Welcome to The UK’s Unofficial Orange Complaints Blog! « The UK’s Unofficial Orange Complaints Blog

74 Comments

Jez Williams replied:

Great stuff – at last somewhere where I can vent my spleen over Orange. They really suck and I’m now the proud owner of a nice shiny new O2 mobile after 7 years as a loyal Orange customer.

Never again! How do these guy stay in business treating their customers as they do. It’s amazing.

July 13, 2006 at 8:20 am. Permalink.

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E.A.Barnhurst replied:

I definitely wish I hadn’t joined Orange. If you try to import your old number it gives you all sorts of problems. I’ve spent hours contacting customer services and have also had to contact technical support at 50p an hour as I’ve had some customer service staff who are completely usless at their jobs. You spend an hour getting through only to speak to someone who hasn’t a clue; you can’t send e-mail enquiries because that’s blocked at the moment because they’ve got too many e-mails to deal with; and I can’t ever get through to my local Orange shop as it’s always on ansaphone and they don’t phone you back!!!! I couldn’t access my account on line using my changed mobile number as I first had to cancel the original on-line account I set up using the number that came with the phone – yet there seems to be no way of cancelling the original account so I’m in a Catch 22 position!!!! Also I haven’t been able to access the free Traffic TV site that came with my contract but at least somone seems to be trying to sort it out to me and keeps calling me back.

September 27, 2006 at 6:20 pm. Permalink.

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E.A.Barnhurst replied:

I take it all back. Three seperate Orange agents have contacted me today to sort out my problems. Perhaps thi site works!

September 28, 2006 at 6:04 pm. Permalink.

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E.A.Barnhurst replied:

Oh no back again 5 days have gone by and I still cannot log in to my account. I have to keep asking them to reset the account so that I can re-register but when I do it won’t let me in. Orange are driving me crazy.

Also I tried to set up an orange e-mail account but still can’t get into that because of the same type of problems. What is going on with their website??!!!?????

October 2, 2006 at 8:10 am. Permalink.

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Tahira Pervez replied:

To Whom It May Concern:

I wrote to you previously regarding the problems that I had with my 3000 weekend and evening texts tariff. I appreciate the fact that you dealt with this query and re-applied this tariff to my orange account. However I seem to be experiencing the same problem again and after ringing customer services, I have once again been told that I no longer have this tariff and the only tariff I have is ‘free text to-up’. They clearly stated that they could nothing to help and referred me to your department. I would like to stress that this is not the tariff that I want on my account, as I prefer the free weekend and evening one that I originally opted for. I am extremely frustrated that the same problem keeps re-occurring month after month and causing me a great deal of hassle. I feel that since obtaining this sim on the 26th of June I have had no positive experiences and in actual fact it has caused me nothing but an extreme amount of phone calls to customer services.

I have also enclosed the first letter that I had sent to you back in august.

Date : August 2006

To whom it may concern:

I find myself writing to you in very unfortunate circumstances. I have been an orange customer for the past few years and I have never had such a problem. On the 26th of June I rung customer services to register a new orange sim for myself, and whilst registering I opted for the 3000 free weekend and evening texts tariff, and this was successfully applied to my account and I used them during that month. However the texts did not come through for the next month (26th July). So I rung customer services and explained the situation. Upon talking to a customer advisor I was informed that my tariff for some reason changed on the 3rd of July to a tariff that gave me a thousand texts. I was baffled by this as the person who I was speaking to, informed me that I had changed it to this tariff, which I had not and said that the 3000 text tariff had ended at the end of June. After checking my details and great deliberation he said he would be able to rectify the situation and he would call me back once he had changed the tariff back. I was completely misled by this advisor. After not hearing from him, a couple of days later I rung customer services again, only to have to explain the whole situation again to another advisor and then another, which was extremely frustrating. They in turn, told me that there was nothing they could do and I would no longer be able to get the tariff that I had originally opted for back. I remain confused as to the reason why this tariff was changed and once applied on the day of registering, why it was reversed. I regret to say that each time I rung customer services I was told something completely different to the prior time, and nothing was done to help solve the situation. I no longer have the tariff that I wanted, through no fault of my own.

However what I find most disheartening is the way that this situation was handled and the way in which I was given false hope and told that it could be sorted, was left waiting for a call that was never going to arrive. Only to then ring in myself, to be told otherwise. Furthermore, nobody was even remotely apologetic, instead felt the need to point out my faults such as ‘I could have done it via the automated service’ (which I don’t use unless topping up), or ‘I rung in to change it’, which is untrue.

The attitude of one of the advisors was appalling, having worked in a customer service environment I always thought providing customer satisfaction was a must, even if the problem wasn’t solved high standards of customer service should always be provided, well that’s what I always thought especially as a big company like yourselves. My partner has been with you for last 8-9 years and he was the one that told me “the future is bright” compared to the other networks. After this he is considering leaving orange.

I wrote to you with the hope that you would be able to assist me in this matter. I look forward to hearing from you.
Thank you

Tahira Pervez
Mobile number – 07772589326

You can contact me on the above number and via email – tahira_pervez01@yahoo.co.uk

October 18, 2006 at 3:52 pm. Permalink.

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Ann Mabe replied:

I have had no broadband connection for a week now.. well unless the landline is in use..and considering that is only meant to be for incoming calls as we are on wireless talk 24/7 .
After calling Orange over 20 times (this is the amount of times Ihave got throughit does not include the times when the phone has gone dead as I have been onhold for an hour) only to be lied to , treated like I am some sort of imbecile(which I am not) I have got to boiling point.THe problem is you may ask.. well we can only get on line as I said above if we are on the landline, I have had specialist technical people calling (after the 24hr wait) who then say that they will call you back and then don’t. Still waiting after 32hours for them to call back. HAving to go through all the same information each time you call though it is on the screens. Being blatantly lied to .. Supervisor put a note on the screen that she had tried to call me back twice today and could not get through.. do they think we are all idiots that we would not check 1471 and discover that they are lying…..obviously not as I said they think we are stupid idiots….
Then you have the Indian supervisor that tells you you have to call the number but then 1 and 4 to speak to the supervisor that has supposdly called you back twice but that is for billing, so you get a supervisor there who as a goodwill gesture refunds the cost of your calls in my case £60 BUT THAT IS IT…….but does somehow manage to get a specialist techi to call you back in 20minutes.. though you have previously been told that the fastest they can do it is the next day….. There seems to be different routes they can take depending on how frustrated you are, the simplest seems to be to lie to you outright, but wo betide you if you get angry when you discover the lie as they tend to put the phone down on you. (and that is without any sort of strong language).
Today I was told by a supervisor tath I have an internal loop problem and could not understand why this has not been said to me before!!my guess is that they like you to call them up as they get more profits for orange the longer they can keep you on the phone,
For the past week my life has revolved around Orange I have not left the house in case I missed the vital call,
I am disabled and the internet is my life line they know this.. do they care? The answer is NO .
Yes I might have free broadband as we have a mobile package with them but that is no excuse.
WEll the 20 minutes is up well was 10 minutes ago and the promised specialist call has not come through .. yet another failure by Orange.. do they ever keep their promises….. the answer in my opinion is NO
regards a very totaly disgruntled .ps since writing the above it is now tusday and still no phonecall from the specialist !!! just me sitting on the phone waitig for a supervisor……

October 24, 2006 at 9:16 am. Permalink.

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Danny replied:

I spent 3 days trying to get through to so called customer services, one day I was in a queue for no less than 2 hours 35 minutes – then my battery gave up!

Orange suck – if you can avoid them at all costs.

October 31, 2006 at 11:07 am. Permalink.

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Jared De Bruin replied:

Hey! I have to wonder if Orange have ever heard of the term “Customer Services” and if they have, do they have any clue as to what this means. They clearly do not understand that it means listening to the customer and then meeting their needs.

I now have an orange contract which is approximately 1 month old, and in this one month I feel like I have aged 10 years because of the negative response received from Orange Customer Services (What a misnoma!!)

I received my contract in the mail, to tell me Orange will bill me via direct debit in the middle of each month, but if anything was wrong on my contract, I should contact them to correct it. I immediately contacted Orange and told them this direct debit date was incorrect and that I needed this date to be on the 1st of the month to co-incide with my pay date.

Needless to say, “yes you have guessed it” they then told me that there is no way that they can or will change this direct debit date. I asked for a reason, and they told me that there is no reason, they are just not able to do it. I asked how in the 21st century they are not able to adjust this, and was told that they couldn’t explain, they are just “Not going to do it!”

I argued with every bit of logic that I could apply and the bottom line was that – no they would not change it, even though their correspondence told me I could! – they would not give me details of a senior person in orange to confer with – as far as they are concerned I could go to the Ombudsman or anyone else for that matter, as they would not do anything to meet my request!

Now, I ask you with tears in my eyes – how does Orange manage to stay in business???

I cannot find a contact of anyone senior enough in Orange to listen or to care – What do I do?????????

December 3, 2006 at 3:37 pm. Permalink.

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Richard Bradshaw replied:

After adding details to this website approximately a fortnight ago, I suddenly gained my Broadband connection back after 13 weeks of torture. This was turned around in 2 days. Obviously the powers that be don’t believe that customers have the right to try and escalate their issues over the phone!

I finally got through to Orange customer services today in order to ask them about compensation. I have tried twice previously but my phonecall had been terminated after being held in queue for over an hour on each occasion. I was told that I wouldn’t be entitled to any compensation because I was getting free Broadband!! I was previously on a £17.50 contract for my mobile phone and was paying about the same rates for my Broadband. These combined would total £35.00. If I upgraded my mobile contract to a £30.00 contract then I would be entitled to free Broadband. Therefore, as I would get additional minutes on my mobile and save £5 in total, I used my brain (unlike most of those in Orange) and upgraded my phone contract. I thought that this made good sense, but obviously not, as I spent a whole quarter without Broadband, but it still cost £30 per month. I rarely used the minutes on my £17.50 contract, so have I saved – I think not!!!!!!!

Trying to explain that I should get compensation to a customer service advisor today was as difficult as getting technical support from the Broadband Technical Support team.

I feel I should be entitled to at least £12.50 per month for the time that I was offline (the difference between my old mobile contract rate and the new contract rate). I would also like to have the £25 back that I spent when I phoned their national rate Broadband number on 2 occasions (the number quoted in their software!). Added to this I have spent circa 40 hours on the phone to Orange in the last quarter – surely they should compensate for the time spent speaking, or trying to speak to them, and for the stress that it causes too!!!

If you’re thinking on the same lines as I did when opting for free Orange Broadband, don’t. You may increase your mobile monthly bill, not use your allocation of minutes and still not get any Broadband. You won’t be compensated for not having this free service and you’ll spend hours on end screaming down the phone to one of many idiots.

This is reference to my Broadband Connection on (01495) 740049.

The future’s shite…..

December 20, 2006 at 9:38 pm. Permalink.

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joe brown replied:

has there been any productive results from orange at all. if you have an outstanding problem with them ,and think grouping people towards getting television coverage and/or government watchdogs to slap sense , then let me know

January 30, 2007 at 3:10 pm. Permalink.

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Cinzia Polese replied:

I have requested to unblock my handset to be able to use a different SIM card at the end on November. I have paid; I have called several times waiting also 55/56 minutes – Once I had to call from Italy, from my father’s landline – I am asking now to be refund; I have spoken to different people who have given me different replies and assured me they would get in touch with me again and sort the problem out…….. After over 2 months the problem has not been solved. The Magic Number is not working either and again different people is telling me different stories (is it a fault with my record? So why nobody is able to fix it? Or is it a problem with all Orange Customer? So why my husband’s Magic Number is working?) I have written a letter of complaint on 18th January 2007 – and no answer to date – to this address: Correspondence Department, PO BOX 10, Patchway, Bristol, BS32 4QB. Tomorrow I will go back to the Trading Standards Department, as I have been told Orange is in breach of contract according to Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982.
I am tired of being lied to. I want the problems to be fixed NOW or I will claim for damages!

February 7, 2007 at 1:45 pm. Permalink.

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Jack replied:

I’ve never left a message on a blog but orange has driven me to vent my spleen! – After waiting for an hour today to get through to customer support i gave up! Orange used to be the best at customer service – being able to call them 24 hours a day and getting through to someone who could help and was always happy to speak to you (even at 3am!). Now-a-days after 6pm you get throught (if you’re lucky) to India and someone who can’t help you and most importantly DOESN’T LISTEN!

On top of all that I can’t believe that Orange have started charging 1p per delivery report! – Talk about penny pinching! They are also charging to call customer service – this also used to be free! – Makes me sick. I used to sing Orange’s praises to anyone who would listen but now I would never recommend them to anyone. Whoever brought about these changes at Orange in the last 5 years needs sacking before Orange don’t have any customers left.

I agree with the person who wrote that at this rate – Orange’s future is shite…

March 3, 2007 at 9:08 pm. Permalink.

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Priya Chandra replied:

So happy to have found somewhere to vent. After several months of conversation with orange around when I could upgrade within my contract, I get told today I would still be charged over £100 fee – which is not what i was told when I called them last month! Despite my asking them to capture these conversations on record, the customer adviser I spoke to today claims to have no record of any calls I have made.

I also then asked who he could escalate my call to – and he gave me the address of someone to write to! I then asked if I could cancel my contract and he said I would have to call back to do that as he couldn’t put me through.

I have been with orange for 8 years and average a faily decent phone bill every month but am about to cancel my contract with them as I have had enough.

March 8, 2007 at 1:37 pm. Permalink.

