complaints about orange

“The worst thing is that orange don't care about my problem - I have been told to live with it”

Orange Broadband Matters?

Below is just one of many emails, letters and phonecalls that illustrate our problems with Orange. We are now exchanging formal complaint letters with head office and about to go to arbitration.

We are so incensed about this con that we're starting an online petition about Orange's rubbish broadband speeds and mis-selling techniques. If I send you the link, would you be kind enough to help promote the petition by posting it on your orangeiscrap page?

Click here to connect to www.thepetitionsite.com

"To Laura (from Orange Helpers who didn't actually help)

James actually called Orange yesterday and once again was on the phone for 45 minutes (at our cost) and we have totted up 15 calls so far.

He got absolutely nowhere with accounts dept and was promptly transferred to an Indian who just wanted to do yet more diagnostic tests on our Orange supplied router.

We have endured numerous router tests for 8 months without any conclusion mainly because your tech staff in India do not seem to comprehend that this is not about our router but about Orange UK transferring us from BT's IP stream (capped at 8mb) on to the BT WBC network. Having checked at length with BT, we find our area is WBC compliant and has been since last year so why are we still waiting?

If you want James to discuss this with you by phone (he is technical), please supply a direct number, otherwise we will commence a formal complaint in writing as we feel strongly that we were unquestionably duped by sales staff in your shop.

The shop assistant repeatedly assured us way back in march, that broadband speed would increase to 16mb 'within a few days' if we changed our billing over to you. James even double-checked details with him over the phone before we committed. They then promptly managed to screw up the transfer paperwork by quoting the wrong BT line number so BT did not progress the transfer.

As a result we lost all broadband during a tardy and botched transfer in June and when BB was finally reconnected, it was at the much slower speed. We regard this state of affairs as a breach of our contract with you and certainly blatent mis-selling of the product.

When I called into the same Orange shop last weekend to complain in person, I was asked why I'd waited eight months to return to the shop and there was nothing they could/would do about it now. Why? The unapologetic assistant who I spoke with, didn't seem to care or comprehend that we have, in fact, been bitterly complaining about this mess repeatedly since June - check your computer logs, it's all there Recent Facebook conversation with Orange Helpers"

David Dunlop and Orange Helpers?

Terrible service from Orange today. I have a Samsung Omnia 7, got the notification to update to Windows Mango which I did, now the phone continually resets and guess what? Orange does not want to know. Pathetic!!! Well they will be getting the phone back along with the contract. NEVER AGAIN!!!!
Like · · 20 hours ago ·

David Dunlop Latest from Orange "Hi David, we understand you are angry, however, in order to get further explanation; we invite you to get in touch with Orange Helpers at http://tinyurl.com/messagehelpers. They will reply you as soon as they can. Kind regards, Orange.com team"
19 hours ago · Like

Orange Helpers Hi David. Sorry to hear you're having some problems there! If you can send us your details via http://tinyurl.com/messagehelpers , we can make some enquiries for you. Thanks! ^Darren
6 hours ago · Like

David Dunlop Well I have sent them my details, watch this space.........................
6 hours ago · Like

Orange Helpers Hi David, We have received your details so thanks for that. We do need need further information to be able to investigate. If you could reply to our email response we will be able to take a look at your query. Thanks. ^Laura.
5 hours ago · Like

David Dunlop Latest from Orange

"Hi David,

Thank you for getting in touch privately.

Please confirm the first and last characters of your Orange password so that we can take a look at the dates and give advise relating to the warranty situation with your phone.

Thanks in advance.

Laura
Orange Helpers"

Even although the phone is 8 months old, I am just waiting for them to quote Orange Company policy that we (Orange) are not in any way responsible and you need to go to the manufacturer of the phone!!!
5 hours ago · Like

Orange Helpers Hi David, If you can please get back to us we will be able to let you know the best way to resolve the problem. I am sorry that the email came across differently. Thanks. ^Laura.
4 hours ago · Like

David Dunlop How long does it take someone to supply a returns address and confirm that the contract will be disolved?
4 hours ago · Like

Orange Helpers Hi David, This is not information which is appropriate given the problem you have highlighted. If this is a separate issue please provide the mobile number for this connection and we'll look at this for you too. Thanks. ^Laura.
3 hours ago · Like

David Dunlop Hi Laura,

I have given you my number, I have sent the two letters from my password as requested.

