Bigpipe playing a game with Credit Checks?

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Bigpipe playing a game with Credit Checks?

Baron

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#246699 18-Feb-2019 00:06

Hi Guys,

After lengthy consideration I signed up with Bigpipe 10 Days ago for the fastest Fibre available. I signed up with my wife's name so she can claim gst / expenses through her home business. On Tuesday my wife recieved and email from Lowela at Bigpipe saying she failed her credit check but she could sign up with no fixed term.

Obviously this is pointless as I want the first three months free....

She told me Wed night. Thursday we contacted the bank and confirmed there is no credit issue. She has never purchased anything on Hire Purchase etc and we own 80 percent of our own home. Once our bank manager confirmed there was no issue we replied to Bigpipe on Thursday 4pm asking them to look into what is going on.....

And we have heard nothing back 4 days later. I accepted that Bigpipe didn't have a phone service desk as I thought two things 1. I would have little issues 2. If there was an issue the online service would be fast and super helpful.

But honestly sometimes you need to pick up the phone and find out what the #@!% is going on.

I haven't even joined yet and I'm getting jerked around. Plus I was really hoping to have it installed and ready to go by now as fibre has just been put in my street and I've been hanging out for it for years.

Is this what I can expect from Bigpipe service going forward? Do they regret the whole three months for free thing and want to ignore me into going to anouther provider?

Brumfondl

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#2181729 18-Feb-2019 00:36

On the website, they have a chatbot thing that you can also you to ask to chat with a real person. I would suggest waiting until business hours and then availing yourself of that system.

michaelmurfy

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#2181733 18-Feb-2019 01:16

See: http://pages.bigpipe.co.nz/bigpipe-3-month-free-terms/ where it states credit assessment applies. They don't have to accept a customer.

Furthermore, your bank is not going to be able to give you any details - yes, it'll show your payments are fine to them, but they won't be able to tell you any details regarding credit. You need to get these yourself:

https://www.govt.nz/browse/consumer-rights-and-complaints/debt-and-credit-records/check-your-own-credit-report/

If you've had a decline from anyone then you need to get your wife to check this ASAP. There could be fraud occurring, or even something you were not aware of. BigPipe may be able to provide your wife with further details with why she was declined also.

There are also plenty of other ISP's out there - for example, 2degrees are offering a very similar deal with $200 free credit and a better router.

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freitasm

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#2181738 18-Feb-2019 06:54

Or you could use creditsimple.co.nz and check the credit report yourselves.

BigPipeNZ

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#2181968 18-Feb-2019 12:58

Hey Nicholas,

If you want to send me the email address associated with your account I can take another look for you and see if there's anything we can do for you.

In terms of the credit checks, there's a specialised team who run 'em and we're basically provided a yes or a no. We're not provided with anything more specific than that, so I can't tell you offhand why your wife's failed. If the credit check's only been run once, we could give it one more go in the hopes that it might go through - but each credit enquiry typically goes on your credit report so as company policy we won't do any more than two in a row.

We're not trying to play a game here. From my experience credit check fails have been very, VERY rare since they were introduced about six weeks ago, but they do happen. If you don't want to proceed, we can always cancel - you're not locked in.

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quickymart

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#2183290 18-Feb-2019 21:50

freitasm: Or you could use creditsimple.co.nz and check the credit report yourselves.

Very interesting site, I just had a look. Thanks for the link.

welliegeek

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#2183302 18-Feb-2019 22:21

freitasm: Or you could use creditsimple.co.nz and check the credit report yourselves.

Yes, fascinating...... :) Thanks for the link.

guyl

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#2183354 19-Feb-2019 07:03

I think you should take this as an example of exactly how the rest of your relationship with Bigpipe will go..... Forever getting frustrated with the terrible support, and not being able to talk to someone when you need to.

Count your lucky stars it happened now, and not after you signed a contract to have to stay with them.

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freitasm

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#2183363 19-Feb-2019 07:33

A bit harsh. Bigpipe explained how it works. I gave a link to check the credit report. OP can make his own conclusions from there.

xpd

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#2183374 19-Feb-2019 07:53

Just a note on credit checks - if you get too many done in a short period, it can trigger an alert which can lead to lenders denying your requests. Friend had it few years ago trying to get good deal on a new TV and rates on hire purchase.... went to multiple stores that had different credit companies, got each to do checks and eventually got told "nope, you've been denied for any credit application". She had to wait 28 days for it to clear before applying again.

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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sbiddle

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#2183386 19-Feb-2019 08:06

Baron:

Thursday we contacted the bank and confirmed there is no credit issue. She has never purchased anything on Hire Purchase etc and we own 80 percent of our own home. Once our bank manager confirmed there was no issue we replied to Bigpipe on Thursday 4pm asking them to look into what is going on.....

A bank has absolutely nothing to do with a credit check. This issue has nothing to do with Big Pipe, and everything to do with why she seemingly has a poor credit rating.

