Serious orange issue

[willd58]

Years ago I got a D500 on orange, 500mins 200 txt's package, then in June 2006 I upgraded to an N80 and thought I was renewing the contract and was staying on 500txt 200mins, however, I rang today because my bills have been large of late, and it turns out my 500 txts stopped in August!

When I upgraded the handset for some reason, the upgrader decided not to renew the txt bundle, and im not being told that iv been paying for every txt iv sent since then, as well as £35 a month for a mere 200mins.

I rang up today and asked what was going on and why this was happening, and the lady on the other phone got kinda angry with me, telling me the 500txt bundle that was only issued for 18 months, and wasn't renewed when i got my N80.

Now I know for certain that when I upgraded I asked that I remained on the 500/200 contract and was never once informed that the 500 would run out at any point, I asked to be on a 200/500 contract that I was on, since when does half the contract run out?

I explained this and the woman from orange said that it was because I had gotten the phone from somewhere other than orange, this wasn't true, so she said "ok, let me put you through to upgrades", i went on hold for 2 mins or so, she then picked up again, and then acted as if she hadn't accused me of changing provider. (i only deal with orange, i dont know why she tried to tell me id gone elsewhere)

Then she claimed that when I got the D500 it was on an 18month contract, and that the 200 mins carried on over with that to my N80 indefinitely, but for some reason the 500 texts had stopped. This is a load of rubbish and was never even hinted at when I renewed my contract for the N80. Obviously at fault on there end, she put the 500 bundle and I obviously asked for my money back for all the text's, she claimed that was never guna happen so i asked for a supervisor, apparently one was on holiday till Monday, and the other was in a meeting and if they came out before she finished work at 4, she would ask them to call me.

I haven't had a call back and am extremely annoyed about all this, any suggestions, iv always had ok'ish service with orange after hearing horror stories about other places, but this is making me not wanna go back to them, the persons manner on the phone was terrible, whilst admittedly we were at ends as to who's fault all this was, but when i got my upgrade im certain i asked to carry on with the 500/200 plan indefinitely and that it wouldn't run out.

Thanks guys.

 

[Syph]

Unfortunately, you've got very little evidence - only verbal - that you weren't aware/didn't ask/etc about changing or losing your texts.

When I upgraded once on Vodafone, I went for a £40/m contract to get the phone I wanted free. I got 1/2 price for 6 months (I think effectively they gave me £20 worth of text bundles) so after 6 months my bills steadily increased, with some whopping £80+ bills. I put it down to me using my phone heavily. It was only when I went through and checked after a couple of lighter months that they had took my text bundle off.

Fortunately, I had my original receipt that stated I had paid for bundles alongside my line-rental. They refunded me the £150 or so by giving me the credit off the remainder of the contract.

 

[llaadd]

hi, well the horror stories you must have heard are all true, and looks like orange finally got to you.

You MUST keep up the fight against um mate, i know loads of people that have had terrible service with them and if you did say to them that you wanted to stay on the same number of min/texts then you should remain on that, and if they were gonna downgrade anything they have to explicitly specify this.

Ask them to look up the call logs if one was kept for your conversation with them, this will show them you are serious about what you are claiming.

if you need any more specific advice, feel fre to pm me or post on here, i'll let u know what to say to them

 

[peetee]

you dont have any evidence yes, but they should have call recordings, if not then they do not have any evidence of anything either. Just go ape and go into an orange shop about it, or keep ringing till someone does put you onto their team leader(supervisors, are you kidding? its a call centre, they'r all college kids and idiot chavs, i worked in a vodafone one when i was younger, its relaxed and no1 cares at all. The team leaders are the ones who might be able to get something done about, you might be lucky and get through to someone who's happy enough to credit back loads of money as 'goodwill gestures' to apologise/refund you, i used to do it when i worked for VF)

 

[Dolph]

Years ago I got a D500 on orange, 500mins 200 txt's package, then in June 2006 I upgraded to an N80 and thought I was renewing the contract and was staying on 500txt 200mins, however, I rang today because my bills have been large of late, and it turns out my 500 txts stopped in August!

Strangely, 18 month bundles have a tendancy to run out after 18 months... Technically it should have been removed when you upgraded too.

When I upgraded the handset for some reason, the upgrader decided not to renew the txt bundle, and im not being told that iv been paying for every txt iv sent since then, as well as £35 a month for a mere 200mins.

