Guest jbrare Posted April 3, 2006 Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 Well I thought it was an april fools joke but no, it looks like they are serious about them new tariffs. Pay more, get less - the futures bright.......but not with Orange bye bye france telecom! JB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cdmbe Posted April 3, 2006 Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 I thought it as a joke too, had been looking to get a new contract but was waiting till april 1st to see whether it would be worthwhile sticking with Orange or if they were serious. Went into a Orange shop on the 1st and lo and behold, it was true!! You could also see that there was nobody in the Orange shop, but the T mobile shop down the road was buzzing with people. The Orange shop just had a load of sales people looking glum. Anyway, after a quick look at the Orange prices i went down the road to T mobile and signed up there and then. How can orange hope to compare when other networks are offering such better deals plus not being labelled as a 'raccoon' or other such silly animals!?? Mark Well I thought it was an april fools joke but no, it looks like they are serious about them new tariffs. Pay more, get less - the futures bright.......but not with Orange bye bye france telecom! JB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sporkguy Posted April 3, 2006 Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 FYI: Orange read these forums, So everybody should let them know what they think of the new talkplans :) Personally, in the face of tmobile, Orange are going to suffer majorly - especially given that their level of Customer Service in the past 12-18 months has nose dived considerably. They don't have many good members of staff anymore :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jbrare Posted April 3, 2006 Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 FYI: Orange read these forums, So everybody should let them know what they think of the new talkplans :) Personally, in the face of tmobile, Orange are going to suffer majorly - especially given that their level of Customer Service in the past 12-18 months has nose dived considerably. They don't have many good members of staff anymore :D If they are indeed reading these threads then I really hope they take note that people are NOT happy! I for one think the talk plans are far too rigid. You are also expected to pay more for less! The 1p for a delivery report is a total rip off in every sense of the word - the bloody text costs 12p for gods sake on the new plans!! Also you only get any of the "benefits" of each animal talk plan if you take out an 18 month contract - I for one will NEVER take out an 18 month contract, far too long a time for them to guarantee my business!! For example, free answer phone and insurance is thrown in on the racoon plan ONLY on an 18 month contract from ?25+. This is NOT available to 12 month contracts ?25+!!!!!!! Disgrace!!!!!!!! As talked about before, 90% of CS are total rubbish and Tech support is 110% useless - why is it you can't talk to them direct???Do they exist???the truth is out there!!! I thought Orange were top$$$ when I first joined but now...................... Thanks france telecom, stick to messing up your own companies in future! In the interest of balance, Orange are now charging the same as O2 and Voda for comparable talk plans but for the money, you get more little extras with O2 and Voda. Looks like I'll be heading off to another operator in June. JB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dr who Posted April 3, 2006 Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 Orange can stick their call plans up their a***. And I am on a great price match from a few years ago!!!! If I was on a 'standard' tariff I would have jumped a while ago. Just waiting for a decent phone to be available on T-Mob, although with the money I would save I could jump now and probably afford to buy a SIM free! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mrmond Posted April 3, 2006 Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 I agree the new price plans are ridiculous. I agree the new labelling of animals "racoons" etc is bizarre. BUT I don't agree that orange customer service is completely crap or gone totally downhill. Comparing all the networks over the last years editions of mobile news random surveys orange have come in first place more times than any network. I appreciate that might not be everyones experience. It is not even my own on every occasion. There will always be some idiot who doesn't know what they are doing or is not on the ball with the latest deals etc. You get this with any network. Look at the different info we all experienced with the new web'n'walk from t mobile customer service. Different emails from customer service or frontline csr's As an employee myself (uh oh opening myself up to fronline banshing) I know that mistakes can be made. I get calls recorded and consistantlycome out top for customer service both on quality checks and from customer callbacks to customers BUT even last week with the launch of magic numbers I accidently cam out some wrong information on how the product worked. And worse I think it was a test call to see if we were all on the ball. If orange were all bad they wouldn't still be getting new customers. Yes. believe it or not they are gaining more customers than they are losing. I take more calls every day from people telling me they are porting in than porting out. The new deals ? Yeah, I agree but some of the other deals are quite good. The payg deals are pretty good as well. An amazing number of people of going from contract to payg and I think more will do the same now because of these silly plans, not because of the customer service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest hotphil Posted April 3, 2006 Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 I think Orange have always offered poorer value for money than the other networks, but I was prepared to put up with it for the excellent customer service/good range of handsets. Sadly the other networks have caught up whilst Orange has slipped. I'll be jumping ship when this contract's up along with at least 6 other people I know. I think they're only interested in customers now if they spend ?100+/month or are on a business tariff. Fair enough I suppose - they exist to make money after all, but if they have no intention of being even vaguely competitive for the "light" non-business user, why remain in that market? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dr who Posted April 3, 2006 Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 Nope, they are s*** for heavy users too. I spend at least ?150 a month over two handsets, often ?250 a month, and for 3 months before Xmas one of my handsets was faulty. Because it didn't fit a nice tidy description of their fault list they refused to replace it. For 3 months I phone up two to three times a week, each time I was told they would explain the full position to technical support and get back to me. When they didn't get back I phoned CS again to get told there was a note on my account saying to hard reset the phone. This happened about 15 times! Each time I explained at length how hard resetting wasn't the problem - the phone had a hardware fault. If I could have spoken to technical support it could have been sorted in one call, but oh no. I was once told that having a phone crash and lose all its data once a day was 'acceptable'. At the time I had the best tariff that you could get on any network price matched from back in the day when Orange were good. I flipped out one day and demanded retentions gave me a free upgrade, which they duly did. Unfortunately it was to the Nokia N70 so that got sent back. In the end I managed to get them to replace my phone but I was so fed up I upgraded to another phone. Now TMob have brought out these new tariffs I am going to jump ship. Orange used to be helpful and now are obstructive. Bye. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest m1.carson Posted April 3, 2006 Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 Hi people, Please don't jump to TMobile too quicky, I did that and had no service at home or in my local hostelry, at work there was a low signal, took it back to the shop and they asked my postcode, "EXCELLENT RECEPTION" they said, well, all I can say is I was without a phone for three days. [after unlocking my phone I had creep back to Orange] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sporkguy Posted April 3, 2006 Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 Well by taking a new contract, we still have our 14 day money back protection, which will guard us against no reception. Orange isn't great around my home area anyway, so anything extra is a bonus! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tech Posted April 4, 2006 Report Share Posted April 4, 2006 lol knew this would happen. everyday brings bad news to orange Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest scottusspez Posted April 4, 2006 Report Share Posted April 4, 2006 (removed) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sporkguy Posted April 4, 2006 Report Share Posted April 4, 2006 scottusspez, welcome to mobiholics :) Unfortunately, thats the way things go with Orange's promotional tariffs - I too started with Orange PM (previously a PAYG Cust since '98) as a direct customer. I took the 120 minutes and 250 text tariff, not knowing exactly how much I'd use. Thing was, I was using 500 texts a month without realising it, and hardly any minutes - ?45+ bills every month.. so when I called to change to the next tariff up.. they said no! I was gutted. Thats the thing about Flext on Tmob - they're not promotional tariffs - so you can change them up anytime and down after 6 months - talk about flexibility :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pd.ryder Posted April 4, 2006 Report Share Posted April 4, 2006 As I've suggested before within these pages, I reckon the MD's granddaughter invented this particular range of price plans...... :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rhaleuk Posted April 5, 2006 Report Share Posted April 5, 2006 Just to throw in my thoughts on this subject: As a business we have been with Orange since they started. So thats well over 10 years now. Right now our monthly spend is about ?400-?500 over 5 phones. 2 phones account for 80% of that, the rest are just occasional use. Every year we look around in hope of saving money, find a better deal, tell Orange about it and they match it. Or match it near enough to make it not worth moving. We have free insurance now and make good use of it. If a phone is faulty or not operating 100%, even if the buttons stick a bit, we get a new phone. If I called Orange at 3pm today I would have a new phone by the time I went to bed... which is exactly what you want from on business plan. Upgrades are normally pretty easy and plentiful... and we NEVER have to wait the full 12 months. Infact, I had an M5000 from them for free, got fed up with it after 4 months and changed it without hassle. So any complaints? ... Well the coverage is still poor, at home and at work. But we did a test a while back and bought PAYG SIMS from all the other networks and the only one with better coverage was O2, but their customer service has quite a bad reputation. Also, one of the local masts was broken a few years ago in a storm and Orange point blank refuse to fix it or tell us when the service will get better as there apparently arent enough users in the area to warrant it. That really did annoy us to be honest! And finally, data plans. Increasingly the phones are getting better and better at dealing with web pages etc and a few of the more techy users on the contract would like an unlimited data plan but the price is insane and way out of line with the rest of market now. So fingers crossed that gets looked at soon. On the whole, still a pretty positive feeling about Orange to be honest. The continual free upgrades and free incusrance are just about managing to keep us. Hopefully I'll be able to say the same in another 12 months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dr who Posted April 5, 2006 Report Share Posted April 5, 2006 Hi Rhaleuk, and welcome. Your experience with replacements handsets was mine, until before Christmas. 