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LittleErn replied:

Goodness gracious me! I was accosted today by a phones4u salesman who managed to get me to consider changing my service provider to Orange. I said I’d sleep on it. After researching Orange on the internet I’m not impressed! Lucky escape I’d say! Thanks folks for the dirt.

April 11, 2007 at 7:10 pm. Permalink.

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Amy replied:

Ok here is my problem.

Firstly I will say that I have been with Orange broadband for around 4 years (since it was Freeserve) And the only time i had problems with them was when they were taken over by Orange – then I was forced to pay £25 for their Livebox (which is broken – half of the lights are out) in order to downgrade my account. Then I was issued a telephone line with the Wireless and Talk option, which worked for 2 weeks and hasn’t worked since (many emails and phone calls about that one – Orange have now come to the conclusion that it’s my house phone that is the problem and not their Livebox. The same house phone that I was actually speaking to them one – IDIOTS!)
Still not have had enough of punishing myself and feeling the need to put myself through more torture I decided that a mobile contract through Orange would be a good idea (I must have been drunk!) I have now been told that in order to apply for the great ‘free broadband or broadband for £5′ offer I must be in the forst month of my contract. That would be all well and good if I had been told about this in the first place! I have now spent 40 minutes on hold while I get passed from pillar to post only to be told that I can’t have the offer because I am 3 days out of the first month!!
I asked them to cancel my broadband contract because I simply can’t afford the £40 a month mobile and £17.99 broadband and I was told that ‘yes’ I can cancel (no points for being a loyal customer then) but I will have to be put of bloody HOLD again in order to sort it out. I just put the phone down. I am so frustrated!! Has anyone else had this problem, and what can I do about it?

April 20, 2007 at 1:53 pm. Permalink.

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Maarten replied:

I have had nothing but issues with Orange since my livebox stopped working in late March 07. Now, five and a half weeks later, I have called the Orange customer support and technical support teams over 50 times, with almost 10 hours of my time wasted. I find myself being fobbed off by every single call centre employee and told the same old thing! The supervisors are no good either!
Basically, I’m going round and round in circles with my complaints. Never getting a call back despite complaining to many supervisors! 11 ‘line tests’ being done with the same end result! Lies, Rubbish Service, Rudeness and to top it off I’m actually thinking of driving to their Head Office to complain face to face.
Can anyone help my as to where to go from here?

Cheers

M

The Futures Dull and Full Of Liars, The Futures Orange!!!

May 4, 2007 at 4:52 pm. Permalink.

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Anne hodgson replied:

I too have been subjected to problems with orange. I have spent endless hours on the phone to technical support as we are disconnected every night between 20.30 and 22.30-the time that myself and my family want to use the internet. I have lost track of the numbe5r of times I have been put on hold to India. Every time I ring i am told that my problem will be sorted by the next evening and it is not! I ahve had 4 line tests and numerous diagnostic tests to no avail. I am gradually losing my patience as I speak to the middle man who pases messages or supposedly does to BT and do not get any further forward. Orange contact me when i am not in-leave a message to say they have phoned and that if my problem continues to ring them back ie technical support in India. I have never been so stressed in my life and am ready to blow a gasket every night when the problem is unsolved. I have contacted Orange regarding a refund on my connection fee but as yet have not received a reply-it is probably coming on a slow train from India. I am ready to change suppliers if the problem is not resolved or an explanation given to me rather than being fobbed of by support staff in india.
Anne Hodgson

May 10, 2007 at 5:23 pm. Permalink.

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Jim Purves replied:

To whom it may concern,

I don’t know if you can help? Orange certainly won’t. Perhaps by publicising things I might get some satisfaction???

I have an Orange mobile phone and I have been with Orange for many years. During this time I have had deplorable service. Every year I say I am leaving and retentions convince me to stay. Orange’s Customer Services are a joke!!!

My experience is that Orange call centre staff routinely ‘lie’ and keep incomplete records insofar that I am now forced through necessity to record any dealings with them.

I would advise all customers to do likewise.

Anyway, I am currently abroad on business and my mobile phone SIM card and phone which has all my contact details do not work even though I subscribe to International Calling and my phone supports this. I need a functioning phone for a very important reason and for personal security and my safety and peace of mind.

I also pay for Orange Care Insurance and have done so for years. Rather an unfortunate term as Orange just do not care.

I’ve e-mailed Orange twice now from US and called them after having waited for 45 minutes on hold and the reason given by their customer service rep why they couldn’t help me was that Data Protection meant that they could only deal through a UK address. I recorded this conversation too. I’m contacting my DPO on my return to UK and I’ll get his professional opinion on this statement. I have my own opinion.

I’m still waiting for a reply to my e-mails sent days ago. They have all my contact details so there is no excuse.

A few other things Orange have done in recent times include:-

Independently altering my account contract agreement without my knowledge.
When I called them they tried to deny it. I then told them I had an itemised phone recording of my contract terms and what Orange had agreed with me which I offered to download and send it to them or their MD or CEO.

After pondering the situation for at least 15 minutes with me on hold they told me that someone (I can only assume deliberately and a month and a half into my contract starting) had apparently gone into my contract account and changed things. I just could not believe they told me this. This was a clear breach of contract. They said they were flagging this up as a ‘training issue’. They offered me a sweetener of £15 worth of calls and apologised on the phone.

They also, prior to this, had extended my 12 month contract by I believe around 3-4 months by lying to me on upgrade that my phone was on order and I was on a waiting list and I would receive a text message when supplies ultimately arrived. Actually I wasn’t on any list at all – a fact I was told after waiting all this period. The Supervisor I eventually insisted on speaking with, to his credit, ultimately agreed that this was disgraceful and said that my next contract would only be for 14 months rather than the 18 it is supposed to be for. No doubt they’ll have no record of this too.

I noticed recently that my Direct Debit payment amounts taken always seem to conflict with my bills. Why? I’m going to tally up and check additional monies I fear that they may have taken from me over the years to which they were not entitled when I get some time to do so. I might have them do this first and then compare. I keep my statements. Oh another thing I now get charged for itemised billing which when negotiating my upgrade I was not told about. They just said everything (including itemised billing) on your current contract would remain the same plus some other things were added by retentions as an incentive to remain with them and monthly costs would remain exactly the same.

Another thing they have done is sending me replacement handsets on 2 separate occasions for the same insurance claim without battery and back cover when my phone was stolen. They told me, when I asked why this was, that they expect you to ‘keep your battery and back cover’ when they send you a replacement reconditioned phone. But my phone was stolen!! This was so farcical that I was laughing.

This was however no laughing matter as it still took me weeks and dozens of calls to get sorted even though I subscribe to their insurance. It is as if they employ cretins or persons who enjoy winding you up!!!

I subsequently learned weeks later when I eventually got through to a Supervisor with a brain, which was a struggle in itself, that all along the phone back covers were out of stock as the phone was going obsolete but they nevertheless had still sent out incomplete phones to customers. In the meantime I held my phone together with elastic bands.

They also gave me incorrect information about rates last week for international calling via what I assume must be their helpline in India or somewhere as the person had a strong Indian type accent. The rep told me
that calls were per second where in fact they are per minute or part thereof (which is a rip off in my opinion as you can be (and believe me I have been)charged £1.50 plus VAT for 1 second on the phone even when I did not get through). I tried telling him that I thought he was wrong but he was adamant. Until I insisted he checked his facts that is. I have little
confidence he did what I ultimately asked him to do. Reassuringly however I also had my digital recorder with me and recorded this conversation too.

Staff are obviously very poorly trained.

Orange, If you employ staff in a dedicated area such as International Calling do you not think that they should know the basics such as charging structure???

This company has the nerve to claim in their website that they aim to offer the highest standards of Customer care. This is just a worthless statement as far as I am concerned.

Well maybe you know it could just be that I’m just one of the very, very unfortunate few who do not get the highest standards of care???

I am seriously contemplating cancelling my contract when I get home irrespective of the consequences as I cannot put up with such incompetence and disgraceful service anymore and what they have done to me out here is appalling. I expect all my Orange Care insurance premiums to be refunded too. I have had important messages left on my phone apparently and I cannot retrieve them. It will be easy to prove breach of contract.

I pay for a service I do not receive. When you use their systems set up supposedly to get help, you just get ignored.

I am just using my laptop to keep in touch with my business dealings and have been able to recover some of the names and addresses and phone numbers stored on my phone from BT online and have phoned my family back home and contacted associates to get the rest that are Ex Directory. This has taken some time to do, but if I wait for Orange to get their act together I’ll be back home in UK anyway. I am probably going to purchase a PAYG phone out here for peace of mind and have my lawyer recover the costs of this from Orange on my return to UK.

If any Orange Senior Executives are reading this, here is a wee bit of free advice – cut back on the glossy advertising and invest instead in what customers like myself really want – quality customer care and well trained people who will help you when your service breaks down as is sadly inevitable and all too common with Orange.

Orange are aware that I am dealing with a highly stressful situation out here and quite frankly this mobile phone problem is the least of my worries now and I am just giving up on them.

Unfortunately this is only a fraction of the problems I have had (I do not want to get started on billing charges and in my opinion some disgusting things they have done to me which I’m going to definitely draw to their CEO/MD’s and my MP’s attention) but what I have described is clearly enough and I’m sure that you and everyone reading this sorry saga of Orange ineptitude will get the message.

Stick with O2 – the Customer Service standards and professionalism differences between them and Orange, in my opinion, are like night and day.

Shame on you Orange.

May 19, 2007 at 3:50 pm. Permalink.

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martin lever replied:

I’ve had a contract with Orange for mobile and ‘free’ broadband (8 meg) for almost a year now. In that time I have been without internet due to ‘technical problems’ for 15 weeks. The most recent problem when I recently moved house and have had no internet service for 9 weeks. The situation is so bad that I am using dial up again. I only signed up for the Orange service because of the free broadband.

Today I have cancelled my contract. In my experience Orange has not given me any service yet I keep paying an average of 40 quid a month by direct debit. Why? Because I am an honest person. I just want to use fast internet from home, like the salesman in the shop said. I only signed up because of the free internet deal. I never get anywhere near using my monthly minutes or texts.

I tried to cancel the agreement between myself and Orange because I am not receiving any internet service and I was told that my contract is not for broadband, only or mobile services. In in order to get out of my contract I must pay another 125 quid to buy out my contract plus any outstanding service charges. If I did not pay my account would be handed to debt collectors, possibly resulting in a black stain against my credit rating. I am so upset and frustrated that I have paid the money in order to keep my mobile phone number and end this ridiculous arrangement.

I feel completely abused, misled….

I despair that large corporations can get away with this while the consumer has no rights whatsoever.

June 1, 2007 at 9:42 pm. Permalink.

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martin lever replied:

I just want to acho my frustration at ringing Orange, awaiting call backs that never happen, having i think 6 line tests blah, blah, blah… it is soul destroying

June 1, 2007 at 9:52 pm. Permalink.

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Yakov Baytler replied:

After i signed up for broadband – it stopped working after 2 days. Here’s an approximate log of my conversation with tech support

(waited on hold for 1.5 hr)

me: my internet connection is down

orange: please reinstall the CD

orange: now please reboot your computer

orange: now please reboot your lightbox

orange: now please reboot your lightbox together with your computer

orange: your internet connection appears to be down

me: but thats why i called

orange: i’m gong to write up a ticket – your issue should be resolved in 2 days
————————————-

next call (on hold for almost 2 hrs)

me: my internet is still down

orange: it will get resolved in 2 days

me: but i was told that 2 days ago

orange: sometimes we get delays, but dont worry it will be fixed in 2 days

me: are you sure this time?

orange: absolutelly

—————————————
(in 2 days)
me: internet is still down

orange: it will be restored in 1 week

me: what is causing it

orange: we dont know – you’r line appears to be down

me: is there anyone i can speak with?

orange: not at this time. i can submit a work order ticket.

me: isn’t it already submitted ?

orange: i can not see it in the system, but i can submit one right now?

me: lets submit it. Is there anything else that i can do?

orange: you can just wait, sir

——————————————-
(in a month)
(on hold for 55 min)
me: my internet connection is still down

orange: we are experiencing global technical difficultices, call us back next business day

me: can i speak to your supervisor

(on hold for 40 min)

orange supervisor: there is nothing we can do, sir – you are going to have to just wait until technichians will adress your ticket

me: can i cancell my service ?

orange supervisor: absolutelly, let me transfer you

(on hold for 1.5 hr – then line drops)

———————————————
(next day – on hold for 1.5 hrs – line drops again)

———————————————
(next week – was calling them every day and spending about 1.5 hrs on hold each day)

orange: the problem is your physical line – we are going to send a technician in person.

me: when is it going to happen

orange: we are very swamped – sometime in the next 2-3 weeks

——————————————-
the internet eventually goes back up, but its increadibly slow – when i run speed test its just above the 56K download

——————————————–
(calling orange and spending 45 min on hold)
me: my internet is painfully slow

orange: you need to run speed test. please call us back and dial 1, 4, …

me: can you transfer me?

orange: no, you need to hang up and call us again

(called them again, another 45 min on hold)
me: i need to run a speed test

orange: no problem. hold on (another 30 min)

orange: your speed test is complete, is there anything else i can do for you ?

me: so what are the results?

orange: we can not give the results from here, we just make the test, you’re going to have to call another number for that.

