Orange Contracts/Customer Service

shadia253

Hi
This is my first post & hopefully someone can shed some light.

I was with O2 for a few years but their customer service got increasingly worse so in Nov '06 I switched to Orange on an 18 month contract & a new phone. Im now 6 months in & have developed problems with my phone (Sony Ericsson w950i). I sent it off last week & it returned only to have developed new problems. I tried to call customer services about it (as instructed by the shop) however I was on hold for an hour & haven't been able to get through to send the phone back for the 2nd time. I've been to 4 Orange Shops and all have been unhelpful. So now I've got 12 months remaining on my contract with a phone that doesn't work. What can I do???

z4kir

Unfortuantely you cannot get out of the contract, Your best bet is try calling them again and either
a) ask for the phone to be reparied
b) ask for a replacement new handset (under the 12 month warranty by the retailer)
c) either of the above and ask for some sort of compensation for the time you have not been able to use your contract.

friend of mine with Orange had frequent problems with his handset midway through his contract he rang customers discussed the matter and then not happy asked to speak to the supervisor... he simply would not budge until the supervisor asked what they can do for him... he asked for an entirely different brand new handset, to which they obliged (i'm still quite surprised)

reehsetin

if you get the phone repaired/replaced 3 times for thee fault they change it for a different handset
whenever you speak to CS get the name and extention no of that person
and keep chasing them up with the problems - forces them to do as much as possible

shadia253

Thanks for that - at the moment the biggest problem is that I cant get through to customer services. I've been on hold for an hour each time. I need to send the handset back for the second time now - however the stores have taken over a week with me going in everyday trying to figure out how to send it back every time.

ak6949

shadia253 wrote: »

Hi
This is my first post & hopefully someone can shed some light.

I was with O2 for a few years but their customer service got increasingly worse so in Nov '06 I switched to Orange on an 18 month contract & a new phone. Im now 6 months in & have developed problems with my phone (Sony Ericsson w950i). I sent it off last week & it returned only to have developed new problems. I tried to call customer services about it (as instructed by the shop) however I was on hold for an hour & haven't been able to get through to send the phone back for the 2nd time. I've been to 4 Orange Shops and all have been unhelpful. So now I've got 12 months remaining on my contract with a phone that doesn't work. What can I do???

1) Who did you buy the phone from - online/orange shop/cpw?
2) Who sent it away for repair?

shadia253

I bought the phone from an Orange shop - when I went back to it they tried to send me to a cpw to get it fixed which I dont understand as surely its up to them to send away faulty phones? I then went into another Orange shop & they sent it away for repair for me. It came back last saturday & I used it for 30 mins before discovering it now had different faults & since then that same branch have been trying to figure out how to send it back. They all just seem as though they dont know much.

ak6949

shadia253 wrote: »

I then went into another Orange shop & they sent it away for repair for me. It came back last saturday & I used it for 30 mins before discovering it now had different faults & since then that same branch have been trying to figure out how to send it back. They all just seem as though they dont know much.

Theres nothing to figure out, all they have to do is follow the same process and send it away again with a covering note saying that "This phone came back from repair with different faults, please recitfy and return". Intec (the company that Orange employ to repair phones) warrant repairs for something like 60 days or something. Take the repair sheet from Intec back into the shop and ask them to send it away using the same process they did last time with a covering note.

Sorry you've had such hassle with them.

As for the CPW - They might have sent you to one which had a repair centre on site so it'd be quicker I think.

reehsetin

ak6949 wrote: »

As for the CPW - They might have sent you to one which had a repair centre on site so it'd be quicker I think.

yup - i know it confuses customers but rather than us taking a week at least to send it off and get it repaired, we ahve a CPW on site repair centre a min down the road, a lot easier,
CPW are authorised repairers for msot phones and they only need to be in warranty for them to fix them for free (unless someones damaged it)

shadia253

Thanks for your help - I've tried calling customer services & they've said that I need to send the phone away myself & if it comes back again with a fault to contact trading standards.

reehsetin

why do u need to send it yourself, the shops will do it for you,
they told you to contact trading standards - odd

shadia253

Yep! Feel like im being sent from Pillar to Post! Customer Services told me what the stores have been telling me is all wrong. I am not impressed with Orange at all. I always thought they were quite a good network!
They said I need to send the phone back because all they provide is the telecommunications network & not the handset. I feel like they're trying to shift the blame off themselves!