They didn't decide not to renew it, the promotion was no longer available.

I rang up today and asked what was going on and why this was happening, and the lady on the other phone got kinda angry with me, telling me the 500txt bundle that was only issued for 18 months, and wasn't renewed when i got my N80.

Now I know for certain that when I upgraded I asked that I remained on the 500/200 contract and was never once informed that the 500 would run out at any point, I asked to be on a 200/500 contract that I was on, since when does half the contract run out?

It runs out when it's not part of the contract, but when it's a promotional bundle applied with a fixed end date.

I explained this and the woman from orange said that it was because I had gotten the phone from somewhere other than orange, this wasn't true, so she said "ok, let me put you through to upgrades", i went on hold for 2 mins or so, she then picked up again, and then acted as if she hadn't accused me of changing provider. (i only deal with orange, i dont know why she tried to tell me id gone elsewhere)

Then she claimed that when I got the D500 it was on an 18month contract, and that the 200 mins carried on over with that to my N80 indefinitely, but for some reason the 500 texts had stopped. This is a load of rubbish and was never even hinted at when I renewed my contract for the N80. Obviously at fault on there end, she put the 500 bundle and I obviously asked for my money back for all the text's, she claimed that was never guna happen so i asked for a supervisor, apparently one was on holiday till Monday, and the other was in a meeting and if they came out before she finished work at 4, she would ask them to call me.

What you've been told is perfectly correct, not 'a load of rubbish'. Just because someone doesn't tell you what you want to hear doesn't mean they are wrong.

The 500 sms bundle would have been put back on as goodwill, but why do you think you should be entitled to several months charges back? If this has been going on since august, do you not check your bills? Refunding several months charges because the customer didn't raise their issue promptly isn't always a reasonable step to take. There is an onus on both parties here.

I haven't had a call back and am extremely annoyed about all this, any suggestions, iv always had ok'ish service with orange after hearing horror stories about other places, but this is making me not wanna go back to them, the persons manner on the phone was terrible, whilst admittedly we were at ends as to who's fault all this was, but when i got my upgrade im certain i asked to carry on with the 500/200 plan indefinitely and that it wouldn't run out.

Obviously, having not been party to the original call, I couldn't comment beyond saying that the option would not have been there to extend the bundle at that time, as the offer wasn't available. (It still isn't, but there are situations when as a gesture of goodwill, the offer can be reapplied, as has happened in your case.) Your contract hasn't changed, because the 500 sms were a promotional extra, not part of your contract, so if you'd said, for example "I want to stay on the same plan", you did, at least technically speaking (although it should have been explained what that would mean)

The one thing I will say is that if someone promised an escalated callback, it should have happened, I would certainly raise that point, and calmly discuss the rest of your situation. Don't rant, don't shout, don't try and blame everyone except you for everything and you stand a much better chance of getting something done than if you go in all guns blazing.

 

[Dolph]

you dont have any evidence yes, but they should have call recordings, if not then they do not have any evidence of anything either. Just go ape and go into an orange shop about it, or keep ringing till someone does put you onto their team leader(supervisors, are you kidding? its a call centre, they'r all college kids and idiot chavs, i worked in a vodafone one when i was younger, its relaxed and no1 cares at all. The team leaders are the ones who might be able to get something done about, you might be lucky and get through to someone who's happy enough to credit back loads of money as 'goodwill gestures' to apologise/refund you, i used to do it when i worked for VF)

Wow, what a great attitude you have there... I'm sure your suggestions will really help....

 

[willd58]

Strangely, 18 month bundles have a tendancy to run out after 18 months... Technically it should have been removed when you upgraded too.

Thats the thing though, im also fairly certain my D500 was on a 12 month contract... So yea, the issue should have been raised then when i specifically asked to stay on 200/500 whilst on the N80.

They didn't decide not to renew it, the promotion was no longer available.

£35 for just 200 mins seems a bit steep to me.

It runs out when it's not part of the contract, but when it's a promotional bundle applied with a fixed end date.



What you've been told is perfectly correct, not 'a load of rubbish'. Just because someone doesn't tell you what you want to hear doesn't mean they are wrong.

