It's at least nice to see I'm not the only one that's being scammed by Orange. I would like to add my experience if that is ok; I have tried to keep it real and to the point but it is kind of long. It's hard to believe this all has happened in less than 1 month. Actually it's hard to believe most of it and it happened to me first hand. If you’re thinking of buying Orange broadband though then I seriously recommend you read it to let you know what you’re in for. Especially applies to those who need the internet as part of their work. If this is an 'all for Orange' type site then please still leave this post as it is honest and fair.
I ordered Orange broadband as my DSL signal kept disappearing off my line for up to 24hrs at a time and AOL that was my supplier at the time had no idea what was causing it, although to be fair it never lasted longer than 24hrs before they got BT on the job. It seemed to just randomly go off then come back on some hours later. After the first time it happened they said BT had replaced a faulty 'line card' (whatever that is) at the exchange but the next 3 times it happened they had no answers. I got a migration code from them and shopped around for another ISP.
To be honest I didn't like the sound of Orange from the start, there’s just something about their image that looks tacky and there mobile phone signal isn't good outside of towns I have found. Anyway their prices looked good so I decided to give them a call for more info.
I had clear questions ready to ask the advisor of which most of them she did not know the answer and had to ask a supervisor. My main concern was that although I wanted the 'Unlimited download' package some ISP's will slow down your bandwidth if you go over a certain amount, usually about 10GB. Some will only do it during peak times as AOL did and some will do it all of the time. Some ISP's will also block ports to prevent you downloading easily via a bit torrent or peer to peer networks.
As I said the Orange sales lady had no idea but assured me that if I downloaded after 9PM (as I do - really should get out more!) then this would not be a problem. I also asked if the call was being recorded but she didn’t know, worth doing as they will deny anything if they need to at a later date. I would actually strongly advise anyone to record each and every phone call made to any business these days as a matter of course as so often it will be of use.
Getting back to it - I decided to take the unlimited download 8mb max package with telephone line, free second line and a free wireless dead box, I mean Live box! With the half price for the first 3 months offer. I gave her the migration code that I got from AOL and waited for the activation date to switch ISP's. That came, plugged in the dead box typed in my miss-spelt email address (phillp@blah.blahblah.co.uk and not phillip- morons!) and password and it connected, great. I didn't really care about the email address as I have my own domain name and my own email addresses. Besides using an .orangehome.co.uk address for business is like buying economy Chocó rocks in Tesco instead of Coco Pops - bad analogy but you get the picture!
A couple of days later I got really bored and decided to log on to Orange's drab website to activate the free second line phone they give you that connects to your router. Whilst doing this I noticed that I had Orange email so logged in to read it. It was from Orange customer services saying that they were sorry that I decided to cancel my line rental with them for my landline and that they would welcome me back anytime. Actually there were 3 emails exactly the same saying this sent about 10 minutes apart.
Confused I phoned Orange's 5p per minute customer support line to be told that they were unable to transfer my phone line from First Telecom and so could not provide me with the package I had ordered. They then went on to say they had changed the package to their 'Home Max' deal on my behalf as it was about the same price. Well for one that was a bit of a cheek as I neither agreed to this or had any knowledge of it and also it wasn't such a good deal as I now had to continue to pay First Telecom for my line rental and calls. The advisor was however very quick to remind me about the free second line with free UK calls to landlines and Orange mobiles. It's just a shame that I couldn't ring Orange customer services on it for free also. Besides that the number they give you is an 0845 number so anyone else with free landline calls on their phone package (unless it's Orange) will have to pay national rate to call you on it (who gets the benefit of that?). Also it has an annoying 3 beeps before you can dial out on it and you must always use the area code, even if you’re calling your next door neighbour. Not so great after all.
Well the call started to get complicated and the advisor was slipping back into his Punjabi native tongue so I just decided to stick with it as it was because really I just couldn't be arsed with it anymore and my phone bill was clocking up rapidly.
Another day or so later I went back to the Orange website as I thought that I would use the 0845 number for my business as it just looks more professional and gives the image of a large company. I couldn't remember the PIN code for the voicemail but before I got that far I noticed another email from Orange. They informed me my first bill was due (yeah they want advance payment) and asked me for a twenty something or other quid connection fee and twenty four quid for this month’s broadband! Well I was slightly gob smacked as it clearly said at the time I signed up on the Orange home page that there was no connection fee for migrating customers. I remember thinking at the time this was funny as I thought this was standard practice. It's not like they have to do anything, you give them a migration code which they then use to steal someone else’s customer and slap an 18 month contract on them. Why do they expect I should also give them £20? If anything they should give me £20 for joining them! Besides this I was being charged full rate when it should have been half price for the first 3 months.
So again I phoned Orange 5p per minute 'tech support' line (didn't bother using the second line phone - no point) and was put through to billing. I was told that all customers had to pay a connection fee if they migrated or were getting broadband for the first time. I argued with her about this as I know it is not the case and while doing so brought up the Orange home page on my computer. Guess what was still written at the top of the page in a drab Orange banner? 'Free connection for migrating customers' (or words to that effect). I told her this and she checked it out while I was on the phone to her and replied with a series of, 'oh, err , erm, I'll just need to transfer you to....' I stopped her there and added about the monthly payment not being half price. 'Oh' she says, you cancelled your telephone line account so therefore we can't offer the 3 months half price rental with your new package! WHAT!!
