FAST 4 CONNECTION DIARY 2

klondyke

I am completely baffled - account terminated with fast4 because, they say, we have been using automated or unattended connection. Completely and utterly untrue. AND they had just taken a month's money.

I am using payg tiscali at the moment, but have to find another dialup fast. Fast4's CS are closed till tomorrow, but I gather from other people that when this happens, they don't listen, so I don't know if there is any point in calling (0870) except to rant.

Just been looking at ISPReview, but there seem to be complaints about all isps, whatever the price!

Ah well, I used to recommend fast4 - not any longer, if they can do this to people without any justification.

theloft

klondyke You certainly seem to have been given a raw deal. I don't suppose anyone else in the household is the guilty party, without telling you?
But in any case I think that Fast 4's method of withdrawing the facility and leaving people high and dry is completely wrong. I don't know of another cheap dial-up, but a good PAYG one is https://www.aardvaak.net (o845 calls).
Otherwise try this link : http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=43604
posts No. 12 & 15 are relevant.

HonestJohn

klondyke wrote:

I am completely baffled - account terminated with fast4 because, they say, we have been using automated or unattended connection. Completely and utterly untrue. AND they had just taken a month's money.

Exactly the same happened to me. They closed me down 3 days after taking a monthly payment. Phoned cs. Waste of time Not prepared to accept that I didn't use a dialler and no refund either. They don't even have the decency to contact you by email to let you know first. To be fair I had used the connection a lot the day before they cut me off but I hardly used it during the week. Just a couple of hours every day.

I then joined another company in the V21 group - fast 247 who offer 28 hours a week for £8.50 a month. I found this adequate so I was hardly a heavy user. My problem now with free247 is cancelling the account as I am now on broadband. First they won't let you cancel before your first 3 months are up and then they require 28 days notice so I may end up paying 5 months for less than 3 months usage.

matrix999

Hello Folks,

Not been on the Fast 4 thread for a while but wanted to report that i've had no connection problems over the past few months, with speeds in excess of 50k. I did have a problem with them taking my monthly payment early, one e-mail to their customer service sorted it out with no further problems... I still would recommend anyone to Fast 4 - There an excellent ISP in my opinion for value for money!

theloft

[B]Yep, Good old Fast 4 is very good these days[/B]. Think that a lot of dial-up customers have gone to BB, so those of us left are getting a better service with a lot less people logging on during the evenings. Haven't had a problem for some time now, but having said that, am thinking of switching to BB myself verysoon now (been saying that for months). Notice that V21 (Fast 4 parent co.) have an offer for dial-up at £3 per month (60 hours per month) so for anyone witha light usage, this is an excellent deal. V21 are also offering 2 Mb Broadband at £9.99 per month, but with a 2Gb monthly download limit. Ideal for surfers who don't download music, films etc. Also it's on a monthly contract. Am seriously considering this one.

klondyke

theloft wrote:

klondyke You certainly seem to have been given a raw deal. I don't suppose anyone else in the household is the guilty party, without telling you?
But in any case I think that Fast 4's method of withdrawing the facility and leaving people high and dry is completely wrong. I don't know of another cheap dial-up, but a good PAYG one is https://www.aardvaak.net (o845 calls).
Otherwise try this link : http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=43604
posts No. 12 & 15 are relevant.

Thanks - couldn't get into this thread for a while:-(. There's only Mr K and me using internet in household, on different computers.. It occurred to us that just maybe, when one of us asks other to come offline so other can go on, our fingers may be sufficiently trigger happy on reconnection to delude the software into thinking it is automatic. Anyway, although they had taken our money, we were 'allowed' to sign up again, this time Mr K's name. But 3 weeks later, here we are, terminated again, having been very careful to avoid anything which could possibly make their software think we were doing anything wrong.

We had been with them over a year and I had occasionally defended them on this thread - not any longer.

Guess we might go to broadband, but need to buy routers etc, and dialup has been ok for our needs so far ....

theloft

Thought I would resurrect this thread as there seem to be new threads talking about cheap dial-up and they are paying £5 for 60 hours per month, which is no way as good as Fast4 at £6.99 per month unlimited. Are you loyal users still out there ? I am still looking for that BB deal of the century so until then will be sticking with FAST4. I have had the payment date problem as well, if you don't notice, they get away with it, but a message to Accounts Dept. on the members site seems to fix it - until the next time !!

Stabilo

theloft wrote:

Thought I would resurrect this thread as there seem to be new threads talking about cheap dial-up and they are paying £5 for 60 hours per month, which is no way as good as Fast4 at £6.99 per month unlimited. Are you loyal users still out there ? I am still looking for that BB deal of the century so until then will be sticking with FAST4. I have had the payment date problem as well, if you don't notice, they get away with it, but a message to Accounts Dept. on the members site seems to fix it - until the next time !!

I set up a fast4 account for father-in-law about 2 months ago and he rates it well above the Tesco account he had before. That might be because I'm still paying for it, must remember to set up direct debit in his name

alared

Good idea to set up a DD with them,then if there`s any problem you can just cancel,same about giving a month`s notice in writing.
Every month they send me an email just before the payment is due asking me to make sure funds are availible or I will be cut off.
So I can`t really see the trouble some people have about cancelling,just switch to a DD.

Having said all that,I`ve been with F4 for two and a half years now and if I could find cheaper or better I would have done by now.
When I first joined the service was absolute CRAP,could`nt get a connection for hours in the evening but for the past 18 months no probs.(great value)
The one thing that gets up my nose is that "Theloft" only pays a fiver a month while I have to fork out £6-99.

F4 can detect auto dialers,so it`s best not to use them.
As for going BB,I`m waiting for "Theloft" to find his once in a lifetime deal,then I`ll follow him.
Ha Ha Ha

ginger_nuts

I would love BB, not to download but just to keep my phlone line clear .I still pay fast4 £5 every 30 days .So unless I can find BB for a similar price ( highly unlikely )
I will be staying with fast4 for a while .

i did send Fast 4 three nasty messages last week because ther had been taking payment every 23 days . I even threatened to disconnect ! My next payment is now due in December .this time I WILL be watching .