All ISP's have problems.....Try using Force9 and having no Email for the 5th time in a year! Luckily I have other domains registered with other providers. Orange are excellent in France and go the "extra mile"....perhaps a lot of the consumer problems are to do with "attitude".....After all.....It's still a Human Being at the other end of the line and as far as "Watchdog" are concerned....Perhaps the researchers and reporters should go out into the "Market Place"....set up a business and try dealing directly with the "General Public" to earn a living and not rely on a large paycheck that mysteriously arrives into their bank every month!
Orange are excellent in France and go the "extra mile"....perhaps a lot of the consumer problems are to do with "attitude"
Having worked for a French company in the past, I know that the French are more ready and willing to stand up and demand to be provided with the service they pay good money for. They won't sit down and wait patiently in the vain hope that it'll put itself right, or be held off with empty platitudes, they'll jump up and down until they get satisfaction. Maybe we should take a leaf out of their book.
"We pride ourselves on giving our customers a service they can rely on and, if things do go wrong, we work to put them right as fast as possible.
Ha ha ha. I nearly fell off my chair reading that. The reality is, you try ringing their pre-recorded 'service status' line first, to see if there's a known problem. A message Three weeks old tells you that everything is fine and dandy. So you ring your mate round the corner and no, he can't get online either. Then you ring your mate 200 miles away and she can't get online either. So you ring their 'unhelpful' desk to be told that there are no problems with the service. You insist that there is, and they tell you to reboot your computer. You say you've tried that, and rebooted the router too The conversation then goes like this:
Orange: "We're aware that some customers are having difficulty."
Me: "But you just told me there were no problms"
Orange: "But there are a few problems in your area"
Me: "So what is wrong with it"
Orange: "Our engineers are working on it"
Me: "That's good to hear, but what is actually wrong with it? Why does the line drop for days at a time?"
Orange: (in a really pathetic non-commital voice) "We're sorry, we're trying to fix it."
Me: "So when do you estimate it will be back on line?"
Orange: "We're sorry, we're trying to fix it."
Me: "So you said, but when will it be working again?"
Orange: "We're sorry, we're trying to fix it."
Me: "I'm very unhappy with the service from Orange"
Orange: "We're sorry, we're trying to fix it."
Me: "I'm fed up of having no connection. I'm paying through the nose for this and not getting anywhere"
Orange: "We're sorry, we're trying to fix it."
Me: "How about refunding some of my subscription?"
Orange: "We're sorry, we're trying to fix it."
Me: "Are you a robot?"
Orange: "We're sorry, we're trying to fix it."
Me: "You haven't got a clue, have you?"
Orange: "We're sorry, we're trying to fix it."
Me: "I've had enough of this." <hangs up in disgust>
I didn’t get the email in time to catch the program but I have read the posts and various links, very interesting reading.
I would just like to add a my own comment / opinion to this thread.
It seems these problems are related to allot of similar problems in other sectors.
We all know if a retailer annoys us we go to another, however with BB due to the investment made by the provider in order to (attempt to) provide us with our broadband they tie us into a term of service and wont let us go as easily, yes we can get a MAC code at the end of our service but how long you have to wait depends on when your problems start.
We just sit there among the hundreds and possibly thousands of other disgruntled customers talking to poorly paid employees, sat in call centres all around the country, if at all in this country in the first place ( i wont start about foriegn call centers thats for another day), trying to get thing sorted or at least get an answer different to the last one we had.
My opinion is this, we all strive to shop for the cheapest price for this or that and we all follow the same path of going to the big supermarkets or retailers or the larger BB companies offering what seems the best price, cheaper than so and so down the road and we hope that we receive the same level of service for a cheaper price.
Sadly every time we do this it is one more nail in the coffin of the smaller providers. who actually care, whether it be a can of Beans or a BB account and will spend the time talking face to face with their customers, giving that personal touch, like the corner store did of yester year did, greeting the customer personally 'Good morning Mr Jones, and how is your back today', eventually all we will be left with is a few massive companies with thousands of customers, who then turn us into numbers not people, we are people we have feelings, we have money, and ultimately we have got POWER.
I say bring back the corner shop, bring back the smaller caring retailer, don’t let your local shops disappear, stop the giants buying up all the little guys, and bring back Pride in Providing the Service no matter how small a service, after all, every time we lose a little guy we have to travel further to get to anyone at all, now they are so far away we cant actually go and see them, were one step away from talking to just a computer. In fact I am not to sure that we don’t already after all we already hear "COMPUTER SAYS NO!" from the guy on the phone.
