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Without a doubt, you'd have words with the dealer about the fact that you clearly hadn't received what you paid for and that one seat is of no use unless the vehicle was purchased with the sole intention of very bumpy lonely drives for one.

Internet service provider (ISP) Pipex recently found itself in a similar situation when it paid £12.5 million to acquire Bulldog's 110,000-strong customer base.

At the time of the purchase, Pipex's chairman Peter Dubens said: 'The acquisition of Bulldog brings further scale to the Pipex Group and we are delighted to welcome all the Bulldog customers.'

A shrinking ship

Just a few months later, on the eve of concluding the deal, Pipex discovered that the Bulldog user base it is about to purchase has shed some 30,000 users - over a quarter.

In a recent interview with the Times, in which it was revealed that Pipex is negotiating a lower acquisition price of less than £10 million, Dubbens said: 'We have had to do a clear-up of the Bulldog customer base,' but Pipex spokespeople did not want to comment further on the situation.

The clean-up involved, according to media reports, expelling customers who are receiving the Bulldog service but aren't being billed.

But, threads on the Bulldog forum suggest that, despite many being unhappy with customer service levels, users are happy to pay if only Bulldog would take their money.

'To be blunt I signed up for internet connection and a phone line, not to waste my time with these people', said one poster.

'I remain with Bulldog for the moment but having been through so many problems with them in the past the next time something goes wrong or if they cap usage I will be switching from them to an ISP that is able to provide a reasonable service and is also competent at billing.'

Aside from the billing cleansing activity, it is likely many disgruntled customers used the acquisition as an opportunity to jump ship if they could do so.

According to Sue Richardson, an analyst at Gartner, some Bulldog customers had already experienced a fairly rough ride as the ISP increasingly turned its attention to wholesale rather than retail activity.

Granted, it hasn't been stated whether Pipex made the purchase thinking it was getting a top of the range Ferrari or a more mainstream model, but nonetheless it clearly hasn't got what it paid for.

Customer focus is key

The current debacle leads onto a wider issue of how companies are meant to get a handle on customer retention when people bail out before the ink is dry.

'I believe there were some customer service issues on the Bulldog side so it is not that surprising that some customers have left,' said Richardson.

'We've also seen lots of examples in the past 18 months of providers with very fast rollouts and, in some cases, the customer service aspect has

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lagged so users have had a bad experience. Even if they're tied into a contract, if they have a bad experience they're pretty damn sure to switch at the end of that contract if not sooner.'

She added: 'It's also a timing thing. I believe Pipex has a good standing in customer service and it could be that the Bulldog customers [who left] were so fed up that they didn't, importantly, realise that Pipex may have had a beneficial effect.'

Who cares?

Why should service providers care about the fallout between agreeing to acquire and the actual acquisition?

Because the consumer pound is a lot mightier than many think.

Firstly, and most obviously, it is now far easier for DSL customers to switch providers. Last year, communications watchdog Ofcom, launched a consultation with the aim of making it mandatory for ISPs to issue consumers with migration authorisation codes (MACs) so that they can more easily make the move.

But perhaps, more importantly, every business decision maker in the country is a consumer first and foremost. If they receive a bad deal when they're spending a little there is no way the service provider in question will be the lucky recipient of their lot.

Only last week Ofcom published the findings of its review of the niche ISP market, which revealed that these players, who boast a collective turnover of £1.15 billion, provide services to 30 per cent of businesses and five per cent of consumers in the UK.

The Ofcom study also revealed that 16 per cent of businesses and two per cent of households use a net connection supplied by a niche player.

Learning from the misfortune of others

Pipex is not the first ISP to be bitten by acquiring a company with disgruntled customers and it won't be the last. But there are lessons to be learned.

Customer service shouldn't just be targeted at users once they're already safely within a company's clutches, according to Richardson.

'Damage limitation [is key],' she said. 'Companies should try to ease the transition period and not make changes unless they are for the better. For example, if someone has had a bad experience and their ISP gets acquired even a phone call could help.'

It's also a case of not only knowing how many customers you have, or will have through acquisition, but knowing who those customers are, adds Richardson.

'You need good customer segmentation to fully understand [customers]. That's such a common mistake and can also be problematic in knowing who customers are and trying to assess their needs,' she said.

With analysts predicting more market consolidation around the corner, this issue may rear its head again and become more than a minor irritation for service providers and users alike.

'There's absolutely bound to be more consolidation,' said Richardson.

'And it's now even more difficult for the smaller players to exist as in the longer term it's not just about broadband and internet access, it's about services. The bundling aspect also hits smaller players. There are now less 'point' services and more merging of providers and what they can offer.

'Mobile companies are moving into broadband and ISPs are moving into VoIP and potentially IPTV so they are all competing against each other. It is part of a major shift happening that is causing a big rumpus in the market. The fact that they are all moving into each other's spaces looses the common contact with customers.'

Richardson concluded: 'Until recently BT still had a phone line with customers so still had a point of contact. With unbundling that goes out the window and that contact is lost.'