———————————–
(i call again, to the old extension. on hold for 40 min)

me: i just made a speed test and want to find out the results

orange: it doesn’t show anything in the system. When did you run the speed test ?

me: today

orange: do you have a modem or a lightbox ?

me: lightbox

orange: you probably run a speed test for a modem – thats why it doesn’t show up. You need to run a speed test for a lightbox.

me: can i run it right now with you?

orange: no, you’re going to have to run it yourself. I’ll give you a web site – just follow the instructions. You’re going to have to run it once a day for a week, and then call us and let us know the results

(at this point i just hanged up … i run a speed test from the website that orange gave me and the speed was the same low number)
(at this point i totaly lost my patience and just desided to give up and not call them anymore)

—————————————
at the end of the month i got a bill for 30 pounds for the customer service calls

—————————————
i got charged additionally for requesting an itemized bill. I can’t believe that i have to pay extra just to see what i’m being charged for…

—————————————-
last month i got a text message from orange:
“Use your Orange cross network minutes to call USA for FREE. Dial 07744…. anytime…”

Then got another message: “We’ve made some changes to our Tariff Terms and Conditions which came into effect from 08 June. For full details please visit orange.co.uk/termsupdate

On the web site it said that those international calls are not free !!! I’m glad i looked on the web site, since the text message didn’t go into details.

But meanwhile i already made bunch of international calls

When i called orange and spoke to a supervisor – he said that as far as orange is concerned i was properly warned of the service change.

—————————————-
Bottom line: never in my life have i seen a company like orange – never was i treated like this !!!

June 9, 2007 at 3:57 pm. Permalink.

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alan replied:

2 complaints with Orange-
1. I have been charged for 6 months web access service added to my account without my consent nor knowledge. When I complained about this I was told that it was basically my fault as I would have caught them on if I had been paying an extra £1 per month for itemised billing! In other words I should have paid them extra money to ensure I wasn’t being swindled by them!! Can you believe the cheek!!

2. I only discovered the above when complaining about the lack of customer service on another issue. My charger will not work and it leaves me without a phone. My contract is for 12 months (and rest assured it will only be for 12 months – when this is up I’m off, and Orange can get stuffed) and I feel that Orange are obligated to ensure that I have a phone to use on that contract for the period of the contract.

July 5, 2007 at 7:17 pm. Permalink.

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Shehnaz Jagot replied:

I bought my phone in August 2006. Ever since I have had the phone I have had difficulty using it. It has been impossible to get coverage in the area I live, and outside this area. Orange’s excuse has been that their mast was down and that it is ‘being fixed’ but this non-coverage has continued. Meanwhile I have to pay a £40 monthly contract for a service that I am not recieving.
The phone is not “fit for purpose” and as far as the Sales of Goods act goes, I should get my money back.
It has been difficult to get in touch with Orange and when I have, they have been unhelpful, despite persistent phone calls to their customer services department over the last 11 months. If I can make use of a few of my network minutes every month then that is something. At the best of times, I have only been able to actually use about 60 of my talktime minutes every month.
I have sent messages to Orange through their website, and the only response I have recieved is an automatic email promising a ‘response within 48 hours’ – over 10 weeks ago…
Upon phoning customer services today, yet again, I was told that there are ‘4 masts down in this area’. Today I was promised that I would be called back in an hour, but have not been contacted.
I am disabled and bought the phone as a security but it has been anything but dependable and reliable.

July 12, 2007 at 11:12 pm. Permalink.

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Tina replied:

Orange are the worst company I have ever used!!

My broadband and phone line with livebox have been sooo slow since it was all connected when we moved to this =house in Feb. The phone is the worst of all everytime I phone someone I start to get into conversation and the person the other end says “SORRY CANT HEAR YOU”…..SORRY ARE YOU THERE….IS ANYONE THERE… it is soooooo F*CKING irratating its unbelivable.

Anyway so today I phone orange (been putting it off as I know from my sister what a nightmare they are), BIG mistake I am so f*cking livid it is unreal. I spoke to 5 different people who gave me 5 differant numbers who were all wrong and the last number I was given to call was technical support for Apple f*cking mac!!!! Then just as I spoke after he introduced himself he then said…SORRY I CANT HEAR YOU!! (MY phone line wasnt working again. ARRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and then there is NOONE who wants to deal with a complaint!

July 16, 2007 at 1:38 pm. Permalink.

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Ian replied:

Orange leaves a sticky mess, making leaving difficult….

Five months ago I started the process of leaving Orange (having been a customer sine Wanadoo days)I have endured long expensive phone calls, a different story or empty promise each time, and a LOT of frustration.

I do hope that someone from Orange does read this, and also if anyone is thinking of trying the company, then do think again!

This is the text of my latest letter to them, following their threat of court action over a bill of £7.80p, which they have not sent me, nor have explained to what it relates:-

I have just received a letter from you stating:- “your broadband account has been closed. Unfortunately we haven’t received any payment from you so we have had to stop your broadband service and close your account.” I expect this may possibly have something to do with the fact that last March I obtained (at second attempt as Orange messed up the first one) a migration code to enable me to move to a more professional ISP.

At the date of the transfer I took the trouble to phone Orange to ensure that the final direct debit was being processed and that the account was clear, before cancelling the authority with my bank. I have since had two phone calls from Orange saying that subsequent monthly payments have been returned unpaid. Thank goodness the bank can cope with simple instructions! Each time I have explained the situation and been told that it will be sorted and I would not be troubled again.

Your letter continues “You still need to pay your outstanding balance of £7.80 by 10/08/07 or we’ll have to take legal action.” All I can say is “Bring it on”! I really look forward to explaining in court just how inefficient Orange actually are. I shall of course also be presenting you with a counter claim for my expenses in this futile exercise.

Having been told that the account was clear (three times, including the chase up from the bounced payment calls), I have heard nothing from you to explain even what this outstanding amount relates to. Unless, of course, you have been sending e-mails to my old Wanadoo address. Not noticing from the file that I have tried hard to close this down with immediate effect, only to be advised by Orange staff that the only way to get shot of it is to not access it for six months. I cannot wait to get rid of a company that has such appalling levels of customer service.

I have no intention of using your expensive 0870 number to point out, again, that Orange have cocked-up, however I shall use the envelope thoughtfully supplied. I shall never use Orange again, and will happily spend the rest of the weekend advising others to choose another phone / ISP company, on various internet messageboards.

August 5, 2007 at 12:35 pm. Permalink.

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paul deakin replied:

today i had to cancel my orange phone when i tried to claim my cash back and upgrade i found out the company i dealt with was athird party who have since gone bust.orange refuse to upgrade my phone i waited 7 days to hear this if i wanr an upgrade i would have to pay 150pounds on top of the 6530 pounds cash back i have lost they are a disgusting company to deal with the customer does not matter just the money you provide

August 9, 2007 at 8:34 am. Permalink.

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Anna and Dieter Dijkstra replied:

020 76075061

I cannot believe how appallingly I have been treated by Orange. Our internet stopped working over three weeks ago, and since then, we have called back every day.

It is as though the people on the other line have no connection whatsoever to Orange. They tell you to call back, or they tell you that someone will call you the next day.

In 3 weeks, despite countless appointments, we have never received a call from the engineers.

Every other day, we get a different update. Sometimes, we are told that the problem will be fixed within 24 hours. Other times, we are told that there is a ‘big problem’ and a lot of people do not have working internet, and please do call back after 5 days.

At this point, I will go to decent lengths to make other people aware of how shocking the service is with Orange. Since my husband works from home and requires the internet to do this job, this is a massive inconvenience, and we feel completely helpless using this useless call centre every day.

Anthony- thank you for helping us spread the word!

August 15, 2007 at 6:03 pm. Permalink.

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Christine replied:

The Future is bright with Orange, well what about the bloody present, sick, frustrated and very ANGRY, If I pick up the phone again and hear an Indian talking to me like an imbesile, I will throw my bloody laptop through the window and claim damages.
ORANGE SUCKS.
DO NOT SIGN UP TO ORANGE, PLEEEESE

August 28, 2007 at 9:56 pm. Permalink.

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Christine replied:

Try E-mailing them, sorry if you have windows vista, it is not included in their menu, don’t knowabout the Future being bright, they are living in the bloody PAST.

August 28, 2007 at 10:10 pm. Permalink.

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Ian replied:

Just an update on my previous entry – after four weeks Orange wrote to me graciously writing off the accumulated “debt”, but with no explanation as to why so many of their employees had stated that my account was clear!

My advice? Never use Orange!

September 8, 2007 at 6:32 pm. Permalink.

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Ann replied:

I have been with orange for years but now I am appalled by the lack of service. Tried to
change card no. and then topped up. But money did not appear on phone credit.Grrrh…staff did not get back as promised and were virtually incomprehensible …what is going on??Dialing 450 …keep getting cut off….livid

September 13, 2007 at 6:43 pm. Permalink.

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Paul replied:

I have been with Orange for close to 10 years now but for the first time am ready to switch as soon as my most recent contract runs out.

Firstly, I lost my phone earlier this year on the London Underground. When I got home I used my home phone to contact the lost or stolen help line. It took me over 3 hours to get through! When I got my bill I saw my phone had been used in these 3 hours and I was being charged. I phoned customer service and was told nothing could be done. In the end I sent a letter to the Head of Customer Services in order to get this sorted.

Secondly, the bluetooth functionality on my Samsung X820 stopped working so I am unable to transfer photos to my laptop. When I called customer services I was told that because I’m not using it with a bluetooth headset, I’m not covered. This is nonsense! I don’t have the energy to complain anymore but am counting down the 6 months I have left on my contract so I can move to one of their competitors.

September 18, 2007 at 12:25 pm. Permalink.

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Ashley Ford replied:

This is the letter i have just sent to Orange and the hassle i am currently going through, plus i still don’t have my phone!!!!. Orange customer service is crap!

Dear Sir or Madam,

I would like to start by explaining to you the frustrating time that I have been through trying to buy a phone on the Orange website.
I started by phoning my local Orange shop in Enfield North London to find out whether they had the Prada phone by LG in stock on pay as you go. I was told that I could only purchase it on contract and would have to visit the website to buy it online for pay as you go. I decided after much research on the net to go with Orange and buy it online. I ordered the phone on the 5th of September went through the payment process and selected that it be delivered on Friday the 7th of September and waited for my confirmation email. I received an email saying ‘Please contact us about your Orange order as we need to double check some details with you’ I phoned the number provided and was told that my card was declined and to phone my bank. I contacted my bank who told me I had sufficient funds and that my account was ok. I then phoned Orange back and was told that the website may have been having problems and that the accounts department would have to process the order manually which can take a few days. This was my first setback. I received an email on Sunday the 9th of September stating that my order had been processed and that the phone would be delivered within 2 working days which would mean Tuesday the 11th of September. On Tuesday evening I phoned Orange to track my order, after explaining the whole story, the guy says to me that the parcel line website is down and my order can’t be tracked at the moment and to phone back tomorrow. Exactly a week after placing my order I phone back, explain again the situation and am told that the phone has been delivered and signed for by someone in Woodford in Birmingham, I live in Palmers Green in London. I have not received the phone nor signed for any parcel. I have paid £289 for a phone that has not arrived where as someone has signed for my phone and received it free of charge. This clearly Is not right. It is also not right that I have to write this disclaimer because you know that it has been delivered to the wrong house as you have the address. I was told that I need to fax a disclaimer stating that I have not received the phone, which is part of this letter. I even asked the guy if the phone could be delivered to an Orange shop so I could collect it but was told that that was not possible, this would have made my life a lot easier but no. Every person I have spoken to has placed me on hold, over the last week I have spent over 2 hours on the phone trying to sort this out. I would just like to add that the staff that dealt with my calls were very nice to deal with and very helpful, although this level of service is clearly unacceptable. I would like to be compensated in some way for the inconvenience and hassle that this has caused me. I had even taken the day off work on the Friday to make sure I was in to receive the order. I would appreciate it if you could please sort this out as soon as possible.
______________________________

Any advice as to my next step would be greatfully appreciated!!

September 18, 2007 at 6:16 pm. Permalink.

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Arthur replied:

Our experiance exactly mirrors that of Anna and Dieter Dijkstra, except it took Orange 3 months to conect us in the first place. We only wanted to set up an new account to get a new e-mail address as we were getting too much spam. So arranged with orange and after 3 months of calls to orange (we started to log them after 2 weeks), and calls to Oftel, finally got conected. Orange dont know the stress this causes – holding on the line listening to worn out music, a call centre run by folk that try their best but dont know what you need, unreturned calls, broken promises and why have different departments? we dont. I suppose it would have been easier to set up if our previous ISP had been orange as well, oh hang on, it was

September 21, 2007 at 9:10 pm. Permalink.

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Salik Rafiq replied:

Great site. Lets hope Orange are listening.

My complaint is very simple really. Orange customer service is poor. I was checking their website one day and noticed a tariff for their slow broadbans was less than I was on. I recalled in my T&C that is there was a price drop I should receive this. I enquired about this by sending a letter. Their response, which took 14 days, did not answer a single point in my letter. In fact most of their letters are like this.

At that point I decided to obtain a MAC and move ISP. Again I did this by post. Which apparently they ignored as I did not recieve it after three attempts. At this point I stopped my Direct Debit as I felt this could on ad infinitum. My service ws then suspended. I again equired what was going on and told that I owed £40. £17.99 for the month I used, £17.99 in advance for the month which was suspended and I could not use and £5 late payment charge. I cannot find any mention on Orange’s website of this £5 charge.

Finally I had to fax a higher up whom I’d found by scanning the web, and the next day I got a phone call from him, and he gave me my MAC. I used this immediately and within 10 days had switched to another provider. Orange have stated the wrong date in their correspondence – it seems they are incompetant. I have evidence that the switchover occured 7 days before their claimed date. I am worried that Orange will want additional monies due to their “30 days notice” clause.