In conclusion to my ramblings SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL RETAILERS SO THEY CAN SUPPORT YOU!
I work in an independant PC shop and we set up as an ISP 3 years ago, sure we have small issues with bad telephone lines and the odd problem that takes that little bit longer, but we provide a level of care and support, and this is confirmed by people traveling miles to come and see us, now i am not saying come join us although your welcome to, but look round the corner and support your local retailer.
Joined: 14 Feb 2007Posts: 3Location: Black Country
Quote:
we are aware some of our broadband customers have experienced some service and technical issues over the last few months. When these have occurred, we have worked to rectify any problems swiftly and effectively
I know quite a lot of people on Orange BB (I get about a bit!!) and I have not heard a single one of them say they have got a passable service at the moment. Disconnections, & can't get on at all or VERY slow speed etc. It's ghastly, we use it for business and at home and I'm just about ready to go back to quill pens and telex!!
"We pride ourselves on giving our customers a service they can rely on and, if things do go wrong, we work to put them right as fast as possible. In the event that a customer is not happy with our service and wishes to switch provider, we will ensure they can do so smoothly and with minimum disruption.
4 month I waited for Talk service, 4 months !
ISPA so far waste of space. They've till Friday.
Then I'll cancel and process via small claims court, including all back payments cancellation fee's, phone calls etc.. They don't have a leg to stand on.
[quote="TheFuturesSh*te"]I know that the rest of them have their own horror stories from their customers but I have to say that AOL, NTL, Tiscali, BT, etc. - none take the biscuit like Orange.
Quote:
More like taking the Pith!!!!
Ha! Ha! Yes! I had calmed down a bit since my first post and was trying not to swear! Mind you, they're enough to make the Pope utter a few choice words!
Does anyone know if it's possible to get a modding skin for the civilians in Grand Theft Auto to wear Orange suits?
I know that Nicky Campbell (Watchdog) doesn't seem to be popular on this forum (I don't know enough about him to have much of an opinion on him) but I liked how he quipped something along the lines of `Well, the future's certainly not bright for some of our viewers..'. Ha! Ha! I wonder who he was alluding to, mainly...?
Last edited by TheFuturesSh*te on Wed Feb 28, 2007 1:24 pm; edited 1 time in total
I have had Orange Broadband for 5 months now and not had a single problem with the service 'once it was set up'. Connection is never a problem and the speed is always very good. Getting it set up was a nightmare. I was disconnected from my existing provider (Tiscali) and 'connected' to Orange 17 (yes 17) days before I received my LiveBox. As a result I was without any internet connection for 17 days. When you consider I do eveything online from shoppoing to reading the news to banking and also have a small business I operate from home it was a nightmare. What really frustrated the issue was that every time I rang customer services I got a different person with a different excuse and a different promise. I can almost look back and laugh about the first day I was (dis)connected - I rang them at 1800 and was told the LiveBox had already been dispatched and should Be Broadband that day - really after 6pm in the evening - bull***t! That was the first of many fob-offs.
Marcain - I agree with everthing you say and couldn't have put it better myself. I used to work in a small business, PC shop and we ran it with your exact caring attitude and business approach. Sadly though, these big corporate affairs forced us out of business. Good luck to you mate - you are doing things the right way.
I have had Orange Broadband for 5 months now and not had a single problem with the service 'once it was set up'. Connection is never a problem and the speed is always very good.
Really? You must be the ONE they are referring to when they say "We pride ourselves on giving our customers a service they can rely on"
Quote:
Getting it set up was a nightmare. I was disconnected from my existing provider (Tiscali) and 'connected' to Orange 17 (yes 17) days before I received my LiveBox. As a result I was without any internet connection for 17 days. When you consider I do eveything online from shoppoing to reading the news to banking and also have a small business I operate from home it was a nightmare. What really frustrated the issue was that every time I rang customer services I got a different person with a different excuse and a different promise. I can almost look back and laugh about the first day I was (dis)connected - I rang them at 1800 and was told the LiveBox had already been dispatched and should Be Broadband that day - really after 6pm in the evening - bull***t! That was the first of many fob-offs.
Orange have just got to sort out the other 2200 odd customers on here!
Best make that 2199 odd!
The biggest problem I have had is SPAM, which is annoying (and partly helped by the adaptive filter in Thunderbird) and a couple of occasions when their SMTP seemed to not work for 30 mins or so, but hardly any different to any other ISP, plus I have a back-up POP3/SMTP service for my laptop incase I am mobile, so I just used that.
