bernardfeay
Free Member
Tell me, just by using that title do you already know that I am talking about Orange.
All of us who use Orange mobile phones know that any phone call you make to them will be cluttered with "Orange are committed to excellent customer service". So, with that in mind.
We are heading for a trip to the Oktoberfest and Croatia (yet again). I thought it would be a good idea to check on data bundles while we are away so I can keep in touch with weather forecasts and email.
Orange have an offer of 10mb for £3 to be used during one month. Far from cheap but marginally cheaper than the 45.9 pence per MB if you don't use an "extra".
So, I bought a £3 bundle. I started out with £40 credit in my account and the web site said I would end up with £37 after the transaction had been processed. Simple enough. Did the deal and I got a text saying "you have 10MB to use within a month at a cost of £5".
I called the "Orange are committed to excellent customer service" helpline.
They told me the cost was £5. Not only that, I had bought this "extra" a year ago and paid £5 then. This meant that I ought to know that the cost is £5 and not £3.
I told them that prices and offers change over time and the web site that I used was current this very day.
I offered them the option of refunding my £5 or giving me the web site offer for £3. They were having none of it. The price is £5 and I ought to know that. No amount of telling them that the offer was on their web site or that it was illegal to advertise a rate and then charge a different one made any difference.
It became farcical, I said surely, you see a sale in a shop saying this TV was £399 and now it is £299. You decide to buy it and they charge you £399 coz it used to be £399, wouldn't you say you had been cheated. How would you feel if they said you bought one just like it last year and you paid £399 then so you have to pay £399 now?
After 20 minutes I got my £2 back. Then they started to bombard me with 56 identical messages. I had to turn my phone off to stop them.
They even had the cheek to send me a customer service survey asking me to fill in the answer to various questions on a scale of zero to ten. My zero key is now worn out.
All of us who use Orange mobile phones know that any phone call you make to them will be cluttered with "Orange are committed to excellent customer service". So, with that in mind.
We are heading for a trip to the Oktoberfest and Croatia (yet again). I thought it would be a good idea to check on data bundles while we are away so I can keep in touch with weather forecasts and email.
Orange have an offer of 10mb for £3 to be used during one month. Far from cheap but marginally cheaper than the 45.9 pence per MB if you don't use an "extra".
So, I bought a £3 bundle. I started out with £40 credit in my account and the web site said I would end up with £37 after the transaction had been processed. Simple enough. Did the deal and I got a text saying "you have 10MB to use within a month at a cost of £5".
I called the "Orange are committed to excellent customer service" helpline.
They told me the cost was £5. Not only that, I had bought this "extra" a year ago and paid £5 then. This meant that I ought to know that the cost is £5 and not £3.
I told them that prices and offers change over time and the web site that I used was current this very day.
I offered them the option of refunding my £5 or giving me the web site offer for £3. They were having none of it. The price is £5 and I ought to know that. No amount of telling them that the offer was on their web site or that it was illegal to advertise a rate and then charge a different one made any difference.
It became farcical, I said surely, you see a sale in a shop saying this TV was £399 and now it is £299. You decide to buy it and they charge you £399 coz it used to be £399, wouldn't you say you had been cheated. How would you feel if they said you bought one just like it last year and you paid £399 then so you have to pay £399 now?
After 20 minutes I got my £2 back. Then they started to bombard me with 56 identical messages. I had to turn my phone off to stop them.
They even had the cheek to send me a customer service survey asking me to fill in the answer to various questions on a scale of zero to ten. My zero key is now worn out.