Vent - I hate mobile phone companies

podwin

I hate mobile phone companies.

I have been an Orange Pay As You Go customer since 2002 and everything in the world was rosy.

I decided to get modern with a good phone, and give VodaFone a try in 2010.

In didn’t start well as they sent the phone to the wrong address (https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2810504)

The phone was OK, I had a couple of problems, but VodaFone never replied to emails and I had to make a trip to a store which was OK.

Due to very poor signal in my house I decided not to stay with Vodafone and try T-mobile. That was just awful (https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/56910459#Comment_56910459) and I am still £17 out of pocket for buying a phone which never worked.

I still had my Orange Pay As You Go, so I thought I’d just buy a decent phone on that.

I paid £150 for a nice Lumia 800.

It was delivered on the wrong day. Didn’t work for 24 hours until I phoned to complain.

I used Wifi when it was not registered (it would not make or receive calls or texts) yet I was charged for GPRS usage when using my own WIFI.

£10 credit went in 3 days.

I changed to a plan which included free texts and MB - £10 would give free 100MB. That second £10 lasted 3 days, constantly being charged for GPRS when it is clearly connected to WIFI.

Phone also does not keep time. When I complained they said it was normal when it is switched off. What a big fat lie – I had to find this (http://www.nokiausers.net/forum/lumia-800/42396-nokia-lumia-time-date-issues.html). Only then did they put me through to technical.

When I complained about the GPRS usage they said the new payment plan would only kick in after 24 hours. I was still getting charged. I phoned to complain again. They then said I would only get the inclusive data after 48 hours. This did not happen so I phoned again. I was then told I would only get the inclusive data (100MB for topping up with £10) on the 8th December. WHAT????
That is just awful.

So far, 3 calls and less than 10 texts have cost £20 over 6 days on my new Orange Phone, which is faulty anyway (according to the Nokia forum) . Even if I am not supposed to have inclusive data whats the deal with Orange charging me to use my own WIFI!!!????

What do I have to do to get some service from a mobile phone company? To have something that simply works and doesn't cost a fortune to run.

Suppose I’ll be trying O2 next, as I’ll be DSRing this Orange phone. I can’t afford a £20 a week phone bill!

Anyone have a pearls of wisdom on this?

dizzylisa

Im really sorry about your experiences, but I dont understand why people today use pay as you go. Its so much dearer and customer service isn't always efficient as monthly pay (yes and that also can be poor!) in limbo land. Everyone gonna jump on me here, but have you tried 3 or Tesco mobile do some really good monthly contracts starting at around £7.50

pmduk

I'm not sure it's a good idea to recommend 3 to someone with a poor experience of customer service. Their service overall is good, but the CS is probably the worst of all the companies.

DCFC79

You sure you were charged for GPRS usage ? I use it when wifi is on and not been charged yet, also on orange but contract.

Azari

dizzylisa wrote: »

Im really sorry about your experiences, but I dont understand why people today use pay as you go. Its so much dearer

It's very good for people who rarely use their mobiles.

The cheapest contract AFAIK is around £7.50 and given that, for example, the Tesco light user tariff is 8p per minute, you'd need to make over 90 minutes of calls a month to break even

System

Will you be able to DSR it? Sounds like you've been using it extensively in the last 6 days. I thought with DSR you were only allowed to inspect the goods. Sounds like you've done a lot more than that.

I would be tempted to keep the phone and get yourself a sim only contract. They are very cheap these days

podwin

I agree with the comments against Pay As You Go. I noticed Orange have a SIM only deal for £7.50 which seems to include what I need. It is just that my existing 10 year old Orange is Pay As You Go.

However, I have decided I do not want to switch to any other deal with Orange, because the phone appears to be faulty as in the Nokia forum link I posted earlier. I turned the phone off, then on, and the time jumped to June 2013?? To be told by Orange support this is normal isn't on "This is normal" they said, it's "bull####" more like.

So based on the customer service I'm getting I want out, apparently I have 14 days to send the phone back so we'll see.

