orange shop, call center staff not too clued up

[Guest ferret]

At least 150/156 is still free. I remember being on BTCellnet PAYG and being forced to pay 20p/min to point out their mistakes, then they put you on hold ......

[Guest goinnuts]

@ amo

back up has arrived.

[Guest martin]

That's like the blind leading the blind.

LOL :lol:

[Guest goinnuts]

arh. at least i dont know where i goining with this :wink:

[Guest martin]

Sorry goinnuts. I couldn't resist it :lol:

People must remember that there are already MANY Orange employees who come to this site and offer their knowledge or help.

As with amo, goinnuts and others here, I also work for Orange and we can't account for the real muppets who show a lack of interest.

Posted from my SmartPhone!

[Guest mattscholey]

Reading this I have been reminded that I've had 2 unacceptable issues with Orange, not 1. Both of these were due to staff being useless and lazy, and simply not doing their job. (If you want me to go into detail I shall.)

But I've phone 150/6 many times and every other time, being 100% pleased with everything I got on the other end. Orange staff have (with 1 exeption) always appeared very positive to me.

FACT: They are a lot better than any other networks support I have ever experienced (Virgin/O2/Vodaphone/T-Mobile).

But I have to agree that tech support will have to change to handle smartphones. Mass marketed ones (ie.not the spv) are only just coming out, thus no major changes have taken place so far. But more days training won't sort this. What I think we need are staff dedicated to just 1 smartphone. They should own that phone, so know it as a user, and also know it as a support guy. We might have to queue a while for that one guy, but it would be worth it for the knowledge we would get.

Matt

[Guest goinnuts]

phone trainers are given one of the latest phones each every six months for this reason. it started to work. :wink:

[Guest amo]

Although our store hasnt had the email from retail comms to let us upgrade or any info yet :lol:

Maybe Mr Orange could sort us volunteered experts out with a phone each goinnuts?! At the end of the day we perform a vital role for a lot of people!

[Guest bikespod]

I actually think that would be a good idea. it'll probably never happen, but if orange paid attention to sites like this, they could isolate and reward dedicated staff and at the same time have a line of inquiry to useful info for the more demanding customer. why don't you stick your neck out a bit and suggest something to your superiors. show them that there are customers out there who want better smart phone backup. Seriously tho, if amo, martin, goinnuts etc are basically doing part of tech supports job in their owntime and out of sheer enthusiasm for a particular orange branded product, then i think they should be financially rewarded or kept up to speed with regular free phone updates or at least loan phones, if orange is too financially strapped to hand out free handsets.

[Guest morpheus2702]

I had heard somewhere that the Dutch 1.6 is going to be delayed by a month?

I really hope this isn't the case for the UK update. :x

[Guest drblow]

Seriously tho, if amo, martin, goinnuts etc are basically doing part of tech supports job in their owntime and out of sheer enthusiasm for a particular orange branded product, then i think they should be financially rewarded or kept up to speed with regular free phone updates or at least loan phones, if orange is too financially strapped to hand out  free handsets.

Here, here!!

It is only, realistically, through this forum & the efforts of dedicated people like the above, that any major issues with smartphones get resolved. We can see that Orange clearly are aware of the forum due to the prescence of Mr. Orange in an official capacity. But the company still seems to shy away from giving us actual technical support which is user friendly.

Mr. O's arrival at Modaco had alot of people thinking that Orange had finally accepted that a web based forum was providing better support for their product than they were - and that this heralded a new era in Orange communicating with their more advanced users (who probably are the heaviset users of the phone & therefore network & therefore bringing in a considerable revenue).

Sadly, that has not proved to be the case. That is not intended as a slur on Mr. Orange - he's not here to give us technical support on the phone. But it is clear from the tone of this thread that there is a concern among users for proper support from the company that supply the service.

I just wonder if the person/people who are REALLY responsible for support at Orange are aware of this forum, & the fact that it is doing their jobs for them - for free! They probably are, & are quite happy to let it continue that way, coz it don't cost them nothin'!

