Orange retail VS Orange telephones

Karnam

For the past 4 years I have used the Orange retentions department to upgrade my contract and have always been dealt with pleasently and with a lot of help. I've always done this over the phone and have no problem.

However recently my sister tried to get the Student deal of 1000mins on the Xnet off peak1000 tariff which it says you can get in the orange booklet. after calling orange retentions twice with no luck (and an average monthly bill of £40, compared to my £30) she was close to giving up. she called thier telesales people to open a totally new account and unbelievably enough, was told that no such offer was available on orange. after arguing that it did indeed exist, and quoting the orange booklet's t&c to the woman, my sister gave up when the woman kept saying no it didnt exist and that she was obviously looking at the wrong thing. (way to not know your business much!!) this meant that my sister hates the orange telesales/retentions people.

after persuading her that the student off peak was def the best package for her, we agreed to go into an orange shop and physically show them that the offer does exist in the orange booklet. we went and after a long trek across london to meet me (she goes to uni quite far away) for moral support and my firmness, my sister gets to the orange shop, only to be told that her bank statement is too old to count as proof of address. after a distressing min or two, the woman in orange retail was WONDERFUL, she called up orange and kept explaining and explaining and eventually was able to allow me to open a 2nd contract in my name for my sister to use. she even checked that i was allowed two student accounts under one name, albeit seperate contracts. she was brilliant, explaining how we could switch the names over at a later date, how we could pay the bill without recieving an invoice, even how my sister can check her itemisation without recieving the bills!! :T

i must say, im very very impressed, having only dealt with Orange telesales staff in the past. do you find it better to 'batter down' the cost of your phone through retentions? or do certain retailers go out of thier way to help you? do you find it better to tweak out details of t&c through retailers or telesales?

i certainly cant believe that im on student 1000 texts and 120 xnetwork anytimes mins, with a free V3 and a £50credit and £25 a month, and that my second contract (for my sister's use) is student 1000 texts and 1000xnetwork offpeak mins with a free Pebl and a £50 credit for £25 a month!

readingsaver

Thanks for that post. That should really help me later when I try to ring O2 to give me a new tarif. I currently have 500 xnet mins and 400 txts for £25, but my 12 months is coming to an end - and the txts were only valid for 12 months.

After your success story I think I'll visit the Orange shop tomorrow.

Thanks