ADSL 4 Less.com www.adsl4less.com

I have been a customer of ADSL4LESS (A.K.A. Hotchilli internet) since 2004, I signed my business up when the ISP was quite small, we always paid up front for 12 months unlimited broadband, the service was good at the time and the connection was fairly fast and reliable for the price.

It was only until I had a problem I realised how poor the customer service and support is, some time back our broadband kept dropping and cutting out, I contacted their support team which is based overseas, they tried to be helpful but it was clear the foreign support staff were reading from a script and there was an obvious language issue, firstly they blamed BT's telephone lines and said they would report the problem to BT, the problem then escalated to no connection at all and after a few days of no internet and the same excuses from adsl4less I decided to contact BT who carried out a line test and was unable to find any faults, afterwards they blamed my router, so I went out and bought a new router only to find I was having the same problem, after a few days our internet began to work with no explanation from adsl4less a.k.a Hotchilli Internet, more recently we found the broadband to be very slow even though we were situated less than a quarter of a mile from the main exchange.

The next problem we experienced was to find out our connection would be suspended due to non payment, which is fair enough but we never received any form of reminder, no emails, no letters, nothing. (very inconveniencing when you are at the other end of the country and your co-workers are unable to access internet / emails from base)

Lastly, we are moving to new premises and because of our bad experience with adsl4less a.k.a Hotchilli Internet, we decided to use BT for our broadband, adsl4less now want £40 to release my line, even though the contract has expired and I was on 'pay as you go broadband contract' we never agreed to any terms about releasing the line.

the cost for BT broadband is now about the same as adsl4less, yet they offer UK support, a free business hub and 6000 free openzone wifi minutes, this is a no brainer.

I have missed having superfast broadband, it makes me realise how slow adsl4less has been over the past few years.

I am a strong believer in giving smaller companies a chance but adsl4less have had enough chances from our organisation and we are glad to be rid of the problems we have experienced over the years, Our advice is to AVOID ADSL4LESS a.k.a HotChilli Internet!

been with ADSL 4 Less.com for 4 years.......they are reliable and its quick

Brilliant!

The same day I wrote here that ADSL4Less's service had been faultless for 2 years, I was blocked from the internet for 24hours!

It also reminded me how their support team cannot seem to help me with any of my problems. My modems were both getting good bandwidth but Hotchilli were not piping me through to the web. No phone support at weekends and when ticket message was answered it was usual blaming BT or my firewalls in my opinion (which I had already disabled of course).

It did help me decide to move away, let's see how long it takes them to supply me a MAC code!

I have been with ADSL4LESS aka HOTCHILLI INTERNET for over 2 years.

CONNECTION

It may sound unbelievable, but I have never, ever experienced a single line-drop whilst using their service. And I surf for 3-4 hours every day. When I was on the 2Mbit service I was always getting 2 Mbps. On the (up-to) 8Mbit service I'm getting 5 to 6Mbps. I live within 1Km of the exchange. BT linetest thing I can do with my BT modem says the line can take 6.8mbps. Reasonable limits, I'd say. In use, downloads seem speedy enough.

On my 'Unlimited' connection, I frequently exceed 10Gb/month download and have not experienced any noticeable 'shaping' or attracted any unwanted attention.

PACKAGES/TERMS

I started-off with a 2Mbit connection with a 2Gb/Month download limit at £11-99 per month. I was attracted by the price which was very competitive at the time, and also the fact that there was no long-term contract*. I had been paying £27- per month to Virgin for the luxury of being able to cancel at any time so in comparison, ADSL4LESS seemed ace. The only reservation I had was that I had to pay annually in advance. I did this, happy to gamble on their not going bust. And they haven't (fingers crossed). *There is now a minimum contract -see below...

CUSTOMER SERVICES

Original setup/transfer from Virgin had some hiccups but I reckon this is fairly commonplace.

I didn't even know phone support existed, I contact them using the 'tickets' system in the customer account area of their website.

When I enquired a few month ago about cancelling and getting my MAC code, they tried to tell me that I was conracted for a year or something. Because I'm a trusting type(!) I had saved their T&C's to pdf when I first joined so I emailed it to them, reminding them that I could cancel at any time as stated in the T&C's which were in place when the contract was agreed.

The reply followed, "Yes, you can cancel at any time.".

For some reason (probably the unsurpassed reliability and full 2Mbps bandwidth previously attained) I decided to stay with them and upgrade to (up-to) 8mps unlimited download for £20-/month.

I haven't found the support quite as bad as other users here, but it is frustrating when they get the wrong end of the stick which seems to be partly down to poor command of English. It's a bit like one of those call-centres only in type; they seem over-polite and at the same time not overly helpful in my opinion.

