stugster
Active Member
About three years ago, I took out a Student contract with Orange, which back then was absolutely fantastic! Unlimited text messages, brand new phone, yadda yadda.
After my fourth year with them (on new contracts each time) I've found they've gone from being an amazing company to rock bottom.
The problems started about a week after my new contract began (around December 2007). The phone was a brand new Samsung G600 (woo!) and was the top of the range. The signal, was not.
No matter where I went, the signal on the phone was absolutely crap. I pulled the sim card out my phone, and stuck it into my PDA (the phone I had previous to this contract). Signal was slightly better.
So I called Orange to ask them whether or not they could change the faulty handset. Did I get straight through? Nope! I was put in a queue for a good 10 minutes being reminded by some robotic voice that "we are unusually busy, please continue to hold". This eventually got me through to a support operator who decided he wanted to do some tests on the phone. After another 10 or so minutes pi**ing around on the phone, he came to the conclusion he'd have to talk to the engineers and see what they said (but he'd phone back in a day!).
During my ordeal, whenever my phone is in my pocket, I have no signal. I get missed call text messages when I pull it out, and whenever someone eventually does get through to me, about a dozen text messages are instantly received by the phone at the same point.
Eventually, the guy phones back to say that they'll replace the telephone handset, and that I should back it up, and give it to the courier. Unbeknown to me, I'm actually getting a refurbished unit as a replacement for my brand new handset!
Anyway, rather than a continued rant... this problem has been occurring ever since, and at least once a month I'm on the phone to Orange complaining about the pathetic Signal, and the pathetic attempt at customer service. Every time, the robot tells me that it's unusually busy (I'm assuming the "unusual" part is that it's because they're actually open),and I'm passed from telephone operator to telephone operator telling me there's nothing they can do.
Here's the great service parts:
Previous to my latest call to complain, last month my call went like this:
"Sorry sir, your telephone is no longer covered by Orange's replacement policy, you'll have to send it to the manufacturer to get it replaced"
"Oh, ok, how long does it usually take to get replaced under manufacturer warranty?"
"Around 3-6 working weeks"
MENTAL!
Now, even as this is going on, I'm still not anywhere near convinced that it's actually the handset at fault, but Orange have done something to make their network UTTER CRAP.
My latest telephone call was to get my Samsung G600 unlocked so that I could insert an O2 sim-card into MY handset instead. Here's the conversation:
"Hi sir, that's not a problem, unfortunately though, it can take up to 3 months [yes! THREE MONTHS!] to have your handset unlocked at Orange"
"HOW LONG!?"
"Oh, and there's a £25 [or something stupid] fee."
Now I don't know about anyone else on the forums, but as soon as my (foolish) 18 month contract runs out, there is absolutely NO WAY I'm ever going to go back to Orange... and I can be even more honest and say that there's even less chance of me EVER giving them a good review when people ask me what Mobile operator is good.
Absolute Joke!
After my fourth year with them (on new contracts each time) I've found they've gone from being an amazing company to rock bottom.
The problems started about a week after my new contract began (around December 2007). The phone was a brand new Samsung G600 (woo!) and was the top of the range. The signal, was not.
No matter where I went, the signal on the phone was absolutely crap. I pulled the sim card out my phone, and stuck it into my PDA (the phone I had previous to this contract). Signal was slightly better.
So I called Orange to ask them whether or not they could change the faulty handset. Did I get straight through? Nope! I was put in a queue for a good 10 minutes being reminded by some robotic voice that "we are unusually busy, please continue to hold". This eventually got me through to a support operator who decided he wanted to do some tests on the phone. After another 10 or so minutes pi**ing around on the phone, he came to the conclusion he'd have to talk to the engineers and see what they said (but he'd phone back in a day!).
During my ordeal, whenever my phone is in my pocket, I have no signal. I get missed call text messages when I pull it out, and whenever someone eventually does get through to me, about a dozen text messages are instantly received by the phone at the same point.
Eventually, the guy phones back to say that they'll replace the telephone handset, and that I should back it up, and give it to the courier. Unbeknown to me, I'm actually getting a refurbished unit as a replacement for my brand new handset!
Anyway, rather than a continued rant... this problem has been occurring ever since, and at least once a month I'm on the phone to Orange complaining about the pathetic Signal, and the pathetic attempt at customer service. Every time, the robot tells me that it's unusually busy (I'm assuming the "unusual" part is that it's because they're actually open),and I'm passed from telephone operator to telephone operator telling me there's nothing they can do.
Here's the great service parts:
Previous to my latest call to complain, last month my call went like this:
"Sorry sir, your telephone is no longer covered by Orange's replacement policy, you'll have to send it to the manufacturer to get it replaced"
"Oh, ok, how long does it usually take to get replaced under manufacturer warranty?"
"Around 3-6 working weeks"
MENTAL!
Now, even as this is going on, I'm still not anywhere near convinced that it's actually the handset at fault, but Orange have done something to make their network UTTER CRAP.
My latest telephone call was to get my Samsung G600 unlocked so that I could insert an O2 sim-card into MY handset instead. Here's the conversation:
"Hi sir, that's not a problem, unfortunately though, it can take up to 3 months [yes! THREE MONTHS!] to have your handset unlocked at Orange"
"HOW LONG!?"
"Oh, and there's a £25 [or something stupid] fee."
Now I don't know about anyone else on the forums, but as soon as my (foolish) 18 month contract runs out, there is absolutely NO WAY I'm ever going to go back to Orange... and I can be even more honest and say that there's even less chance of me EVER giving them a good review when people ask me what Mobile operator is good.
Absolute Joke!