The issue is that Orange are contracted to provide me with a service. The phone that Orange provided me with to use the service does not work after an update, notified by Orange.

The only remedy I can see working is for Orange to take the phone that has been rendered unusable because of the update, approved by Orange, back and cancel/terminate the contract.

Because of this update, Orange approved, my phone has continually reset and locks itself on the Samsung splash screen and I therefore cannot use the service that Orange has contracted to provide. This will be day 13 of the continued problem.

Regards,

David
2 hours ago · Like

David Dunlop Here we go folks, Orange's response, I could have written the script before the emailed me.

"Hi David,

We have taken a look at the account and can see that you have not had a replacement from us within the last 3 months and that the handset and agreement were taken out over 7 months ago which means that you fall outside of the Orange warranty period. As I am sure you have already been advised you do have a year's warranty with the manufacturer. Notes on your account suggest that you were not happy when told this previously and proceeded to advise that you were going to try and cancel your mobile service agreement with us. I am not sure whether the agent was able to pass on contact details for Samsung so that the issue can be resolved so am providing them here.

Tel: 0330 726 7864 (0330SAMSUNG) They are available from 09:00 until 18:00, Monday to Saturday.

You can view details of the product warranty here: http://www.samsung.com/uk/support/warranty/warrantyInformation.do?page=POLICY.WARRANTY .

I regret that we are not able to assist further.

Laura
Orange Helpers"

The moral of the story is that once Orange has you locked into a contract they pass their obligations on to another party at the earliest opportunity.

Do not buy any Windows Mobile product from Orange they will not support you and have the attitutude "it not us, a big boy did it and ran away."

Remember that once your handset if over 6 months old Orange DO NOT WANT TO KNOW.

Engineers are looking at it?

If you havent paid your bill or something has gone wrong you are barred from using your phone. You call 150 to sort it out and go through the options to speak to an operator and then.... "sorry you are barred CLICK". You try other options to get through to an operator, "sorry you are barred CLICK". You call from Skype and immediately every number you call is "Sorry we cannot process your call" - because your number is coming up witheld caller ID due to it being Skype. The only way to call them is on a BT landline. The number they want you to call is an 07 number - so charged at full mobile call rates.

I have spoken to Orange over the last 4 months and they say "yes we are aware of our 'cant call 150 problem' and engineers are looking at it". 4 months on and still doing it!? I dont think so. The bottom line is Orange quite clearly dont want to speak to you for free if you havent paid your bill etc... and they want to make money out of your calls to sort it out. They wont accept Skype calls because they arent making the same dosh from Skype as from a BT landline so this sucks badly.

Any company who cant let you speak to them on their own network when you have a problem is c**tish. What if your walk way up the Brecon Beacons and cant get to a callbox? Forcing you to get to a callbox and no 0800 numbers in existence should say it all.

Optional Orange Care?

I popped into my local Orange shop on 18th September 2011 to see if I could get a free upgrade. A friendly and very helpful assistant confirmed that I could, and showed me a range of models that best fitted my needs. She then checked out my account, and noted that I had a 24 month contract. She said that as my contract was very good it would be better for me if I waited until it expired before upgrading. I was impressed that she was looking after my best interest, and I decided to take her advice.

On 24th September 2011 I received a “Confirmation of Insurance Cover” letter from Orange for my old phone, advising me that I had purchased Orange Care on the 18th September as an optional extra for the cost of £6.00 a month.

I phoned Orange and explained that insurance was never mentioned when I discussed the upgrade, so I was more than curious as to why I received the confirmation of cover letter for a something I never asked for or agreed to.