I've read this thread after receiving an e-mail from Admin about it. To be honest, I'd forgotten the Forum even existed! I am sympathetic to everyone who is experiencing problems, but I for one am very satisfied with Orange. I've been with them since 2003 (Wanadoo) and when I moved house 8 months ago and to another exchange 15 miles away, the CSR was very polite and helpful, and my service was swapped in under 4 days. There's no reason why it can't be instant, but no ISP (not even BT, who's line/exchange/service is being used) would do it that quickly.
I've never not been able to get online, and my service seems pretty consistent at around 1.8Mb (supposed to be 2Mb). I use a Netgear DSL modem/router coupled to a Netgear RangeMAX wireless AP. What can I say? It all works fine.
I don't know what the solution for you guys, but I think an old fashioned (polite) letter may be more effective than any poll or e-mail. It's all to easy to hit the delete button, or have the e-mail directed away from your chosen recipient.
Purely as an exercise, I am going to call Orange in the near future for a MAC, just to see how they deal with me. I will post my findings back on the forum if anyone is interested.
After months talking to myself (well Orange dont listen ) I complained to ISP regulaters Had to wait for a month for Orange to get back to me .In the meantime I sent a letter to Head office and customer services Im still waiting for a reply from them.The result is I had a letter from Tracey Ellis who deals with ISPA complaints Her Phone number is0845 0702976 and she offered me free subs till I got it sorted but after telling her I was sick of Orange and Iwanted to leave I got my MAC within 2 days She is the first person(and I think Ive spoken to everyone else)to admit the problem is with Orange not BTphonelines ,extensions ,my computer ,modem filters etc.
I have filled the survey on watchdog and sent an email and also told them how the customer support keeps you hanging on.I know ofcom are looking into support nos .
If you dont get any joy with Orange try ISPA OFCOM and anyone else
good luck
Im just waiting for the day when Oranges "HEAVIES" come knocking on my door for payment for something they have not, and more importantly, COULD NOT provide... then i will see them in court and believe me they will get a LOT of publicity, how on earth can they expect people to "buy out" of a so called contract that didnt provide what they suggest? i.e a connection...a service...internet access....?
It is just so ridiculous...they know this of course but im certain they just think people will wilt, pay up, and go away no questions asked....
Lets see eh...
At least 3 Orange staff admitted to me they were having problems and one of those even told me their LLU was CRAP !!! What chance have thousand upon thousand of Orange customers got if that is the attitude and the state of their network?
I really cannot understand the attitude of these people.... they refused me a MAC code and my only other alternative was to cancel or continue with no internet access .....oh and of course pay them for the privelage of having something that didnt work..... i dont think so....
My Bank is in discussions with Orange and hopefully will sort out this total mess, but if not then i will go to small claims.
I've never not been able to get online, and my service seems pretty consistent at around 1.8Mb (supposed to be 2Mb). I use a Netgear DSL modem/router coupled to a Netgear RangeMAX wireless AP. What can I say? It all works fine.
You have taken measures to get your own router/modem and that's an excellent model. Many of the people who are having problems could sort out their connection if they bought a decent gateway or modem - rather than the shoddy things that Orange ship out. The thing is though, that we shouldn't have to as a free modem is part of the contract and many people aren't so technically aware to opt for a better device.
Quote:
I don't know what the solution for you guys, but I think an old fashioned (polite) letter may be more effective than any poll or e-mail. It's all to easy to hit the delete button, or have the e-mail directed away from your chosen recipient.
Ha! Ha! That's the first port of call and many will testify that it simply doesn't work that way with this company.
Quote:
Purely as an exercise, I am going to call Orange in the near future for a MAC, just to see how they deal with me. I will post my findings back on the forum if anyone is interested.
That's when all hell is sure to break loose! Please share your experience.
As mentioned in my previous posts, I am a PC technician and part of my job is installing broadband. I know of about 14 Orange customers who are at their whit's end over their treatment by this company - my sister included. Incidentally, my sister tells me that they were okay when they were Freeserve and Wanadoo.
Still, it's reassuring to hear of people who are getting along fine with Orange. Good luck Andy.
My Bank is in discussions with Orange and hopefully will sort out this total mess, but if not then i will go to small claims.
Yes, it seems the banks have to discuss this with Orange like they are owned by Orange! Two options (after exhausting all other options of reconciliation to no avail) - 1. Threaten to draw all of your money out of your account - the bank will soon get things stopped! 2. Well, the only other way to stop it is if your card gets nicked or lost.
You need to keep details of every bit of correspondence; a log of everything and write off to all of the governing bodies/ombudsmen with your evidence.
They aren't delivering the service that you are paying good money for, like so many others. We know our rights, Orange.
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
