Guest Pagemakers Posted August 29, 2003 Report Share Posted August 29, 2003 Well in fairness the Supervisor just called me. Firstly he is crediting me £13 for the poor performance of GPRS on my phone. He said he has an SPV and never gets dialling problems. He asked me to swap my sim card with a friend who also has an e100 (without dialling problems) and report back to them tomorrow with the outcome. Then I said I wanted to register an official complaint about the GPRS service. He said this could not be done over the phone and must be done in writing to customer services. So yes I guess I'm 13 quid better of but still no closer to a fix. On a slightly different point I also pointed out to him that last October myself and a friend bought 2 SPV's from the same shop at the same time. Both phones are registered to the same address, we are both on the same tariff and we both pay by Direct Debit - never missed a payment. 10 months later we both upgraded to e100's, again at the same shop, at the same time. His upgrade was free and mine was £75. I asked CS why the difference. They said it is based on 20 different points. I asked what they were because as far as I was concerned the life history of the phones was absolutely identical - point for point, although I spend more on calls than my friend. I pushed and pushed for him to explain what the points were based on. Very reluctantly he said I may have called Orange more than my friend. Gob smacked I asked him if he was serious. Yes he was - it costs Orange £5 a time to field your calls and the more you call the more you are penalised as far as upgrade points are concerned. You are also penalised if you have a replacement phone EVEN if you are returning you phone because it is faulty (and I've had about 4 SPV's). So in the long run, complaining to Orange gets you in the end...... Don't you just love it! Oh and as I look down at my phone as I finish writing this......GPRS is stuck in dialling mode again. It beggars belief. Maybe it's time to network unlock my phone, cancel my contract (Orange sue me) and move to T-Mobile. ------------------------------------------------------------ Sub note: Just swapped sim cards. Opened inbox and pressed menu 8 (send and receive). My phone (with my friends sim) sticks on dialling. My friends phone (with my sim) connects perfectly. Same again 2nd try. Deduction - faulty phone. Back on the phone to Orange!!!!! ------------------------------------------------------------ GRRR sub sub note. Now they are both connecting first time. (20 tries). I give in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest morpheus2702 Posted August 29, 2003 Report Share Posted August 29, 2003 It costs Orange £5 a time to field your calls and the more you call the more you are penalised as far as upgrade points are concerned. You are also penalised if you have a replacement phone EVEN if you are returning you phone because it is faulty (and I've had about 4 SPV's). Jesus Christ - if that is the case then that is the single worst thing I have ever heard as regards offering 'Customer Service'. Paul, mods - how about putting that to the high-ups in Orange and posting what they say on here, along with the results of the discussions with them regarding the GPRS problem?!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest drblow Posted August 29, 2003 Report Share Posted August 29, 2003 It is weord how some handsets just seem to have this problem all the time when others don't. That stuff about being penalised by Orange for complaining at them is quite hard to believe. Do they really think they can say that kind of stuff to people without that information filtering to other phone users?? They don't care too much about the way they are percieved as a company, do they?? :shock: Anyway - screw 'em! If they wanna play hardball, then that's cool with me! I've probably already made enough noise to put me at the very bottom of the free upgrades list - so now they will have to deal with a man who's got nothing to lose!!! :) ;) Oh yeah, & as I write this message, my e100 is stuck on dialling!! & with the e100 I also seem to be getting stuck at connecting... quite alot! So, it's further down the Orange preferred customer list for me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pagemakers Posted August 29, 2003 Report Share Posted August 29, 2003 Oh and he also said they were receiving a lot of GRPS complaints at the moment! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest morpheus2702 Posted August 29, 2003 Report Share Posted August 29, 2003 and the next free upgrade from Orange for us lot will be... a 5110! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pagemakers Posted August 29, 2003 Report Share Posted August 29, 2003 Friday night and I'm sat here with 2 e100's constantly connecting and disconnecting from GPRS as my own mini test. Now for some reason both phones have connected first time every time for the last 100 or so attempts, even when I swap sim cards. Me thinks it's time to go downstairs and drink some falling over juice and get a life! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest drblow Posted August 29, 2003 Report Share Posted August 29, 2003 Are there any legal eagles on this forum who can tell us where we stand regarding cancelling Orange contarcts on the basis that we are not being provided with the agreed service?? Sale of goods act, anyone?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Will Posted August 29, 2003 Report Share Posted August 29, 2003 Trust me, Orange guys KNOW about the dialling issue. Will Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest morpheus2702 Posted August 29, 2003 Report Share Posted August 29, 2003 Yes, but it's like me knowing that I fancy Kate Winslett something rotten... doesn't mean anything will happen! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pagemakers Posted August 30, 2003 Report Share Posted August 30, 2003 In Notts for the weekend. Connection here by both phones is disgraceful. I have been trying for fifteen minutes to get a connection just to post this. Connection is slow to say the least. If someone from Orange is reading this, your service is a disgrace. I am calling Orange now to give them a month's notice to fix this otherwise I am off to another carrier. Contract or not. Posted from my SmartPhone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest drblow Posted September 5, 2003 Report Share Posted September 5, 2003 Mmm... I have discovered the truth behind my GPRS problems after an interesting conversation with an HONEST person at 156. She read out the details of correspondence between CS & tech support relating to my mulitple complaints. The results were as follows - 1) Tech support told me TWICE that they had taken my gprs connection off & reapplied it - that has not been done. The girl told me from her system she can see that the only time my gprs connection was applied was March 25th - when I got my first SPV. 2) Tech support at one stage questioned my post code area & were informed by CS what it is (Edinburgh). Tech support then replied that I am in a "GPRS BLACK HOLE". They claim that there are "ROUTES" available for me to get connected, but it is quite clear from the evidence here that these routes are not working. Conclusion - Orange are clearly charging me for a service which they are "TOTALLY INCAPABLE OF PROVIDING". The fact that there is no available gprs node in my area would explain all the problems I have connecting, & the fact that no one at Orange has previously told me this is conclusive evidence that they are aware of the problem, but were trying to keep that fact from me ( these correspondences between tech support & CS are dated 14th august - 22 august 2003). I am currently getting a solicitor to contact the Mobile network providers ombudsman to see if I can actually do something about this, but the fact remains that they are charging me for a service which it is impossible for them to deliver to a satisfactory standard. Oh, & Orange CS still haven't replied to the email I sent them about 3 weeks ago! Can you believe it????????????????????????????????? :evil: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pagemakers Posted September 5, 2003 Report Share Posted September 5, 2003 1) Tech support told me TWICE that they had taken my gprs connection off & reapplied it - that has not been done. The girl told me from her system she can see that the only time my gprs connection was applied was March 25th - when I got my first SPV. You can tell if GPRS has been taken off your account since it takes up to 48 hours to be re-activated and during this period your phone will not be able to connect to GPRS. Update on my connection: Still sticks about 40% of the time. Maybe Manchester is a black hole too!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest morpheus2702 Posted September 5, 2003 Report Share Posted September 5, 2003 Based on this week, Manchester is a black hole, so is Stockport, Stafford, Birmingham and Coventry. But central Milton Keynes is a 'hotspot'. Let's face it, it's all rubbish... and given the lack of response from Paul or the mods regarding their discussions with those 'high-up' in Orange about this issue, it doesn't seem likely to change. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cthulhu Posted September 5, 2003 Report Share Posted September 5, 2003 Why is it that ever since this topic was first posted (with it's optimistic title...) my GPRS connection has been getting worse!? It's gone from connecting around 1 in 3 attempts to nearly 1 in 8. Plus, I don't buy the 'black hole' theory either, most of my connect attempts are made in the heart of the City of London - the one place I would expect unlimited capacity - (although we could always blame the high buildings...