The guy I spoke to said he would cancel the insurance. I explained that I wanted to know why it had been initiated in the first place, and was this normal Orange policy to set up cover for customers without telling them? After some further questioning he said that although it wasn’t Orange's policy to arrange insurance without the customer’s agreement, some shops would set up cover even if an upgrade was merely discussed.

I asked if he would send me something in writing about the issues raised in the above conversation, and he said he would. I will publish it as and when it arrives.

If anyone from Orange would like to comment on the above, please contact me via the link above.

Debt Collection Agency sent after Orange Customer?

Orange's failure to cancel a broadband contract as requested lead to them setting a debt collection agency on my trail. Only found this out when First Direct (an organisation that seem to care about customers!) recommended I check my credit file following a (thankfully successful) mortgage application.

This is one of many problems I've had due to Orange being incapable of sending letters to right address or simply calling me (they have my number after all!)

Currently engaged in a fruitless email exchange with credit.referrals.inbox@ orange.co.uk.

Is there anyone else I could Cc in an attempt to speed things towards a resolution?

Special Circumstances?

On returning to the UK I took a pay as you go phone for myself , a 24 month contract phone for the wife and a dongle. Where to start? Firstly please ensure your visitors are in no doubt that if they use Orange they are in for the worst customer experience of their life.

Firstly the dongle started to bill us for excessive usage, this went on for months and even when we did not use it they claimed we went over the 2gb limit. Now I work in Internet security and data monitoring and installed a usage tracker on my laptop, this showed (as did the local orange data tracker) that I was well within the limits they claimed I was exceeding. They refused to accept my findings after my engagement with tech support, despite being told if we proved they were at fault they would refund the costs, but they forced us to pay. We then tried to cancel the dongle. They continued to charge us for 4 further months, each month we would spend at least 3 hours calling to try and get this cancelled. Each month they bleated how it was not on the system that we had cancelled.

Then, as we are moving overseas again we called orange to see if we could cancel the wife's contract after 14 months of a 2 year contract claiming special circumstances as stated in their T&C's. Of course they refused and obviously as we called an Indian call centre who were clueless we have not got anywhere with this.

I despise Orange above any other company and will now go out of my way to ensure their business is damaged and their reputation is denigrated. What an absolute shower of crooks and 'del boy' wannabes.

Orange Blackberries?

"I spend about 4k a year with orange and in the past year they have delivered 10 faulty blackberries to me. Again they don’t seem to care. This week alone they have delivered two faulty blackberries to me. They won’t give me a different brand of phone. I hate them!"

A recent experience with my daughters phone, thankfully now resolved.

Today (3th April 2010) I discovered that Orange had blocked the phone that I bought for my 19 year old daughter to use on her gap year travels, apparently because they had concerns about my debit card.

I cannot imagine why they decided not to contact me if they thought my debit card was being used fraudulently, or why they decided not to tell me that the phone was being blocked?

I have been an Orange user for many years, and Orange have all my details on record, including my address, home number, mobile numbers, date of birth, debit card details, etc, so is it unreasonable for me to hope that they might at least had the courtesy to let me know what they were doing and explain why?

My daughter has now been in Europe travelling on her own with a blocked Orange phone for 4 days!

Update - 4th May 2010

After 7 hours of phone calls with Orange over the 30th April and 1st of May, my daughter's phone is now working, thanks to the sustained efforts of Julie Watton at Orange's Head Office. She was simply superb, and immediately understood how best to sort out a custumer's problem. Thank you Julie!

Update - 20th May 2010

Today my daughter told me today that her phone kept coming up with the error message "card registration failed".

After 50 minutes of waiting, being disconnected, waiting again, speaking, being put on hold, passed on to someone else, more waiting, put on hold again, etc, etc, I was informed that the phone had been de-activated again. After being bounced around the system, someone was eventually able to re-activated it, but I now need to find out why this has happened again, and will it just keep on happening? I cannot understand why Orange failed to contact me if they thought there was a potential problem.

Update - 21th May 2010

I spoke to a very reasonable guy called Keith this morning about the above issues, and he is now going to look into what has gone wrong. However, the optimism I briefly enjoyed suffered another blow this evening when I tried to put some credit on the phone, as the credit that had been on the phone was wiped when it was de-activated.

After another 30 minutes or so speaking on the phone to Orange, it now seems that my debit card has been barred! I asked if they could simply reinstate the credit that was on the phone prior to it being de-activated. I asked if they felt some compensation might be appropriate in respect of the 9 hours that I have spent on the phone trying to resolve this issue since the 3rd of April.

Orange said that they hoped the barr on the debit card would be lifted within 24 hrs and that any existing credit would be re-instated. They refused outright to put any credit on the phone at the time of calling as a good will gesture, but said that they may compensate me for the price of the phone calls I have made but only after checking their records.

Surely, it would have been a nice gesture if they had put a few quid of credit on the phone after I have spent 9 hours of my time trying to sort out the above problems?

Update - 22nd May 2010

I tried again to add credit to the phone this morning, but to no avail as my debit card is still apparently barred, and as yet the credit it had prior to it being deactivated has not been reinstated. Interestingly though, I was able to top up my wife's phone with the same barred card!

Update - 25th May 2010

Beth's phone received a txt from Orange today advising that her credit had been reinstated, and I got a message from Keith at Orange asking me to call him. In a nutshell, he explained what he had done to ensure that everything, including my debit card, will now work normally, and there should be no further problems. It's reassuring to know that there are good folk at Orange that are prepared to sort out problems on behalf of their customers; it's just a shame that their system's don't always share information to the benefit of the customer?

"My initial contract with them was for 12 months, after 10 months l called them to see if they had any initiatives to keep my custom, first of all the lad l spoke to said that as a token of their thanks and appreciation of my custom they would, at no cost to me, extend my current plan for a further 12 months ..after l picked myself up off the floor after a fit of laughter l told him l was considering leaving orange for Vodaphone. He then came up with 50% off my current plan for 6 months, after that if l wanted to stay with them l would need to negotiate a further contract . Mmmm, l thought, 6 months is ok, and l went with that.

A month later my bill came, and guess what.... no half price plan... l called them and the associate l spoke to said that the following months bill would be adjusted to reflect the change and a credit would be issued also on the next bill, I said I wasn't interested in what the next months bill was going to state, I wanted an amended bill being sent to me, she said she would see what she could do.... no amended bill came but what did come was a threat of disconnection if I didn't pay the full amount that was outstanding, so I paid it (grudgingly of course) ..... the following month, guess what? ... no half price plan... called them again, and of course l got thru to someone in India, he hummed and ahhh'd a little and said he would need to contact customer services and that he would call me back in 30 minutes.... surprise, surprise.. l received no call. So l called them again.. and again l got thru to an Indian associate, l asked to speak to a manager or team leader and eventually got thru to a 'floor manager' Manmeet Kaur' a very unhelpful associate indeed. I was on the phone for 1hr and 10 minutes explaining to her what the problem was. After being placed on hold several times she finally came back to me and said she would call me back the following day because the person she needed to speak to was in England and wasn't working at that time. I said to her that l had no confidence whatsoever that l would receive a call from her...... and guess what?... lol .. yup.. l got no call.

The following morning l called them once again, this time when their automated voice asked if l was considering leaving Orange l chose that option. My call was answered straight away. I went thru the whole rigmarole again with a very pleasant English lady called Shirley. I explained the whole situation to her, the number of times I'd called, the length of the calls, the broken promises regarding call backs. She said everything was there on the system and she couldn't see why there was a problem in changing my plan to 'half-price' I told her that it had gone beyond just wanting the plan correcting and that l expected some kind of compensation for the trouble l had been caused.... she said she will look into it and... famous last words... 'will call you back' ....... guess what? .. she called me back... yes! .. she was a lady possessed with getting the problem resolved. She said she could put me on the plan herself, refund the 2 months half line rental and let it run that way until November when the 6 month contract is due to run out... l thanked her for the work she had done on my behalf but declined. I said that as far as l was concerned by charging me full rental for 2 months as opposed to half rental Orange had broken their contract and I was giving them one months notice......... bliss...... I'm now with o2 ... if anyone from o2 is reading this, then get intouch with Shirley at Orange and give her a job, she would do your company proud.

