[C-Kay]

I have never encountered a company with such incompitence/shit customer service.

Just before Christmas, i took out an 18 month contract with Orange, with a Blackberry handset from Phones 4 U. I got a good deal on texts/minutes/internet and all that, which is why i went with them.
2 weeks ago, my phone started playing up, the 'track ball' that you use to navigate around the phone stopped working, so i couldnt get into my texts,internet,phone book, or anything else. I could just phone people who had phoned me.

So, i rang Orange up, and said that because the phone was so new, i dont see why i should claim on my insurance and would like it replaced, and how i should go about it. Do i go to Orange, or take it back to Phones 4 U.

The bloke on the phone said Orange will sort it, and they will send me a new handset that day.

The next day, which was this tuesday, my new phone arrives, they pick up my old phone and everything is good.(except the phone i originally had was unlocked, and had different software on it, and i dodnt get a manual to show me how to use the different features)

I wake up wednesday morning and my phone has no signal, which is weird because i always got full signal in my flat. I drive to work and still no signal, and the clock on it was moving up by 4 minutes per minute.

I rang Orange, who said that the bloke shouldn't have sent me a new handset, and i should have been told to take it back to Phones 4 U. I wentto Phones 4 U, who said they cant do anything because the handset i have is not the one they sold me. So i phone Orange to get my old handset back, but they cant send it back to me for some reason, and they now wont change it for a new handset because i can claim on my insurance.

The problem i have here is that the phone that i have now isnt the phone that i am paying insurance for, so i cant claim, and Orange have now said it's tough shit and there's nothing they can do

So i now have a phone that i cant use because it wont pick up signal, and paying for a contract which still has 15 months to run that i also cant use, because i have no other phone to put the bastard sim in.

Avoid these * like the plague, seriously. I have just sent a very angry E-mail to them, so hopefully it will get sorted, but i must admit, i'm not confident

[MK Chris]

I must admit, we use Orange for our business 3G cards and for the mostpart they've been fine. Also, as a consumer I was with Orange years ago and they had a very good reputation for customer service then, although I believe that was before France Telecom bought them out.

[Yudster]

If you get no joy from your email C-Kay (which I suspect you will, they will want to get it sorted), you should go to Ofcom.

[C-Kay]

Other people i've spoken to have said the same as me about Orange, a few have said they never had problems with them.

I wouldn't mind, but it's their * up that have put me in this situation in the first place, the guy must have been new and didn't know the rules on this, or he just made a complete balls up.

[C-Kay]

If you get no joy from your email C-Kay (which I suspect you will, they will want to get it sorted), you should go to Ofcom.

That's going to be my next threat, along with watchdog if i really have to. This e-mail just says that i am not happy with the service, and as this is their mess up, not mine, it's their responsibilty to sort it out (though it was a bit more angrier than that). Orange and P4U have been passing me back to eachother, but i dont blame P4U at all, it's Orange who are at fault.

[MK Chris]

I was going to say what Yudwuk said as well but I forgot. I think they'll sort it out without Ofcom.

[Yudster]

As long as your email sets things out as clearly as you did in your post, I don't think they will mess you about. Its not in their interests to piss you off any more.

[C-Kay]

Well, this is quite weird. I e-mailed them about the original problem last friday, and i have just this second had a reply to that e-mail.

Considering i phoned them on Monday about the problem because i didn't get a reply to said E-Mail, that is actually slackness at it's worse

This E-Mail said

Dear Colin Thank you for your mail regarding your phone.

I am sorry to hear you are experiencing problems with your handset. In order for us to fully investigate the problem we need to run a diagnostic check to ascertain the cause of the problem.
As this is a question and answer process, we are not able to diagnose problems by email. Should a piece of your equipment subsequently be found to be faulty following the diagnostic, we will then be able to advise of your available options to have the equipment repaired or replaced. Please can you mail us with a phone number and suitable time to call so we can contact you by telephone regarding your enquiry.
Alternatively you can call our Customer Services on 150 from your Orange phone or 07973 100150 from any other phone if you are a pay monthly customer or 450 from your Orange phone or 07973 100450 from any other phone if you are a pay as you go customer and any of our Representatives will be pleased to assist you.
Please be advised that the answers to many common queries can be found in the Frequently Asked Questions section in the Help & Support option on the Home Page of our website at http://www.orange.co.uk, where you can also find details of Orange Offers including Orange Wednesdays, Reserve Tank and Orange Broadband. I trust the above information is of assistance. Kind regards ChrisOrange Online Services

I have just replied with this...

Dear Chris,

Thank you for your e-mail, but you have taken far too long to reply to me, i have since had a replacement phone from you, which has also broken. I am most unhappy. Your customer service is THE worst i have ever encountered.

I have since had to send another e-mail to you regarding this, but i suspect that a reply to that will also take 4 or 5 days.

However, i will copy and paste the latest e-mail here, i might get a reply within a decent amount of time this way.

E-Mail sent Thursday 5th March 2009



Dear sir/madam,

I am writing to complain about your services that i have encounted over this last week.

My Blackberry phone 'track ball' stopped working a few weeks back, and i was advised by yourselves, via e-mail,to contact you about the issue. I did this, and was instantly given a replacement phone (my original phone was less than 3 months old).

This was a great service.

However, 12 hours after recieving my new phone, i could not get any signal on the phone at all, no matter what i did. So, i rang back up to get it replaced again, only to be told that you should not have sent me the phone in the first place, and i should have beeen advised to take it back to Phones 4 U, where i originally took out the contract.

I went down there, but they cant do anything because it's not the phone i got from them. So i rang you back yesterday, and was told that there was no way of getting my original phone back, so i cannot get it replaced at Phones 4 U.

I cant claim on my insurance because it's a different phone.