I say - get Orange to pay all the moderators of Modaco!! (& obviously keen users of the forum, like myself!! :wink: )

[Guest kingdom master]

they are totally useless. there is a service coming out soon where u ring and they give u all network info, technical etc..

kingdom

[Guest amo]

kingdom, your hardly too clued up with things yourself - with your ridiculous number of stupid requests coming in faster than a speeding bullet. Asking for the impossible every five minutes. Made a list of them all on my other pc a few months ago and i think it was up to 50 plus, god knows what its on now!

I dont think threads such as this are nescessary. Why start a thread insulting the company who brought you the product your so obsessed about along with its employees? Im sure other forms of personal attacks arent tolerated here so why is orange insults?

[Guest mattscholey]

This sort of topic could have a place here, if it had been done in the spirit of CONSTRUCTIVE critcism. We all know that there's room for improvement in OCS, and I hope I've suggested some ways in which this could be done. But many just seem to want to throw an insult at Orange, and this really is a waste of space on the forum.

To drblow and others... If posting along these lines again, give a BALANCED opinion of OCS. If you had really received nothing positive from them you'd have changed networks long ago. So next time, show a bit of maturity, and write something balanced, fair and useful. Not to mention how offensive and rude some of you have been to Amo and other Orange staff reading this.

Matt

[Guest spacecowboy6982]

This sort of topic could have a place here, if it had been done in the spirit of CONSTRUCTIVE critcism.  We all know that there's room for improvement in OCS, and I hope I've suggested some ways in which this could be done.  But many just seem to want to throw an insult at Orange, and this really is a waste of space on the forum.

To drblow and others... If posting along these lines again, give a BALANCED opinion of OCS.  If you had really received nothing positive from them you'd have changed networks long ago.  So next time, show a bit of maturity, and write something balanced, fair and useful.  Not to mention how offensive and rude some of you have been to Amo and other Orange staff reading this.

Matt

Did your Dad write that for you Matt ;) :lol:

Seriously though, its a fair point. If I had really been pissed off with Orange, I would have changed networks long ago. I changed from Vodafone for this exact reason - their care service meaning absolutly nothing to them. THEY were something awful !

spacecowboy

[Guest lowbug]

My 10 pence worth.....

OCS get it right 9 out of 10 times, I had chat with a chapin OCS 150 today asking about E200 he thought i meant V700, he had never heard of a E200 or a E100, he apologised BUT correctly fielded the call to 156.

I spoke to 156 the guy on the end bent over backwards to find out more info on the release date ( Looks like i'm going back to a 6310i if it's not out by the end of the week temp ). He said they thought it should have been released by now, But it was held up. He said sorry for the delay.

ANY time i have an issue, OCS do there upmost to help. I rate Orange even if you get cut off they ring back etc etc

O.k. more help on setting up syncing etc would be helpful via the Orange website, but then thats what the net is for and what better place to arrive for info than here :lol: Keep up the good work Orange ;)

[Guest drblow]

To drblow and others... If posting along these lines again, give a BALANCED opinion of OCS.  If you had really received nothing positive from them you'd have changed networks long ago.  So next time, show a bit of maturity, and write something balanced, fair and useful.  Not to mention how offensive and rude some of you have been to Amo and other Orange staff reading this.

Matt

Em, excuse me, but this is now starting to get a bit childish don't you think. This is a DISCUSSION forum & it is therefore the perfect right of any user here to express any opinions (within the constraints of the forum rules, which, as no moderators have intervened in this thread, clearly remain unbroken). & as far as 'insults' go - read the post -

all I have to say to drblow is - get a job

The Orange staff in this thread have been defensive & aggressive from the first post. Why?? If someone here posts a comment about poor service from your company, why react with complete disdain?

Why do you take that as a personal insult? & if you do, then why get involved in 'insults' (which have been traded on both sides)? If you feel that your company is being misrepresented, then why not reply with a logical, realistic comment? I wonder how Mr. Orange feel his employees have represented the company in this thread?

If you have read my posts in this thread, I don't think there is anywhere that I 'insulted' anyone (although I have been on the recieving end of a few!! :wink: ).