I'm sure it has used GPRS, look at the account activity below, it should be using WIFI?


date_________event_description____(Kb)__cost (p)
18/11/12 08:39 GPRS ap-prepaidsessio 9.0 0.03
18/11/12 08:11 GPRS ap-prepaidsessio 9.0 0.04
18/11/12 07:31 GPRS ap-prepaidsessio 15.0 0.07
18/11/12 07:07 GPRS ap-prepaidsessio 15.0 0.06
18/11/12 06:47 GPRS ap-prepaidsessio 9.0 0.04
18/11/12 06:19 GPRS ap-prepaidsessio 9.0 0.04
18/11/12 05:47 GPRS ap-prepaidsessio 15.0 0.06
18/11/12 05:23 GPRS ap-prepaidsessio 9.0 0.04
18/11/12 05:07 GPRS ap-prepaidsessio 6.0 0.03
18/11/12 04:27 GPRS ap-prepaidsessio 44.0 0.17
18/11/12 03:59 GPRS ap-prepaidsessio 9.0 0.04
18/11/12 03:31 GPRS ap-prepaidsessio 9.0 0.04
18/11/12 03:03 GPRS ap-prepaidsessio 9.0 0.04
18/11/12 02:31 GPRS ap-prepaidsessio 9.0 0.04
18/11/12 02:07 GPRS ap-prepaidsessio 9.0 0.04
18/11/12 01:51 GPRS ap-prepaidsessio 6.0 0.03
18/11/12 01:31 GPRS ap-prepaidsessio 18.0 0.07
18/11/12 01:11 GPRS ap-prepaidsessio 9.0 0.04
18/11/12 00:43 GPRS ap-prepaidsessio 9.0 0.04


What's the point in WIFI then?

But remember, this is on a payment plan called Dolphin - http://shop.orange.co.uk/mobile-phones/plans/paygPlanList.jsp?_requestid=14071, I'm supposed to get 100MB included in a £10 top up.

But according to customer support I won't get that until the 8th December. So in the meatime it will cost me £60 just to have the phone switched on and not make any calls or send any texts.

RUBBISH!

TheSaint_2

Your wifi may be on, but you are not connected.
Swipe to the left to see the list of apps. Scroll down to settings.
Open that the look for the wifi option. Select that, make sure it is on and most importantly select the name of your wifi network and connect to it.
You will be fine after that.
Btw, try to get rid of the 800 it is using old windows 7. You want the new windows 8 nokias or htc, samsung phones if you want windows.

podwin

TheSaint wrote: »

Your wifi may be on, but you are not connected.
Swipe to the left to see the list of apps. Scroll down to settings.
Open that the look for the wifi option. Select that, make sure it is on and most importantly select the name of your wifi network and connect to it.
You will be fine after that.
Btw, try to get rid of the 800 it is using old windows 7. You want the new windows 8 nokias or htc, samsung phones if you want windows.

Thanks but I know it is on, it is active and connected, the router lists the mobile's MAC and IP of the phone. I have been in settings and they are correct.

It is obvious the mobile can use WIFI as when using websites the router's activity lights flash rapidly.

In fact, now I have £0.00 credit, and can still do web based stuff, so it must be 100% using WIFI, unless my Orange credit is going to start going negative.

pullenuk

I had in the past some orange software on my phone only works by its own mobile data and not wifi even when wifi connected. Might need to confirm this if this still happens.

I no longer had this problem as I got an android phone and rooted it, kicking off the orange apps and running stock android instead of orange version.

Does windows have an easy way to disable mobile data, try this. If apps fails to work even when wifi is on then they either been forced to use mobile data or in their settings been set to use mobile data first before wifi.

podwin

Not that I can see, I have gone into settings but they seem to have made things 'simple'.

As a test with £0.00 credit I took a walk to the shops, and once out of range from my house sure enough things would not work, email, social network updates, web etc.

When I got home, they all started working again, which is what you'd expect using Wifi.

So I have no idea why when I top up with £10, its gone in 3 days when the phone is at home?