orange retentions - beware

easwara

Beware of Orange!! From my experience they do not care.
Last august I rung and spoke to their retentions manager and he only offered standard tariff deals saying it’s the best he could do even though I’m on the top loyalty band. He said I wouldn’t find a cheaper and better deal with orange however I told him it’s the standard tariff and caught him out.
Anyways a nice man from retentions again offered me:
2200xnet mins,
Unlimited texts
Unlimited internet
15 picture messages
And orange maps
For £24.47 and any phone I wanted. It was a really good deal. All I had to do is find the phone I wanted. I wanted a phone I could share deal on etc and had java. There was none at the time. I was advised the offer would be kept for me till I found a phone I wanted. Every few months however I’d ring and speak to the nice man that offered this deal to make sure I could still have it, to which I was told yes, it’s in your notes, whenever you find the phone you want ring us and we’ll sort it out. I was told I didn’t have to speak to them even as it’s in the notes and anyone in the department would offer it me.
Anyway I kept checking till a few months ago when the HTC desire HD was rumoured to come out. I rung orange checked my deal and said once it’s out I’ll renew and they said that’s fine, can see deal. They said they wasn’t sure they was going to get the phone or not though. 2-3 months ago I rung to enquire about the htc desire HD’s release and was told October November this year.
Today I found it’s released but when I rung to renew, I was told by another rentention's man (very bad service) that I couldn’t be offered that deal. He said yes I would find customers on here with better deals but they are better valued customers who orange make more off. My bill is high yet it’s not what orange can make money off. Also because I make use of their magic numbers now I use a lot of minutes and they say I cost them a lot.
After 6 and a half years loyalty and for not being in contract for nearly 3 years, paying £35 a month for 500 mins, a tariff price now where you can get much more mins, they did not care. They said they couldn’t honour the offer as it’s been a year.
I told them I’ve been checking every couple of months and was told its fine, but they didn’t care no more. I think to them I was even though one the top loyalty band was costing them. Offer was withdrawn. Was treated badly I believe, didn’t care if I left orange. I think id served my purpose, and now they had finished with me. No loyalty on their end I see.

I in the end spoke to the gentleman who offered me the deal, another rude manager put him on. I think he’d been told to come over. In any case with the new t-mobile orange merger they said what they can offer has changed and they couldn’t offer me anything. Deal withdrawn. I believe competition has been stifled.

To all those that have been offered deals with orange, and all those who may think of going on orange, from my experience all I can say is beware. I have for many years been loyal to orange. Not anymore. There are better deals. Even Tesco offer £30 unlimited texts, internet, and mins. I could then just buy the phone.

Guys_Dad

I understand from your post that you had been in constant contact with Orange re a deal offered in August 2009. Correct?

And the deal was that you got the minutes etc for the price you liked if you let them know when you found a phone you liked and you didn't find one till over a year later?

How long do you think the deal was on offer? For ever? Till the next century?

Of course not. Then, if not forever, by logic it had to end sometime. And it did - before your last enquiry when you had found the phone. You did not expect them to ring you and say "Hey Mr Easwara - you know that deal we offered you last August? Well You have 1 week to choose your phone or it is being withdrawn" - or did you.

I am sorry, but you took too long to accept the deal and if you couldn't find a phone you liked in over a year, then it is, unfortunately, bad luck.

easwara

no i did not expect them to say oh by the way the deal you was promised a year ago is no longer valid. the fact that i was told whenever i find the phone i want i can ring up and the fct that every few months id ring up and check if offer still valid and was assured yes gave me some reasurances. even 2-3 months ago and then i said fine i know what phone i want and so said when that comes out in oct/ nov i'll get. they was fine about it. not at any one point did they said no you can no loonger have it or no your leaving it too long.
the way they handled the call wasnt good ethier. its was like your 6 and a half years of loyalty, nd not even had an upgrade for years meant nothing. they didnt care about me leaving. my monthly bills are high yet they was only willing to offer standard tariff.

simax

None of the networks offer "suicide deals" anymore like the offer quoted above. And what were you going to expect after that deal expired if you took it up? Using that amount of mins/data/texts etc for 25 notes a month, you'd get nothing at the next year upgrade as you would have cost Orange money, not the other way around.

The networks don't want customers like that any more. They know that for any customer that throws it's toys out of the pram and leaves because they can't get 2000+ mins, unlim texts and data for £25 a month, they can get someone new to sign up on a standard tariff.

Guys_Dad

Don't get the idea that I am not sympathetic. You did ring every few months and were told "OK Deal is still there". But that is only the info that these guys have at the time.

At some time, the offer would be withdrawn otherwise it was a "lifetime offer". Times are getting hard in the world and, regrettably, you have missed the boat..Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but you should have taken the offer earlier.

Point is - is there a better deal on offer anywhere today? If so, go for it.

I have an Orange contract and I don't think any less of them as a result of your post. I am surprised they kept it open for so long, in fact.

drbesty

I don't really get the whole 'loyal customer' line, I've been with British Gas for 10 years, I don't phone them up and expect to get cheaper gas because of this. It's pretty simple, if you don't make a company any money they won't fight too hard to keep your custom

easwara

well i make them a lot of money. my monthly bill is high. its just that now although my monthly bill is stil high, i use m magic number as well so it costs them by me using my magic number. they shouldnt have magic numbers if they dont want customers to use. Its like giving unlimited land lines then saying well you cost us money by callling landlines cos then we didnt make money so you no longer worth keeping.

ellay864

This post is going in 2 places at once - it's also in the Consumer Rights section. Over there somebody else has already pointed out the £35 a month is not a high tariff to be paying so unless you're paying for loads of extras you aren't making them a particularly high amount of money. And if you are paying loads of extras then more fool you for sticking that long hanging on for over a year for the dream!

ladyyhoneybee

Haha i keep reading this post and think your stupid.

Magic numbers cost orange hardly anything as they are same network mins, doh!!

How many times did you expect to call Orange and waste their time asking if the deal is still available?? Your a time waster!!

I bet Orange was glad to see the back of you!

603_090

Any bundles such as unlimited texts, or unlimited calls to magic numbers/landlines come at a cost to a provider such as Orange. You do have the facility to use them when you like but each time you do they cost the company you are with more money... So to the company if you use over 1000 or 2000 texts or minutes a month inclusive you are setting them back quite a bit each month. When you call them asking for a HTC Desire HD for free they are gonna want a contract which covers the cost of the phone as well as the amount of data/texts/mins you use which will ultimately be unique to each customer based on their usage.

In your case you are a very high user of your magic numbers which works well for you as you get the calls for free... But not for Orange who have to maintain that cost on a low tariff. £25 per month is a good price for the cost you bring to a company and I am hardly suprised they cannot offer you the phone for free as it is worth say 3-400ish pounds... To them giving you the most expensive HTC handset for free doesn't quite make business sense. As a new customer you might get it... but only because the company you would go too doesn't know yet you might obliterate your usage limits.

Just out of interest what did they actually offer you this time?

drbesty

Magic Numbers cost Orange diddly squat, they're hardly going to charge themselves for use of their own network, they only way they lose money is due to the call not coming out of your usual mobile allowence, same with unlimited texts, they cost mobile networks practically nothing. The unit cost of a HTC Desire HD is roughly £306