My comments were balanced (I mentioned several times how much I rated the 156 CS dept) & the criticisms were realistic & based on personal experience. I have had 5 replacement phones from Orange this year. Every single one was due to problems with gprs which could not be fixed. I was given a free upgrade from SPV to E100 by a line 2 manager at Orange after a 6 week (yes 6 weeks) wait for tech support to get back to me with information. The manager that I spoke to shared my sentiments in the way tech support was organised, & upgraded my phone as a 'courtesy gesture', to make up for the poor service I had recieved. That is why I stayed with Orange - because not ALL of their customer service is bad. Infact, as I have said before, most of it is very good. If you speak to 156 staff, they will generally agree that the way tech support is organised is poor, & does little to help them in dealing with more advanced problems.

If Orange staff using this forum don't want to get involved in threads which criticise their company, then DON'T REPLY TO THEM. But DO NOT try to tell the rest of us what we should & should not post opinions about. I think this thread has descended into purile, childish nonsense. It has not been an exchange of opinions (no matter what they may be) between intelligent individuals - it has been an exchange of pathetic insults & aggressiveness.

& if Orange staff here using the forum are that concerned about the way people percieve them, then read back through this thread - does anybody think I am being unfair if I say that it doesn't seem to be a good, positive approach to dealing with criticism?

[Guest amo]

I dont work for Mr Orange, I am not his employee. If you really knew what you were talking about you'd know he works for a different company in effect. Why do my posts have to be professional and represent the network? I work for them but i dont get paid for posting on here as I do it in my own free time. Lets jus see how many of these kinds of posts creep up when the other networks launch smartphones. Oh and by the way, 156 isnt a magical spv support line, its the fax and data support line.

[Guest bikespod]

:? :shock: :roll: I am beginning to wish i hadn't pointed out some shortcomings i have encountered. it was supposed to bring some attention to failings in orange backup. i kind of hoped that some orange employees might take the initiative and pass the concerns onto someone thru the orange chain of command, possibly with the result of some kind of reward for them for attempting to improve customer relations and highlighting customer concerns. maybe i'm just a little naive of how orange treat their emloyees and this would only get them in trouble, in which case i can't blame them for keeping quiet. i hoped orange were a forward looking company who listened to the people who buy their products and the people who deal with the customers. maybe not. still on the whole as a lot of people HAVE said they are the best network, but that's no reason to sit back and say that'll do. :!:

[Guest drblow]

eh, see what i mean!? on the defensive or what? seriously amo, make your mind up - you get all upset coz people are criticising your company, but you dont see why your posts should represent them? what do you want then? & i bet your attitude towards orange users here wasnt the one you displayed when getting the 'orange trainer' job?? you sound like a kid who just got his first promotion at work. Posted from my SmartPhone!

[Guest Coucou]

Chill people! This thread reads in some parts very calm but in others very emotive. Orange are a company providing a service paid for by the likes of us. This gives us an interest in how they run the business, or more realistically a small percentage of their business. It doesn't give us the right to tell them how to run the business. If you have a complaint then put it in writing. If you receive exceptional support also put it in writing. The whole smartphone side of things is still very new, and it is very complex. With the exception of the Microsoft trained/technology obsessed people on this forum who else can say they could have sorted out problems people have after only a few hours with the phone? I do think however that there should be a decent manual for the spv, that has been lacking from the start and now it's a bit too late. If one existed then tech support would have made more people happy a lot faster.

I'd like to offer my services as a technical writer, I'd be quite willing to write a user perspective guide for the E200 if Orange gave me one! And obviously ~£50/hour. Ahem. :lol:

Posted from my SmartPhone!

[Guest bikespod]

your point about the manual is probably the single most obvious and helpfull improvement that could be made with relativley little expenditure on oranges behalf,and lets face it if you bought a video with only half the functions described in the booklet you'd be pretty upset and quite rightly so.

[Guest drblow]

True! But that wouldn't help deal with ALL the problems. There is still a need for a technical support line which is accessible by the user.

My own grievance with tech support (details here) was ongoing for months. I had virtually no access to gprs, no email, no internet - and the problem was left unfixed for a long time - therby aking me a pretty disgruntled user. Obviously during that time I looked at other networks, but also had to consider the fact that I am tied into a 12 month contract with Orange. You can't just stop paying your Orange contract without some kind of fuss. So, problems with the phone which can't be remedied by CS, become very frustrating for the end user.