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pagemakers Posted September 5, 2003 Report Share Posted September 5, 2003 Or maybe you are not holding your phone at the correct angle when trying to connect! Try standing on 1 leg, or turning your TV off when trying to connect to Orange GPRS - see if that makes it any better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest drblow Posted September 5, 2003 Report Share Posted September 5, 2003 :) ;) :D I know I've asked this before, but has anyone any ideas about the gprs capability of the other networks? As soon as my solicitor gets back to me, I'm getting her to write a legal letter to Orange cancelling my contract on the basis of totally incompetent network service & customer service. I'm gonna need a new provider pretty soon!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest beersoft Posted September 5, 2003 Report Share Posted September 5, 2003 my take on the gprs problem is this: random resons, i get gprs everywhere in Milton Keynes except in the tescos at kingston :) with my spv (in cheap end of downheadpark) my chum (in the new bit of monkston) (five roundabouts away) sometimes gets gprs at my house or the pub with his e100 one of the many things orange told us was that you 'home in on a transmiter' depending on the postcode of where you live or orange send the bill, not the nearest transmiter, which our little trip out to linford wood to catch some microwaves and do some phone resets kind of confused orange "where are you" "10 feet away from the transmitter" "mr smith your talking to the big thing you can see but your friend is talking to the one 5 miles away" i think is kind of random if it works and mostly based on the colour of underpants (gprs and orange's customer services some days) later Owen (G if you reading this 10554614) "roll a six to connect" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pagemakers Posted September 5, 2003 Report Share Posted September 5, 2003 Orange still can't properly explain why of the 2 e100's in my house, one is 10 times better at connecting to GPRS than the other. Surely they must both be connecting to the same transmitters etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest morpheus2702 Posted September 5, 2003 Report Share Posted September 5, 2003 Bloody hell Beersoft, you are just round the corner from me! Often spend Sunday afternoon's hungover and getting the grub in at Tescos there, looking out for Victoria on the checkout... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest beersoft Posted September 5, 2003 Report Share Posted September 5, 2003 of the other uk networks T-mobile suck and cost loads. vodaphone are good with roaming and the speed is ok i haven't used cellnet for about 6 years 3 have some weird stuff going on with there internet and i don't know enough about it to say good or bad orange are cheap for data but there monkeys OBmorpheus2702: ill be in the kingston tavern about ten at the bar drinking stella - owen it was Posted from my SmartPhone! then i got off my FLA and fixed it! [...] and the French an excuse to use their traditional battle cry. -- Firebeard "We Surrender, here, have my daughter."? -- Paul Tomblin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest morpheus2702 Posted September 5, 2003 Report Share Posted September 5, 2003 Posted from my SmartPhone! sorry mate already done for the night - but enjoy that Stella as when you get to 30+ it will do nothing but f*** you up for days on end. As for networks, Orange may be monkeys but Voda are a shower of c***s! T-mobile may be the Happy Shopper network, but for the most part they are nice folks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Monolithix [MVP] Posted September 6, 2003 Report Share Posted September 6, 2003 For the record, i have had no issues with GPRS here in Stafford. I was also MSN'ing from Orange Studios in Birmingham last week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pagemakers Posted September 6, 2003 Report Share Posted September 6, 2003 Funny, I work in Birmingham several times a week and drive via Stafford. In my experience, Birmingham is one of the worst areas for GPRS connection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Monolithix [MVP] Posted September 6, 2003 Report Share Posted September 6, 2003 I go to Birmingham city centre fairly regulary and live in Stafford (permanent address). As it happens i can honestly say i have NEVER had any issues with my GPRS. I do occasionally suffer from the "Dialling" bug, however killing the connection and redialling usually sorts it. Other than that i have used it all round the West mid's (and Tenerife!) with no problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest drblow Posted September 6, 2003 Report Share Posted September 6, 2003 It does seem strange that one person in an area can have a better connection than another in the same area. Has anybody any idea if anybody at Orange evn knows how gprs connection works?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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