3 months ago, I have subscribed to Orange broadband on top of my existing mobile phone contract for the very low price of £5 per month.
After having waited more than 1 month for my Livebox and being lied to several time over the phone and in writing on the date it would be delivered, I finally got it all working.
After a few days I decided to test the speed I was getting, only to realize I only got up to around 500 Kpbs download speed and a low result in upload. After spending 45 minutes waiting for someone from Orange technical support (obviously in India) I was told to wait at least 10 days because the exchange was making tests for awhile until it could determine maximum speed and give me the best possible speed. 2 weeks later I still had a indecent service.
I called back and spoke to 3 different persons: 1 guy from the technical support team, 1 engineer, 1 supervisor, for a 2 hours call. We managed to assess something I already knew: that their exchange hardware was not capable to provide a decent speed to their user. The supervisor told me they would get their engineers on the problem and solve it ASAP. I was told I would get a call back within 5 business days. At that time, because the person I spoke to was competent, even though he was quite remote from the problem as he was in India, I believed things would change. Obviously, as expected, more than a month has passed and until yesterday evening I was still without news from them.
A DSL provider depends on 4 types of hardware in the UK: The BT exchange, their Exchange the quality of the phone line and the DSL modem.
In my case, I am connected to the BT Paddington Exchange in London which I know for a fact works fine, as I used to have 16 Megs speed with Bulldog. Therefore this implies my phone line supports such speeds and works fine. My modem works fine as I have a connection, we can therefore easily assess that the Orange Exchange is malfunctioning.
This is where they are liars: After a 45 minutes wait because my VOIP was on the blink, I finally speak to a tech support girl and her supervisor. THEY KNOW their hardware is not capable of supporting those speeds and they can’t do anything about it. Orange is so keen on obtaining market shares and getting as many clients that they sell services they can’t provide. They did not have enough Livebox to satisfy everyone when they launched their offer, and they don’t have the necessary hardware to provide the speeds they advertise.
When I asked if I could cancel as they could not provide me with the speed I was paying for, the supervisor told me that I would have to pay the remaining balance as it clearly said in my contract that they provided up to 8 megs…. He basically laughed at me as he knows there is nothing we can do once we have signed.
So if anybody out there knows a way to make my or anybody else’s story public, in the press or in the media, please tell me I would like to push the matter further.
Just as the supervisor I spoke to yesterday evening told me: ''All I can do is apologize", I would like to apologize to Orange for making sure I can make as many people as possible aware of their lies and their business strategy.
Joined: 13 Aug 2006Posts: 1689Location: Marylebone Central London
I am on the North Paddington exchange and when i was with Orange it was exactly the same fortunately i was well out of contract they tried to offer me free months and a reduction in price for my package i politely thanked them for offering me something they cant provide cheaper and asked for my MAC code which they tried to every trick in the book to avoid giving it to me till i wrote to the ISPA who got me the MAC since i migrated away ive had no problems since.
I hope you are able to get it sorted and eventually leave this disgraceful company.
Regards
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