Pipex

.../> I signed up for Pipex broadband about five years ago and was immediately impressed. The switch from Easynet was expertly handled with the minimum of fuss. The promised hardware (a wired broadband router and ADSL filters for my phone sockets) arrived very quickly and I was up and running in no time, thanks to the software included in the package, which walked me through the set-up process step by step. I even received a call to notify me that ...
...say I was on a Pipex Xtreme Solo unlimited package with a very modest 1MB download speed, but it was suitable for my usage as my exchange is limited to 6MB anyway. I was paying £17.99 a month for it (VAT inclusive) and was quite happy to pay a little bit extra for the stellar service.


THE SLIDE


Everything good about Pipex changed almost overnight when Tiscali UK (a subsidiary of Tiscali S.p.A – an Italian ... more

BACKGROUND

As an early internet user, I have been online since the bad old days of 24k modem dial-up access in the early 1990s. I consider myself a fairly sophisticated user, and as such, have tended to be quite picky about my Internet Service Provider (ISP). My first ISP was Easynet, who I first signed up with in 1994. Despite giving their customer many years of excellent, first class service, the company decided to shift its focus to the business sector, and re-invented itself as a business to business ISP. Although they did not actively try to shed home users on their dial-up packages, the resources committed to supporting the service (both technically and in terms of technical support at the end of a phone) steadily declined. I finally bowed to the inevitable and started looking for a viable alternative.

HAPPY DAYS WITH PIPEX

I signed up for Pipex broadband about five years ago and was immediately impressed. The switch from Easynet was expertly handled with the minimum of fuss. The promised hardware (a wired broadband router and ADSL filters for my phone sockets) arrived very quickly and I was up and running in no time, thanks to the software included in the package, which walked me through the set-up process step by step. I even received a call to notify me that my connection was live – three days ahead of schedule.

I was so delighted with the contention ratios, customer service and value for money that I convinced several friends and family to switch - and managed to reap some loyalty bonuses as a result (Pipex offered a free month for every new customer you introduced). Calls to the technical support were usually answered in two or three rings, with knowledgeable, patient and courteous staff only too happy to help. Fortunately, the standard of service was so reliable, I rarely had occasion to call, and when I did, it usually turned out to be a hardware issue rather than an ISP issue. I should say I was on a Pipex Xtreme Solo unlimited package with a very modest 1MB download speed, but it was suitable for my usage as my exchange is limited to 6MB anyway. I was paying £17.99 a month for it (VAT inclusive) and was quite happy to pay a little bit extra for the stellar service.

THE SLIDE

Everything good about Pipex changed almost overnight when Tiscali UK (a subsidiary of Tiscali S.p.A – an Italian telecoms and internet company) took over the business in July 2007. To be fair, the change of management passed me by - as I had no technical issues, I had no cause to call their help desk. However, in October 2008, my broadband inexplicably stopped working, so I called the customer technical support number to try and get some help. After thirty minutes on hold, I spoke to a barely intelligible Manila-based (as in the Philippines) call centre flunky who stuck slavishly to a script. I patiently persevered, yet after forty-five fruitless minutes at national call rates and still no obvious solution, the agent told me there was nothing further he could do, and assured me that my +trouble ticket+ had been escalated and I would get a call back from their “second line support”.

Unfortunately, I neglected to ask him how long this would take. In any event, no such call back materialised that day, so I spent forty-five minutes the following afternoon going through the same process and same script with another hopeless flunky with an even thicker Filipino accent than the first chap. After being offered another call back, I refused it, and insisted that I be transferred to second line support immediately. Another twenty-five minutes on hold later, I ended up speaking to yet another apologist who had little idea what the problem could be.

What galled me most was their apparent willingness to transfer me around the houses - absolutely no one took responsibility for resolving the problem, no one actually listened to what I was telling them, no one demonstrated any initiative or common sense, and perhaps most tellingly, no one appeared to care. It was a stark contrast to my previous experiences with Pipex tech support (chalk and cheese) and completely at odds with everything I thought I knew about their standard of service.

EXIT STRATEGY

In desperation, I had a friend who works in IT support pop over to my house to have a look and, after tweaking some settings, he managed to get me up and running in less than five minutes. The only solution offered by Pipex at the time was for me to go out and spend my money on a new router (there was absolutely nothing wrong with the old one), as this would +probably+ fix the issue. I had been without broadband access for over a week and a half at this stage, and, thoroughly fed up, I was determined to leave as soon as possible.

