Guest sporkguy Posted March 2, 2006 Report Posted March 2, 2006 As many of you have been aware for a couple of months now, Orange are planning on refreshing our current pay monthly talkplans as of 1st April 2006. Last year it was Orange's strategy to refresh its PAYG talkplan, and offer more to reward loyal customers such as 'Repay Prepay', 'Bonus Topup' & 'Upgrade Reward' - Each had its own benefit, but somehow pay monthly customers felt a little left out. Because of this, Orange started to offer a loyalty upgrade for existing customers who were in months 10-12 of their contract (and outside of their contract period) the chance to upgrade into an 18 month contract and have either 10% line rental discount, or free weekend calls. As popular as this was, its had quite a negative reception - especially with Orange Shops and independents. Orange cut commission payments on normal 12 month upgrades, and only rewards phone trainers and dealers with high payouts on 18 month loyalty upgrades and new connections... So what about the new talkplans? Well the codename for them at the moment is Tempest and all is very hush hush outside of the upper management of Orange at the moment. All I have for you at the moment is an internal document hinting at what the new talkplans will offer. As soon as I get more specific info for you (I will be going on a training course in the next couple of weeks), I'll let you all know, if it doesnt leak before I get chance to. So here's the document.. make of it what you will.. will be interesting to see if Orange's new Serviceplans will be competitive to keep up with 3 and O2.
Guest tik Posted March 2, 2006 Report Posted March 2, 2006 Based on animals? Who the f*** is coming up with this at Orange, do they really think that's going to help them sell contracts?! I'm intrigued by the "change in migration policy" that's hinted. Does that suggest that retentions are either i) going to give up on all attempts to retain, or 2) offer real incentives to keep people? I wonder also whether it's still o2 & 3 you need to worry about - the new T-mobile Flext tariffs (especially with the online 25% discount) will take some beating.
Guest tik Posted March 2, 2006 Report Posted March 2, 2006 Actually, this has got me thinking: would it be fair to say that Orange has badly missed a beat with the smartphone & pocketPC markets? They were ahead of the game with the original SPVs - & when the C500 came along it seemed like something genuinely special that none of the other UK operators could offer. Then...what went wrong in the following 18 months??? The M500 seemed a device they could really make some waves with - yet it appeared several months late (behind T-mobile & O2), plagued by stock supply issues & no consistent line on whether it was a "business only" or consumer device. In general, Orange seem unable to decide what devices to go with, & (in my experience) unable to train sales staff in the relative merits of the different HTC variants as alternatives, not direct replacements for one another (e.g. staff repeatedly telling me at one point that the M1500 was going to replace the M500). OK, I don't have first-hand experience of the competitors to know whether they're actually any better, but it seems there's little to recommend Orange on currently. I hope you don't take that personally Sporkguy - please feel free to respond on anything I've been unfair on - but I hardly see what some pretty pictures of animals are meant to do when, as a consumer, I see T-mobile offering some excellent tariffs with very attractive offers on top handsets.
Guest tik Posted March 3, 2006 Report Posted March 3, 2006 Got to admit I'm a little intrigued that noone seems to have much to add on Orange. Am I the only person who's been hugely disappointed with them over the past 18 months or so?!
Guest kaf Posted March 4, 2006 Report Posted March 4, 2006 See theres still no - "the person who buys a smartphone/pocket pc and doesn't want to pay a gazillion pounds a month for a few MB of data"
Guest amo Posted March 4, 2006 Report Posted March 4, 2006 And I don't know what their customers might think to being called racoons....
Guest Pondrew Posted March 4, 2006 Report Posted March 4, 2006 I don't see anything here that looks like it could compete with T-Mobile's Web N Walk...
Guest tik Posted March 4, 2006 Report Posted March 4, 2006 april 1st? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Can but hope! It says launch on 31st March... Now, it may be pernickety to point out, but in addition to the ridiculous marketing concept, that memo's full of bad grammar & spelling mistakes. Sporkguy, do you have the remotest clue what Orange are on with this? Is there any professionalism or business sense left in the company?
