Loss ...

On the 10th December 2008 I had a partial loss of Internet connection.  Not the first time it'd happened.  No relationship is completely without it's little glitches now and then, and I wouldn't suggest Pipex and I were the perfect couple.  But we'd always got through it before.  After a few days things would settle back to normal and we'd carry on like before.

Every 4 minutes the router lost synchronisation with the exchange and had to be restarted to enable browsing.  I contacted Pipex’s technical support line and spoke with a man called Neil (also from Manila).  He talked me through a series of changes to my settings and connection equipment, which to be fair I'd already tried, but I know how it goes in tech support having a few friends who've worked in that unforgiving environment.  Even reverting to old fashioned wires to connect to the router failed to rectify the problem.

So Neil gave me a reference number, and said second line engineers would call me back within 48 hours. But, then the router stopped synchronising altogether.  I'd lost my connection with Pipex, and if I'd known then what I know now maybe I'd have walked away then and there.  'It wasn't meant to be' I'd have thought, 'She wasn't the Internet service provider for me.  There are plenty more fish in the sea.  I'll give Orange a call, she seems nice.  Maybe she'd like to go for a coffee'.  But I wasn't that kind of customer.  Not then.

After waiting for my call for over 48 hours on 13th Decemebr I called tech support again.  Another polite Filipino man assured me second line engineers would call me back within 24 hours.  I called again on 15th December, well over 24 hours later, around 9am and was again reassured second line engineers would call by 5pm that day.  After 5pm no one had called.  I was hurt, lost and upset so I called tech support once more.  The man I spoke with this time was not as pleasant as Neil and his friends.  He said I'd be called back later that evening, but by now I was having doubts about Pipex's loyalty.  I wondered if she was up to something behind my back, so I asked to speak to a supervisor.

He acted like he'd been caught out.  He actively resisted allowing me to speak with a supervisor and insisted I’d be called back later.  But, given my experiences over the previous 5 days I wasn't going to be taken in by his smooth demeanour, and after 10 to 15 minutes of calmly and appropriately requesting to speak with his supervisor he eventually agreed.

She took a different tack.  Instead of avoiding the problems we were having in our relationship she blamed someone else.  She claimed there was a fault with my BT line and she'd arrange for BT engineers to visit my home to check the line equipment the following week.  I queried this, because the telephone line was working normally – I was speaking to her on it – but she insisted this was the cause of our problems, and although she couldn’t be specific about appointment times for BT engineers, they'd definitely be round Monday or Tuesday morning the following week.  It was Christmas time and I was planning to be on holiday anyway so I agreed to wait in those mornings.

Sadly next day I was offered work on those days, which would have netted me a tidy sum, but I was being loyal to my relationship.  I was going to stick it out.  Perhaps if this didn't work we could try counselling or something.  Of course, a third party to discuss our differences with, that'd sort us out.  So I called one - Ofcom.