Your right, I shouldn't of gotten like that, I can see what has gone wrong very clearly, however, I am not in the wrong here, the system with which I upgraded my orange phone clearly is, because I asked to remain on 200/500 and them saying "yes thats fine" and assured me that this was the case. As you said "technically it should have been removed after 18 months or when I upgraded"

The 500 sms bundle would have been put back on as goodwill, but why do you think you should be entitled to several months charges back? If this has been going on since august, do you not check your bills? Refunding several months charges because the customer didn't raise their issue promptly isn't always a reasonable step to take. There is an onus on both parties here.

I just want the money back from the text's, were talking about £150 here, which is allot of money to me, clearly I should have checked my bills more carefully, but I think the original mistake on there end needs to be addressed as well as the manor with which this has been handled.

Obviously, having not been party to the original call, I couldn't comment beyond saying that the option would not have been there to extend the bundle at that time, as the offer wasn't available.

My phone call to retentions hopefully was recorded, im certain I was in the right here.

(It still isn't, but there are situations when as a gesture of goodwill, the offer can be reapplied, as has happened in your case.) Your contract hasn't changed, because the 500 sms were a promotional extra, not part of your contract, so if you'd said, for example "I want to stay on the same plan", you did, at least technically speaking (although it should have been explained what that would mean)

Again im pretty positive I said "id like to stay on the contract where i get 200/500 while i have this phone" and considering the deal I was getting with which I was very happy with up until now, I probably said it 4 or 5 times. I think the person has mis understood the system or the system has misunderstood the persons instructions to it.

The one thing I will say is that if someone promised an escalated callback, it should have happened, I would certainly raise that point, and calmly discuss the rest of your situation. Don't rant, don't shout, don't try and blame everyone except you for everything and you stand a much better chance of getting something done than if you go in all guns blazing.

Hmm, ill take this on board, I was never planning on shouting or ranting, im a very calm and polite person.

Thank you very much for your help with this Dolph, do you work for orange or something! I appreciate you giving me a side of the situation.

 

[peetee]

Wow, what a great attitude you have there... I'm sure your suggestions will really help....

call centres are a joke. The mobile phone companys have appauling customer service, its complete hit and miss.
You're completely wrong saying that yes the bundle ran out so he cannot whinge, the fact is if he requested to stay on 200/500 they should have kept him on that, if they did not inform him that they were changing his tarrif then he is completely in the right to demand money back.

Not everyone has the time to look over their bill every month, not everyone even lives at the address its posted. People work away, travel, etc.
Its not his fault customer service incompetent resulted in him not being transfered over to an equal tarrif to his pre-upgrade one, therefore as a goodwill gesture its only right that he be refunded the money, or else orange then loses yet another customer.

 

[Dolph]

call centres are a joke. The mobile phone companys have appauling customer service, its complete hit and miss.
You're completely wrong saying that yes the bundle ran out so he cannot whinge, the fact is if he requested to stay on 200/500 they should have kept him on that, if they did not inform him that they were changing his tarrif then he is completely in the right to demand money back.

Emphasis mine.

Now firstly, as bolded, there's a couple of points in there where we have one side of the story, and not the other.

Secondly, his tariff has not changed, he had a promotional bundle which has expired as agreed when he intially took out his contract, which is a different kettle of fish entirely.

Not everyone has the time to look over their bill every month, not everyone even lives at the address its posted. People work away, travel, etc.
Its not his fault customer service incompetent resulted in him not being transfered over to an equal tarrif to his pre-upgrade one, therefore as a goodwill gesture its only right that he be refunded the money, or else orange then loses yet another customer.

How is the first part of your rant anything to do with the company? The company sends bills, it's not the companies responsibility if they aren't read for the reasons you've given.

Secondly, as I've already said, his tariff hasn't changed, in fact it's stayed exactly the same as what he originally agreed to, no changes were made to any of the products at all. What you're arguing for is that the promotion should have been extended when he upgraded. It may seem like semantics, but semantics are important if you're going to claim an entitlement to something.

With regards to whether goodwill credit is appropriate, that depends entirely on a variety of reasons, situations and so on. As the name implies, goodwill is not an entitlement, so each case has to be evaluated on it's own relative merit, including balancing customer and business needs. Without full information, it would be impossible to say whether or not goodwill is justified in an individual case.

Remember, good customer service does not necessarily involve giving the customer everything they believe they should have.