As for Orange?.... well can you believe you cannot switch your answer service on yourself? You have to go thru their customer services.. yes, l know that can sometimes take up to half an hour to get thru...

Steer clear of Orange ...you would do better with a box of pigeons."

Another Orange customer's experience

My problem is slightly different than the others.
I had Orange internet for years then decided to cancel it. Then the problems started. I wanted to go over to Sky and was told by Sky that I needed a MAC code. I was then told by Orange that if I called them for a Mac code they would charge me x amount but if I done it by post then it would be free. Sent a letter to them requesting a MAC code. A few days later I recieved a letter from them with a MAC code (brilliant I thought) I then phoned Sky and they told me that it was one digit too short.
I then phoned Orange again to tell them and they told me that it was actually Sky that had got it wrong. After several phone calls backwards and forwards between them guess what, Orange was to blame.
I was then told that I had to wait another month for the new MAC codes to be sent to them before they could allocate me another one. I waited a month and another one was sent out, guess what MAC code was actually addressed to me but with someone elses name on the letter and the MAC code had been swapped to someone elses address.
After wasting another couple of days of my life ringing orange they then told me I would have to wait yet another month to receive another MAC Code.
Anyway got the MAC code it worked after alot of shouting. (nothing against the Indian call centre as I am half Indian myself) but it seems as though they are in no hurry at all to help.
After changing over I was told that Orange would need one more payment to which through gritted teeth paid.
I then noticed on my bank statements that they had taken an extra £36. Trying to get this money back is getting bloody stupid now. They told me I had to wait to get MY money back until the 16th October, no money paid into account. I then called them and they told me they didn't have my account details, so I gave them the numbers they wanted. Still no money called them again. Then I was told that they would have to send me a cheque. To my surprise, no bloody cheque.
I now know how these big organisations get there money, they piss you off so much that you let the money go. Don't think so.
I know other people are in the same boat and since I have seen this website I now know i'm not the only one.

Another Orange customer's experience

"Well 4 years ago Orange decided to take away the Orange Mobile Mast in Lyme Regis because the local council denied them a licence to continue here, obviously unknowing to us users! We suddenly had very poor or no signal what so ever. I cancel my contract.

Now two years later I thought it would be nice to use my phone so I would get it unlocked..... 6 months later after 30 phone calls which most of them I was cut off and contacted ofcom and oranges direct head office on 08000790134 someone decided to sort it out..... I had to top up my phone with 20 pounds and they would contact me in 7 – 14 days.... SIMPLE.... NOT I had to contact them in 3 Weeks to ask what was going on and yet again they cut me off mid conversation.... I am yet again going to contact ofcom at 9 am when they open and try to get some sense out of this whole mess. Why for the life of me is this so difficult to resolve, half the battle would be over if there was not such a bad language barrier between customer services as they can’t understand me and vice-versa."

"My son bought a Motorola L6 from Orange on 12/10/06. It had all the whistles and bells that he wanted, but the battery, even after a few charges, would not last longer than 3 days . Since it should have been lasting around 10 days, we informed the Orange shop and returned 14 days after the purchase date. The shop assistant fitted a new battery and said all would be well.

It wasn't.

The replacement also had a life of about three days and then kept dying. My son and I returned to the Orange shop and stated that the product had been defective from new, I therefore rejected it and would appreciate a refund. No dice!! The shop assistant said that it was not Orange's policy to give any refunds on defective products after 14 days of purchase EVEN if they were informed prior to this date!!!! ( An interesting attitude here given current Sale of Goods Act!) Naturally I suggested that the assistant seek advice from someone in authority, since no-one on the premises could apparently arrange a refund.