I offered to Orange £17.99 in respect of the month which I have used, But their customer service has gone dead, I recieve no correspondence from them, even the “higher up”. I’m now being threated with court action, and not really knowing what to do. I may have to pay the £40 just to keep outta court and incurring all the costs.

I really think I have been short changed here. One – over paying on a slow line. Two no counter from Orange to retain me. Three charging £5 which I cannot find mention of anywere. There has been no e-mail on this whatsoever. Many customers probably don’t know it exists.

I have complained to OfCOM about their handling of the MAC and also about their terms and conditions. OfCOM are currently investigating their T&C, though I have not heard how it is processding. Should their T&C be changed by this process, I will be out of pocket.

I’m really in a quandry as I’m not interested in a CCJ, but also I know Orange are only entitled to £17.99.

Any help much appreciated.
Salik.

September 24, 2007 at 6:32 pm. Permalink.

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Nigel replied:

How do you leave Orange?

Twelve years ago i took out a contract and always paid by credit card.
As i hardly use the phone i decided to try to go on pay as you go.September 2006 i enquired how to do and was told i was on contract until March 2007.I asked how i was still under contract and asked for a copy that i would have signed.I was told it was verbal when offered a replacement phone.(a verbal contract?).
I coudn’t be bothered to pursue until June this year when again i tried but was told my contract now went up until September.Again i asked for proof and was refused.I ceased paying bills.My phone was cut off.Bills kept arriving.No service was in place.I paid a certain part of the bill.I phoned for the PAC number but was refused.Customer service told me i had to have a connection to get a PAC number.I received another bill,this time in credit.I again asked for a PAC number,again it was refused as no connection.The lie perpetrated that PAC numbers only exist if there is a connection.I could reconnect and get one but the last thing i need, after trying initially to change tarriff and latterly to get out altogether,is to be connected back to Orange.After twelve years i am finally free but without the PAC number.
As far as i am concerned this company is the most dishonest and deceitful i have ever experienced.Their customer services are nothing of the sort.The number of bogus numbers i have been given to get me off the phone is extraordinary.I honestly believe they are trained to lie.
I wish i had tried to leave earlier but mobiles mean little to me but the way i have been treated after twelve years has been disgraceful.Looking back i now realise that every time i tried to pay by credit card using their higher charge call number and supposed automated system was just another way of fleecing the customer.Despite following the system to the letter it always cut out first time ensuring twice the length of call to proceed and more money to this company.
They are a disgrace.I will have nothing further to do with them and will go from here to ofcom to lodge a complaint.

September 27, 2007 at 5:32 pm. Permalink.

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Jim replied:

After 3 months of hell I’m free of Orange Broadband. After many many calls ti India I eventually managed to get the supervisor to agree to terminate my contract. All I had to do was phone the 0870 0102462 number to get a MAC code and close the account. Well they closed the account without giving me a MAC code and then stated that because the account was closed and an automatic cease request had been issued to BT,they could not provide me with the MAC code as they have to unde law.

I did the usual go up the chain with lots of “please pass me onto your supervisor” and eventally got onto a really helpful English chap (whom I will not name as it could get him into trouble). He said that he would contact BT to request the cease as soon as possible, and actually came back the same day with an earlier date. I explained that this was still totally unacceptable as I would have to pay reconnection charges etc. He said he’d do what he could. I then came up with the following soloution:

1) Reactivate the account.
2) Cancel the cease request with BT
3) Request a MAC code
4) Close the account

Guess what? Within 20 minutes I had a MAC code!

The Orange Guy said that I’d taught him a lot about the way the Orange systems work and also about the BT procedures….

I Agree with most of the comments slating the cowboys in Indian Technical Support whose stock phrase seems to be “call back in 24 hours”. Orange as a commuications company has severe internal communication problems, but somewhere there are some dedicated and caring employees.

There is some hope! Dont give up!

Off to select a new ISP… Any Suggestions?

November 2, 2007 at 1:12 pm. Permalink.

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nickb273 replied:

hi,
myself and partner have both been orange payg u.k. customers for 10 years.
we have now had enough!
i inherited my number from my partner after she bought a new phone and she immediately put the number in my name. unfortunately, the first time that i came to top my inherited number up orange had never heard of me!
this happened at least 5 times over the last 5 years-my partner was told the i was the registered owner only for me to try and top-up later and be refused access to my own phone.
the worst was that i recently moved to spain, i had top-up troubles and they refused to talk with me when i was living somewhere it was impossible to get ‘topped up’ locally.
we are completely baffled as to how this can happen so many times!
then, to add insult to injury, my phone will not accept a spanish orange sim-i needed a subsidy password.
customer services in the uk were impossible to get hold of.
it took around 2 hours of repeated disconnections at their end, i had to charge my phone twice to get through to them and then ended up spending about 20 pounds on my land line.
they then requested that i pay 20 pounds for the subsidy password (to move to orange in another country for christs sake!) and that the process would take 7-14 days! in the meantime the uk locked phone is going to cost me at least another 20 pounds in roaming charges.
so i now am either stuck with their method of unlocking or i go to the internet and get it done in half the time and half the price. not a difficult decision.
i found all of this out just after i have bought my girlfriend a new mobile with (you guessed it) an orange spain payg card.
i am so tempted to pay (anyone other than orange) to get them both unlocked and move both to vodafone or movistar to avoid the ludicrous between-network charges here.
i would also rather stomp my phone into dust in the gutter than stay with orange any longer!
they have the worst/slowest/most difficult-to-contact customer services since time computing-it is a shame that orange isn’t going to disappear quite as quickly!
adios amigos!
nick

November 2, 2007 at 1:59 pm. Permalink.

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Clare Watson replied:

To Whom It May Concern:

On the 31st October I called to report a fault with my mobile telephone. A member of your customer service team ran a diagnostic and confirmed that, yes, there was a fault with the handset and that it would be replaced the following day. I was advised to take out Orange insurance at a cost of £6 per month. At that time I was happy to do it.

On 1st November a new ‘phone was delivered – I inserted the battery from the old handset (the new one was not supplied with one) as instructed only to experience the same problem again. That evening I called and spoke to a member of your team to report this and was advised that I was eligible for an upgrade. I was presented with a list of ‘phones which I could upgrade to and so I said that I would consider this and call back to confirm. I looked at ‘phones over that weekend but after some consideration I decided not to upgrade.

On 6th November I called again and said that I had decided not to upgrade and was then advised that another Nokia N73 handset would, therefore, be despatched the following day. I explained that when the previous replacement had been delivered I experienced the same problem with that and therefore it was evidently NOT the ‘phone but possibly the battery that was faulty and would they ensure that a new battery was included with the new handset? I was advised that you would definitely replace the battery too.

On 7th November a replacement ‘phone was delivered but WITHOUT a battery. I decided to try the new handset anyway but experienced the same problem yet again. I called that afternoon to report this and was told that I could not be sent a another replacement because there were no more Nokia N73s available so I asked if it was possible to send out a replacement battery for the ‘phone instead, as I had already received a new handset. I was advised that this was not possible. I was not happy with this and asked if I could speak to a manager, only to be told that someone would call me back that day. NO CALL WAS RECEIVED. I called again the following day and was, again, told that I would receive a call back that evening. AGAIN, NO CALL WAS RECEIVED.

I understand that Orange are “committed to providing excellent customer service”. I am very disappointed to say that you have failed to provide this. I will be cancelling my contract with you when this expires. Please confirm in writing when this will be.

I have been a loyal customer for almost 8 years and this is the second time in 6 months that I feel I have had genuine cause for complaint. I certainly expect some form of compensation for my time and expense:

• a refund for 2 weeks line rental – the 2 weeks that I have now been without a working mobile ‘phone
• reimbursement for the cost of a new battery, which I have had no alternative but to source myself
• reimbursement for the cost of the several lengthy calls – most of which have lasted around 25 minutes – that I have made to your 07973 100 150 number from my landline
• an additional goodwill gesture by way of apology

I think under the circumstances this would be the very least you can offer. I expect to receive a written response from you shortly.

Yours faithfully

Clare Watson

November 11, 2007 at 10:50 am. Permalink.

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Clare Watson replied:

As you can see from the above letter which I am sending today – ORANGE ARE CLEARLY A SACK OF POO!!! Don’t waste your time and money taking out a contract with them and give them a VERY wide berth indeed. They do not understand the concept of “customer service”.

November 11, 2007 at 10:56 am. Permalink.

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jemima replied:

Global COMMUNICATIONS company??!!
Isn’t there some sort of complaint to be made under the Trades Description Act?
Communication?! I don’t think so.

For some still undetectable reason I was not able to connect to the internet through my Livebox since the 21st October.
Despite several (expensive) calls to the technical team who promised to look into it then failed to do so – I imagine that each time it wasn’t dealt with in the given 3-5 working days and I re rang, I went to the bottom of the pile – I remained without their ’service’ until I got connected with Virgin Media.
There seemed to be no direct communication between the technical support team and the engineers – they couldn’t give me a direct number, or speak to them themselves, it all being ‘communicated’ from the call centre in the sub-continent to the engineers, I finally discovered, in ‘UK South’ via clicking on something on my case file.
‘That’s good’ I said, ‘I’m in the UK South. Perhaps I could talk to them…?’
Anyway, I reasoned, I begged, I shouted, I threatened to close my contract (clearly they didn’t mind losing my money) did everything but it never got fixed. Finally I spoke to someone in Customer Care who promised me an engineer would call me this past Monday. I told him I had no evidence to trust him and believe that they would but he kept on assuring me they would. They didn’t.

This is unacceptable on every level. We are more and more dependent on the internet to run our lives and have got accustomed to running them in a certain way – when we can’t do that (one week is manageable, two is difficult, three weeks is impossible) particularly when we are fulfilling our side of the deal by paying monthly on time with no hassle, the situation becomes unendurable. Ask those I live with! If Orange want us to believe their hype – that they are the future I don’t think it’s a future I want – where nothing works, no one communicates with anyone and and our lives fall apart – they have got to sort out these problems with their customers.
I told them I wouldn’t recommend them to anyone I know.
It’s time they started caring about that.

November 14, 2007 at 5:02 pm. Permalink.

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randomnamechoice replied:

November 16th 2007

To Whom It May Concern:

The purpose of this letter is twofold; to highlight the appalling service I’ve experienced from Orange over the last few months in dealing with a dispute and to try and finally settle the dispute and reclaim any funds I’m owed. By the time this is finally resolved I expect to have found a new service provider and would like to be paid any refund via cheque.

On July 3rd 2007 I left the UK for a week’s holiday in Ibiza. Before leaving, at the suggestion of a friend, I bought the first of two 50-minute roaming packages for £25. The second package was bought on July 10th 2007. My understanding of these packages is that any calls made to or received from the UK while I was abroad would come out of the packages at no additional cost until the allotted minutes were used up. I should point out here that Orange’s inability to tell me how many minutes I’d used up or even whether or not I’d used up all the minutes of a package meant that these packages were very awkward to use efficiently or effectively.

I’ve sent you colour copies of the relevant pages of both my July and August bills. On July 4th 2007, highlighted in pink you’ll see the first phone call credited to the first 50-minute package. If you scan down the subsequent pages of the bills you’ll notice, highlighted in yellow, a substantial number of “Roaming” calls that I believe I was erroneously charged for. The sequencing of the calls appears to have no logic, some calls will be credited to the 50-minute packages and then randomly one call or several will have been charged to my account as though no pre paid packages had been purchased. Apparently the calls (that I should not have been charged for) were also charged at grossly inflated rates.

I first contacted you on September 18th 2007 about this apparent anomaly. After having waited in the queue for well over 20 minutes and having had to navigate a recorded message system that appears to have been designed to infuriate your customers the person I spoke to was, as all your staff have been, helpful and polite although it did take a considerable amount of time for him to fully understand what I was attempting to explain to him. I’m not sure ultimately that he did, otherwise the issue would have probably been properly resolved long before now. During the course of the conversation he told me that there had been an issue with roaming charges having been wrongly charged at double their actual cost. I clearly explained to him that I didn’t think I should have been charged at all for the calls let alone at double the price. The operator told me that he would have to submit the bill for recalculation and then once the accounting department had done the recalculation he’d call me back. I asked to be sent a new itemized bill so that I could see that the charges had been properly recalculated or a detailed explanation of why the charges were valid. He told me that a new bill wouldn’t be possible but that he would definitely call me back and go through the recalculation with me once he had the information.

I can’t understand why Orange refuses to properly bill its customers; in any other business transaction if a vendor produced a bill or receipt that wasn’t precisely correct I’d expect them to supply a corrected invoice and itemised bill at their expense. It’s difficult enough for your customers to understand your billing system but refusing point blank to re-issue a replacement bill for one that you admit is wrong sounds legally questionable.

At a later date your employee called while I was engaged on another call and left a very brief message to explain that it had all been sorted out, that the roaming charges had been cut to their normal rate and I’d be refunded the appropriate amount on my next bill. He left no information for me to get back in touch with him so that I could further discuss the recalculation. I tried in vain to call and speak to this person who was (supposedly) aware of the finer details of the dispute but was told that if I didn’t have a name and extension number they couldn’t direct my call. It appeared to me that the recalculation was incorrect because all that had been done, as far as I could tell without an explanation or a copy of the corrected bill, was the halving of charges I shouldn’t have incurred at all.

I called Orange again on October 2nd 2007 and spoke to another operator (Sara: extension 22466) who was very helpful and who appeared to get a far better grasp of the issue but again it did take an extraordinary length of time and again I had to wait in the queues for what seemed an eternity before speaking to her. By the way, the system by which your customers are asked to enter digits from their password on their phone’s key pad doesn’t work properly, creates a virtually endless loop of attempts and errors and is deeply irritating, especially when the first thing the operator asks for before discussing account information is two digits from your password. This seems to make the lengthy keypad exercise entirely redundant.

