Orange Loyalty - now no deals?!

Guys_Dad

luckwudaveit wrote: »

Similar for me last year with Orange. Loyal customer since 2001 ish and I saw a good deal with Carphone Warehouse on Orange. I rang Orange to see if they would match the deal and they wouldn't.

I signed up with Carphone (via TCB), got the deal, the cashback and somehow kept my number.

Wonderful redefinition of "loyalty"

MSE Mobile forum definition :- "Loyalty - Noun meaning "I will stay with my current network as long as I can't get a better deal elsewhere and if I can, then two fingers to my old network".

Now, I don't for one minute blame anyone for going for the best deal at renewal and shopping around to do so. I do with every contract coming to an end, from mobile phones to Insurance, energy supplies, banks etc.

But I don't try to suggest that I have remained with any supplier out of loyalty. I have no personal relationship with them, nor do I want one, so I don't whine about "I have been a loyal customer................. " because I haven't.

I may have been a long-time customer, but that is only because they have given me a good deal at renewal, otherwise I would be off. And I expect any savvy MSE member to do likewise, but, please, stop whining on about "loyalty".

terafarma

Guys_Dad wrote: »

Wonderful redefinition of "loyalty"

MSE Mobile forum definition :- "Loyalty - Noun meaning "I will stay with my current network as long as I can't get a better deal elsewhere and if I can, then two fingers to my old network".

Now, I don't for one minute blame anyone for going for the best deal at renewal and shopping around to do so. I do with every contract coming to an end, from mobile phones to Insurance, energy supplies, banks etc.

But I don't try to suggest that I have remained with any supplier out of loyalty. I have no personal relationship with them, nor do I want one, so I don't whine about "I have been a loyal customer................. " because I haven't.

I may have been a long-time customer, but that is only because they have given me a good deal at renewal, otherwise I would be off. And I expect any savvy MSE member to do likewise, but, please, stop whining on about "loyalty".

Spot-on, my exact same take on "loyalty" and being " a loyal customer". They owe me nothing, I owe them nothing. They want to screw me for more money, I aim to screw them by paying less. That's the game, that's why "loyalty" in my dictionary count for nothing with financial institutions, utility companies, mobile phone providers, etc. I only stay until I can get a better deal elsewhere, no pretence. We both know the score.

cgk1

Don't the retention systems broadly work off the last six months of spend - so if you've been with them 12 months or 12 years it doesn't matter?

Miles16v

I dont expect them to give me a free ride just because I am an existing customer, but I would expect some kind of financial loyalty that recognises that by retaining me they are not having to pay a referral fee to an agent for aquiring a new customer, that recognises that my direct debit always goes through without fail and that I never bother their customer services (apart from at renewal).

They will make more money by offering me a deal that is marginally better than the best I can otherwise get, than they will make on a new customer on said deal.

luckwudaveit

Guys_Dad wrote: »

Wonderful redefinition of "loyalty"

MSE Mobile forum definition :- "Loyalty - Noun meaning "I will stay with my current network as long as I can't get a better deal elsewhere and if I can, then two fingers to my old network".

Now, I don't for one minute blame anyone for going for the best deal at renewal and shopping around to do so. I do with every contract coming to an end, from mobile phones to Insurance, energy supplies, banks etc.

But I don't try to suggest that I have remained with any supplier out of loyalty. I have no personal relationship with them, nor do I want one, so I don't whine about "I have been a loyal customer................. " because I haven't.

I may have been a long-time customer, but that is only because they have given me a good deal at renewal, otherwise I would be off. And I expect any savvy MSE member to do likewise, but, please, stop whining on about "loyalty".

Yep, fair point actually. I suppose it's a phrase I have used as a matter of course after staying with a supplier for a long period of time. Point taken.

As a side-note, I have always phoned Orange at renewal and they haven't always offered me the best deal around, although it has been somewhere close. To save myself a lot of hassle I have gone with it and stayed with Orange.

Guys_Dad

Miles16v wrote: »

I dont expect them to give me a free ride just because I am an existing customer, but I would expect some kind of financial loyalty that recognises that by retaining me they are not having to pay a referral fee to an agent for aquiring a new customer, that recognises that my direct debit always goes through without fail and that I never bother their customer services (apart from at renewal).

They will make more money by offering me a deal that is marginally better than the best I can otherwise get, than they will make on a new customer on said deal.

Now part of that I agree with - in fact most except the concept of loyalty.

I have never understood why it is not more financially advantageous to a network to give you a better deal than paying what is obviously a higher commission to CPW, P4U etc.

