Problems with Orange

RichA

Hello all .

It's that time of year again - my 12-month contract with the Orangutans is up. This signifies the end of three years with them - I've had to sign up as a new customer each year, in order to secure the best deal.

Anyway, this year, I couldn't be bothered. I opted to not do any legwork to secure a decent deal. I'm just going to sod off to PAYG - Orange have a good product, but their pricing, customer service and loyalty to customers is pathetic. So, yesterday, 30 days before the end of my contract, I phoned up and told them they could consider my call as notice on my contract.

Got a phone call today at 5.13pm from 'Carly' in the retentions department. She asked why I was planning on leaving - I explained that:-

1. My service plan was no longer suitable to my needs.
2. I was disappointed that Orange saw fit to start charging for freephone telephone calls.
3. I was also disappointed that Orange now decided to start charging for itemised billing.

I'm on the 1000 off-peak x-net minutes for £25 per month - had she offered me 500 x-net anytime minutes for the same price per month, I'd have stayed. I didn't mention this to her, as I'm really not fussed about staying with Orange in the slightest, but had they made any attempt to try and keep me with them, I'd have been happy to enter negotiations.

However, she did tell me that it was now illegal for Orange to offer free access to 0800 telephone numbers, and free itemised billing. I told her that I found this most surprising. She made no attempt to try and keep me with Orange, and told me that my PAC code would be with me in the next couple of days.

Is it really illegal for Orange to give these services for free? Or, as I'm inclined to think, was she just feeding me with sales b/s?

How the tides have turned. When I joined Orange, their customer service was well above average. It was, at the very least, good. NTL had always been the sloppy ones. Phoned up NTL last week to have a new deal arranged, and the guy went out of his way to keep me happy. Orange really need to re-assess how they look after their customers.

Without any in-depth research, it appears that 3 will give me 400 x-net minutes, with 250 texts, for £17.50 per month. Any advice on any better contract deals? Or PAYG suggestions?

Cheers, thanks for reading my rant .

--Rich

steve_r123

I've been an Orange customer for 10 years or so, as like you say a few years back they had excellent customer service.

However, since they got taken over by a french company (France Telecom or something I think) their customer service went downhill very rapidly.

I happen to be on a good (old) tariff, that is very cheap and suits me fine.

I did run a secondary '3' phone for a year last year, and that made me realise that Orange wasnt as bad as it could be though, the phone was shocking, loads of junk text messages, and really poor reception as well, not to mention the customer service.

xycom1

Sounds like lies as usual, either deliberate or by sheer lack of training.

harrisaa

I have been with 3 and the customer service is ten times worst than orange, a big part of the problem is that they call centre is in India. I found the network coverage was extremely poor, so be very careful before moving to them. Talk to your friends and see if they have a 3 phone and if they have had coverage problems in your area before you buy.
I agree with your comments about Orange’s customer service very poor. I have herd that O2 and Vodafone are both good but Vodafone is expensive. I think that O2 have one of the best deals around 1000 minutes + 150 texts or 750 minutes + 750 texts for £35 per month but only on selected phones. http://shop.o2.co.uk/shop/o2uk/jsp/handset/SelectHandset.do?menu=y I have recommended this to a friend who was on orange and he has been with them for three months and he is happy. By the way I think the 0800 number are charged on all the other networks. I hope this helps.

xycom1

Orange are going the same way (shipping CS off to India).

RichA

Cheers for the comments .

Harrisaa - my brother-in-law has had 3 for several years now, and gets decent coverage where I live. He doesn't rate their customer service, which should make them about on a par with Orange these days, so I've nothing to lose!

Just sent an email off to Orange this morning. It'll undoubtedly fall on deaf ears, but I feel better for ranting. Would be nice if they got in touch and tried to 'keep me sweet' but I can't see it happening - I've only been with them for 3 years, after all .

Sir/Madam,

Just thought I'd pop you a note to you in a bid to hopefully highlight my sheer disappointment with your company.

Having been a loyal customer for some 3 years, the time came where my contract was up for renewal. Rather than follow the same route that I had done during previous years, I thought that I'd give you guys a chance to keep me as a customer, rather than to run around trying to secure the best deal with Orange. Each and every single year, it has been the same story - Orange has absolutely no respect for the current customer. Orange would not offer a current customer the same deals that they offered to new customers - and, because of this, I was forced to hand in my notice and sign up as a new customer.

