A long long time ago in an Orange Customer Service Centre far far away

MissKeith

I guess we have to put up with offensive posters in case we upset them then. Dear me.

alexsheehan

Scho - thanks for your post, yes I can approach Halifax to try and get a refund/chargeback, but something inside me wants to pursue this to the nth degree and get Orange to sort their sh** out (for me at least)! Get them to put their hands up, admit that they are wrong and arrange recompense. Call me stubborn, but if I get a Halifax to organise a chargeback, I personally see it as me 'giving in' and letting Orange get away with terrible service/poor management (or whatever you want to call it) and just washing their hands clean of me, with no comeback.

Ultimately, I will pursue Halifax for a chargeback and go to the Ombudsman if I am still not happy but I suppose I see it as a personal vendetta!

Silk - Oh I see! I misunderstood you, sorry! Unfortunately, we have no longer got our old Sony Ericsson W580i's so this is not possible.

I take on board others comments about using another sim from another provider, but I really want this to be a problem that Orange sort out - maybe I would have been a little more compliant and tried some of these suggestions had I been receiving, generally, good service from Orange but due to the atrocity that is their current level of 'service' and the level of service I have been receiving for quite a while now, I am in no mood for what seems to be such a 'faff'. I want Orange to do all the hard work and sort it out themselves. Okay, maybe now I AM being unreasonable, but I feel I have been rather reasonable up until this point!

Guys_Dad

MissKeith wrote: »

I guess we have to put up with offensive posters in case we upset them then. Dear me.

I'm sorry, MissKeith. I mistook your reply as coming from Edinburghlass.

To clarify, I agree with you, MissKeith. It is offensive. In fact, if anyone took the time to read through the original post, they would have seen quite a bit of offensive material posing as "comedy".

Given that this came from a new poster, I am quite surprised that Edinburghlass, who is one of the thread mods, chose to admonish my post rather than advise the Newbie that generic offensive content - which clearly the post contained - may offend MSE members - such as yourself.

MissKeith

Thanks Guy's Dad. Numerous things about that post bothered me, I was surprised by all the pandering, especially by the mod. I don't want to get into trouble about this though.

alexsheehan

Miss Keith - I don't feel I was being rude at all! I was getting more and more frustrated the longer the whole saga went on and maybe that is reflected in my post and my increasingly angry phonecalls to Orange, but if you had personally experienced the whole debacle, then maybe you would not be so quick to judge!

I assure you my post about the

illegitimate love child of Erno Rubik

was only meant as a compliment, I was just trying to describe the situation in a light-hearted and (hopefully) witty way, but if I offended you (or anyone else) then I am sorry, not everyone has the same sense of humour!

Look, I am not expecting "back-pats and cookies" as you put it from fellow retail/shop assistants, I even stated in my post above that;

there are a minority of shops assistants who know EXACTLY their clientele and their subject-matter, but these are very few and far between.

You clearly must fall into this limited category!

However I am just giving my opinion on my GENERAL experience, specifically with Orange shop assistants - the female shop assistant above was actually VERY good at her job and I feel I conveyed that in my original post, however, this may not have come across as intended in my text and not everyone took it the way it was intended and I am sorry if I offended anyone.

It's fine if you don't like me, I'm heart-broken but I'll go on - it's a free country. I'm not trying to win any friends with this - as I was trying to say earlier, I was just trying to lighten the mood of a rather turgid message with a bit of wit and hopefully get some advice along the way.

I am not a hater, you carry on with your life and I'll carry on with mine and my personal vendetta and ever-decreasing happiness with Orange. If you don't like something I say, then stop reading!

Stop trying to twist this into something it's not, I do not hate women (I have a very lovely wife who works damn hard and puts up with me!), I do not hate shops assistants (apart from the stoopid ones who do not know what the word assistance actually means at all!) and I am not normally this "condescending and patronising" or normally so "rude to a number of customer service reps" as you put it either. My conversations with them started off quite pleasant;-

I phoned Orange, who on this particular occasion, were very helpful indeed and they went through the usual checks and processes as described in their “Mobile Phones For Dummies” script. They tinkered with things their end, they urged my wife and I to tinker with things our end and finally everything was working perfectly, “Marvellous!”

Yet again <yawn>, I'm sorry if I offended any Mobile Phone Customer Service Assistants with the "Mobile Phones for Dummies" comment above, it was merely for comedic effect!

I treat every customer service assistant / shop assistant (initially) as they treat me, if they start to get rude or the conversation starts going into deadlock and they just read verbatim the script that is in front of them without deviation, investigation or actually providing any level of customer service at all, then that is when I start to get annoyed. They are, after all, paid to assist. As with my many conversations with Orange Customer Service, the conversations always started off politely, the only time I got agitated and started to protest was when they seemed to be regurgitating the same old manuscript with no resolution or providing any kind of help or assistance at all.

Techhead_2

I have to say that the first post does come across as insulting, sarcastic and condescending throughout.

I appreciate that wasn't the intention, I always find that posts are more likely to ' get results ' when they stick to straightforward facts with no elaboration.

Scho

alexsheehan wrote: »

I take on board others comments about using another sim from another provider, but I really want this to be a problem that Orange sort out - maybe I would have been a little more compliant and tried some of these suggestions had I been receiving, generally, good service from Orange but due to the atrocity that is their current level of 'service' and the level of service I have been receiving for quite a while now, I am in no mood for what seems to be such a 'faff'. I want Orange to do all the hard work and sort it out themselves. Okay, maybe now I AM being unreasonable, but I feel I have been rather reasonable up until this point!