Never understood it - can't make financial sense.

diamonds

Guys_Dad wrote: »

Now part of that I agree with - in fact most except the concept of loyalty.

I have never understood why it is not more financially advantageous to a network to give you a better deal than paying what is obviously a higher commission to CPW, P4U etc.

Never understood it - can't make financial sense.

Comes down to several idiots on a board room wanting own budgets to see who handles their share better, all in the means of being the next CEO, its meant to make a company more competitive & effective internally but in most cases it just wastes money, savings come from collaboration not fighting for the CEO position.

Dog eat dog.

Yet we the consumer pay for it all, example: just look at BT Retail line rental - twice the price BT Retail pay BT Wholesale for it !!

Answer: Join a Co-Operative and hold a vote as a customer and shareholder without any financial investment apart from a small membership fee or a paid provided service & have a say how the organisation is run. ONE day the majority of consumers will click this is a better way for society, customers, employees in any organisation to function, not for those people who pay in to take more out.

likelyfran

Yes, I upgraded phone with Orange/kept same plan today. Did it online. Looking around now though, there's definitely better deals out there than what I'm getting PLUS Orange put the monthly price up this year which has never happened before- difference of maybe £1.50 a month and where will it end - so I'm getting antsy.:think: They've definitely become 'stingier' of late. There's 'no line rental discounts at this time' according to my online account but I can have some more Magic Numbers - wowzers!
I've got 7 days to cancel the above apparently so I'm going to phone them tomorrow and ask for something more. If they're not in a giving mood, I'll see what I can do about going elsewhere.

diamonds

Likelyfran,

Cancel, call a human retentions via 150 with what you have seen elsewhere and negotiate.

3 upgrades and online offered me nothing worth a pee in a pot each time, human retentions however are to retain you not "upgrade" you as your online account does.

Let us know how it goes.

likelyfran

diamonds wrote: »

Likelyfran,

Cancel, call a human retentions via 150 with what you have seen elsewhere and negotiate.

3 upgrades and online offered me nothing worth a pee in a pot each time, human retentions however are to retain you not "upgrade" you as your online account does.

Let us know how it goes.

Thanks so much for the advice diamonds.

Well.. 'upgrade' phone is arriving tomorrow and I phoned 150 today, blithely thinking that I'd get all the help of the day.

Spoke to a guy and firstly asked why my bill this month has jumped from £16 to £24 :eek:. It appeared to be extra for internet data but I haven't been using it more than usual.

He said yes that's it.

Told him this was worrying as I'm on a low income and that with an existing 80MB/month, could he please add some 'loyalty' data for me? Especially as this would be my 1st 'smartphone' and my sis tells me I'll prob use the net a bit more with it. 'Oh no, you've already upgraded, we can't do anything now, we can only do it before you upgrade'. Are you sure there's nothing you can do. 'Absolutely not.' (to paraphrase).

He further told me that I'd never had any data allowance on my plan anyway. Um.... Just as I was at the 'are you calling me a liar?' stage eventually he said 'oh yes, here it is'. (it was loyalty allowance)

AND, he informed me that that 80MB 'came off on October 6th'. Hence extra £8 I suppose and they never told me that was going to happen!!

I hadn't even got @rsey by this stage, was just saying that I was on a very low income and horrified that it wasn't mentioned online, when it invited me to upgrade online, that I'd forgo all help and usual 'loyalty' awards by doing so. Also that I now had NO DATA ALLOWANCE AT ALL - he cheerfully told me (having not been told the 80MB would disappear just that everything would stay the same). I would, in fact have to pay £5/a month extra now, to get any Data allowance at all.

Even so, he started addressing me by name and telling me off for not taking responsibility for knowing all these things and how it wasn't Orange's responsibility.

At which point I addressed him by name back and told him his 'customer service' wasn't very good.

The friendly customer-oriented face of Orange seems to have started sucking a big old lemon. :mad:

I said in that case, then, I wanted to leave Orange and he said I had to wait for phone 1st and could only cancel once I'd sent it back and given 30 days notice in writing. He gave me an address to send it to etc. I made sure I got him to confirm that that would end the contract payments and I would effectively only have to pay one month before leaving and this he did confirm.

I then swiftly ended the call, shocked and not in the best of moods. My experience before has always been that they would give you a bit more for a bit less each time but OH NO, not if you take up their invitation to do it all conveniently online.

Bit confused about what order to do things in now though? Cancel it all and customer retentions might ring and try to keep me? (Or not by the looks of it.)