TWO AND A HALF HOURS later........all we have to show is incessant "hold" music via the speaker on the assistant's mobile and a message stating that the lines were busy. I'm not surprised, since all the other staff in the store were also listening to "hold" music, with equally irritated and bored customers.

By now I was losing the will to live, and my son grudgingly accepted a replacement Motorola L6. GUESS WHAT? This phone is as crap as the previous phone!!

I have e-mailed Orange via their web site - NO response!

I have spoken to a "customer services representative" and been told "over 14 days? Tough!" (note: Orange charge for calls of complaint!!!)

I have now referred the matter to Trading Standards.

I have to agree with the sentiment expressed on another website:

The future's sh*ite if the future's Orange."

A recent letter sent to Orange's Customer Care

"I upgraded to the Dolphin £35/month tariff in order to take advantage of your free broadband offer. Unfortunately this has proved difficult and the service I have received has been disgusting. I have recently moved into a new rented house and it appears that the landline that is present has been blacklisted by yourselves due to unpaid bills by previous tenants. To find this out took many hours on the phone talking to several different people.

Whilst the numerous people I had spoken with at that stage had all been very friendly and helpful, it seems clear that if anything out of the normal happens, the system is not in place to deal with it. At one point I had been on the phone for over half an hour and eventually spoke to someone who couldn’t deal with my problem. He then told me that he couldn’t transfer me to someone who may be able to as they were all busy. I said I was prepared to wait but this was not possible and that I would have to start all over by phoning 150 again and going to the back of the queue I had been waiting in already.

As I also got passed from department to department there was clearly no communication between anyone and I had to tell people who I was, all the security information and what the problem was again and again, sometimes up to 5 times within one very long call.

It took approximately 5 separate phone calls and several hours on the phone before someone eventually said this couldn’t be sorted over the phone and I would have to write.

I put my problem in writing, along with my initial problems with the service and sent it to this address. Since then my experience with orange has become much worse. I received a reply, in writing a week or so later. This letter simply stated, that the bad account would be cleared within 10 working days and if there was anything else that could be done I should phone customer care. I felt this was very impersonal as there was no apology for my troubles and the situation was still not resolved, I would, once again have to get on the phone in 10days to apply for broadband. I felt that the letter could of said that we will clear the account and proceed with setting up your broadband.

With this in mind I phoned customer services and after some discussion I eventually got put through to someone in a supervisory position. He told me that I would simply have to wait 10 days and then phone 150 and start over, he was simply not prepared to do anything for me and told me to phone “like every other customer”. This I felt was very unreasonable, unless of course every other customer has to spend hours on the phone and write letters in order to get the broad band they are entitled too.

Whilst I understand that it is not Orange’s fault that the bad account is on my line, it is not mine either. To make matters worse, all this time I have a phone with which I can only use for around an hour a day. I upgraded whilst living in Weymouth, I moved around a month later. My new address has no signal what so ever, nor do I get a signal from 9- 5 in my place of work, meaning the only time I can use my orange mobile is on the journey to and from work, whilst driving! So in short I pay £35 a month and was left with no broadband and a useless phone on an 18 month contract, which incidentally was extended every time I got on the phone and tried to get broad band installed!

However, despite all this I decided to try again. I called 150, around 15 working days after the letter, only to find out that my account still hadn’t been cleared! At this point I had had enough so I was transferred to the department that deals with cancelling contracts. Here I had some success, the lady on the phone got in touch with the various departments and eventually came back to me and said that it was actually BT that had the problem with the line and I should call them. She also said the letter I received had been an automated message and that actually no body had even looked into my problem, at what point anyone at orange was going to let me know that they couldn’t actually clear the account god only knows!