True - Orange have been terrible and you want your pound of flesh for all the crap they've put you through after 15 years of loyalty. I completely understand that and it should be them that are jumping through all the hoops.
However, it covers your rear end now if you can prove that the equipment isn't at fault for the issues. It probably isn't, but then it leaves it in no doubt as they will no doubt bring it up as an excuse or that you've damaged it.

After that, the only way left would be to try and escalate this upto the upper management levels. If you can get the email of the CEO/MD of Orange UK etc then I'd send them an email about the issue you've faced and see what they can do. Maybe not as you've written on here though!:rotfl:

alexsheehan

Insulting? Yes indeed! But then, I also insulted myself;-

"...she was finding it hard to understand my crass, agricultural accent, and she would not let me pass until I could muster up a complete coherent sentence of “Queens English”."

However, I am sorry if I offended any farmers, or people of 'Agricultural Origin' but I do include myself in that statement as, I too am of 'Agricultural Origin'.


Sarcastic? You betcha! This was intentional, but then not everyone understands sarcasm do they? I was also mocking myself;-

"Shortly after my release from the local institution..."

For those who need an explanation, this was a self-deprecating remark, implying that I was not of sane mind.


Condescending? I'll have some of that please! I think I was condescending and belittling of oneself in my message also;-

"Instead, I decided to swear a the nearest person to me (sorry shop assistant and anyone who was in the vicinity!), accomplish the fine art of making myself look like a complete weirdo (ok, even more of a weirdo than I normally am!) by throwing my toys out of the pram, storming out of the shop like a child, and shouting/swearing into the ether (sorry passers by)."

I am sorry if I offended anyone with a brain (or without one), that works in a shop or call centre that offers 'good' customer service (well done you, give yourself a pat on the back, you are in the minority!), I am sorry if I offended those with an aversion to the word 'Orange', I am also sorry if I offended anyone without a sense of humour and those that take life a little too seriously! If you provide good customer service, then there is no need to be offended - well done, I applaud you (no sarcasm intended, just in case you were wondering). If you feel the need to defend poor service then who is the condescending one? Why should anyone have to put up with poor service? Am I supposed to just shut my mouth and put up with paying for a service I am not getting? (admittedly, most people would probably offer to shut my mouth for me!). You clearly think you are better than me?

“We are all equals, but some are more equal than others.”

I am not saying I am better than you, or anyone, what i am saying is that it is not acceptable to be provided with poor service and have to just put up with it, especially when you are PAYING for that poor service !


Some of you clearly have issues and feel the need to question every tiny little detail and dissect every miniscule sentence, word and punctuation mark as if you were some kind of CSI or Net Police and were looking for some hidden meaning in my message, or clues as to my current mental state and the whereabouts of my sanity. My sanity is actually locked away in a cupboard somewhere but I haven't been able to find it since.... oh look! there it is! I found you! Silly sanity, don't do that again!


I hate to burst your bubble, but I am completely normal (if you call having the brain mass the size of a walnut and the intellect of peanut normal - Sorry, there I go with the self-deprecating remarks again, I must stop it in case I offend anyone who has a brain the size of a walnut!). I have no wish to carry sharp implements, ordnance or use ballistics of any kind, or self-harm for that matter. I can even manage to take myself to the toilet without bumping into anything! Just for the PC brigade out there, I can assure you that I am not xenophobic or discriminatory (although I am intolerant of intolerance & irrational about irrationality!), despite what may have been perceived from my post.


My original post was not intended to offend anyone, merely, it was an account of my experience of the consistent disgusting service I have been provided by Orange of late, and the inconsistent level of service I have been getting with mine/my wife's phone. It was not aimed at anyone, other than recounting those events and the people working at Orange whom I had DIRECT contact with, with a little bit of light-heartedness thrown in for good measure. If I did not converse with you personally during my epic tale, then any insult is not aimed at you! If, by trying to convey my account comedically (honestly, I did try, believe it or not!) and, by its implication, have offended anyone, then I truly am sorry and any insolence is not directed at them personally!


Well..., actually, maybe one or two of them, they were quite irritating and, if ever anything was questioned, which didn't fall within the boundaries of their 'script', they seemed unable to cope, capitulated - unable to progress the conversation any further the conversation reached a deadlock, with us going around in circles.

Naf

Scho wrote: »

True - Orange have been terrible and you want your pound of flesh for all the crap they've put you through after 15 years of loyalty. I completely understand that and it should be them that are jumping through all the hoops.
However, it covers your rear end now if you can prove that the equipment isn't at fault for the issues. It probably isn't, but then it leaves it in no doubt as they will no doubt bring it up as an excuse or that you've damaged it.

After that, the only way left would be to try and escalate this upto the upper management levels. If you can get the email of the CEO/MD of Orange UK etc then I'd send them an email about the issue you've faced and see what they can do. Maybe not as you've written on here though!:rotfl:

I did e-mail directly to Tom Alexander, but its still just the executive office that reply.

Scho

alexsheehan wrote: »

size of a walnut and the intellect of peanut normal

What if I consider myself like a coconut - hard on the outside with a few holes that lead to a squishy middle mostly filled with liquid!!?? Does that mean I'm still 'normal'?


Naf - you're right it's the executive office but then it's a step up from the current level of CS Alex is currently communicating with and seems unhappy with. Better than nowt.