talkmagic.co.uk

Last night my wife ordered a new phone on monthly contract from Orange. Her sister had just done this and was raving about what good value it was so wifey decided she wanted to do it also.

Today another friend on Orange came to visit and couldn't get a signal on her phone. Oh dear we thought and checked the Orange website. We have "variable" Orange signal in our area which is code for "c*** (not the best)".

So we decided to phone Orange to cancel her order - after all it was only placed 12 hours ago. Do you think this was an easy experience?

After spending nearly an hour on the phone being passed from department to department, we were finally told that the only way to cancel this order is to await delivery of the phone next week, then phone the Orange returns department (another tooth pulling experience I'm sure), and then post the phone back to them. How ridiculous.

Remember the good old days when you cancelled an order, somebody got the order form and ripped it up, and there, viola, the order was cancelled.

Progress isn't what it used to be.

Do you know, I bet the thought-better-of-it cancellation procedure is convoluted like that on purpose. After all, there is clearly a procedure in place.

We have a saying round these parts; The signal's weak, the signal's Orange.

I've heard so many horror stories about the customer service department at Orange i wouldn't go near them.

The only problems i've had with orange is other companies offering better tarrifs. Now I'm locked into an 18 month contract until Sept & can't move to O2 until then without paying off my contract. There's also the hassle of PAC or PUC codes to keep the same number.

I've never really had a problem with Orange, they're probabaly the only company that I can get a decent reception with.

Customer service does seem quite rubbish with alot of companies though. I've had lots of trouble with British Gas, my record for being stuck on hold with them is 2 and a half hours, this was at work luckily so I wasn't paying the bill.

I've only been with Orange once and never again. Their reception is the worst out of all the networks I've been with and their customer service is unsatisfactory. But Lommy seems to be getting good reception so your mileage may vary, as with most things. But I definitely wouldn't recommend Orange based on my own experiences.

I had a nightmare with O2 a few years ago. I got an offer through the post which sounded really good - I phoned a freefone number, ordered the phone and 2 days later it arrived.

On checking the contract I found that I didn't have the same number of free texts and calls as was originally on the offer so I phoned to inquire as to why.

I dialled the same freefone number that I had used to order the phone, only to be told that I had to call a premium rate number for customer services. At £1.50 per minute I refuse to call, telling the lady at the other end of the phone that it was their mistake and I was not paying for it. A 50 minute phone call ensued, ending up with her manager rather rudely telling me that I would either have to call the premium rate number or lump it.

Fortunately, a friend of mine is head of network services with O2 and he took the matter up for me. He gave me a phone number to call and said that my account had been upgraded to "preferred customer" - meaning whoever answered my call could deal with me.

I phoned, a girl answered, I gave her my telephone and account numbers, to which she replied, "Ah, you are a preferred customer - I am afraid I have not been trained on how to deal with preferred customers, can you hold?"

I just hung up, cancelled the direct debit and I am still waiting for them to collect the phone - that was several years ago!

These sorts of stories are bad for my blood pressure. They make me so angry! Regain some tiny sense of satisfaction and 'stick it to the man' by using this web-site http://www.saynoto0870.com/ to at least find free-phone or local numbers to use when you're sat on hold for days....

I have alway's had a great reception with Orange and generally fount them to be the best of all of them with o2 coming a close second. On the otherhand I wouldn't ever touch 3 for my life ever again. I cancelled a contract with them after my agreed time over the phone and I never recieved another letter or bill from then for 12 months, then out of the blue what do you know a bill for £200 b*******s.

I really don't use my phone much. So little infact, that i no longer bother with a using my landline. Though, i still have to pay the 35 quid or so line rental.

I've always been an 02 person, even on pay as you go, you get a decent amount of freebies. topping up my usual 15 pounds a month, i get 150 free minutes for that, as well as the actual credit itself on top. Oh and 3 quid for 50 texts. That suits me fine.

I've heard all kinds of nonsense about Orange. i'd steer well clear. The only problems i've had is with the 3 usb broadband dongle. At times, perfect and superfast. Others, no signal at all, until i let the device rest upon a metal framed chair near the window.

I'm with Orange - the customer service is fairly poor, but the number you call is free... I expect most are nowadays but when I took out my contract that wasn't the case.

The signal is probably below average though.

