />11. I telephone Homecall and they inform me that (you know what's coming next don't you?) "the system made a mistake and did not remove the broadband marker on your line". Nope, says I, "the system" didn't make a mistake. The mistake was made by a nethandertal muppet who crawled from the primeval swamp and hasn't evolved opposible thumbs and enough brain cells for rational thought <br /><br />12. As of today I have been told it will take another 30 days before broadband is reconnected.<br /><br />In the last three days I have made five calls to Pipex Homecall and each time I've asked the "operative" at the other end if they know a Mr Carberry........................they didn't, not one of them knew who he was. I do. I know. In fact I've written to him. He's their boss. The director of customer services no less. Strange how not one employee that I've spoken to in customer services knows his name.<br />I have a feeling that when my letter lands on his breakfast table (I web searched and found his home address!) they will shortly afterwards be very well acquainted with his name, perhaps even the inside of his office and, with a bit of luck, the inside of a unemployment office <br /><br />Will I recommend Pipex Homecall as a good telecoms provider? Ha! Ha! Ha! What do you think? </rant mode off><br /><br />oooh I feel better now. A bit light-headed, but better. Time to take my medication and settle down a bit..perhaps a nice cup of tea and some web-surfing...............doh!!!!!
