Orange and Samsung deny Omnia Shortage

[Guest bawhonk]

For all you frustrated Orange Upgrade people waiting for it to come back into stock and hearing countless different reasons for it not being available, here is the official statement

The story from unfortunate modaco memebers can be followed here and here

[Guest blackhorse]

We already have 2 in stock and had another 3 delivered today.

We never been out of stock since launch ;)

[Guest bawhonk]

We already have 2 in stock and had another 3 delivered today.

We never been out of stock since launch ;)

Orange Upgrade customers have been told its out of stock.

Problem I have is can/would Orange Shops do an upgrade and match the Orange Upgrade offer of £10 a month +200 txt + 300mins + £120?

Edited October 6, 2008 by bawhonk

[Guest blackhorse]

Orange Upgrade customers have been told its out of stock.

I upgraded a customer yesterday, will always upgrade if we have the stock.

Im Retail, sorry if any confusion

Edited October 6, 2008 by blackhorse

[Guest fuzzmo]

I upgraded a customer yesterday, will always upgrade if we have the stock.

Im Retail, sorry if any confusion

Yup the problem has never been retail - the problem is Orange CS. I went into the Orange shop at Bond Street and the lady there said they had plenty. Problem is that the phone would cost me £200! If I got the 8GB version off voda it would be free. Hmmm - Orange CS for some reason don't want to sell it to upgrade customers because they know they'll want it for free... Not sure when (if ever) this situation will get resolved....

[Guest goldie]

I recently ditched Orange for Vodafone over the samsung omnia. I had been with orange for 10 years and contract was up, asked for an upgrade as was given the previous years, oh yes sir they said, but the phones offered were very basic and a downgrade to my sony erricson w850i. For the omnia they wanted to re-up my line rental from £20 per month (customer loyalty

reward) to £35 per month + another £100 for the phone, they must of had at least 4-5k off me over the years(greedy barstewards). I was initially told I could have the omnia for free if I signed up for another 18 months, when I called back they had changed their minds. Since being with vodafone I have not had a single call been cut off on me either, which I found would happen alot with orange especially when using free minutes to other networks?.

[Guest fuzzmo]

I recently ditched Orange for Vodafone over the samsung omnia. I had been with orange for 10 years and contract was up, asked for an upgrade as was given the previous years, oh yes sir they said, but the phones offered were very basic and a downgrade to my sony erricson w850i. For the omnia they wanted to re-up my line rental from £20 per month (customer loyalty

reward) to £35 per month + another £100 for the phone, they must of had at least 4-5k off me over the years(greedy barstewards). I was initially told I could have the omnia for free if I signed up for another 18 months, when I called back they had changed their minds. Since being with vodafone I have not had a single call been cut off on me either, which I found would happen alot with orange especially when using free minutes to other networks?.

Interesting... because I am looking to get the Xperia on either O2 or Voda....

[Guest goldie]

Interesting... because I am looking to get the Xperia on either O2 or Voda....

Vodafone seem like their buying business a bit with the omnia, when you do the math it doesn't leave em much room for profit, hence oranges major reluctance to give them away free. I assume vodafone are banking on us racking up some high data charges to make up for it, the thing that makes me say that is when I'm on my wifi and I access Youtube, it always wants to reconnect through 'contract wap' to view videos, maybe someone can point me a way round this?

[Guest fuzzmo]

Vodafone seem like their buying business a bit with the omnia, when you do the math it doesn't leave em much room for profit, hence oranges major reluctance to give them away free. I assume vodafone are banking on us racking up some high data charges to make up for it, the thing that makes me say that is when I'm on my wifi and I access Youtube, it always wants to reconnect through 'contract wap' to view videos, maybe someone can point me a way round this?

Mobile companies never make any real profits on phones - they tend to make the money on the extortionate amount of money we pay for line rental and call charges!!!! For example in a third world country (Bangladesh) which has gone through a mobile boom (strong signals even in villages!) they don't charge line rental and calls cost the equivalent of 0.5p a minute or even less (no x-net rubbish either)! So you can imagine how much it would have cost putting in masts etc. in a country the size of England and Wales without any proper infrastructure to boot! Sure you have to buy full cost handsets but if you do the maths they are getting the best deal in the World (that is not an understatement).

Then you look at us here. I want to upgrade to the Omnia - I get charged £35 per month plus data charges on top. And if I exceed my monthly allowance my bill skyrockets. Orange say I have to pay £200 for the handset for an 18 month contract. If I just go to a Sim only contract I could get a similar talk plan for £15 and no tie in to a contract. They could charge even less but of course this is rip off Britain. They are making money whether they offer the phone for free or not.

With regards to Orange - in the other thread Helix mentions that Orange recently got a new Manager who seems to have changed policy - they are squeezing on premium handsets but it may backfire as people are leaving....