The tarriffs however I have always found to be very good value. When I started uni I got a contract phone; they did a student deal in those days which they were obliged to stick to (even when they tried to pursuade me onto one of their "better" - i.e. more expensive - tarriffs ) which was 1000 free texts and (some) free minutes... again, now everyone does unlimited this-and-that it doesn't sound so impressive but for quite a while no one could touch it - I'd get calls from these cowboy phone shops trying to persuade me to change contracts with them, promising they could find me a better deal - told them what the deal was and they'd go quiet and say, "yeah, that's really quite good, isn't it?"


To be fair, I've not heard endless praise for any company that requires regular contact with customer service i.e. phone and power (although for the latter I actually find Swalec a joy to deal with)... you can't believe that people are unemployed in this country when every big company seems to be running a skeleton staff of telephone monkeys...

"We are very busy at the moment and apologise for the delay..." - what, I'm supposed to feel sorry for you?! You've been "very busy" whenever I've called, any time of day, any day of the week... HIRE SOME MORE ******* STAFF!

I have been with Vodaphone for ages now and have what I think is a pretty good deal.

However, they run a lovely little scam when you are on pay as you gowhich I am suer others will have been stung by.

If you buy credit for a pay as you go phone and then don't use the phone for 6 months they simply cancel the credit! They take your money and run.

I asked once when this had happened to me how it was legal. I asked if the gent I was speaking would be happy if he bought a car, didn't use it for 6 months and so the garage came and took it back. He didn't seem to think that the paralell was there!

Johnny Wizz wrote:I asked once when this had happened to me how it was legal. I asked if the gent I was speaking would be happy if he bought a car, didn't use it for 6 months and so the garage came and took it back. He didn't seem to think that the paralell was there!

Working on phones I have to say this is my least favourite thing in the world for people to say. "Well how would you feel if...?"
To be honest if I'd just been told that my cancellation was going to cost £120 even though I didn't have my car anymore I'd be fairly pi**ed off too. But if I asked where I could find the terms and conditions that meant this were true and duly I found them, I'd say "Oh. b*ll*cks" and be done with it.

If the T+Cs say that your credit disappears after 6 months then it disappears after 6 months.
Similarly if the T+Cs said that if you didn't use your car at all for 6 months they were allowed to take it back then that's fine too

Johnny Wizz wrote:However, they run a lovely little scam when you are on pay as you gowhich I am suer others will have been stung by.

If you buy credit for a pay as you go phone and then don't use the phone for 6 months they simply cancel the credit! They take your money and run.

I asked once when this had happened to me how it was legal. I asked if the gent I was speaking would be happy if he bought a car, didn't use it for 6 months and so the garage came and took it back. He didn't seem to think that the paralell was there!

As someone that works for Vodafone on the Pay As You Talk department (Not pay as you go as so many say, as that was originally used as the name of a competitor's prepay product before VF launched theirs), I get this question quite a lot.

The basics are:
1 - The T&Cs (Link at the bottom of the page and look for "Pay as you talk airtime terms and conditions") state:

6.2 Where the Mobile Equipment is suspended because you have chosen not to use the Services (as defined in 6.1(c) above) for a period of 180 days, we will, on request and within 90 days of suspension reconnect the Services and make any previous credit held on your account at time of suspension available. If you have not kept to this Agreement or not used the Services for 270 days, and we disconnect the Mobile Equipment, any credit held on your account will be forfeited.

2 - If you call up and have this issue, we (or at least the more experienced people that know what can be done) will gladly either give you the address of the administration office for Vodafone, or send a note or put you through to a department that may well be able to offer a refund or recredit onto that PAYT account or another PAYT account.
3 - If you have a reason for not using the phone for a long period, such as using it as an emergency-only handset, or being out of the country for half a year, then we'd recommend that it would be better to have an emergency handset that absolutely must work be a low-rental or short-term contract instead of PAYT. It may cost more, but at least the phone will dial out. And whilst on the subject of emergency phones, even if the sim's barred, the handset will still allow you to call emergency numbers like 999, as any other number than that isn't really an emergency...

As for the analogy of the car and not using it, I believe it not to be fair. I'd rather say it's more a case of if you didn't add more fuel to your car and didn't use it for a long period, then the company that sold the car takes the 6 month old and unused petrol away, not the car. Quite frankly if you're leaving a ton of petrol in a car for 6 months and not doing anything with it, you'd probably have bigger problems...

Apologies for this response, but after an 8 hour shift of dealing with people that don't understand basic concepts such as "Yes, you do get charged if you hear someone's answerphone greeting and then hang up to avoid paying for the call", it's difficult to respond in a nice and friendly way.
(I'm peeved that I've now missed Derren Brown thanks to work scheduling...)

Haven't had a mobile for a couple of years now. Never looked back!