Orange- Great Customer services

[Simon11]

This is more of a rant, but I can't be the only Orange Customer unhappy!

So I've just received a letter stating that my "fixed" monthly plan will increase due to inflation.

Firstly, I've tried to look at my terms & conditions on their website and have been unable to find it.:roll: May I say their website is rubbish and good luck trying to find the e-mail to send off your question to a "human":roll:.

Previously in Dec 11, I got sent a text from Orange saying the price would increase and a few days later Orange inform me that this was an "error" and a mistake. So of course, I'm keen to see if they have made the same mistake......

First attempt to contact a "human" was to try an e-mail. I manage to find it through Google as their website really enjoyed keeping it hidden behind the mass number of web pages.

After sending my e-mail, duly get a great e-mail "Please accept our apologies, we are in the process of improving our e-mail service, and cannot deal with your e-mail enquiry at this time."

Next port of call is to call them up and speak to a human. I get through the system and get rather frustrated, so decide not to press anymore buttons. Unlike other company's support services, instead of passing you to a human, they instead say "Thanks for calling Orange, we are now cutting your call. Good bye" I was like

Second Call and I managed to get myself in a queue to speak to a human but after a few minutes gave up with no information of how long the wait would be.

My third call, I did from my mobile phone so I could spend my time doing something more productive. Upon getting the chance to speak to a human, I'm informed that "None of our customer support services are available and we are now ending your call.

Are Orange one of the hardest companies to contact?

 

[Nym]

Go to a store and speak to them? Oh, wait...

 

[GB]

T&Cs..

http://studio.orange.co.uk/mobileterms/

http://web.orange.co.uk/p/home/internet_terms_of_use

 

[Simon11]

Thanks GB, I did find that page however I have no idea which one is relevant to me!

It looks more like a teenagers messy bedroom, rather than being a professional company!

 

[GB]

I agree, its not particularly well laid out. Grey text on white back ground is pretty poor too!

 

[Roverman]

Bearing in mind this is a company that spent a fortune changing its name to EE and then refitted all their shops, despite the fact they don't need 3 shops in 1 town. Seems to be they spend money like water and when they need some more they just put the prices up!

 

[richw]

My contract with ee ends shortly, im cancelling because they don't provide service at my home. i have so far been unable to cancel.....because I have no signal to call and cancel!

 

[SS4]

My contract with ee ends shortly, im cancelling because they don't provide service at my home. i have so far been unable to cancel.....because I have no signal to call and cancel!

Can't you cancel in writing? Or, if you dare, cancel it at the bank and tell EE you would have called them if they could be bothered to give you signal.

Meanwhile, on a tangentially related subject, nobody I know has got 4G

 

[deltic1989]

Orange's customer service has to be the poorest I have come across (well except Talk Talk), you have to have the patience of Job to get to speak to a person and then when you do 9 times out of 10 I can't understand a flipping word they are saying.
This EE business i believe is to do with a merger with T-Mobile and all the ex orange and t-mobile stores have now become EE stores. Which in Nottingham at least has resulted in us having at least 3 EE stores, 2 within 100 yards of each other.
I have had issues with bad signal, and when I finally get to speak to a person I can understand their attitude stinks.
Needless to say when my contract is up, I'm off elsewhere.

 

[Lrd]

I've never had a problem with Three, I've been with them almost 4 years and will continue to use them for the foreseeable future.

 

[richw]

My signal issues only started when the merger happened. Prior to the merger T-Mobile worked fine.

 

[ryan125hst]

Are Orange one of the hardest companies to contact?

It's ironic really that telecommunications companies are the hardest to contact by phone! I remember seeing on TV (Watchdog I think) about how difficult it was to contact Sky, and how long they kept people on hold on a premium rate numbers. :roll:

 

[richw]

It's ironic really that telecommunications companies are the hardest to contact by phone! I remember seeing on TV (Watchdog I think) about how difficult it was to contact Sky, and how long they kept people on hold on a premium rate numbers. :roll:

Skys telephone number is not very easy to locate on their website.
Click "contact us" and you'd expect to find their number, but nope.
Skys "premium rate" number is not exactly very premium rate, especially for sky talk customers.