Guest Swampie Posted March 4, 2006 Report Posted March 4, 2006 What I find interesting is their 'changes' to their charges for direct debits (probably for non DD), text message delivery reports (currently free on all networks), and more concerning - itemised billing! I'm glad I left Orange now (on T-Mobile Web'n'Walk 200 with free Vario and just £16 a month). ;)
Guest Tech Posted March 5, 2006 Report Posted March 5, 2006 (edited) not only have i been disappointed with orange (in 18 months again) but im sure this is a lie somewhere from the way ive been treated from orange in the recent months Edited March 5, 2006 by Tech
Guest ricardo the fish Posted March 6, 2006 Report Posted March 6, 2006 Well this new plan has been 'unveiled' to the world. Here's the press release from Orange.
Guest tik Posted March 6, 2006 Report Posted March 6, 2006 Well this new plan has been 'unveiled' to the world. Here's the press release from Orange. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I can see the value of 'Magic Numbers' for calling significant others, family etc - but I'm totally turned off by the animal thing. I'd love to know how much money Orange have been wasting on their marketing bollocks (see also last year's adverts about rewarding existing customers, just as the M500 was initially released on a 'new connections only' basis), rather than actually sorting out their weak customer service.
Guest commonpersonjustlykeverybody Posted March 6, 2006 Report Posted March 6, 2006 have i seen that right? orange is treating the customers as animals?! ;) ;) :( well, let's wait and see what this gimmick can do? hope orange can match the service that is being given by tmobile and o2, can't wait and moan about their offers. :twisted:
Guest Syphon Filter Posted March 6, 2006 Report Posted March 6, 2006 I cant work it out. I've been with orange for a little over 6 years now and as stated in the past year or so they have really gone off track. I think I might have to bin my orange line and transfer the number over to another network. It seems there is no light at the end of the tunnel. They no longer have their finger on the pulse when it comes to Windows mobile devices, their talk plans are no longer anything special and th customer services has steadily gone down hill to the point of being all but useless.
Guest commonpersonjustlykeverybody Posted March 6, 2006 Report Posted March 6, 2006 They no longer have their finger on the pulse when it comes to Windows mobile devices, their talk plans are no longer anything special and th customer services has steadily gone down hill to the point of being all but useless. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I totally............................................................... AGREE!!! hey orange, are you listening. and by the way, all your customers are not animals.
Guest thelondonthing Posted March 6, 2006 Report Posted March 6, 2006 If you're fuming now, wait 'til you see the specifics of these changes. Far from giving with one hand and taking with the other, it seems that Orange is simply throwing its arms wide open and dragging huge armfuls of cash towards itself from every possible quarter. From The Register: Orange is cutting the minutes new and migrating customers get from lower-priced tariffs. From April, £19 a month will buy 50 rather than 60 minutes, and £25 gets you 100 minutes - 20 minutes less than the current amount. Mid-range bundles will stay the same and high-end customers will pocket an extra 100 minutes for their £75. The text bundle range will be revised to introduce something called a "digressive pricing structure": the more you buy as part of your plan, the less you pay per text. The standard out-of-bundle text rate will be upped from 10p to 12p under the plans, as will a minute's talktime to a landline, and to another Orange phone. There will also be proverbial carrot-dangling to encourage 18-month contracts in the form of what Orange calls "Magic Numbers". The blurb put it thus: "The customer will be decremented [sic]one minute for up to an hour call to the Magic Number." This seems to mean that you get an hour's worth of talk time to a nominated number for the price of a minute. An internal document seen by El Reg reveals when the new structure comes in, Orange will start hitting up customers for £1.50 a month for itemised billing. Not paying by Orange's preferred direct debit method will now set you back £3.50 a month too, and delivery reports on texts will cost a penny a pop.
Guest Tech Posted March 6, 2006 Report Posted March 6, 2006 INSANE!!!!!! glad I have finished my other contract in november but my other new contract finishes in July this year, I am not pleased. no doubt will I be making an early ejection and will NOT pay the total amount of months remaining as its an outrage.
Guest shadamehr Posted March 6, 2006 Report Posted March 6, 2006 The first few posts in this thread, prior to the actual release of the press release itself, were all asking "what are Orange going to introduce for us, to keep up with O2 and T-Mobile". And... ...well, er... ...um... er... eh...well... Unless I missed something, far from IMPROVING their deals and tariffs, they are CUTTING BACK? Did I misread the press release? At a time Orange are losing ground to the generous tariffs of other networks, they change their tariffs FOR THE WORSE??? Somebody tell me I misread this? Ha ha ha ha ha - how pleased am I that I all but left Orange ages ago for 750 anytime minutes, and 750 texts including inclusive mms, and free voicemail and free international traveller service, all for just £28 with O2 Online (new subscriber price £35) PML!