I am very unhappy at your your unproffesionalism, my work requires me to have a phone at all times to take orders from customers, but for the last 2 days they have not been able to contact me due to no signal being recieved, so i have a load of very unhappy customers who are now questioning my reliability. I am fed up of being passed back to P4U, only for them to pass me back to you.

The handset i got with my contract has given me nothing but grief, i would like to change the phone for something that actually works, failing that, i would like to terminate my contract, because i refuse to pay for a service THAT I CANNOT USE.

I was very happy with everything until this occured, and i am more than happy to stay with your company, but as this mess is the fault of your company, i feel it is down to you to sort it out. If i have to take out a new contract to get a different handset, i will, i have no issue with that, but if that is the case, my current contract will have to be terminated, because, as i said before, i refuse to pay for a service that i am not using/able to use.
I have phoned yourselves, and have been palmed off with lame excuses and told there is nothing you can do. Well, that is not good enough, this is YOUR mistake, therefore it is your duty to rectify this.

On top of this, the replacment phone i recieved form you is a lower spec than the phone i originally had. This whole situtation is a mess, and it is all down to one member of your staff not having the correct knowledge or training.
I would appreciate if you would get back to me about this issue, i would like it sorted as ASAP and with minimum fuss.

Thank you

Colin Knapp

[Yudster]

I think that should do the trick.

[C-Kay]

I thought it was too angry at first, but i've been nice so far. Fingers crossed this actually makes them act.

[Nicola_Red]

I'm with orange and I haven't had any probs with them. But then I'm just on payg so there isn't much potential for me to have any issues.

[Yudster]

I thought it was too angry at first, but i've been nice so far. Fingers crossed this actually makes them act.

You're entitled to a bit of angry, it won't hurt. The important thing is that you have chronicled everything that has happened clearly.

[Andy B]

That's why I only get my phones from the supplier or Carphone Warehouse on O2 as they deal with it all themselves then. No other parties to get involved.

[Munki Bhoy]

I was with Orange for a fair few years, but they just got to the point they couldn't offer me a decent deal to stay. I had an N95 and it was going to cost me 120 quid to get the N95 8Gb when upgrade time came. They did offer to get my contract down to just 20 quid, but since I was paying about 15 quid on data charges (and I was being self-restrictive on them) and they couldn't offer me anything on that I buggered off to O2's 35 quid a month unlimited data and more free minutes offer on the iPhone. Sure, I paid 40 quid more to get the 16Gb iPhone when I could have got the 8Gb one for 99 quid, but that was my choice. Had I gone for the 8Gb I was getting a new phone cheaper than they could offer on a better contract than they could offer me too.

Considering I'd been with them for five years, it was a tad disappointing that they didn't try harder to keep me.

But I've never had anywhere near the problems you're having C-Kay.

[C-Kay]

I've managed to get a replacement, but the same phone as the previous 2 that have broken.

If this one * up, it'll be threat time.

[ladbroke]

Orange are a complete disaster in almost every respect. They were, many yeqrs ago, THE company to be with but things are much different now. It's only a matter of time before they go tits up, in my opinion. Orange used to supply my internet (I say supply, they never really did) and their tech support is laughable. My 7 year old could do better. Avoid them at all costs, I switched to IDNET as an ISP, and they are absolutely fantastic (if a bit expensive).

See this site as an example of Orange's complete incompetence: http://www.orangeproblems.co.uk/phpBB2/

[Boboff]

PAYG I think is the answer.

I just got a Samsumg thing with MP3 FM radio, Camera, Video hands free and blue tooth from tesco Mobile for £24.44 including carriage. I use about £20 a quarter in top ups, which they are trebling in a month if you want at present, plus Tesco Points and the coverage if as good as Orange. There customer service is absolutely excellent, and I think contracts as so rubbish as you either end up wasting your minutes or going over and getting shagged right royally for the privilege.

I know you guys like your toys, but is it really worth it? Your choice I know, personally I say no.

[jocky85]

I'm with boboff on this 1. I've never had a contract phone, altho I could in theory now comit to 1, I don't see the point. I currently have a 30day SIM only contract with o2. costs £20 a month and I get 600 free minutes and unlimited txts. This does mean I have to fork out for a phone, but I'm not too worried about that, my phones take years to wear out, I'm on my 3rd in about 10years, a Sony W810i which I've had for about 3years so far and its still working perfectly fine.

[ladbroke]

I sometimes think the country would be a lot financially healthier with Sir Terry Leahy as Chancellor of the Exchequer.........!

[Yudster]

I vote Boboff for Chancellor.

[foot-loose]

Fantastic use of the word "felcher".

I have a feeling not so many know what it entails, are about to google it, and then regret it.

Rock on.

[C-Kay]

Fantastic use of the word "felcher".

I have a feeling not so many know what it entails, are about to google it, and then regret it.

Rock on.

Thanks, it was either that or 'Fisters'.

and yes, i remember finding out hat it was when i was in school and instantly liking it for that reason alone

[C-Kay]

hat = what, damn non edit button in Ramble

[foot-loose]

Fantastic use of the word "felcher".

I have a feeling not so many know what it entails, are about to google it, and then regret it.

Rock on.

Thanks, it was either that or 'Fisters'.

and yes, i remember finding out hat it was when i was in school and instantly liking it for that reason alone

I guy at uni introduced me to it*. It amused me.





*introduced me to the word. Don't even go down the other route.

[C-Kay]

Fantastic use of the word "felcher".

I have a feeling not so many know what it entails, are about to google it, and then regret it.

Rock on.

Thanks, it was either that or 'Fisters'.

and yes, i remember finding out hat it was when i was in school and instantly liking it for that reason alone

I guy at uni introduced me to it*. It amused me.





*introduced me to the word. Don't even go down the other route.

dam you