11 replies to this topic

[gitf@ce]

Fcuk I really am starting to get pissed with this bunch of idiots!

Ok... My daughter has a Blackberry (aquired on Ebay) on Orange that I pay £15 a month for all the BB services etc... I've never had problematic dealings with Orange since the plan was set up by direct debit (but of course getting it set up originally is another story), so for a year or more they have just been in the background charging me fifteen quid every month, no hassle!

So along comes the Skate and I'm interested in upping my screen size from my Hero. I see there is no unlock (unlike the very early one on the Blade), but decide to ride on Oranges PAYG service for as short a time as possible until I can use my GiffGaff. I phone Orange up as I have an old sim in my drawer (from my Blade) that I can't remember using, and try for the discount. No joy! So feeling a bit miffed I started reading some of their plans and soon realise that the £15 I spend every month may have some leaverage. So it transpired that If I agreed to stay with them for 24 months, then I would get the Skate for free... great! Am I actually winning for once?

The phone turned up without any sim card, so not too worried I order a PAYG off their website with £10 credit. The system said I would have the card by Wednesday... it turned up yesterday (Saturday). Now the fun begins! The accompanying instruction booklet states "To get going, simply pop your SIM into your mobile phone. It couldn't be easier" GREAT! Anyway I do this and keep checking to see if my phone registers on the network to no avail. As I live in a rural location coverage can be a bit patchy (although my daughter never seems to have any problems), so I walk out in the garden.. nothing! I go for a ramble to a high point in the village where there should be a strong signal... nothing!  Eventually I give up, and with a due sense of dread make the call using my landline (using their 0800 number). After much button pressing I am eventually put through to Majid in a far away call centre (he was very polite), and after 10 minutes am told I will have numerous texts appear on my phone along with my new number... around midnight! And I should delete them and restart my phone. What happened to just popping the sim in then?!?!

My phone suddenly jumped into life around 8.00PM, in fact it went mad! Texts were piling up in quick succession, none of which were intelligible, characters and the odd letter here and there. I got two blasts of sixteen texts and the phone still didn't work, so I deleted them all and before I could restart three more texts came through that were readable... hooray! After a restart I have a number, and with signal boost switched on an able to dial the 450 number printed on the topup card that came with the sim. I dialled the number and after navigating the options am told to enter the 19 digit number on the front of the card. I then discover the black screen people have been talking about, what a ruddy sham! Half an hour later I somehow succeed in entering all the digits correctly. I then check my balance which is 1p not the tenner I paid. I assume it takes awhile to register on their pathetic system, and leave it alone till this morning.

Still 1p this morning so I ring the 0800 number again. The guy I speak to keeps me hanging on the line for 15 minutes saying he is trying to find me on the system. I hang up and ring back, a lady answers and is very helpfull. However she explains that all I have done is register the topup card on the system, and need to get it swiped at an Orange shop. Where is my tenner?  She can't explain what is going on but assures me my £10 will appear within 24 hours!?!?

So... "To get going, simply pop your SIM into your mobile phone. It couldn't be easier" yeah pull the other one!

Honestly, do people really put up with this crap? When I ordered my GiffGaffs for the wife and I, it couldn't have been easier... NO HASSLE!

Edited by gitf@ce, 28 August 2011 - 10:33 AM.

[wrtease]

untill their is an unlock your at the mecey of orange.this is life.but soon someone will unlock it .you have the phone so just have to wait like the rest of us .yes orange are crap period.

[Atomix86]

I would argue PAYG is crap in general no matter what network.

[Lew247]

Atomix86, on 28 August 2011 - 10:43 AM, said:

I would argue PAYG is crap in general no matter what network.

I would have agreed till I found Giffgaff, I was on O2 contract for years, now I'm on Giffgaff and its saving me around £20-£35 a month

[Sebastian404]

gitf@ce, on 28 August 2011 - 09:55 AM, said:

I see there is no unlock (unlike the very early one on the Blade)

There was a 'very early unlock' on the blade because ZTE used the same algorithm in in EVERY device they shipped, starting from the Skate they have change it, mostly at the feedback from the Network Providers who where not happy with the number of people buying subsidized devices and taking their revenue generation to another network.  

it was a good few months from release before someone actually reverse engineered the Blades unlock code and published it as free for everyone, so you'd of been paying to have your blade unlocked for the first few months of it release...

And while I hope someone does the same for the Skate, its possible it might not happen...

learn to be patient!

[tillaz]

yeah, orange have well and truly took the piss with me... promised me a unlock code then two week later  told me i cant have one for 3 month same kinda thing with the replacement back cover + misleading with the £30 for bringing my t mobile number over.

i just laff at there 3 month policy for unlock code because by that time i am sure there will be a free method available !

avoid them by all means in my opinion worst network i have dealt with.

Edited by tillaz, 28 August 2011 - 06:58 PM.

[rjm2k]

My experience with them was pretty much the same, thankfully I hadn't ported my t-mobile number to them so unlocked and stuck with t-mobile instead.  Would like an OMC but will not get one until it's unlocked, maybe a good thing though as I would probably prefer the 1Ghz version when it's out.

[gitf@ce]

I'm not being impatient for an unlock... far from it, I just want to be given what I have paid for.

I still have a 1p balance this morning, but they have charged me the tenner for a PAYG card. I know I'm just ranting and everyone has their trials and tribulations. I guess I just don't understand how a company that has been in the business as long as Orange can get it so wrong?

I bet they will have a mountain of returned OMC's piling up due to the black screen issue

[rjm2k]

gitf@ce, on 30 August 2011 - 09:36 AM, said:

I'm not being impatient for an unlock... far from it, I just want to be given what I have paid for.

I still have a 1p balance this morning, but they have charged me the tenner for a PAYG card. I know I'm just ranting and everyone has their trials and tribulations. I guess I just don't understand how a company that has been in the business as long as Orange can get it so wrong?

I bet they will have a mountain of returned OMC's piling up due to the black screen issue

You might find that your credit has been eaten by data if it's enabled and you aren't on Dolphin, that's what happened to mine despite having a confirmation from the phone line that I had switched to Dolphin, it wasn't until the next day that I got a text saying we are setting up your dolphin, by which time all my credit was gone.

[gitf@ce]

rjm2k, on 30 August 2011 - 10:21 AM, said:

You might find that your credit has been eaten by data if it's enabled and you aren't on Dolphin, that's what happened to mine despite having a confirmation from the phone line that I had switched to Dolphin, it wasn't until the next day that I got a text saying we are setting up your dolphin, by which time all my credit was gone.

No.. that has not been an issue for me.

[MrPuddington]

gitf@ce, on 30 August 2011 - 09:36 AM, said:

I bet they will have a mountain of returned OMC's piling up due to the black screen issue

Well, it is a pretty big flaw, especially if you need the keyboard for activating the phone.  Do they not do even basic testing at Orange?

[gitf@ce]

MrPuddington, on 30 August 2011 - 02:31 PM, said:

Well, it is a pretty big flaw, especially if you need the keyboard for activating the phone.  Do they not do even basic testing at Orange?

The laugh is, if you phone Orange there is some intense key pressing involved just to speak to someone.