Calls to Sky contact centres are free for Sky Talk Freetime, Weekends and Anytime customers.

BT customers pay 5.1p/min and 13.1p connection.

I find it very amusing the number of people who complain about how much its costing to call us at work and want compensating for their phone bill. I have the ability to see they've called our 0800 number and it visible they are calling from a BT landline on my computer system. I politely advise them I will compensate if they can produce the bill showing the cost of the call. I've yet to see one turn up.

 

[317666]

I had to ring o2 once or twice to get my mobile internet working, and had absolutely no problems. Judging by accents the call centre was somewhere in Yorkshire, so unlike most companies I could understand every word they said!

 

[jon0844]

Bearing in mind this is a company that spent a fortune changing its name to EE and then refitted all their shops, despite the fact they don't need 3 shops in 1 town. Seems to be they spend money like water and when they need some more they just put the prices up!

They are closing the duplicate stores though, but in many cases there are leases of a year or two to pass before they can actually close.

 

[Geezertronic]

Never had a problem getting through to Orange/EE (150 from Orange handset or 07973 100 150 from a land line or non Orange phone), usually have a problem getting someone who understands what I am on about though

It took me three months of constant pestering and 1/2 dozen phone replacements before I could change my son and daughters Blackberry phones and get rid of them. Around the same time, myself and the wife upgraded iPhone 4's to iPhone 5s so I told (yes told) Orange/EE that I wanted to get rid of the Blackberry phone and go for two iPhone SIM only plans. Took a while but got there in the end due to the lack of customer service I had received. My son and daughter are using our old iPhone 4s with no issues whatsoever now

 

[bb21]

I've never had a problem with Three, I've been with them almost 4 years and will continue to use them for the foreseeable future.

Three can be very good, until you have a problem with them that is, or that you want to disconnect and leave them.

I have had some very good deals for O2 and Vodafone through 3rd party retailers and have had good experience with both of them in the last 4/5 years.

 

[507 001]

Three can be very good, until you have a problem with them that is, or that you want to disconnect and leave them.

I have had some very good deals for O2 and Vodafone through 3rd party retailers and have had good experience with both of them in the last 4/5 years.

Don't even get me started on 3,

Last year my contract was up for renewal, I wanted an iPhone 4 and found a great deal on their website, rang up to seal the deal and was told that that price plan did not exist!! I told the guy, who was very hard to understand, that I could send him a screenshot if he'd like, which he refused point blank.

He then proceeded to offer me a new deal, which he said was much cheaper than the one I was looking at and much cheaper than what I was paying for my HTC, it involved cancelling my mums contract (she was also with 3) and taking out two new contracts.

He was adamant that this would be cheaper for us, even when we worked it out that it would actually cost about £5 more a month! He kept going on and on and on.

He then tried to offer me the one plan, which he again, tried to tell me would save me money (despite being £10 more a month than what I was paying). I told him I didnt need the one plan as I didn't need unlimited internet as I only used around 750mb a month. He told me that I should because my internet usage would go up with an iPhone because it was a "much nicer phone".

I lost my temper in the end, shouted at him down the phone and cancelled my contract.

I moved to Vodafone and haven't had a single problem, I get much better phone signal (although my 3G/interweb coverage isn't as good as it was with 3), I can find out my usage much easier with the my vodafone app, I can speak to somebody I understand on the phone, the staff in the shops are helpful and friendly. And to top it off, I got an iPhone 4S for the price of a 4 with three!


*** mum tried to cancel a contract with 3 once, she was taking out a new contract with them to take advantage of a new customer only deal, and ended up paying for two phones for the first month of the new contractbecause they just didn't bother cancelling the old one!

 

[Aictos]

I spoke to Three this week, Edinburgh 3 store insisted I couldn't upgrade or downgrade my contract until November however 3 Customer Services said I was more then able to do so in September but asked why...

I simply stated that 3 were providing a much better Sim Only deal at a fraction of my existing contract, was told how much the upgrade fee could cost (from £150 to about £50)

3 Customer Services said they completely understood why I was looking at the cheaper plan especially as it would save me £25 a month on my contract.

That and the fact that they've actually made the signal at home that much better via a Home Signal that I get full signal strength rather then low to no signal.