18 months ago I was looking for a new mobile contract, and a new broadband provider, so decided that one of their £35/m 18-month contract packages with free broadband would be ideal.
I took out the contract, spoke to a friendly guy over the phone who confirmed that I was able to receive broadband (I checked as I knew that my area doesn't usually have the carrier pre-select services like talktalk and sky).
The next day, my new Sony Ericsson K800i arrived, but no broadband package with it. On calling Orange, they informed me that it wasn't possible to have broadband, despite being told the day before that I could, and as Orange Broadband was seperate to Orange Mobile, there was nothing they could do about it.
Deciding that the allure of a new phone was too much to send the whole lot back, I decided to keep the phone. Just over 3 months later, the phone turned itself off, and when I tried to turn it back on, the screen was white, and nothing happened. I called Orange, who advised me that because I hadn't taken out phone insurance, they wouldn't replace the phone, didn't want anything to do with it, and that I would have to send it back to Sony Ericsson for a warranty repair.
I was angry at this point, but sent it back to Sony Ericsson, who promptly reset the software (surely they knew that this wouldn't make a damn bit of difference), and a month or so later, the same thing happened again, meanwhile, the joystick on the phone was beginning to fail. Again, contacted Orange, advised them that they had provided me with a phone that was not fit for purpose, and I wanted a new one. Orange advised me that they could send me a new one for (if I remember correctly) around £195, or if I paid an up-front fee of around £90 and took up insurance for the rest of my contract.
I declined, sent the handset back to Sony Ericsson for repair, and promptly stuck it up on eBay, and bought a Samsung handset with the money I got for it.
When I called Orange on Monday to explain why I was ending my 18 month contract, the advisor was again friendly, but did not once offer an apology for either being lied to about the broadband, or for the dodgy phone they flogged me. They made no attempt to keep me as a customer, did not thank me for being a customer, just told me that my PAC code would be in the post, and I should receive it within 3 days.
Four days later, I'm still waiting, and I'm not holding out much hope of receiving it this week.
There was a time when I would recommend Orange over any other provider, their customer service 3-4 years ago was excellent, this is sadly no longer the case.
I would highly recommend anyone think long and hard before getting trapped in an expensive contract with these cowboys - if anything goes wrong, it'll be you that will be left to pick up the pieces.
I took out the contract, spoke to a friendly guy over the phone who confirmed that I was able to receive broadband (I checked as I knew that my area doesn't usually have the carrier pre-select services like talktalk and sky).
The next day, my new Sony Ericsson K800i arrived, but no broadband package with it. On calling Orange, they informed me that it wasn't possible to have broadband, despite being told the day before that I could, and as Orange Broadband was seperate to Orange Mobile, there was nothing they could do about it.
Deciding that the allure of a new phone was too much to send the whole lot back, I decided to keep the phone. Just over 3 months later, the phone turned itself off, and when I tried to turn it back on, the screen was white, and nothing happened. I called Orange, who advised me that because I hadn't taken out phone insurance, they wouldn't replace the phone, didn't want anything to do with it, and that I would have to send it back to Sony Ericsson for a warranty repair.
I was angry at this point, but sent it back to Sony Ericsson, who promptly reset the software (surely they knew that this wouldn't make a damn bit of difference), and a month or so later, the same thing happened again, meanwhile, the joystick on the phone was beginning to fail. Again, contacted Orange, advised them that they had provided me with a phone that was not fit for purpose, and I wanted a new one. Orange advised me that they could send me a new one for (if I remember correctly) around £195, or if I paid an up-front fee of around £90 and took up insurance for the rest of my contract.
I declined, sent the handset back to Sony Ericsson for repair, and promptly stuck it up on eBay, and bought a Samsung handset with the money I got for it.
When I called Orange on Monday to explain why I was ending my 18 month contract, the advisor was again friendly, but did not once offer an apology for either being lied to about the broadband, or for the dodgy phone they flogged me. They made no attempt to keep me as a customer, did not thank me for being a customer, just told me that my PAC code would be in the post, and I should receive it within 3 days.
Four days later, I'm still waiting, and I'm not holding out much hope of receiving it this week.
There was a time when I would recommend Orange over any other provider, their customer service 3-4 years ago was excellent, this is sadly no longer the case.
I would highly recommend anyone think long and hard before getting trapped in an expensive contract with these cowboys - if anything goes wrong, it'll be you that will be left to pick up the pieces.