But when I've re-worded my requests, the replies have been OK and reasonably swift (same-day anyway).

One benefit of this system is that you have written evidence of what they've told you before.

OVERALL

Well-impressed with the service. I haven't found customer services THAT bad, but then I've never had any complex (technical) problems.

I suspect the service reliability may have something to do with the fact that this is an offshoot of commercial provider Hotchilli rather than being setup for the masses of home-users. As such, I hope they resist signing-up to any snooping agreements, unlike the big home-providers which have already succumbed to pressure from the film/music companies.

I have been with ADSL4LESS for a few years now and I cannot fault their service. The connection is NEVER down (touch wood) and I never have ANY problems (touch more wood)My only gripe would be them using an indian call centre. The people on the other end try their best to help but its SO HARD to understand them at times for me...

I agree - the technical side of things is great - it's quick, and the connection is good.

However, the customer service is absolutely awful. The telephone operators can't understand what they are being asked, and can only respond with set phrases.

Our internet stopped working at the weekend, and when I called to find out why I was told that the account had been suspended due to unpaid invoices, so I was referred to the accounts team.

1) I checked my direct debit details on this site and they are correct

2) I know for sure there are funds in the acct and always have been

3) I have never been notified of any unpaid invoices prior to suspension of the acct.

When I spoke to the person in the accts team they could only tell me that there were unpaid invoices and did I have money in my account to pay them. I confirmed that there was, and asked them to find out why I had never received an e-mail saying there were invoices unpaid. The operator could not understand what I was saying.

He then said he had checked the line again and it is functioning and a good service and the account is up to date. I queried how this could be as 1 minute previously I had been told it was suspended and there were invoices overdue. Again, he couldn't understand me and could only repeat his response. I then asked if funds had just been deducted from my account. He couldn't understand me.

Whilst the connection and speed on adsl4less is great, the customer service is shocking. If you cannot provide telephone operators able to effectively understand and respond to queries then do not outsource the service to non-native speakers. When it comes to questions of accounts, and questions around what is happening with my hard earned money, it is simply not good enough to not get a response.

I cannot express enough how dissatisfied I am with the level of service I am receiving from yourselves. Having read some independent reviews I see I am not the only person so disilluisioned.

I shall be looking for an alternative provider.

Tried to charge me £149.99 for 4 day's use when I couldn't get the internet, and I had my mac code and was migrating, and Then said I had to pay £14.99 for a month. When I went to pay they made me wait to pay for 3 months because they said they had to confirm with BT of the time I had internet, then decided to charged me £19.99. When I tried ask why has this changed the the person at adsl4less couldn't understand what I was saying as they weren't English and could only read from the paper in front of them. I do not recommend this company "ADSL4LESS" or "Hot Chilli".

I've been with ADSL4LESS for years, (at least 3), and have had no problems, however over that time they've become less and less competitive on price, so I finally decided to migrate to another company.

I contacted them to ask for my MAC code, and at first got very rapid responses asking why I wanted to leave, could they tempt me with a better deal, etc, to all of which I Replied, no thanks, please send me my MAC code.

Eventually I got no reply from them, so tried to log into their customer support, only to find that my login didn't work. I e-mailed, and they sent me the login and password I already had. It didn't work, so I e-mail again, only a bit sarcastic, then I get a reply saying they've tried it, and it works fine, it must be me! I go to the site again, and the stored login details from last time I tried work! I can only assume this was a delaying method to try and put me off leaving.

Anyway, I still don't have a MAC code, and don't know how I'm going to get one out of them, so I'm reviewing them here to say beware of this company. I wouldn't recommend them to anyone ever.

I have been with them almost since the start and the connection reliability is second to none. However, local, i.e. UK help has been very good - I moved house a year ago and they were very helpful in setting up a new account on a new phone line with an existing email address; but internet/phone support whether technical or general is really atrocious and I think this is because it is offshore based. It took 3-4 months to get a refund on an overcharge which was their fault despite numerous calls and emails - I am still waiting a reply to an email sent on 1st June.

This is a moan about their customer service system ONLY. The connection reliability IS outstanding.

I have been with ADSL 4 Less for 3 years, and I have never had a problem. Tech support is 10p a minute, but they don't keep you on hold. I have only had to use it once, and it turned out to be my own fault.

Here's a tip - switch to a package with a low speed and high download limit. Reason: In common with ALL other providers, you don't ever really get the high speed because the speed depends on the silly copper wire running up your street and the number of your neighbours who are trying to use it at the same time. In my street 0.25 megs is just as fast as 8 meg.