In three years worth of billing, I have never been late. I have never missed a payment, I have never made a partial payment, even when times were tight. I felt happy with Orange.

What am I faced with this year? We now have:-

-- Stupid names for call plans. Racoon? Panther? Ostrich? Leprechaun? Is there a single person within Orange who can explain to me *how* this is supposed to entice me into staying with you? In years gone by, your call plans would have useful names, including the minutes included. The world of mobile phones is confusing enough already, with all the offers between service providers. Did anyone at Orange really think that making information harder for customers to navigate was going to improve anything?

-- Removal of free calls to freephone(0800) telephone numbers.

-- Orange now wish to *charge* me to tell me where my minutes have been used each month. Even better, unless I contact Orange, then they *WILL* charge me each month, without my prior consent.

Having phoned up your customer services department to cancel my ongoing relationship with your company., I received a follow-up call from "Carly" in your retentions department. At 5.13pm on Monday, 19th June, she told me that it was _illegal_ for Orange to give customers free access to freephone numbers, and _illegal_ to offer free itemised billing. I did actually check with her as to whether the term 'illegal' was made in reference to the laws governing each member of this country, and she confirmed.

Having scoured the internet for any evidence of these claims, I have been forced to come to two possible conclusions:-

1. "Carly" was lying. The reason for this I cannot see.
2. "Carly" has been inappropriately trained for her role. She has been fed a number of stories that she will then pass on to customers to try and save the contract. She will explain that Orange are simply ensuring that they fit in with the market, that they offer the same as everyone else.

So, I guess, the day that Orange offered no more than rival networks was the day I decided to leave. Having gone through the same rigmarole each year to secure a fair deal from your company, I would now prefer to migrate to PAYG. Unsurprisingly enough, Orange seem to be beaten by the competition. 40p per minute to other networks? 20p per minute to other Orange customers, and landlines? 10p per text?

Off the top of my head, Tesco have Orange creamed. Clear and concise information about their tariffs - 5p per text and 10p per call. Simple and easy to follow - maybe it is time Orange started to look around and see that adapting to fit in line with the market is not the key to success; the only way to survive a saturated market is to offer something new, or something simple. I dare say I can find other offers to shame the pricing or deals available to Orange customers without too much effort. With minimal effort on my part, I found that 3 were offering 400 x-net anytime minutes and 250 texts for £17.50 per month.

There was a time where "The future's bright, the future's Orange" represented something good. Superb product, competitive pricing, thoughtful customer services, and nice touches that would see off the competition(per second billing, free minute when a drop in your signal would drop my call). I see no evidence of any such 'personal' touches these days, and can only conclude that if the future appears bright and orange, it is only because one is falling to a new abode, where it is always warm - with an orange glow. And once there, I believe that no angel could come down and retrieve you.

Yours, with utter disappointment,

RichA

Anyone who wishes to use a direc copy and paste of that letter at some point in the future is most welcome(can't see anyone caring that much though!), but please wait for a month or two before using it. If anyone at Orange does actually read my email, I wouldn't like them to think that it was just a pre-written script and on that basis not try to 'sweeten me up'.

Cheers!

--Rich

DonnyDave

RichA wrote:

Just sent an email off to Orange this morning. ...

I hope you e-mailed it to the Executive Office; they do read e-mails. I know this because I sent a complaint about over-billing to it after unsuccessfully trying to get it resolved on the phone to CS. Twice I got cut off; presumably some callers phone up with too 'demanding' issues.

Anyway, the following day I received a call from someone in the Executive Office who explained why it had happened, put it right and refunded me the excess charges.

RichA

Do you have their email address? Feel free to PM it if you don't want it made public!

Cheers!

--Rich

poopscoop

RichA wrote:

She made no attempt to try and keep me with Orange, and told me that my PAC code would be with me in the next couple of days.

I'll rather have them give me my PAC code than go through all the drivel of asking me "why are you going" blah blah.

DonnyDave

RichA wrote:

Do you have their email address? Feel free to PM it if you don't want it made public!

It's posted on other sites on the internet as well as elsewhere on MSE, so it's common knowledge!

executive.office@orange.co.uk

RichA

Excellent stuff! Sent!

--Rich