After being told again that I would receive a phone call, hopefully within the next few days, following the recalculation I ended the call, having again spent approximately 45 minutes of my time trying to resolve what I still believe is an error on your part. Unsurprisingly no call ever came and no message was left on my machine, in fact Orange has initiated no further communication regarding this matter. On November 5th 2007 having heard nothing and realising that a month had passed I called and asked to speak with Sara. The operator told me that Sara was not at her desk but couldn’t tell me whether she was on a lunch break or away on holiday. After explaining the situation yet again the operator told me that I would receive a call from Sara as soon as she was back at her desk (though that could have been anything from 10 minutes to two weeks later) and that no further action was likely to be taken on the account. I’ve since checked and been told there’s no record of this conversation and no record of any message being passed on to Sara or any of her team members to return my call. I was also told that there had been a recalculation on October 10th 2007 which had applied a refund related to approximately 8 unused minutes from the roaming bundle. Again the accounting department had clearly not understood what I was disputing and again no one had called to properly explain what had been actioned on my account.

On November 7th 2007 you disconnected my phone with no prior warning and without either of the phone calls I’d been promised before any action was taken on my account. Your system is now set up in such a way that genuine, honest customers who have no intention of not paying a bill who are still engaged in an account dispute can’t even contact you from their handsets, why don’t you at least leave communication open between Orange and the disconnected customer on the handset as you used to? It’s a completely alienating level of non-service.

On November 8th 2007 I called again shortly after 8am, I explained yet again the scenario which had led to my disconnection and was promised without question by the operator that I would receive a phone call (on my landline) from either Sara or a member of her team by 9.10am. I explained to this operator that I had never any intention of not paying my bills (as I had done to each operator I spoke to) but just wanted to get the discrepancy over the roaming minutes fully resolved before I paid any subsequent bill. I also told him that I was so disgusted by the way Orange had mishandled this dispute that I now wanted to settle the bill in it’s entirety just so I could leave Orange with my personal number and find a better service provider. I paid the bill and was told again that without fail someone would call me on my home number just after 9am.

I waited (and wasted yet more of my precious time) until 10.30am and no call ever came either on my mobile phone or home number. I called back soon after 10.30am to request a PAC code. The operator told me that she’d like to try and convince me to stay with Orange but that until she’d had a full report from one of Sara’s team regarding the dispute (which I had to explain yet again) and any new outcome she was powerless to offer me any enticements to stay. My response to her was that I’d been waiting for over 2 months for Orange to either correct the bill or explain why it was not erroneous in the first place and that she perhaps shouldn’t hold her breath. She promised me that someone from Sara’s team would be calling both herself and me shortly to sort out all of the confusion. A week later and I’ve still heard nothing.

It’s far too late for me to change my mind about leaving Orange but I thought it important to let you know why you’re losing a loyal customer of approximately 8 years. I’m extremely angry about the way Orange have failed to properly deal with this issue and furious about the fact that despite my spending many, many hours and making considerable efforts to resolve the dispute it has still not reached a satisfactory conclusion.

Please recalculate the bill subtracting any minutes I was wrongly billed for and send the refund in cheque form to the account address. If you feel that the bill has already been fully corrected please explain, in detail (preferably with a re-itemized bill) and in writing, why I’m not due a refund. If you fail comply with one or other of these requests before the PAC Code you have recently supplied me with expires I will consider taking legal action against Orange.

Yours,

A.N. Other unsatisfied Orange customer

November 16, 2007 at 6:57 pm. Permalink.

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Laura replied:

I am a teacher and I have just wasted an hour of my life in the Orange shop, on behalf of one of my students. She bought a phone in September which stopped working after about one month. She brought it back to the shop for repair, and six weeks later (after her visiting every week to check) it has still not returned. The shop claim it is the manufacturer’s fault, the Orange customer services claim it is the shop’s fault, and worse still NOTHING could be done about my complaint today “because the manager was on a training course”. This is possibly the worst customer service I have ever seen. I bought a toaster from Argos once, it broke a few weeks later so I took it back and got a new one. Why couldn’t Orange have just given her a new phone in the first place?? What’s the point of franchises where everyone just passes the buck?

November 20, 2007 at 2:59 pm. Permalink.

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Laura replied:

PS I’m an Orange customer myself, but not for much longer!

November 20, 2007 at 3:01 pm. Permalink.

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Ian replied:

In June I bought a mobile ‘phone online from Orange; it had to be on the Orange network because Orange is the only signal available where I live. It was on special offer at £39.99, and it arrived promptly; however, it did not have the specification I thought it would have – compatibility with Tom-Tom’s Traffic-Management system – so I sent it back within the time allowed by Orange, using Orange’s returns system. Both Orange and the Royal Mail confirmed delivery, and this point is not in dispute.

Shortly afterwards I received my credit-card statement which showed a payment to Orange of the original price of the ‘phone (£53.98 ), not the £39.99 special-offer price. I then received a letter from Orange confirming that they would be refunding the cost of the ‘phone to my credit card within the next few days, but the refund they quoted was £39.99, not the £53.98 that they had charged me in error. I wrote to Orange immediately, using their Web site facility, explaining the situation and requesting confirmation that they would be refunding £53.98, but my communication was not acknowledged, and no money – not even £39.99 – was ever refunded.

I waited a while, and then sent five letters to Orange in the period from mid-September to late October, each letter to a different one of Orange’s numerous addresses, and each letter enclosing a copy of each of the previous letters, outlining the problem and demanding the return of my £53.98; I received no response to any of the letters – not even an acknowledgement. I tried Orange’s Web site messaging service again; this time I received a reply, suggesting that I telephone their customer-service number. I replied that I was reluctant to do so because I prefer such correspondence to be in writing, and because if I had to talk to someone in an Indian call-centre it would be highly probable that we would have difficulty in understanding each other and I would be unable to get my point across. Orange’s response was to reiterate their advice that I should telephone their Customer Services department.

This afternoon I telephoned the aforementioned Customer Services department. The main problem with doing so was that it was a press-button service, and none of the options available offered me the opportunity of speaking to someone who handled refunds or complaints, so I pressed a few buttons almost at random until I was put through to a real person. He was very helpful, but my query was nothing to do with his area of work so, after twenty minutes, he transferred me to the Sales department. Nicola of the Sales department (who was a Geordie, not an Indian) was equally helpful, and after a further twenty minutes she agreed that I had been due a refund of £53.98, not £33.99, but, according to her records, I had been refunded £33.99 on 25th July. I dug out my credit-card statement for that period and assured her that no such refund had been received.

Nicola then asked me to ring my credit-card company to request them to confirm whether a refund had been received. This I did, and was told that no refund had occurred, for any amount, ever, from Orange. I called Nicola back to tell her, and the ensuing conversation went something like this:
“That’s fine then; all you have to do is fax us the relevant credit-card statement and we’ll refund the £53.98.”
“May I e-mail you a scanned copy of the statement?”
“No, I’m afraid it has to be a fax.”
“But I don’t have access to a fax machine.”
“Sorry, but it must be a fax.”

Sometimes, I could kill. Victor Meldrew was right.

November 21, 2007 at 7:42 pm. Permalink.

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stevi replied:

hi I have a contract with Orange Broadband and from reading some of the stories here about people not having access to the WWW for up to a month, well I haven’t had access for about 3.5 MONTHS and these Bozos haven’t got a clue what the problem is. I ring the Technical Unsupport team and get a different Technical Nonadvisor each time who goes through the same steps as the previous 30 Nonadvisors did. I even get the impression they think im lying when I say my Broadband is not working or that maybe they think that im not quite sure how to switch on my computer and others im not sure what they think because I cannot understand what they are saying! I have asked for a refund for the time that I have not had access and get told that they cannot do this until the problem is fixed ( my impression is that will be never ) These people are just so useless. Now the thing is I am in a contract stating that I will pay them for providing me with a service. The are now Not providing me with that service and are therefore in breach of contract. Watch this space

Stevi

November 23, 2007 at 1:02 pm. Permalink.

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Hannah Stephenson replied:

I bought an orange contract phone in May, an 18 month Dolphin contract at £35 per month, and was pleased to get 10 months free line rental via the Link. I set up a direct debit that was confirmed to be set up on Orange.com.

I went away for my sister’s wedding to Cyprus in June, and my phone died after a few days, initially calls being suspended, then the screen going completely white.As a result I was unable to contact my mother on my sister’s wedding day.

When I came home I contacted Orange immediately and they said my line was suspended as I hadnt paid my bill. This is despite me being led to believe my direct debit had been set up. As a result I lost my free line rental, leaving me losing £350.

Although Orange said my phone would soon work, the screen remained white. I rang the Link who said it couldnt be returned and my only option was to have it repaired, which would take 3 weeks. By this point I no longer wished to remain in the contract with Orange as I was losing money and getting nothing in return. I sent the phone to the Link with a note telling them I wished to cancel my contract. I rang Orange who said they had cancelled the line.

3-4 weeks later I received the phone back, minus the sim card, and was told the phone was faulty and beyond economic repair, and was not offered a replacement phone.

A month later the Link sent me the sim card back, saying I needed to send it to Orange. So I sent it to Orange.

However, since June, despite not having possession of the sim card and the line not being used by me at any point, I am still being invoiced. I have made endless phone calls to Orange and the Link and have ended up in tears as I cannot afford, nor should I have to, pay for a phone I returned as it was faulty.

Under the Sale of Goods Act I am entitled to return the faulty phone if I was not offered a replacement within a reasonable period. In addition, Orange have breached the Supply of Goods and Services Act in that they failed to set up the direct debit with care.

I have now moved to a different city and have started my first job from being a student and am being billed, threatened with debt collectors and threatened with a black mark on my credit rating, when I am 24.

I think Orange have behaved disgracefully, and I have reported them to Watchdog and Orange. I have sought advice from a solicitor friend and Citizens Advice Bureau who have assured me that Orange are not entitled to a penny. My main concern is that they are blackmailing me into giving them money to which they are not entitled under the threat of jeapordising my future by ruining my credit rating.

Hannah Stephenson

December 7, 2007 at 9:31 pm. Permalink.

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Ross replied:

the futures shite, the futures orange!

December 18, 2007 at 11:26 pm. Permalink.

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Ross replied:

Normaly I don’t like to moan, but I feel it my duty to draw attention to oranges disgusting,and underhand tactics so that others might not get stung like I did.
I recently signed up to an unlimited broadband package which worked perfectly fine for about a week and then just stopped, it has been inactive for about a month All the while I have been paying.
Orange has a stranglehold on any current customers and proceed to take advantage of this by doing absolutely nothing to resolve problems but letting customers persistently call premium rate numbers.It is quite apparent to me that no-one had any intention of dealing with my issue.So it is from here that I feel I can only go through the complaints procedure, internally through Orange, and externally through third party regulatory bodies ie. OFCOM and ISPA and I urge anyone else who is having similar problems to do the same.

December 19, 2007 at 12:05 am. Permalink.

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Debbie Bannister replied:

Here is a letter I sent to Orange on two separate occasions, with a copy sent to Head Office addressed to the CEO – no reply has yet been received and Orange’s stock answer is that they can’t do anything about it!! It’s quite long but I had a lot to get off my chest…..

The Manager
Orange Customer Services
P O Box 10
Patchway
Bristol
BS32 4BQ

Sent by email to: customerservices@orange.co.uk

4th December 2007

Dear Sir / Madam

Account No: 17421124 Mobile No: 07870 597607

I wish to lodge a formal complaint about the incredible levels of substandard service and lack of customer care that I have experienced over the past few weeks, in trying to recover funds unlawfully taken from my bank account by Orange. I have already sent a copy of this letter to the Payment Processing Department on 21st November requesting immediate action, but to date I have yet to receive a reply. I suggest you take this matter seriously, as my next course of action is the Small Claims Court.

I recently changed my handset and tariff, and was offered the opportunity to hand in my old handset in exchange for a £100 credit onto my account. The first credit in September was applied correctly to my account, however in October, in addition to reducing my available account credit by £42.94, Orange took it upon themselves to also take £42.94 from my bank account, in effect charging me twice. On 27th October I called Orange Billing to request the return of my money to my bank account, and was told by your operative, Nicole, that I could have a cheque sent out. However, my recent name change had not been updated on my account and she was therefore unable to issue the cheque. I had, in fact, written to Orange with details of my name change in August but this had not been actioned!! I dutifully faxed through the copy letter and Deed Poll document the same day, with assurances that my account name would be updated within 2 working days and the cheque issued.

Several days later, I received a call from Nicole to say that the fax had not been received and the name had not been changed. I faxed the letter and Deed Poll document again, and waited for my cheque. Several days further one, and in the absence of any cheque and following another phone call from Nicole, I contacted Orange, to find myself speaking to an extremely rude and obnoxious girl called Donna (who apparently belongs to Kerry Madison’s team), only to find out that the fax had still not been received and it was not actually Orange’s policy to issue cheques for payments that they had taken in error, and that I would have to go to my bank and ask that they retrieve the payment from Orange. Once again, I dutifully set out to undo Orange’s errors, only to be told by my bank that they could not recall the money, because more than 7 days had elapsed. At that point I cancelled all future direct debit payments to Orange to try and avoid more money being illegally taken from my account, and then tried once again to resolve this matter on 13th November. On this occasion I spoke to someone called Andy (ext 60840) who assured me that I could have a cheque, he was very sympathetic to my complaint, he said that I had been misinformed by Donna about Orange’s policy on returning monies taken in error, and that either he or one of his Supervisors would definitely call me back, as he had to discuss the matter with someone else. I am still waiting for that call back. I did receive a call from Kerry Madison, however she did not leave a contact number and when I tried to call her back no-one had heard of her and didn’t know how to get hold of her!!

