Orange Retension Dept

[Guest pjam001]

Been on the phone to Orange today as my contract has finished. Hoped I

would be able to get a cheaper upgrade. I'm after a c500 that is only £49

on most new low cost contracts. They couldn't offer me it cheaper than £79,

which is the same as if I had wanted to upgrade during my 12 month contract.

I have been spending about £18 / month for the last year.

Retension Dept told me that the rules changed at the beginning of April and

as such they can't offer any decent deals, not even a slightly cheaper

phone.

Any advice from here? Is it worth emailing exec office, if so what is their

email address? Has anyone else had dealings with customer retension since

the beginning of April?

Cheers.

[Guest MatthewNCB]

Been on the phone to Orange today as my contract has finished.  Hoped I

would be able to get a cheaper upgrade.  I'm after a c500 that is only £49

on most new low cost contracts.  They couldn't offer me it cheaper than £79,

which is the same as if I had wanted to upgrade during my 12 month contract.

I have been spending about £18 / month for the last year.

Retension Dept told me that the rules changed at the beginning of April and

as such they can't offer any decent deals, not even a slightly cheaper

phone.

Any advice from here?  Is it worth emailing exec office, if so what is their

email address?  Has anyone else had dealings with customer retension since

the beginning of April?

Cheers.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'm afraid you probably arent in a good position, to threaten against leaving. I have run 2 phones on an orange contract for over 5 years now, and my average monthly bill is over £120. And compared to a lot of people around here, i'm a small spender and not considered a high profile customer by Orange

Although there are measures in place, my advice would be to increase your tariff and then upgrade your phone. then downgrade when you can.

You are still paying more, but atleast you are getting something for your money!

Thanks

[Guest bnoc]

Alternatively pjam001,

If they are offering better deals for new customers you could ask them to downgrade you to PAYG. When your new SIM arrives (don't panic you keep your mobile number) and you register it walk into an Orange shop and ask to start a new contract. :D

I don't know what their current policy is on this procedure. In the past there was a minimum three month period that you would need to stay on PAYG before you could return to contract (which at your current £18/mth spend wouldn't make a huge difference on your expenditure anyway).

About 18mths ago they removed that minimum period and it could all be done with one phone call to customer services followed by one visit to an Orange shop once you had registered the PAYG sim they sent out.

Its worth looking into, I can have a chat with them tomorrow and get back to you.

How does that sound?

[Guest pjam001]

Thanks for the replies.

To be honest, I'm not too bothered about keeping my number. I may as well allow my contract to cancel and then go to an Orange shop and get a new deal with free phone and trade in an old phone.

cheers.

[Guest Swampie]

Alternatively pjam001,

If they are offering better deals for new customers you could ask them to downgrade you to PAYG. When your new SIM arrives (don't panic you keep your mobile number) and you register it walk into an Orange shop and ask to start a new contract.  :D

I don't know what their current policy is on this procedure. In the past there was a minimum three month period that you would need to stay on PAYG before you could return to contract (which at your current £18/mth spend wouldn't make a huge difference on your expenditure anyway).

About 18mths ago they removed that minimum period and it could all be done with one phone call to customer services followed by one visit to an Orange shop once you had registered the PAYG sim they sent out.

Its worth looking into, I can have a chat with them tomorrow and get back to you.

How does that sound?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If you convert an Orange contract to Orange PAYG, you cannot convert back to contract for 3 months. This is still the case and hasn't been removed. The actual restriction is transferring your number cannot be done for 3 months. This is to stop (or reduce) people getting around their upgrade fees by switching to PAYG and then taking out a new contract and getting their new deals. The quickest way to actually do this though is to port your number to another PAYG service and then back again. This can take about 30+ days, but better than Orange's 90 days.

David