Credit checks are conducted against several large companies who collate and compile data on people using various data sources. The fact she has never purchased anything on hire purchase is actually a BIG negative, not a positive, as it means they can't give her a rating on her ability to pay back a debt. They have zero visibility over your financial status including most assets.

You could have a million dollars sitting in the bank and still have a poor credit rating.

She needs to look at the freely available credit checks and establish why her credit rating is poor. There could be any number of reasons why this exists. Having a poor credit rating could definitely hamper things going forward as so many companies now perform these, so it's something you will want to get sorted.

xpd

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#2183391 19-Feb-2019 08:22

If you've never had anything on HP/credit before, good thing to do, is go do an HP on something you know you can cover very easily. Put it on 12 month, and pay it off in 6/9. Bingo, you now have a credit record in the green.

Obviously read the fine print on anything first as some may incur penalties for paying it off early.

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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BigPipeNZ

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#2183494 19-Feb-2019 10:36

I can't share too much because of privacy reasons, but Nick's been in touch and I've had a chat with his wife. After having a chat with her, I've found the source of the problem and we've got it resolved now. :)

If anyone else reads this at a later date and is having a problem with a credit check, I'd strongly recommend you come through our live chat and have a chat with us. You can do that by clicking on Mike in the bottom right hand corner of the Bigpipe website, and asking to speak to a person.

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Baron

6 posts

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#2183532 19-Feb-2019 11:30

Hi Guys,

Thanks so much for all the feedback its been amazing. I said to my wife when this happens "I'll put it on geekzone and that crew will work it out for us" cue very shady look from my wife at the mention of geeks.

So first off thanks to David at Bigpipe for taking charge of this and really ramping up the Customer Service to 10.

However, it is still true that no one contacted us from Thursday till Monday arvo and the catalyst for that contact was posting here so I really do feel that Bigpipe CS could have been better at communicating. David explained that they have less staff on weekends and that they ramp up employment in March/April as that is a busy time. But I still think if you can't call then you need fast responses.

I had no idea about the chat to a real person feature in the ask Mike chat box. I thought it was one of those annoying auto things so thanks to everyone who suggested that. I'm not sure if i'm stupid or if it could be marketed better to make that really crucial feature more obvious?

Also thanks for the credit check suggestions I totally looked into creditsimple.co.nz website but personally I was put off by the having to sign up and then receive more marketing emails from them. Also it has a 1.6 out of 5 rating from 18 reviews on Google for exactly that spam marketing.

For interest sake at this stage the issue could be that I signed up with my wife's married name not her maiden name. We have only been married three years and so her passport and drivers licence are one thing while her banks and other things are anouther as it takes quite a long time to fully change over your name! So this could mean that her married name has no credit history at all which would be a red flag. So Bigpipe are going to try again with both names and if it still comes back bad we will sign up with my name and get the invoice sent to my wife's business so it works for tax purposes.

However, there genuinely is no reason for either of us to have bad credit so if it does fail again I will use one of the following government approved websites that michealmurfy suggested

https://www.govt.nz/browse/consumer-rights-and-complaints/debt-and-credit-records/check-your-own-credit-report/

To investigate it further as like many of you said fraud is something to be aware of.

Personally i'm not a fan of there being an increase in credit checks before you can sign up for things. As many of you have mentioned they are little grounded in the reality of your financial situation or as xpd suggested there are easy ways to game the system anyway.

I'll let you know the outcome but thanks for all your help. Its really important to have a community that supports people and then encourages businesses to support its customers as well.

So thanks guys and thanks to David from Bigpipe.

nickb800

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#2183541 19-Feb-2019 11:43

xpd:

If you've never had anything on HP/credit before, good thing to do, is go do an HP on something you know you can cover very easily. Put it on 12 month, and pay it off in 6/9. Bingo, you now have a credit record in the green.

Obviously read the fine print on anything first as some may incur penalties for paying it off early.

I think there are better options if you are that concerned about your credit rating.

Firstly, I'm skeptical that a low credit score caused by an absence of a credit history (as distinct from black marks like late repayments, bad debts etc) will stop a utility from taking you on as a customer. I took on post-pay power and internet accounts as an 18 year old student without so much as a credit card on my credit history, and was never denied an account due to bad credit rating.

Secondly, HP generally has a cost - even if interest free, it probably has an establishment fee and other fees.

The "free" option to establish a positive credit history would be to transfer household bills into your name - rubbish collection, power, internet, sky tv, etc - if possible. If not possible, then get a low/no fee credit card, put some of your regular expenses and pay off in full each month.

Baron

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#2183843 19-Feb-2019 17:58

Hi guys,

Credit Check passed!

Problem was to do with using Married name and not Maiden name in the check. Bit strange to me because the Drivers Licence details should guide them to the exact person. So something to be aware of for future checks when relatively newly married.

Thanks Again every for all the suggestions and help.