I called Orange AGAIN on 15th November, as I had still not received my cheque, and this time spoke to Colin (Team 43, ext 60748). Once again, he was very sympathetic to my situation, he assured me that he was dedicated to upholding Orange’s strict standards of customer care as outlined in their Codes of Practice, that he would see to it personally that this matter was dealt with once and for all, and that he would DEFINITELY call me back personally. I am still waiting.

I called Orange AGAIN on 20th November, still in the absence of my cheque or any follow-up calls from the Billing Department. This time I spoke to Sarah (ext 60630), who went through the whole process again of being very sympathetic, agreeing that I had been treated very badly and that I had done the right thing cancelling my Direct Debit, and promising to get the matter settled. I made it very clear to Sarah that this would be the last time that I called Orange, and suggested that she tell her Supervisor that if the matter was not resolved I would be contacting the Telecommunications Ombudsman to lodge a formal complaint. Sarah once again assured me that she would DEFINITELY call me back today (21st November) between 6pm and 7pm. By 9pm I was still waiting. I later picked up a message from somebody called Daniel Hopkinson (ext 61847), which was left at 9.25pm – 2 ½ hours later than promised, saying that he understood I had a query “about bank charges” and would I please fax my bank statements to him! The situation is becoming more ludicrous by the day.

It has become blatantly apparent to me that Orange are not at all interested in resolving this matter. Your staff are poorly trained, your systems are inadequate at best, and your standards of customer service are laughable. I have been a customer of Orange for many years, my bills are paid on time, but this matter has tested my loyalty and my patience to the limit. Please now be advised that as well as lodging a formal complaint with the Telecoms Ombudsman today, I will also be taking legal action and have considered contacting the police – it may not have occurred to you, but when you take money from someone’s bank account that you are not entitled to, and then refuse to give it back, this is illegal and I could well be treating this matter as theft.

I am familiar with your Codes of Practice on dealing with customer complaints, and your company seems to have achieved incredible levels of incompetence when it comes to upholding them. You have 7 days from the date of this letter to return my money in full, or I will commence proceedings against you.

A copy of this letter has been sent to your Head Office for the attention of the Managing Director.

I await your response.

cc Orange Head Office
Great Park Road
Almondsbury Park
Bradley Stoke
Bristol BS32 4QJ

December 19, 2007 at 5:22 pm. Permalink.

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Hannah Stephenson replied:

I refer to my previous post and have another shocking update.

I bought a contract phone through the Link from Orange which I had for 4 weeks before it became faulty. When I was told by the Link it was beyond economic repair, I was not offered a replacement, therefore rather than continue 18 months with no phone I returned it to them. They sent it back and said to send the sim to Orange to cancel the contract which I did, and myself cancelled the phone line – in June last year.

Now at New Year I have received a letter from a Debt Recovery Agency saying I owe Orange £521.00. They say this is for the full 18 months, and Orange dont care if the phone was faulty and immediately returned, because it was bought through the Link they do not have to abide by the law, which allows me to return a faulty phone if I am not offered a replacment.

Now I am writing to CISAS and am contacting Orange to give them a mouthful. Absolutely horrendous!!

Hannah

January 6, 2008 at 6:26 pm. Permalink.

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kimberley replied:

Hello!

Does anyone know of a customer service direct/manager I can direct my written complaint to? I’ve written in twice via recorded deliver but I’m not getting a response. I called Orange today to request an address I Could send my complaint to, but they said they no longer have an address!

Help!

K

January 7, 2008 at 5:09 pm. Permalink.

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John Cregg replied:

I only hope that if somebody is wondering which internet provider they choose to go with amongst all the differnt sales patter and advertising one sees these days thy manage to read blogs like this one. I couldn’t agree more with everything that has been said above. Orange customer services must be the most idiotic people ever employed. In fact, I have just said to a customer services supervisor that he was no better than a robot because they all give the same stock replies to your questions, a call back within 24 hours. Since the 24th December until today, the 11th January I have been without an internet connection and still they treat you as if it is the first time you have rung to report a problem. What is even mre annoying, they expect YOU to call them back to track the problem. Unless you request a call back (24 hours minimum time frame)even then (if they do manage to call you back) the answer is always the same, ‘we are looking into it.’ AARHHHH. These people are just robots. I could go on but what is the point. All I can say is, if you now sign up to Orange after reading any of these blogs then, YOU HAVE ONLY YOURSELF TO BLAME FOR THE GRIEF THAT WILL AT SOME POINT, COME YOUR WAY.
PLEASE DO NOT SIGN UP TO ORANGE.

January 11, 2008 at 2:43 pm. Permalink.

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Dawn Gibbs replied:

the complaint address is
Correspondence
Orange PLC
Department
PO Box 10
Pathway way
Bristol
BS32 4BQ

January 21, 2008 at 4:21 pm. Permalink.

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funphy replied:

As a former employee of orange, i would like to appologise for the blatent disregard towards its customers, decissions on what a customer may or may not be entitled to very often came down to the mood of the management rather than proceedures established for the customers benifit. That said, the best advice i can give is to remain calm and demand to escalate the call to a team leader, then escalate the call to the csm (call centre manager), refuse to let them call you back (odds are you’ll never recieve the call), stay resolute and only discuss your issue with the csm, they may not like it, but its still their job, they in turn usually resolve issues via the retentions dept (these are the guys that can offer you pretty much anything.. and will). On some occassions i was told by management to create almost fraudulent care claims on behalf of customers to “just stop them complaining and go away”. The only small concerlation i can offer is that they treat staff equally as badly customers.

February 9, 2008 at 9:45 pm. Permalink.

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Alec Chalmers replied:

I’ve also been a loyal orange customer for about 6 years now, and I can’t wait for this contract to end so i can take my money elsewhere. I’ve never been treated so badly in customer service. First of all it’s impossible to contact the right department then when you do they don’t have a clue and transfer you somewhere else. After spending ages hopping back and forth not getting any help to my problem, I went to customer complaints section whereby i was put on hold and then subsequently hung up on. One of my problems, I was promised a cheaper contract after being so loyal for so long, but it’s the same as it was before. I was treated even worse with Orange than other companies i thought were poor, they really are the worst.

February 13, 2008 at 3:27 pm. Permalink.

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Gemma Whitton replied:

I have to agree with most of the comments on here about orange. I have never in all my life been treated so badly by a company. They really have no idea what customer service is.

Here’s the problem.
I took out a new contract with orange after being with Vodafone for 7 years with no problems. they lured me in with an offer of a free flight to the USA. great I thought – I need to go in 2008 and this will save me a lot of money. I asked about the offer when I set the contract up and of course this was no problem. i would get a voucher when my phone came – of course it never. After phoning to enquire I was on hold for over an hour while they found out who I should be talking to (noone had a clue). I finally got a girl who said I couldnt get it as I was not on an 18 month contract. After explaining this wasnt the case the girl said OK you have to wait 30 days from when the contract started to get it. So, I waited and nothing came. Called again and again and again – still nothing – you get the picture. Passed from department to department again to be put through to a department (which I promised could help) – of course they were shut with no voicemail so they could phone me back – aaaahhhhh!! Oh I also left them 2 messages on the website – again no return on my enquiy! I finally wrote a complaint letter outlining my concerns – I finally got the voucher sent in November – only 4 months after I had first enquired. So, I had to fill it in, send my first bill – all that rubbish and I got another voucher sent. I sent it back in December (the closing date was the 13th december), was told that I would have someone call me within 5 days to book my flights. Of course this never happened. So, I called to be told that my voucher had never been received and I wasn’t getting the flight!! Not happy – no apolgy, no nothing – just you’ve obviously not posted it!! No I wonder, did they receive it and they are just not fulfilling their ever so enticing offer, did they ever have any intention of doing it. I am just about to write a big complaint letter to them about it. I would warn anyone of going with this company….
I am a very unhappy customer!

February 28, 2008 at 8:30 pm. Permalink.

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Amin Azarbadegan replied:

I hope some Orange staff would check this weblog.
I have ordered a call plan along with a phone on 1st of November 2007.
My big mistake was being attracted to one of the ‘offers’ in their accessories shop. It was a bluetooth headset. I ordered the headset and I wished to have it WITH my handset; but it has not come yet! Remind you: it is 10th of March 2008.
I had not been sat easy and been waiting for them; I called them several times. They always refer you to the other ones. After 2 weeks, I called them and after about 1 hour referring from one staff to another, finally an Orange accessories staff told me it would take 4 weeks for a piece of accessory to come!
IMPORTANT LESSON: NEVER BUY ANYTHING FROM ORANGE ACCESSORIES SHOP.
For any orange member of staff: my order number is WS718488.

March 10, 2008 at 3:34 pm. Permalink.

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Amin Azarbadegan replied:

I forgot to tell: if you buy something from the orange accessories online, they will charge your account immediately, but they expect you to wait four weeks, and in my case after four months it has not delivered.
Outraging, isn’t it?
Again: NEVER BUY ANYTHING ONLINE FROM ORANGE ACCESSORIES SHOP.

March 10, 2008 at 3:39 pm. Permalink.

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Jamie Sawicki replied:

Yes I am appalled at the service provided by Orange. But I get my own back, Ive sent a letter of complaint, no reply after a month and hence I have reported them to Ofcom and also 8, yes 8 of my friends are on Orange and thankfully, most are at the end of their contracts and a few a month or two left. So 9 in total, times that by the min of 30quid a month for 12 months, thats a min of at least GBP 3000 they have lost, when all they needed to do, well they didnt have to do anything really apart from not treat me like a moron… and of course, they will tell their friends and their friends. Orange are definitely the worst company I have ever had the misfortune of being part of and I will be so glad when my contract ends. I would love to put my letter on here, but its on my laptop at work

Goodbye Orange forever and i will continue to tell all people I become part of to leave your company, plus I can advise them of better deals elsewhere and guaranteed better service

March 17, 2008 at 11:30 pm. Permalink.

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John Palumbo replied:

My story is incredible.
I had an Orange phone several years ago on contract and then latterly on pay as you go, I made the switch as I was planning to leave the UK for Holland and wanted to cancel all subscriptions prior to leaving.
So I arrived in Holland in March 2006 used my Orange payg sparingly until I set up a Dutch mobile acct with another operator. I then switched my Orange phone off for good..
Then.. Last Christmas 2007, I arrived back at my old address to visit my mother and found that quite unbelievebly Orange had begun invoicing me again for large amounts then followed nasty reminder concerned and confused by this I contacted Orange, some halfwit on customer services told me to write to fraud in Bristol, I did this begrudgingly hating to invest time in something I had no involvement in but concerned that my mothers address was potentially at risk of bad credit etc.. So I did that hoping that would be the end of it. I then learnt to my dismay that Orange had passed the debt onto three seperate collection agencies scatterred throughout the UK. I am livid at this point, its been two years since I switched my orange phone on!! I havent even had a contract with them for a longer period then that! They disregard my correspondance, there customer support is staggeringly bad, 20 + minutes to connect to someone who can barely speak English and who does not want to take responsibility and ownership over a very messy problem that I have not involvement in! I complained to ANGIE in TEAM 88 last week (who promised to call me back the following day after much persuasion- never did..) she symptomatic of the chronic problems centric to Orange.
I am now looking to take legal action as I have totally lost the will to expend any more energy with this set of incompentents.

March 25, 2008 at 1:31 pm. Permalink.

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Michael replied:

Orange,

You are definately losing it.

First you got a voice for the menus that talks like a chav (it is sooo annoying and makes me think you are going a bit chavvy too. Laugh a lot at this voice with my mates, she can’t speak properley), have a look around the internet and you will see how much this grates people.

Second, you cant seem to sort out the free 3000 texts if you top up by so much a month, this used to be fine, but now I have to ring and get them added. Maybe that chav is running that now?

Third, when you top up you have changing it to voice recognition, this is not good in some situations, in fact it can be embarrasing, but you didnt think of that did you, or give us the option to key it in like you used to.

Hmmmmm, Orange, what happened to you?

April 7, 2008 at 3:36 pm. Permalink.

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Paul replied:

Dear Orange,

SEE YOU IN COURT.

This has to be the worst organisation I have ever dealt with. I have just spent hopefully the last 45 mins an 11 seconds on the phone to them ever…
I closed my broadband account back in October 07 following numerous gaps in the service… the last straw was (as many others have also experienced)the total inconpetence of the call centre staff, the technical staff and their management. Last time it went down the conversation went something like this..

Me: My broadband is down
Them: Please reboot your entire life
Me: ok done that – still not working
Them:we need to run a line test, this will take 24hrs
Me: Do you not have anyone who works nights who can do this faster?
Them: Sorry there is a massive backlog of line tests
Me:Why what has happened
Them: We are experiencing Technical difficulties:
Me: You dont say!!
Me: so I can expect my broadband to work tomorrow
Them: Yes try again after 24hrs

28hrs Later

Me: Hello its me again, my broadband still not working:
Them: Please insert the CD and reboot
Me: I did this yesterday – what was the result of my line test?
Them: What line test?
Me: Are you telling me you have not run a line test?
Them: You need to dial again and talk to Technical

(At this point I had no choice but to resort to swearing)

Me:Can you transfer me?
Them: No we are not allowed to
Me: Can you get them to call me back?
Them : No they are not allowed to make outside calls
Me: IS THIS A JOKE… YOU ARE A F*****g TELECOMS business and your own people are not allowed to make calls back.

Half an hour later.. and several people later

Me: Please tell me you are a technical person
Them: yes sir.. Thank you for calling Orange
Me: Forget all that crap why havent you done a line test
Them: We will book one now it will take a week
Me: Laughing (as blokes dont cry down the phone)HOW LONG..
Them: A week as we have a backlog
Me: I give up Im cancelling my account (I then spent 10 mins explaining basic customer service principles and that had I treated one of my customer this way I would expect to be on the dole straight away.)

This was in October last year – I set up an account with Talk Talk and requested my MAC Code, this came through the post and Happy Days I was rid of Orange…

OH NO… Orange then decided not to cancel my account and have been taking £19.99 per month from my bank ever since.

I have complained and complained and spoken to almost everyone who works in the customer service team in Bombay and still they have not refunded me the almost £100.00 they have taken (stolen)

As far as Orange are aware I cancelled my account in Feb this year albeit they confirm they issued my MAC code in October and know that BT have verified this twice since..

I have today worked out how to get some action out of them – it went like this :

Me: You are all incompetent etc etc etc IF YOU DONT REFUND THE MONEY IMMEDIATELY im taking you to court.
Them: Thank you for calling Orange etc etc etc
Me: Ive made 30 calls now – I was promised this refund on 17th March where is it?
Them: Billing date this – Billing date that.. BLAH BLAH BLAH..it will be in you account 10 working days from 17th April
Me: Not good enough – get me a supervisor who can make a decision I was promised this would be resolved in March at the latest.
Them: they will tell you the same thing
Me: Im not hanging up untill this is sorted and if you cut me off I will call OFCOM straight away.
Them: Gulp (not heard this one before) – OK I will pass you to a supervisor
Me:If I dont get this resolved by your supervisor I want the home number of your CEO.
Them: Please hold for two minutes

Supervisor – This money has been refunded, you ned to discuss with your bank.
Me: If this money is not in my account by Friday I will send Bailiffs to your offices.
Them: THANK YOU FOR CALLING ORANGE..

Unless you have the patience of a saint look around before deciding the future is Orange because in my experienced its very grey..

April 8, 2008 at 7:04 pm. Permalink.

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Jason replied:

Well Ive read all the posts about Orange UK, it would seem they do exactly the same in Europe. I am an expat living in Spain. Orange customer service here is disgusting, they find it hard to give you an English speaking operator my phone has been blocked now for 1 month all because of an admin error their end. Absolutely ridiculous, don’t contract to Orange Spain as you’ll get the same treatment here.

April 11, 2008 at 10:47 am. Permalink.

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Richard replied:

Below is a copy of a letter i sent to orange outlining the problems i had with a LG phone and it’s repair-

Sale of Goods Act 1979

Dear Sir,
I am writing to express my disappointment with the customer service I have received from Orange in Yeovil.
On 05/10/2007 I bought a new LG KG800 handset for a pay as you go account at a cost of £49.99. On 07/12/2007 I had to return it to Orange for repair, because the phone went dead and had no signs of power. Despite my disappointment that an almost brand new phone should be faulty I considered I had had good service from Orange, and the phone was returned to me within a week.
However, on 22/01/08 the phone broke down again, this time it could not find a signal. I returned the phone to Yeovil and asked for a replacement and was told I could not have a replacement and that it would have to go away for repair again. Again being disappointed with the quality of the phone I hoped for a speedy return. This was not the case. On 15/02/08 I phoned Orange at Yeovil and received a call back to inform me the phone had gone away a couple of days before, surely it should have been done weeks before, if that was the case? Why did it take so long? I was also told that I should receive some news, hopefully, on the 20/02/2008.
On 20/02/2008 I received a phone call informing me that the phone had had “unauthorised” repairs and anyway was beyond economic repair and would therefore not be repaired at Orange’s expense. In fact, the only repairs the phone had had were from the same place for the first breakdown. I presume these were authorised? I have in no way tampered with the phone because that would invalidate my warranty.
I believed under my warranty that the phone would be repaired free of charge if it broke down during it’s first 12 months. So far Orange has failed to uphold its part in this agreement and is trying hard to wriggle out of it.
During several phone calls with your shop I have been told to either speak to the maker of the phone or the company that does repairs for Orange about the poor quality of the phone and the state of the repairs. I am not willing to do this, because firstly it will confuse lines of communication and more importantly I purchased the phone from the Orange shop in Yeovil and believe they should be the ones to deal with my complaints.
I now consider I have given Orange long enough to correct the problems with the phone and am no longer prepared to wait for the repair. I do not consider a product of good, satisfactory quality if it breakdowns twice in it’s first four months of use.
I also believe that I have been sold an unsatisfactory product and under the Sale of Goods Act 1979 I am entitled to either a refund of £49.99 because the phone was so new or a replacement. Personally I would prefer a refund. I can then take my business elsewhere.
Please would you respond to this letter within seven working days.

Needless to say i had no reply and therefore sent them another letter giving them 14 days to reply or i would proceed with action in the small claims court.Again,they ignored me.
At the end of the 14 days i phoned Consumer Direct and through them got a telphone number for one of orange’s head offices(don’t ask me which one, they have several and it is not at all obvious where you should complain)The woman i spoke to promised me the manager of the Yeovil shop would call me back with a resolution within 48hrs.Again they did not.So, i phoned the same number and eventually spoke to the same woman, who assured me the Yeovil shop had told her they had spoken to me and offered a resolution. This was not true.They had not.They had lied to a colleague.
So i phoned the Yeovil shop and of course the manager was “not in this week” and the member of staff i spoke to “was just passing my details on to him so that he could contact me”.The manager did ring me ten minutes later and offered me a “goodwill gesture” of a new handset, not accepting liability for the faulty phone.I said no, i wanted my money back because they had sold me a poor quality product.He said that wasn’t orange policy but he would speak to his superiors.He wouldn’t answer my questions about the refusal to repair the phone and the so called unauthorised repairs or as to why someone in his shop had lied about speaking to me and he eventually hung up on me.
Ten minutes later whilst i was preparing a “final letter before court action” he left a message on my phone telling me orange had agreed to my demand of a full refund. I can only presume his superiors wanted rid of me and i can only hope he and his staff were in some kind of discomfort about being found out as liars.
I would agree with other posters that orange are dishonest and deceitful and have a practically non exsistant customer service proceedure.On several occasions i was told by orange staff i was rude and was upsetting them.I may have been very frustrated and was raising my voice on one occasion but in no way did i insult them.
On the whole orange were evasive, rude and very unhelpful.I’m led to believe this must be company policy.My problem wasn’t the poor quality of the phone(after all,not everything works properly all the time!), but the refusal of orange to respond lawfully and morally.Unfortunately i still have £23 of credit on my pay-as-you-go account, otherwise i would be finding another network provider and will do so once the credit is used up.
Do not use orange and if you do have problems persist and be as stubborn as you can!

Richard

April 14, 2008 at 8:00 pm. Permalink.

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Richiebox replied:

DO NOT GET AN ORANGE CONTRACT!!!!

Orange have the worst customer service imaginable. Orange staff are trained so poorly that if they do not know the answer to your query they will say anything to get you off the phone.
I make these statements from personal experience.
I had a contract with orange via some mickey mouse company. They had me on an 18 month contract when I agreed to a 12 month one. I called orange and would you believe they tried to say I didn’t have the contract with orange I had it with this other company. It took a silly amount of phone calls and persistance before I got the message accross “my phone bill has orange written on it, I have my contract with orange” Eventually I stumbled accross somebody who knew what they were doing and had my contract details changed. To clarify, they instantly changed my contract details from 18 months to 12 months. So don’t ever let them tell you they cannot if you have a similar problem.

almost 2 years later and it gets worse! I agreed an 18 month contract with another one of these shops but when I get the contract thru the 2year box is ticked and written besides is “18 month + new phone” What the hell does that mean???? So I called orange who assured me that after 18 months I could upgrade.
20 months later my phone is broken, but that’s ok right because I could’ve upgraded 2 months ago. NOPE, you have a “24 month contract and can’t upgrade for another month”.
I speak to one person, she is rude and unhelpful and lies to me. I speak to another, she is extremely helpful and says everything will be corrected she just needs to speak to her supervisor and call me back. She did not call back. Two days later I call again, explain the same as before and am told again I cannot upgrade. I ask to speak to a manager, I hear the manager in the back ground when I was accidently not placed on hold, but then am told she is unavailabe and will call me back. She did not call me back.
This is just an overview of the horror of Orange customer service I have experienced, I could go on and on, they lie constantly, they are rude, they don’t return calls, they are terrible!

I have been an orange customer for years. Orange is getting worse! Which is hard to acheive.

DO NOT USE ORANGE.

April 22, 2008 at 2:44 pm. Permalink.

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Chris Rowell replied:

My blackberry 8820 has just developed the fault code “App Error 523″ for the third time. Each time this happens i get a replacement (identical but refurbished) handset the following day. The last time this happend i was told that if it happens again then they would replace the handset with an alternative similar handset.

I have been with Orange for at least 10 years now and i spend on average £110 per month with 3 phones on a small business contract.

I called last evening and spent 45 minutes on the phone, waiting to be answered then being put on hold etc etc to eventually be told that the person who made this initial promise to me would call me back to sort it out.

No one called me so i called them back this morning (another 45 minutes) and was promised a call back within 10 minutes on my home phone… nothing

Later this afternoon i managed to borrow a colleagues handset so i could check my messages – Orange had called me this morning and left a message – on my faulty phone, How was i supposed to answer a faulty phone!?

I had to call back a third time this evening and after a total of 25 minutes, the adviser told me he had to make a call, then a message came on saying the person you have dialled is not logged in and the phone went dead.

So i had to make another call this time in total lasting 45 minutes with still no satisfactory outcome.

Last time (new years eve) I was promised an alternative handset if i get the same fault 3 times – which is what has happed. however the last time it happend the IT guys put the reason for fault as a blank screen instead of app error 523 so now they are saying that this is not the 3rd time it has happend because last time it was a different fault, so they will not replace the handset with an alternative. “Computer Says No!”

As this has happend 3 times now – and this is not just a social thing, i actually use this for business, i am not prepared to run the risk of the same fault happening again so i want what i was promised the last time this happend – an alternative handset.

The adviser said she couldnt overide the computer so i ended up speaking to her supervisor. The supervisor told me that if the correct fault had been keyed onto the computer the last time this happened then they would honour the promise of an alternative handset however the computer thinks that this is only the second time this has happend and she cant overide it.

I am still without a phone and the spare one i have borrowed needs to be given back tomorrow.

She has said that she will pass this on to her manager who will call me back tomorrow – but i wait to see if anyone will call me back, and if they do we will see if they will keep thier promise….i am afraid that if they dont then i will have no option but to cancel my contract, even if i have a few months left to pay for, and go to O2 where i can get a more reliable iPhone.

Orange have now lost me a potential sale because i couldnt use my phone whilst with a client, I have missed 5 very important calls – which could potentially cost me dearly and i have wasted nearly 4 hours of my life which i wont get back…..

Come on Orange, make me a happy client or i will be an ex client!

June 12, 2008 at 5:34 pm. Permalink.

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Russell Stone replied:

Hi

As silly as it sounds I thought I was the only one having problems with orange but after reading it would seem that there isn’t any one who is happy with orange.
So here we go
I had my phone disconnected rightly so because I didn’t pay my bill as I was out of the country for some time,
Anyway I phone orange on 9-7-08 to arrange payment so I could get reconnected I was advised that I could not pay them because it had been passed to a third party. Ok I replied could I have there Tel No. which they did so I phoned the No. only to find out that they did not have any records of my account so I phoned back the wonderful customer service department told them to which they replied (well you no that already) can you hold please so I did for 13mins then was told my old account no and to quote this when I speak to the third party.
So I phoned them back again giving them my acc No. to which they reply we can not find you on our system.
So I phoned back orange and told them and guess what yes you no can you hold please for 18mins this time at that point miss wonderful said I’ve just spoken to them and they have you details on there system, so ring them back.
At that point I said what is the name of this company miss wots her face said NCO at that point the voice was getting louder I said you are joking me the company I’ve been ring is arrow oh she replied I’ am sorry about that here is there No. 0870 152 5649 so I rang them gave them my details paid my bill and said can I now reconnect to which he replied sorry its been off line too long your have to speak to orange.
So I phoned them and said I’ve paid can I reconnect YES they said at last I’ am back on line WRONG we can reconnect they reply until NCO confirm payment ok I reply how long will that take 14 days they say WOT sorry they say its the SYSTEM it takes that long to process ok I reply but can I still have my old No. Wait one minute I will check she replies that was another 6mins to which she said yes WOW thank you I said with that Goodbye.
The following day I received a letter from NCO thanking me for payment to which I was impressed so I thought if I have a letter orange must have electronic confirmation as I was told by miss wonderful so I phoned told them the story gave them my NCO ref No. and them put on hold again 9mins them asked for my sim No. phone NO. And told its all done Mr Stone you will receive a txt within 24hrs read it delete it them restart your phone. Like a fool I thank the no good Shit.
Saturday still no txt Sunday still no txt Monday still no txt.
So here we go again I phone orange told them the story so far to which the reply was your no connected as we are waiting confirmation from NCO to which I them said I have a ref no, No good its still a debt on our system so we cant reconnect you. At this point I then lost the plot so like a complete IDIOT I said if I pay you again (yes that’s right pay the same bill twice) can you reconnect very unusual she said but yes no problem I said you can have the money £183.56 in good faith of the next bill so I paid and was told the txt story again read delete restart you no.
Tuesday no txt all day so yes I phoned again this is the record so far on hold for 28mins to be told wait for it SORRY Mr Stone that no is no longer available at that point my toys where out of the pram F******* WOT I said, its not a problem Mr stone I will just give you a new no I DONT WANT A F****** NEW NO I SAID I WANT MY NO. Then she gave me some crap about no’s and how it works I DONT GIVE A SHIT I WANT MY NO
Yes on hold again 14mins this time miss team leader tells me more shit how no’s work.
Ok I said so why did you take my money knowing you could not reconnect my no as you have said, to which I cant speak for others sorry you have been misinformed MISF***** WOT No I’ve been robbed you thief I said this is deception I said you have taken money from me without checking my old No. Well if that’s what you think Mr Stone was my reply NO NOT THINK, NO I SAID.
So I said forget this give me my money back so miss team leader then informs me because I paid yesterday the money is not yet showing on the system so I cant have a refund until today.
So I phoned orange told them the ever increasing story 4mins later I’ am sorry Mr Stone your acc is not in credit she replies F******* WOT Arrh I can see the problem your money hasn’t cleared with NCO yet she tells me this is the same orange if you remember above who wouldn’t take my money that’s why I paid NCO.
SO PUT ON YOUR TEAM LEADER I SAID 6mins latter I was told the same shit I said I have a letter with a ref No. no good we need confirmation from NCO she says have you got a fax NO I say Can you get to an orange shop she says its now 5:15 ok I said and head to nearest shop which you not WAS F********** SHUT!!!!!!!!!