Guest JamieDow Posted March 7, 2006 Report Posted March 7, 2006 And I don't know what their customers might think to being called racoons.... <{POST_SNAPBACK}> ;)
Guest Rob.P Posted March 7, 2006 Report Posted March 7, 2006 I'm so glad I left Orange when I did, I love O2, since I have been with them I haven't worried once about my data costs because it's so cheap on my current tariff. I don't think their Marketing people actually have any experience (or even a CIM qualification by the looks of it). Orange Marketing Team, if you have any sense what so ever you should be reading these sort of forums and if you are suggest you all put in for staff development, get a qualification, do a short course on design and maybe get some common sense. I can point you in the right direction for the first 2 ;)
Guest Posted March 8, 2006 Report Posted March 8, 2006 (edited) If you're fuming now, wait 'til you see the specifics of these changes. Far from giving with one hand and taking with the other, it seems that Orange is simply throwing its arms wide open and dragging huge armfuls of cash towards itself from every possible quarter. From The Register: <{POST_SNAPBACK}> At first glance these change looks quite bad from my point of view - pay more get the same or less??? The first thing I did was re-read the release information....the second was look at what O2 and T-Mobile offered.... ;) I've been a very happy Orange fan, advocate and customer for more than 7 years. I recently upgraded to the C600 from the C500 and I've been quite pleased with the phone and the service. I'll give this new plan a short trial but I have to be honest the T-Mobile Flext program looks amazing compared to what Orange is now suggesting. Heck even the basic T-Mobile tariffs look better at the moment. Of course their customer service could suck... :?: Locking me in for 18 months, combined with the other reported changes is not the way I thought Orange would go....it reminds me of what mobile operators used to do back in the early days. I guess I have to see what the new changes bring...but it doesn't look good...I'd like to be proved wrong though... As for the animal ideas.... :shock: :??: :roll: Edited March 11, 2006 by Guest
Guest eldiablo Posted March 8, 2006 Report Posted March 8, 2006 At first glance these change looks quite bad from my point of view - pay more get the same or less??? The first thing I did was re-read the release information....the second was look at what O2 and T-Mobile offered.... ;) I've been a very happy Orange fan, advocate and customer for more than 7 years. I recently upgraded to the C600 from the C500 and I've been quite pleased with the phone and the service. I'll give this new plan a short trial but I have to be honest the T-Mobile Flext program looks amazing compared to what Orange is now suggesting. Heck even the basic T-Mobile tariffs look better at the moment. Of course their customer service could suck... :?: Locking me in for 18 months, combined with the other reported changes is not the way I thought Orange would go....it reminds me of what mobile operators used to do back in the early days. I guess I have to see what the new changes bring...but it doesn't look good...I'd like to be proved wring though... As for the animal ideas.... :shock: :??: :roll: <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Unfortunately for Orange, T-Mobiles CS doesn't suck half as bad as theirs, at least that's what I'm told. I will be moving to T-mobile in April when my contratct ends,, reluctantly as I have/had a soft spot for Orange. Regarding the new tariffs, if they are no better than currently then I would imagine Orange will have to honour the original deal - after all contracts work both way, don't they?
Guest sporkguy Posted March 9, 2006 Report Posted March 9, 2006 Now, it may be pernickety to point out, but in addition to the ridiculous marketing concept, that memo's full of bad grammar & spelling mistakes. Sporkguy, do you have the remotest clue what Orange are on with this? Is there any professionalism or business sense left in the company? lol you'd be surprised at how many documents come out of orange that have the grammar and spelling of a pre-high school pupil. Obviously English isn't a required qualification at GCSE these days ;) As for what's going on at Orange - I wish I knew. Ever since FT took the reins and that French bloke took control of the UK operations, we've become a very shoddy company. CSRs are becoming worse, they're getting very little handset or technical training - they're just sat in front of a computer that works things out for them, and they pass the buck like nobody's business. I could go on...
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