3 months they left me without a working handset, which I was furious at. I PAY for insurance and am quite happy to pay their ridiculous admin fee (I notice T-Mobiles 'excess' for insurance claims is, well, excessive) but they STILL wouldn't replace it. I have rarely been so angry. Hope you never get in that situation, or that their policy is better on the business tariffs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sporkguy Posted April 5, 2006 Report Share Posted April 5, 2006 That's the thing: they will bend over backwards for most SMEs, but as soon as you want to upgrade one of those other 3 handsets (the ones responsible for the 20%), they will give you pretty much no choice, as they used to. However, they don't treat personal customers the same way as they do business customers. Care being the biggy. Its getting harder and harder to get a replacement handset on the care people are PAYING for, and its coming back down to the old trick of saying the keypad is faulty in order for someone to get a replacement for a handset not picking up signal or another 'petty' fault. (and I'm allowed to say that now, as I don't work for Orange anymore :)) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jbrare Posted April 25, 2006 Report Share Posted April 25, 2006 Hello, Got a surprise call from Orange today. I am a month and a half off my contract ending and they called ME to say I can upgrade to a free phone on a promotional tariff with special offers. I didn't enter into specific details with her because I told her I would most likely be leaving in June due to poor customer service (2 written complaints in 12 months and at least 4 pointless conversations with CS) also I told her the new tariffs were a bit of a joke. She then said with some enthusiasm "Do you know we have some new plans out...?" I said "Yes, thats what I'm talking about...!" she then sounded a little downbeat and thanked me for my time and said Orange don't want to loose my custom and to call them if I change my mind. It left me feeling a bit sorry for the poor animals in the Orange price plan zoo... Don't know what to do now.. JB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pd.ryder Posted April 25, 2006 Report Share Posted April 25, 2006 It left me feeling a bit sorry for the poor animals in the Orange price plan zoo... Don't know what to do now.. JB Feed the animals - then head off as fast as you can to the nearest T-Mobile shop :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sporkguy Posted April 25, 2006 Report Share Posted April 25, 2006 Hello, Got a surprise call from Orange today. I am a month and a half off my contract ending and they called ME to say I can upgrade to a free phone on a promotional tariff with special offers. I didn't enter into specific details with her because I told her I would most likely be leaving in June due to poor customer service (2 written complaints in 12 months and at least 4 pointless conversations with CS) also I told her the new tariffs were a bit of a joke. She then said with some enthusiasm "Do you know we have some new plans out...?" I said "Yes, thats what I'm talking about...!" she then sounded a little downbeat and thanked me for my time and said Orange don't want to loose my custom and to call them if I change my mind. It left me feeling a bit sorry for the poor animals in the Orange price plan zoo... Don't know what to do now.. JBI'm very surprised at this. Orange have never, in my past employment experience, called a customer directly. They will either allow retail stores to do this, or let the independents handle the customers due for renewal. You sure it was Orange? Good choice leaving, btw :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest hotphil Posted April 25, 2006 Report Share Posted April 25, 2006 That's what I thought - I've often had the dealers ringing "on behalf of Orange". As I understood it, Orange will never directly call you to do this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jbrare Posted April 26, 2006 Report Share Posted April 26, 2006 I'm very surprised at this. Orange have never, in my past employment experience, called a customer directly. They will either allow retail stores to do this, or let the independents handle the customers due for renewal. You sure it was Orange? Good choice leaving, btw :) Yeah it was definitely Orange. The number she called me on was 07973100194. She said she was from Orange and that she would put a "note" on my account saying she had called and the comments I made to her about why I don't want to upgrade. JB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest CaptainZok Posted April 26, 2006 Report Share Posted April 26, 2006 I had a similar call myself a couple of weeks ago, unfortunately for O my reply was the same as JB's. So it looks like its a new policy for renewals to sign us up to a new contract before the old one expires and we shop about for better deals. MDA PRO on W&W on order, just waiting for stock from T-mob, 500 mins and 200 txt for less than ?2 a month more than i'm paying O for 200 mins now, unlimited data is a BIG bonus too. Just hope their coverage is ok in my area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sporkguy Posted April 26, 2006 Report Share Posted April 26, 2006 I had a similar call myself a couple of weeks ago, unfortunately for O my reply was the same as JB's. So it looks like its a new policy for renewals to sign us up to a new contract before the old one expires and we shop about for better deals. MDA PRO on W&W on order, just waiting for stock from T-mob, 500 mins and 200 txt for less than ?2 a month more than i'm paying O for 200 mins now, unlimited data is a BIG bonus too. Just hope their coverage is ok in my area. Welcome to MH :) The thing to keep in mind with your coverage is that if it isnt any good, you always have your 14 day statutory return period :D Mind you, I'd be inclined to keep the contract and move house myself! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest CaptainZok Posted April 27, 2006 Report Share Posted April 27, 2006 Welcome to MH :) The thing to keep in mind with your coverage is that if it isnt any good, you always have your 14 day statutory return period :D Mind you, I'd be inclined to keep the contract and move house myself! Cheers Sporkguy I was thinking of that, thats why i aint told O to cancel my contract just yet. But if everything goes smooth its pac code and cancellation time lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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