So I will hopefully finish this epic tomorrow

R Stone

July 16, 2008 at 7:47 pm. Permalink.

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Elaina Gray replied:

I’m an Orange customer and am having serious problems with my phone (Samsung U600 – Orange branded). I am no longer able to hear people when they call me and i cannot call anyone – the phone simply says it is still dialing, even when the other person has answered but i can’t hear them. I can also not send predictive texts anymore as the handset simply freezes and switches off.

I have rung Orange on numerous occasions, during which time operators have tried to help but have been unable to, although they have admitted there is a known fault with my particular model of handset.

I am two weeks away from my update, and as such, Orange will not a) send me a replacement phone b) bring my update forward by 2 weeks (apparently computer says no) or c) reimburse me for the 2 weeks when i can’t use my phone (no surprise there though).

I understand i haven’t taken out Orange ‘Care’ so i’m not covered by insurance, but as they’ve admitted they’ve given me a faulty phone, and as i’ve been a customer with them for over 10 years, have never been late paying a bill, i’m feeling extremely annoyed. Plus when i asked if they could replace the handset, they said there was no guarantee that the replacement one wouldn’t be faulty as well (!!!) Why on earth are they still selling them if they are this unreliable!

The situation developed slightly earlier, when an Orange representative called me to say i could have a loan phone for the 2 weeks, IF their local store had one. They checked for me then and there and said there wasn’t one available at the moment but i should ring everyday to check whether they have one. Well i rang the store earlier and no one answered. I left a message but no ones replied. How can they not have any loan phones available – they’re a phone shop and must have tonnes of the things!!!!!!

I informed the last Orange agent i spoke with that i would be leaving Orange as soon as my contract ends, and was greeted with the response ‘ i understand ‘ . Well its great to know they value my custom so much. I may not spend hundreds each month, and am on one of the lower tariffs but even so.

I will be cancelling my contract with Orange the first chance i get and will find another supplier. It just seems to be such a shoddy money grabbing service – only willing to help if i’ve paid the expensive insurance, and still unable to help even though they admitted they’d given me a faulty phone. Terrible.

This has left me with no means of communication (i don’t have a home phone, my mobile is my only phone) over the Christmas period so i’m hoping i don’t need to call the emergency services or need help quickly!

I’ve told quite a few friends about the problem with Orange and sadly, alot of them came back with similar stories. Orange does seem to be getting worse and worse and sadly doesn’t seem to be able to deliver what it is promising in its code of practise. I quote “Our customers are an important part of our business, and making sure you’re happy with our services is at the heart of everything we do”. I beg to differ.

Also (nothing to do with my real complaint, but i’m taking the opportunity to rant!) – they’re website is terrible! It regularly doesn’t work, is incredibly confusing and probably the worst website in the world to navigate!

December 18, 2008 at 2:17 pm. Permalink.

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Oliver Braun replied:

Well..

I have had so many problems with orange before when i was on the network my problems were not sorted at all and took me about 8 hours of my time in total contacting them and no problems so i made the wise decision to change networks but then i had ended my contract and thought i would give orange pay as you go another go but once again i have brought a new phone on the network, its a blackberry one i was tolod i have a free 6 month trial of blackberry internet on my phone i was like oh ok thanks. It has been very useful to me but now they have decided that when i topped up £5 not to add it to my account i rang up and told them and one of the team members said to me he would suspend my phone and then he hung up i thought ah well i cannot be bothered with them today but then the next day they decied that it would be funny to cancell this trial they had given me. So i have rang up and they have transferred me to many of different people but then they sorted it in the end

June 6, 2009 at 5:53 pm. Permalink.

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Andrew Bone replied:

We have been sold Orange by Geko their agents with a promise of great reception. How I wished we had not left O2. We have no reception and neither Orange or Geko will cancel our contract. We have 3 phones that we can only use when we get lucky. Geko have still not refunded our cost for buying out the O2 contract.
Their customer service is none existant. They seem to trade on false promises a lies.
We had a similar reception problem with TMobile a few years ago but they were quick to realise and cancel the contract.
Andrew

July 17, 2009 at 9:14 am. Permalink.

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Natalie replied:

I have had the worst ordeal I have ever gone through with orange which has lasted 4 months now.

March 2009 – Firstly, it was coming up to the end of my 18 months contract and decided to upgrade my phone for free which I assumed I could,as most of my friends are with orange and recieved a free upgrade.

I was told by orange that I wasn’t allowed a free upgrade because I was a low user. Which didn’t make sense as I was paying 35 pound a month on dolphin 35 tariff which gives you 600 minutes and unltd txts. I rang up orange and asked to discontinue my contract once the 18 mnths had finished due to being refused a free upgrade( doing this 30 days in advance as told to do so).They tried to offer me different tariffs with different phones which I wasn’t sure about so they told me they would keep my request to discontinue with them open for an extra 30 days in case I decided I wanted to stay with them.

I decided I would look around at different networks to see what they had to offer in car phone warehouse and explained to the woman in the shop I had been refused a free upgrade. She thought that seemed odd and checked with orange herself and found that I could upgrade for free. So I took the chance and upgraded with a panther45 tarriff which would have cost 45 a month but I gt a deal with 10 pound off a month. I still had a 1 month left on my previous contract but was told the new contract would kick in once the other ended.

April 2009 – When the day came for my new contract to kick in my line was cut off and I couldn’t use the phone. I was out of phone use for the whole day which was an inconvenience, once I got home from work I rang orange from a landline to find out what the problem was and he asked me if I’d asked for a line termination. I explained that I had asked to discontinue my contract once it had finished but then I took the opportunity to stay with orange through carphone warehouse as they said it was possible to have a free upgrade. I was told my line was cut off because I didn’t let orange know that I was staying with them( which I thought would be unnecesary as the woman in carphone warehouse rang up orange to check if it was possible and reassured me it was all ok). The man on the phone also told me that I had incurred 700 pound charges on my account but to ignore them when my bill comes through as he has refunded it completetly due to it not being my fault.

I clearly stated ‘ what do you mean being refunded? has this already been charged to me because I haven’t got that amount of money in my account’. He reassured me that it wouldn’t come out of my account and that everything was sorted.

May 2009 – When my bank statement came through it showed I had incurred a 35 pound bank charge due to orange trying to take 700 odd pounds out my account by direct debit. I was furious because the man on the phone had told me everythin was fine and sorted.

I phoned up and complained, had to explain the whole situation to another member of CS. I felt that I couldn’t trust orange with my bank details or with the information their staff was telling me. I was also going through my final exams in university which put alot of stress and unnecesary hassle onto me. He told me he would credit my account with money to cover my charges and apologised for what had happened telling me to cancel my direct debit untill the charge had cleared off my orange account to avoid any other bank charges.

A couple of days later I received a letter notifying me that I had cancelled my directdebit and threatening to cut off my phone line within 7 days if I did not pay the 700 pound charges.

So I rang up again having to explain the whole situation to another member of staff and to make sure my line was not cut off. I was told that everything was due to an automatic system which cannot be controlled or stopped by them , that was their excuse. She reassured me that everythin was sorted and to set up my direct debit next month.

June 2009 – My bill came through as £38.30 when it should have been £35 so I rang up yet again and was told that I had been charged 3.50 on top of my tariff because I did not have a direct debit set up. I explained the whollllleee situation AGAIN and he said he could credit my account a fiver to cover this as it wasn’t my fault.

I set up my direct debit again but was then told that the money I had been credited as good will for the hassle would nt end up being used as my bill would be debited fully out of my bank account. So it was either a choice of not using direct debit but being charged 3.50 each time i’m billed and using the money on my account untill it ran out, or using a direct debit but not having 3.50 charges but without using up any of the money on my account which would just sit there forever unused.Either way they seemed to have an advantage by getting more money out of me or not having to give me any money at all. I disputed this saying I shouldnt have this hassle in the first place so they settled on sending there good will money by cheque. WHY DIDNT THEY JUST DO THIS IS THE 1ST PLACE?? So I thought it was all resolved….

JUly 2009 – my bill came through as 43.50 when it should be 35 as I had a 10 pound of each month offer. Phoned up and asked why and was told they hadnt actually reconnected my phone with this offer on so I had actually been getting charged 45 a month for the last 3 month. I did not know this as the bills wer full of giberish about decuctions and alterations and random numbers( they are so unclear the staff don’t even know whats going on as I have been told false information about them). In the end he had to put a discount on my bill as he could nt find the orginal offer so now it is supposed to be sorted but I do nt trust them to have it sorted. I am expecting another mad bill to come through next month.

The customer service reps seem to be nice and friendly and all that crap but they obviosly dnt know how to do their job properly otherwise I wouldn;t have to ring up continuosly for the last 4 months. There is a lack of communication and everytime they say it is sorted it ends up not. I feel i cannt trust them as they do not seem to know what they are tlking bout!I feel very uneasy about staying with orange but as i have signed a contract i can not escape!!

July 30, 2009 at 12:24 pm. Permalink.

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- JMB replied:
  
  £5K for less than 2GB
  
  I had no internet in my flat when I moved house so I used my mobile to surf the web for a while!
  
  My mobile is a Nokia E71 phone with a qwerty keyboard, its specifically made for e-mails, browsing the web etc. It’s similar to a BlackBerry.
  
  I expected a larger than average bill but ORANGE stung me for £5000. This is for less than 2GB of data.
  
  This is completely unacceptable for two reasons:
  
  1
  Although I made a mistake they should have through good will retrospectively applied the terms of a more appropriate tariff.
  The tariffs that they currently offer 0.5GB for £5.
  Instead of charging me 0.5GB for £2500
  
  2 They should have warned me when the bill reached £250 (still a LOT of money)
  
  Anyway I offered them £500 cash for the data and they have rejected this offer.
  
  Seeing as they cannot be reasoned with I now aim to show as many as possible what has happened. I have a YouTube channel called
  
  “OrangeUnfairTactics”
  
  In a few days it has attracted TWO HUNDRED VIEWS.I haven’t even posted my own videos yet!
  
  Link to this is a blog which is acting as a hub of all the Orange dissatisfaction.
  
  The main arm of the campaign is my Facebook group called
  
  “DISSATIFIED WITH ORANGE”
  
  In the first 24 hours since its creation it has attracted over TWENTY members.
  
  Its already the largest Anti-Orange group on Facebook.
  Please join and we can create a powerful display of dissatisfaction. Its only fair that the general public sees the depth of feeling.
  
  October 10, 2009 at 12:17 pm. Permalink.
  
  Reply
David replied:

Dear Orange

I am a business user and had high usage on my mobile phone with a good monthly spend at the end of my 18 month contract I was offered a very poor phone upgrade. The store wanted to offer me a better range but the system showed non upgradable band 1 phone only. This was clearly an error. The reason for this might have been that the direct debit payment was paid out of a different company account so it did not pick up the full payment history. I spoke with retentions but they did not offer any good alternatives and one advisor even recommended that I shop around for better deals as Orange do not reward loyalty. I must have spoken with about 5 advisors (including a Steph Clough on the 8.8.09 and Ross on the 14.8.09) and then called retentions on 345 on about 5 ocassions and I also visited the Orange shop about 4 times to try and resolve this.

My second problem is that I purchase a contract for business everywhere and moved – the dongle became ineffective in the area that I live – the orange advisor acknowledged that it was a blackspot (Horton Heath at postcode SO50 7PA) and that they were try to get more masts in the area and confirmed that they had had other complaints. I have tried to cancel the contract and spoken with orange advisors on about 5 ocassions and no one has resolved my difficulty. The simplest thing I said was to cancel the contract – as it nobody fault that I moved but orange cannot charge me for a service that I am unable to receive. Orange if you pick this e-mail up, please can someone contact me to resolve. It is very frustrating that no one will call and fix this problem. I hav sent an e-mail and advised that I had no option but cancel direct debit pending resolution – so please call me to e-mail and or call me to sort this out. And can we keep some continuity, just one Orange contact would be great.

October 20, 2009 at 12:56 pm. Permalink.

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