Complaints - lead time

charleyroo

Hi all

I emailed Orange yesterday about an extreme (£500 - not veryt MSE I know ) roaming bill that I received this month and I'd really like to draw it to a close before my direct debit date (2nd)

Their 'complaints procedure' PDF states 48 hours for a reply - if it goes over this, can I ring them and ask for a reply asap?

It's not a complaint as such - well, it could be, hmm - just an irate observation that they don't contact people if their bills go huge when abroad (I didn't physically spend £500 on purpose, I left data network on by accident - I know, I know ) and also not sure if their CSAs are giving out bad advice - when I enquired about what options I had for paying this bill, she advised me to cancel my DD, let my bill go overdue then we could set up a 'formal arrangement to pay' :mad: needless to say I won't be doing this, I'll be digging in to my now very sorry looking savings!

Thanks for any observations on the above (I'm actually very ashamed and devastated about it all, I spend most of my waking moments thinking of ways to save money and be better off and I've absolutely screwed up this time!)
x

grumbler

Some victims were able to get the bill cut by up to 50%.
Search the board for 'orange and roaming'.

Was it outside EU?

charleyroo

Yes - I think that Orange send warning texts to Europe 1 i.e. France, Spain if you go over certain amount of data or bill amount, but Turkey you get nothing

I know what's spent is spent (despite it being an accident) but obviously I would love a goodwill gesture if one came up!

charleyroo

Never thought to search the forums.

Can't believe how many people have ended up with huge bills and actually thinking, it could have been so much worse. At least I'm able to pay it, don't know what I would have done if I wasn't able to. hopefully, I'll get a reply tomorrow from Orange. I had already asked for an itemised bill and an explanation of why CSAs are telling people to enter payment plans and that it won't affect their credit rating.

Cheers!

diamonds

executive.office@orange.co.uk

the muppets in Billing Integrity are non customer facing and as much use to customer services staff & customers alike as a chocolate teapot.

charleyroo

thanks for this.

If I don't get a good response today, I'll certainly be reconstructing my email to include all the helpful things I have found on here and the interweb!

Fingers crossed.... if I got anything back it would be like winning money! lol

Have many people had luck asking Orange to recalculate their bill using a roaming bundle?

Guys_Dad

At last! Someone who accepts that they have a responsibility in the use of their data roaming issue> Good on you. :T

Makes one want to help.

Suggest that you also ring CS, trying till you get an onshore CS rep. Make your point about no text (although they are not obligated to send you one and may not have had the real time info from Turkish network todo so any way), and also draw attention to their particularly expensive roaming charges as compared with other networks.

If you approach them in the same manner you posted here, I wish you every success and am keeping my fingers crossed for you,

charleyroo

Hi all

Well - a success! I got through to a very nice chap who explained that the policy is at the agent's discretion and he ran through the guidelines for issuing the discount (they are common sense really) and my bill has been reduced from £538 to £179. As you can imagine I'm over the moon. I've emailed Orange to say my earlier complaint has now been resolved and mentioned the agent as he was helpful. Now I'm nervously checking my account to watch the balance reduce (I can never rest til its there in black and white)

diamonds

AWESOME result, how much data did it use it that period & MB price out of interest

grumbler

I am pretty sure it's usual £8/Mb, i.e. about 60Mb

charleyroo

Yes, it was around 60mb. I spent about £10 on calls and texts (ironically I've never spent that little on those when abroad before!) and my usual £30 monthly bill.

I'm not sure which bundle he selected - the world traveller 50mb bundle plus 10mb x £8 was about the same as another bundle he mentioned (which I can't find on the website so in hindsight maybe he was looking at the EU one by accident, and has in the end selected the world 50mb one and added the odd 10 meg) Unfortunately you can't buy a 50mb bundle and a 10mb bundle, but I'm not overly upset by that.

Looking at the bundles, compared to the pay as you roam option, are really good value and if I wasn't so put off using my phone abroad now I would probably get a bundle!

Though you can be sure I''ll never be taking my HTC abroad again - possibly will take a Nokia 3210 lol!