The biggest obstacle to an immediate exit was my e-mail. I had been using the same e-mail address - for over five years - for most things (friends, family, subscription to newsletters, banks etc.) and needed to ensure that I would not lose touch with people who had my Pipex address. I opened a Google web mail account and slowly started transferring all my e-mail off the Pipex service to an ISP agnostic account to facilitate the move to a new ISP (essentially, I wrote to, or updated my e-mail address, with every relevant person and/or organisation who wrote to me for a calendar month, and also e-mailed all my stored contacts to advise of the new e-mail).

Two months after the tech support fiasco, I learned that Tiscali UK were in serious financial trouble, having failed to agree the sale of the Pipex business to BSkyB - news that gave me fresh impetus to leave the ISP as quickly as I could.

SOURCING A REPLACEMENT

I took the opportunity to read some trade magazines for an alternative ISP and was a little taken aback that I was now paying way over the odds for a substandard service. Pipex must have loved my inertia. As previously mentioned, I had, for almost two years, unnecessarily been paying £17.99 a month for a 1MB service, when the industry benchmark was less than £10 for an 8MB service. Internet Magazine was a great resource, and it includes a monthly section ranking ISPs according to a number of criteria. I was not at all surprised to see that Pipex, so often a top five in every category in the past, was now dwelling near the bottom of each list.

A RELUCTANT “RETAINED” CUSTOMER

Having selected a new supplier, I called Pipex for a MAC code (Migration Authorisation Code - a 17 to 19 digit code needed in the UK to change ISP – it has to be provided by your current ISP, free of charge, within five days of your request) to enable the transfer. I was put through to their specialist customer retention team and immediately cross-examined on my reasons for leaving. I was quite frank, matter of fact, and to the point – the chap I spoke to was clearly based in the UK, so no language issues - and gave them full details of the diabolical service I had received, as well as the competitor offer I was thinking of taking up.

Without further prompting, I was immediately offered an unlimited “up to” 8MB service for £7.99 a month, with the first six months free if I signed for another twelve months. The service is subject to a Fair Use Policy, so not technically unlimited, but that’s what they call it these days. I didn’t know whether to laugh (at getting a much better deal on the face of it) or cry (for permitting myself to be such a mug for the last two years) but, in the end, I decided the deal was too good to pass up.

Effectively, I am now paying around £50 for a year’s service, so I have opted to ride out the contract extension in the hope that no further technical issues crop up. That’s hardly a glowing endorsement of the service is it? Meanwhile, my e-mail migration to Google continues, with a view to bailing completely on Pipex as soon as my contract ends.

CURRENT RESIDENTIAL BROADBAND OFFERING

As of May 2009, Pipex has re-badged and re-branded itself as a business-focussed ISP (much as Easynet did before I joined Pipex!), and as such, you will be hard pressed to find any details of their current consumer offerings on their website. It looks like they will continue to service existing residential customers, but are not encouraging any new business (it's likely to be offered as an "add-on" for Pipex business customers). Details of current residential services can only be accessed by current subscribers via the www.mypipex.net web-site.

For the record, existing customers are offered "up to" 8MB broadband with free modem and connection, plus, if you elect to, a telephone call package offering free weekend and evening UK calls. Also provided are free web space for setting up a personal web-site and 12 customisable e-mail mail boxes. You can also access unread messages in your inbox via a webmail facility.

LESSON LEARNED

The biggest learning point for me is to ensure, in future, that I periodically benchmark my service providers to ensure I am getting the best possible deal – even if I am happy with the current service. The same holds true for all services – whether gas, electric, telephone, banking and/or credit cards – whose providers often rely on our inertia and complacency to line their pockets at our expense.

VERDICT

In my opinion, given declining subscriber numbers (the acknowledged metric of success in the ISP business), awful technical support and disinterested customer "service", I would give this once-best in class ISP a wide berth – and I mean a REALLY wide berth. There is much better value to be had from the wide choice of alternative suppliers in the ISP market, particularly now that Pipex has so obviously turned its back on the residential customers that formed the bedrock of its initial success. I will hang on until my renewed conract expires in January 2010 before looking elsewhwre to take my business.

MAY 2009 UPDATE

It has just been announced (on Friday 8th May 2009) that Tiscali UK's assets - including Pipex - have been sold lock, stock and barrel to the Carphone Warehouse. This is good news for existing customers, as it means no disruption to services or e-mail accounts and should signal an end to the disruption, uncertainty and underinvestment that has characterised Tiscali's unsuccessful tenure.

© Hishyeness 2009
 

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