Last week, while reviewing all the ridiculous responses that Pipex has sent me in response to me trying to help them by reporting a broken link / page not found / 404 error on their web site, I noticed that the thread where they kept asking for three items of personal information, actually had three of the items already on it:

• Full name – completed when I submitted the information through their web form;
• Date of birth – also added via the web form since it cannot be submitted without it;
• Email address – they keep sending me email responses, and accepting my replies via email.

So, I sent them a note on the thread asking why three of the items they asked for were not enough. Here’s the reply:

Dear Mr. Gordon,

Thank you for your email dated the 4th September 2009, the contents of which have been noted.

Please be advised that the information requested for security purposes must be contained in the thread of this email. We cannot accept information contained in a totally separate email. Please forward the information requested, so that we can address this matter.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you require any further assistance.

Kind regards,

Suzanne Kelly
Pipex Customer Relations

Our Customer Care Department is available on 0871 663 3300. Calls are charged at 5p/min from a Pipex line or at 10p/min from a BT line. Calls from mobiles and other providers may vary. Lines are open 8am-9pm Monday to Friday, 8am-5pm on Saturdays and 9am-6pm on Sundays.

So, in addition to still being ridiculous enough to keep asking for information that is irrelevant to the topic of the post (my identity still does not change the fact that the link in their FAQ is broken), it appears that they cannot count?