Now, and I hope you are still with me! As I can only phone orange customer care, for free via 150, during my drive home, and as I live in an area where the signal is poor, I usually explain to the person who first answers the phone that if I get cut off its because of my signal, and could they please phone me back. However, due to lack of communication or something, the person who had answered my call initially, had failed to pass on the situation regarding my signal to the person who was now helping me. As a result, and just as I felt I was getting somewhere I lost my signal, and no-one phoned me back. I tried 150 again but of course I ended up at a different call centre and no-one knew anything of my trouble, clearly no-one had made any notes regarding my problems on the database or whatever is used.

A few days later I tried again, this time not to resolve the problem but hopefully to try and get some sort of compensation. I spent two hours on the phone, eventually talked to someone who said they held a position of enough responsibility to help me, I was encouraged by this. I spent 15minutes explaining everything, at which point he left me on hold. He came back sometime later to tell me that there is a poor signal in my area and that this situation was not going to change soon and that yes, I did have to call BT to clear the account on my line. I told the gentleman that I knew this already and asked could he resolve this or offer me some form of compensation, he replied that he was not in a position to me able to do this, another two hours wasted!

I then asked to be transferred to his boss, which after some persuasion, he did. Then I spent a further 15-20 minutes explaining the case to this new person. He said that he would have to look into the problem and that he would call me back that day. I left him with my orange number and my home number. I have yet to hear from him.

Finally and most recently I spoke to someone, again claiming to be able to help me yesterday, (14th Nov). As I was driving home I lost my signal, to my delight she phoned me back. I said to her that it may be better to call me on my landline in 20 minutes, she agreed and I left the number, I did not hear from her.

And that brings me to now, sitting at my computer with no internet, an orange bill for over £40, and yet having only used 100 of my 500 minutes and 11 of my unlimited text messages, and a throat that is sore from having to explain this over and over again.

What I would like now is for some kind of monetary compensation, not just for the lack of broadband and phone signal, but for my many hours spent talking to people, for the very upsetting way that no-one wishes to help and do not even care enough to phone me back, and for the frankly disgusting service I have received.

If I do not get somewhere with this then I will be taking advice from my solicitor, will be withholding any further payments to orange and will be setting up a web site to see if any one else has had similar problems to myself and seeing if orange customer care is as bad as my experience has been."

Another Orange customer's experience

My wife recently took out an 18 month contract with Orange, we were also with Orange broadband (might i add though not our own choice as we were originally with Wanadoo when orange took them over). When my wife took the contract out the customer service adviser told her that we would be able to take advantage of half price broadband too! The Broadband was in my name and my wife was taking out the mobile contract in her name, this was explained to the sales adviser but he assured her that that wouldn't make any difference as it was the home address that needed to be the same! However after receiving the first months Broadband bill it was still at the full price. I contacted Orange Broadband, they told me that it will show up on the next months bill. Next months bill was also full price!! Another phone call to Orange then revealled that it was the person s name that determined whether you got half price Broadband, So we changed the Broadband account name into my wifes name and then called Orange to tell them that the names on both the Mobile and Braodband account were now the same..........only to be told that it needed to be done at the start of the phone contract. But if they could start the 18 month Contract again so that we could take advantage of the half price Broadband!!!!! My wife declined that VERY generous offer. A couple of months later Orange were doing a free Laptop if you signed up to a new 12 month Broadband Contract at a PC world shop. Great we thought we aren't tied in on our current Broadband package with Orange, we will pop along to the PC world take out a new 12 month Broadband contract at half the price we were currently paying and also get a free Laptop in the bargin. Not so unfortunately. After getting there the sales advisor assured us it was okay for a current Orange Broadband customer who WASN'T tied in a contract to be able to take advantage of this offer. To cut a very long story short YOU CAN'T and all we got out of it was another 12 months Broadband with Orange!!!!! I didn't cancell it as i just couldn't be bothered to talk to Orange anymore as every time i did i ended up using the most obscene language, and i'm sure that Indians do know the meaning of "Go forth and multiply", they don't give two hoots about current or loyal customers, quite frankly i wouldn't touch them with someone elses barge pole. But like most corporate giants they are only out for themselves. "The futures Bright but the future most certainly ISN'T Orange