Appalling Orange customer 'service'

DemiDee

Read this if you have or are considering using Orange, particularly if you have the Orange Out Here package.

I have always sworn by Orange, until I had to ring customer service over the past week no less than five times for something that could have been resolved in just two minutes.

I have two Nokia phones, both on the Orange network. On one, I have the Dolphin plan, which gives me 300 free texts a month. The other is one I have been holding onto for years because it is on the old Orange Out Here package, which gives five free texts a day, for the rest of your life. Recently, I've been looking for a more modern phone and I wanted to keep my Out Here package, but to separate it from the mobile number, which I also wanted to keep but to use as my main number on a more realistic text package. If I could separate the Out Here package from the phone number, I could use both more effectively, so I thought. So - I called 450 and ended up speaking to a foreign man who I could hardly understand (and who could hardly understand me) about simply swapping my packages over, from one phone to the other. To my delight, he said it could be done, but I would have to wait 48 hours. Days later, my Dolphin package was still on the same phone and I couldn't use the other phone to send texts at all. I called again and, after waiting a long time, I spoke to yet another foreign man who I could hardly understand and who could hardly understand me. Once again, I was told that it would be done within 48 hours. I asked him to repeat to me what exactly he was going to do and it was all fine.

Days later, I still couldn't use my second phone to send texts. I was furious and went into the city centre to speak to someone at the store. They called customer services from their phone and then handed it to me. I had to wait in that shop for over half an hour before someone finally answered, by which time I was very annoyed. This time, a woman spoke to me and we could understand each other very well. It calmed me down a little just to speak to someone who I could converse with properly. She said that she was sorry but that it was not possible to swap packages. Why the first chap (or the second) didn't tell me this is anyone's guess, but incompetence comes to mind, and pure ignorance since he could have at least called me back to say that he had made a mistake. But no, it seems that long term Orange customers aren't worth that much. So I accepted that my packages couldn't be transferred and asked that she just therefore restore my Out Here package so that it at least works. She told me to switch of my phone, switch in on again and voila..it worked. So days after my first call, I was back to where I'd started when I made that first call...or so I thought.

The following day I tried to send a text from the secondary phone and it had stopped working again. I felt like screaming with frustration at this point. I spent much of Saturday morning waiting just to get through to a customer advisor on 450...again. Naturally, I was sick to death of Orange by this point. Almost crying, I managed to tell the advisor of all the problems I'd had since simply asking if I would switch packages from one phone to another. The woman this time again said that it was not possible to swap packages and I had great difficulty getting her to understand or appreciate what the Orange Out Here package was. In the process, either my battery ran out or she cut me off. Needless to say, by this point, I simply wanted to throw the entire mobile out of the window.

Completely frustrated, I dialled 450 again. This would be the FIFTH person I spoke to on 450. Again, I had to wait for a lifetime just to get through to a person. Again, I had to explain everything that had happened, from the two foreign guys who had promised to sort it out for me within 48 hours to the visit to the store and so on. I was almost crying just explaining everything, since it had taken hours and hours of valuable time and caused a great deal of stress. She listened and then informed me that my first phone had actually been changed from the Dolphin to the Racoon package (!!!), so even the other phone had, unbeknown to me, been messed up. And she said, after checking with others, that the Out Here package could not be restored because it was an old package and no longer available. Well, I could have exploded at this moment, and told her in no uncertain terms that I was getting that package back or else, and that yes, it was an old package, but it was a contract for life! And they had messed it up, big time. We sorted out getting my main phone back onto the Dolphin package and then she said that she would have another word with the team responsible for changing packages. She told me that I shouldn't have requested changing packages because they don't change, they upgrade.' I felt like saying that the only thing needing an upgrade was customer service.

I waited again for some time, getting ready to say that I wanted to speak to their legal team about breach of contract but she came back to me and said 'I have some good news...it is all done for you.' I didn't know whether to feel thankful or just exhausted. Thanks to my perseverance, and the perseverance of the final lady I spoke to, both phones are now working and back on their original packages. It took me five calls, a long trip into town and endless hours of time. It would have taken just minutes had the first person I spoke to simply told me that it was impossible to swap my packages. Not a lot for a lifelong customer to ask for really. Instead, they didn't even bother calling back to say it wasn't possible, but instead changed one package and cut off the other as if it were some little game. Well, the only game I'll be playing in the future is to swap my service provider as soon as my credit has run out. I'll keep the Out Here package - until they cut it off again - but my paid service will go to a provider that actually values its customers and doesn't treat them in such a despicable manner as this.

Any suggestions, folks?

Exemplar

Two words......therapy

DemiDee

alcot33uk wrote: »

Two words......therapy

What, for me, or for them..or for my phone!?

BTW, 'therapy' is one word. Or at least, it was when I was at school.

Exemplar

you, and the statement regarding therapy is from a film........

having read your posts I trust you dont have children yet?

DemiDee

No, not children. And if they cause more hassle than this, I don't want 'em either!

Exemplar

Well if you had some children you may be a bit less of a drama queen?

DemiDee

I don't think that it's being dramatic to expect better customer service this. And I don't think it's being dramatic to come on here and vent when that doesn't happen. Many do, and fair play to them. It's the only way that these companies will sit up and listen - when people are warned of such appalling service. It's because of people who take things in their stride like yourself that these companies get away with messing people around.

Exemplar

I dont take it in my stride at all. But I like to a) reiterate what is happening when dealing with people over the phone at call centres at the end of the conversation b) get their names so that I can reference it c) (with telco firms) ask them to statement actions via text or via email (which they will do if asked nicely) d) if dealt with well ask to speak to their line manager (gets their name too) to say thankyou for the good service e) follow it up 24 hours later if no actions completed

And i am far from perfect, but do not need to vent in the same manner as you.

Think before you print before you write.

robt_2

In the process, either my battery ran out or she cut me off.

You clearly know which it was, so why bother writing it like that?

If your battery died the phone would have turned off, not disconnected the call.

jb66

5 free texts, whooptydoo

Exemplar

Perhaps the 'shaking with frustration' may stop now........