I'm still fairly active in the ThinkBroadband Pipex forum - hard to break a 6 year habit 
Some of the horror stories that one sees just show how bad things have become since Tiscali took over in Sept 2007.
I've also, privately, seen reports of slamming after people have received a Pipex/Tiscali sales call. People have said NO to an upgrade or having their line transferred only to get details of their upgrade or a farewell letter from BT.
I got my mac code at 8.01am on the morning it was announced that Tiscali was to purchase Pipex voice and broadband. I'm not superstitious but it was Friday 13th July.
I feel really sorry for people who don't visit forums so must wonder why their once reliable connection has degraded so much.
I actually followed a link to Tiscali run forum - the attitude of the staff, who were also moderators, reminded one of the Colditz Story.

I moved to plusnet from pipex. I was paying them for 2meg broadband but slowly the speed was reduced to less than 950 k but they continued to take my money. 
When they moved to Tiscali there was no way I would stay with them, as I moved from Tiscali to pipex due to never ending problems of having my connection dropped.
When I requested my MAC code from pipex to migrate to plusnet, I was at first given one, but it expired after only a few days, before I could use it. I then requested a new MAC code, to which pipex refused. After 2 months of hassle and threats to them that they were infringing the code of conduct by refusing, they finally sent me a MAC code, and I migrated here.
Unfortunately since my migration, pipex have continued to take my money even though I'm not receiving a service from them. They also refuse to acknowledge or reply to any of my emails or letters. If I phone them I am just passed from one person to the next.  It does make me wonder just how much money they are ripping off from ex customers who were originally making payments by credit card.  It is impossible to stop payment by credit card (not like canceling DD). The request to stop payments apparently has to come from the company, not the customer.  I have had to make a complaint through my credit card company, who are now prsuing a claim for refund from pipex.  We had this same problem with Tiscali when we left them as they continued sending threatening letters for payment for months after we had left them.

anyone see Watchdog on BBC tonight? all abougt5 slamming and changing ISP

It was on telephone slamming, not ISP's
Very interesting and scary.
Chilly

the business man who was moaning about his telepone and broadband might have been  tiscali patient?

Missed last nights show so just watched it.
Pipex, Post Office and TalkTalk must have enjoyed it.
One might suspect that, as they will soon lose the jobs, Pipex sales people are racking up commission knowing there'll be no comeback.
One person, who was very senior in Pipex, has told me of 3 slamming cases by Homecall.

Pierre, I belive it was talk talk that slammed the business man...

Quote from: Assos

Pierre, I belive it was talk talk that slammed the business man...

True, t'was TalkTalk  - but obviously Tiscali are ultimately to blame for Pipex ( probably under Homecall banner) slamming the first person mentioned.
When Pipex Comms first bought Homecall from Caudwell Homecall  "acquired" a list of Pipex customers and we all started getting phonecalls up to 9pm. Problem was that their sales people couldn't have told the difference between broadband and a rubber band.

My son was paying on DD for pipex services. He migrated to Plusnet a month before me and cancelled his DD. However Pipex still took his money even though the direct debit had been cancelled.  When he contacted pipex they told him that they have an agreement with some banks to take the money whether a dd exists or not, which has to be illegal.

Quote from: greyposter

In that case I would change my bank.I know it's a challenge but worth it.

Well, I went back to Barclays this morning and asked them to confirm that no payment could be taken by my old ISP (i.e. Pipex) now that I had a new debit card. They were adamant that this would not be possible. So Barclays look like they don't allow Continuous Authority. If that helps!