The fact is at the end of my current contract period I will be looking at the other networks for options. Although it would seem from many comments made that Orange do rate better than the rest. That doesn't mean however, that if I have a problem with my phone that I should have no help & support from the network. To say things like 'why should Orange provide tech support' is just a bit silly - especially in the face of the fact that they DO provide the service, it's just not organised very well.

Maybe tho - providing a comprehensive manual would relieve some of the work load that tech support have, which might in turn reduce the time taken for queries to be dealt with. Although, alot of my problems arose from telling staff at 156 that I had already tried phone on/off, gprs settings etc - and then tech support would come back a week later to say 'have you tried switching the phone on/off'. The basic lack of communication & the difficulty in communication with them, meant that every time this happened, it was another week (at least) before I would get another response from them.

In the end, it is Orange that are losing out of the whole situation. I have had 5 replacement phones - probably totally uneccessarily, as none of them have fixed the problems I have with gprs - but Orange have cost themselves untoold amounts of time & 5 phones, dealing with my problems.

I'm sure there are people at Orange who do realise the problems - it's just disappointing that not everyone does, coz I think it wouldn't take that much for Orange to iron out these issues, & then become by far the best network around. You know, most mobile phone users in the past have chosen networks on price of calls - but with the introduction of the smartphone, & the increasing amount of them becoming available, will create a market where (like the PC market today) the support network & customer service factor are as important as price in users deciding which network to go with. As Orange seem to be already ahead of the competition in this regard, if they could put a little bit more effort in, I wonder how many more people would switch to the Orange network. Afterall, the mobile phone market is pretty saturated, so it's probably less about getting new users, as retaining current customers, & encouraging others to switch from their network.

[Guest Bouger]

Guys i too am an Orange PHone Trainer as Orange likes us to be refered as.

I cant speak for the other guys but i often spend alot of my personal time on this forum helping others and providing information.

I can also say that i spend alot of my personal time researching phones and anything that will expand my knowledge to help customers as much as i can. I am also often prepared in certain circumstances to step over the so call corporate line and argue cases for customers if i personally agree with their problem to get it resolved.

I have often left the store and took problems home with me to sort out .... i dont mind this its just me im a perfectionist and i like to do all that i possibly can for the customer. I am regularly emailing software, websites and info from home to help.

Granted all this helps by having a great interest in my job. And the fact that i can safely say i dont like having the 'answer' so to speak.

Abit like business stores being launched into the deep end during the hard nose businessman campaign when they were advertising take your laptop and other bits to the store and the trainers will sort it out. We were given minimal training in this area and the only reason why i didnt struggle is because i build pcs and am 'at home' with data and pcs and smartphones.

This is not the case for all trainers who were basically advised if you cant sort it put em on to 156 instore.

Anyway to get to the point ... after now knowing what sort of person i am, i read these sorts of posts and get really dam frustrated.

this is not that im pissed because you are slagging of orange but because you dont get the sort of service you should be getting or at least i hope this doesnt sound cocky but that i would provide. I often sit here and read stuff and think for gods sake why did they tell you that when we have access to the right info.

Or why couldnt they help you with that.

its mearly frustration that some people dont take their jobs as seriously as i do, its simple really .... dad told me this a very long time ago.... treat and help people in the way you would like to be helped and treated.

It just disapoints me and frustrates me when i work so hard to make people so happy and then the odd muppet ruins the whole experience.

Anyway thinks its time for bed, hope you all dont think im a sad workaholic ... but when you spend 40hrs a week in the workplace it helps if you enjoy what you do :lol:

night everyone O:)

[Guest drblow]

Well said that man!! :wink:

I agree with everything you've said! Although I don't think that anybody was complaining about 'Orange phone trainers' specifically!

You can see from this thread that there is clear recognition of the good points about Orange service, & you are completely right to say that it is a case of 1 or 2 muppets ruining it for everybody!! Although, I think the thing about tech support is more a case of bad organisation, leading to customer frustration, leading to the impression of CS staff that they're muppets coz they can't do anything to help other than email tech support -when actually, they're really alright!! ;)

Anyhoo - it's always refreshing to hear someone being honest about being nice!! :( & it's good to know at least one of those people works for Orange! I don't suppose you'd like to transfer to a vibrant northern capital?? :)

P.S. Remember - it's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice! :lol: