Orange FURY!

Matt-Page

Matt-Page

Matt-Page

Soldato
Joined
23 Nov 2004
Posts
3,794
The Swines!

I rang up on Friday to get my upgrade which iw as told i could have at the begining of February in november. The guy tells me to call back on the 7th as that is when i can get the upgrade.

Find back today, only to be told they changed their upgrade policy on Monday!!!

Que me having a hissy fit, toys out of the pram, etc. See below the email i have sent to them.

On Friday/Saturday I called 150 from my mobile and spoke with someone called Dave. He informed me that despite being told I would be able to upgrade at the begining of February in November i would still have to wait until the 7th of February to get this. He told me if I called back then I would be able to get an upgrade.

I called back today (Thursday 7th Feb) and spoke to Mark who told me that as of Monday your upgrade policy had changed. This was in no way made aware to me by Dave and I find it quite hard to believe that he would not be aware of this change.

This is poor customer service, you offer me soemthing, give me 2 specific dates and then tell me you are not able to honour it due to a policy change, of which I was NOT aware of. I also would not of taken out my 18 month contract had I known this. I have been with Orange for a number of years, always paid my bills on time and have had no wish to change until now. This is the first instance where Orange has let me down, and I hope you will be able honour this upgrade offered to me and settle this.

Please email me back with your response.

Regards,
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I'll see what they respond like in an email first, i wonder if they have changed their upgrade policy.

This i will not let go easily...

Anyone here work at Orange?
 
If my understanding is correct you rang up November got told to phone back in February to get your upgrade but the policy had changed.

TBH, if that's correct then i don't see what your problem is, the chances of ye olde call centre staff member knowing that there is going to be a policy change in 3 months is fairly slim. So it's hardly bad customer service and you haven't been lied to.
 
chesterstu said:
If my understanding is correct you rang up November got told to phone back in February to get your upgrade but the policy had changed.

TBH, if that's correct then i don't see what your problem is, the chances of ye olde call centre staff member knowing that there is going to be a policy change in 3 months is fairly slim. So it's hardly bad customer service and you haven't been lied to.
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He rang up on Friday last week and was told to phone back on the 7th, by which time the policy had changed.
 
Wicksta said:
He rang up on Friday last week and was told to phone back on the 7th, by which time the policy had changed.
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Correct. I initially called in November, was told to call back at the begining of Feb. I called back the other day, and they said i had to wait until the 7th. I called back today (7th) and was told the policy had changed on Monday!

Not been told a massive policy would be changing, even if they are call centre monkeys within a few days is bad communication, and bad practice. To a customer it looks awful and i was promised something they can not deliver.
 
Matt-Page said:
Correct. I initially called in November, was told to call back at the begining of Feb. I called back the other day, and they said i had to wait until the 7th. I called back today (7th) and was told the policy had changed on Monday!

Not been told a massive policy would be changing, even if they are call centre monkeys within a few days is bad communication, and bad practice. To a customer it looks awful and i was promised something they can not deliver.
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The policy has changed, with effect from monday 4th february, and staff were aware, however there was a strict restriction on discussing the policy change with customers before the implementation. There were also strict instructions not to override the existing policy to allow customers to upgrade before their due date just to avoid the new one. So calling staff monkeys isn't really fair, it would suggest that you think they should risk disciplinary action for you or simply that you hadn't bothered to gather full information before you started throwing insults.

The basic gist of the policy change is that upgrades are being brought in line with most other companies where you cannot upgrade at any point in the contract. Customers will be eligible for an upgrade within the final 3 months of their contract only, and any remaining time left on their current contract is added to the end of the new one. Under the new policy there are no upgrade fees, only handset costs. There are a couple of exceptions where different rules apply, but they aren't appropriate for general discussion on an internet forum, tending to be more customer and situation specific.

I can understand your anger and frustration at the situation, but unfortunately information about changing policies tends not to be public domain with most companies, especially if the change could be percieved in a negative way.

I hope the complaint is resolved to your satisfaction.
 
Dolph, surely policy changes should be sent to customers a month before they come into action, i would imagine that upgrade rules are on the terms and conditions of the signed contract?

A cs person has told him to call back in 7 days, if that is in the notes on the account then surely orange have to honour it, if not, there must be a case for the OP to speak to ofcom and report the situation?
 
Morba said:
Dolph, surely policy changes should be sent to customers a month before they come into action, i would imagine that upgrade rules are on the terms and conditions of the signed contract?
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The upgrade policy is not part of the standard network terms and conditions, if you go by those only, there's no upgrade at all until the end of the fixed term. Not every policy is contained with the network T&C's, if it were they would be a book.

A cs person has told him to call back in 7 days, if that is in the notes on the account then surely orange have to honour it, if not, there must be a case for the OP to speak to ofcom and report the situation?
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See above really. Early upgrade is a privilege, not a right, and from the OP, no actual upgrade offer was made, only a suggestion of eligibility under the policy in effect that day.
 
So to clarify, i'm on an 18 month or 24 month contract, I forget. I can now only upgrade my handset in the last 3 months? The only way I can get a new handset is to buy it sim free from somewhere else?
 
It's not only "lengthy contracts" but contracts in general.
Many a time we've seen posts from people only a couple of months into a 12 month contract asking how they can break contract.

Maybe phone companies have a responsibility to really spell it out to people when they sign up - then again, I guess that if people don't read what they are putting their name to then they really are the only ones to blame.

I wonder how many people will just sign any piece of paper put under their nose without actually reading it?
 
stoofa said:
It's not only "lengthy contracts" but contracts in general.
Many a time we've seen posts from people only a couple of months into a 12 month contract asking how they can break contract.

Maybe phone companies have a responsibility to really spell it out to people when they sign up - then again, I guess that if people don't read what they are putting their name to then they really are the only ones to blame.

I wonder how many people will just sign any piece of paper put under their nose without actually reading it?
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When I was with my girlfriend taking out a new phone, the bloke at the shop said "I can tell you're a student - you're reading everything!"... so I gotta agree with what you first said - they are probably being a bit irresponsible and do need to make it clear that you *cannot* get out of the contact for the next 18 months or whatever, unless you pay it all off.
 
Dolph said:
The policy has changed, with effect from monday 4th february, and staff were aware, however there was a strict restriction on discussing the policy change with customers before the implementation. There were also strict instructions not to override the existing policy to allow customers to upgrade before their due date just to avoid the new one. So calling staff monkeys isn't really fair, it would suggest that you think they should risk disciplinary action for you or simply that you hadn't bothered to gather full information before you started throwing insults.
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If they knew this, when why tell em to call back on the 7th? Why offer a customer something you can't fulfill, or have no intention of fulfilling. Yes that is ME, the customer. I'll throw whatever insult i like, i am the customer and as far as i am concerned the manner in which these Monkeys dealt with it, is dreadful.

The basic gist of the policy change is that upgrades are being brought in line with most other companies where you cannot upgrade at any point in the contract. Customers will be eligible for an upgrade within the final 3 months of their contract only, and any remaining time left on their current contract is added to the end of the new one. Under the new policy there are no upgrade fees, only handset costs. There are a couple of exceptions where different rules apply, but they aren't appropriate for general discussion on an internet forum, tending to be more customer and situation specific.
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Correct, and i couldn't of taken out the contract had Orange told me they MAY be making this change. Why make this change to my contract now? Why not bring it in place for new customers only? If i had known this from the start i would have obviously accepted it.

I can understand your anger and frustration at the situation, but unfortunately information about changing policies tends not to be public domain with most companies, especially if the change could be percieved in a negative way.
I hope the complaint is resolved to your satisfaction.
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My issue is i was offered something at the begining, in november and last week something ORange could not fulfil, they lied to me. I don't care what the policy is, you don't advise soemone to call back promising them something you can't fulfill. This is poor customer service, and i will be taking it further.

It is a shambles.
 
And now we see why I rarely bother with threads such as this. The fact that you consider an employee's NDA and their job to be less important than your wants (which are not a right anyway) speaks volumes, as does your attitude.

Insulting staff for doing what they are told does very little to encourage people to want to help you. If you disagree with the company policy, that's fine, but throwing random insults around really doesn't do anything other than damage your image.
 
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Dolph said:
And now we see why I rarely bother with threads such as this. The fact that you consider an employee's NDA and their job to be less important than your wants (which are not a right anyway) speaks volumes, as does your attitude.

Insulting staff for doing what they are told does very little to encourage people to want to help you. If you disagree with the company policy, that's fine, but throwing random insults around really doesn't do anything other than damage your image.
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Yes, you're right, unfortunately i just used this thread to vent frustration.

It is in no way the call centre workers fault, it is because Orange decided to change their policy.

I've emailed you to apologise, and didn't mean to offend anyone.
 
Orange are useless anyway. Just bite your lip and leave them at the end of the contract. To be honest im amazed you have been with them so long, maybe you got lucky and never had to endure months and months of incorrect billing, coverage problems, texts vanishing into thin air and Customer service staff that lie though their teeth and systems that are always "down today sir".
 
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