I'm now getting seriously angry and demanded a migration code. I told her if they didn't waive the connection charge and give me it half price for 3 months they could keep it. She then went on to threaten me that if I cancelled now I would have to pay the remainder of the 18 month contract! That being the contract they changed without my knowledge or consent! After I pointed this out to her she again transferred me to another department. I had now been on the phone for over 30 minutes.
The next person I spoke to was a guy called Andrew at 'Orange Care'. He had been filled in by the previous person while I was on hold and immediately apologized for the problems and said he would give me 6 months free broadband as I was in an 18 month contract! Yippee! That's what I want to hear, Sorry and Free! He said that I would get a new email stating the new terms and conditions but it wouldn't say it would be free for 6 months but he assured me it would be. Hmmm, dodgy - I didn't like the sound of that. Am I going to be phoning back next month when I get a bill just to be told I was miss-informed (an AOL special). So that's why I got his name and department he was in just to be sure.
Well I expect you would have guessed a week later I got an email saying my bill was overdue for payment. This didn't even make sense as I hadn't even had the broadband for a complete month yet.
Again I phoned back (First Telecom making a mint here) to be speaking with another fluent Punjabi speaking operator. I explained that it should be free for 6 months to her as via Andrew at Orange Care Department and she said she would need to check my account. She said that she needed to put down her headset while she did this and asked me to hold the line. I said I would and began to wait. After the thud of the headset hitting the desk I then had to endure 21 minutes listening to a gaggle of Asian women in fits of schoolgirl laughter in the call centre before being cut off, dead!
I had got to a point now where I can honestly say I have never felt such anger towards any business I have ever dealt with before. Even when I have been given bounced checked that I have had to pay charges for from my own bank didn't upset me like this did. I went to the pub and downed 5 pints of cider before returning to my telephone and punching in the ever so familiar 0844 Orange number. I now even know the 4 options to get me through to the right department (if indeed there is a right department) and exactly at what point I can push the buttons to cut off that blood curdling 'welcome to Orange broadband' woman and get to the next option!
I'll cut another long phone call short here as this is turning into a Novel and say that they finally agreed that what Andrew said was correct and deleted the charges. So glad I got his name!
After this all was going fine. I had noticed a regular dip in my up and download speed but nothing I couldn't live with for 6 months free broadband. That was until last week, Saturday at 2PM to be precise when the DSL light started flashing red very fast on my now defiantly dead live box.
I honestly don't think now whatever happens in the rest of my life that I will ever forget Orange broadband phone number and options to India.
I was told that everything on my line was fine and that my account was active and that there should be no problems. This however was not the case so had to go through all the idiot proof remedies of unplugging my Sky box and extension sockets etc before he was satisfied enough that I wasn't a plank and conducted a line test. I did try to explain to him that I was an I.T engineer and ex-telecoms electrician but that didn't help to convince him that I hadn't tried to run my storage heaters off the telephone line! Besides I have over 30 brand new DSL filters here and several routers from Netgear to BT Voyager’s. None of them report any DSL active on my phone line which they should regardless of whether or not there connected to a computer or have the correct login information stored on them. I also disconnected everything from the master socket that BT Open reach replaced just last month as a matter of trial and error when they could find no fault.
I was told to wait 24hrs for an update and he took my mobile number and promised to call back. 24hrs later - no call back. 0844....Yes, there is a fault on your line, it is 'a core network fault' and you need to wait just another 24 hrs and I am humbly promising you this will be all resolved. 24hrs later - no call back. Now I'm turning red with anger, I have websites to build and update, I have computers for service that need to connect to Microsoft update, No wages, I have to go to the pub with my laptop to download email and system drivers for repaired computers, seriously not happy!
0844...I demand a migration code and blatantly tell them to shove there broadband where the sun don't be shinin' but I am met with, 'but I can honestly tell you Mr. Philips (Phillip is my first name- arhhhh!) in just 48 hrs (I'm not shitting you) your broadband will be all fine. There’s no point in cancelling now as it will be working most fine very soon so there will be just no need. I didn't care though, not now I got nothing else to lose so insisted he put me through to customer services for a migration code, which he reluctantly did.
A grumpy annoyed English fluent woman greeted me. Have you noticed that anything to do with billing is based in the UK but anything to do with technical support is based in India? AOL is the same, can't think why that might be! She had obviously also been filled in by Praticaca rahj the 3rd or whatever his name was before I spoke to her because she said, matter of factly, 'look. If you migrate your broadband during the 18 month contract you will owe us £200 odd quid. Obviously they weren’t her exact words but again it was threat time. I told her I didn't care though and that they wouldn't get a penny out of me and that I'd sooner go to jail than give them a brass farthing. If I were Bill Gates they still wouldn't get a penny out of me, hell they've made a killing out of my phone bill for God’s sake. 'Besides', I said you have breached the contract as you’re not keeping your end of the deal and giving me broadband. She then went on to inform me that in the contract (very small print) they are entitled to up to 30 days to fix a fault before you can cancel! This is true, I have checked it out, too late I know but even so I still don't accept that. Had the initial sales advisor mentioned that to me during signup I'd have slammed the phone down laughing.
Ok she says but I must warn you though, etc, etc..JUST GIVE ME THE GODDAM MAC CODE, I shouted, as you’re required by law! Well Sir, she says, I'm just about to if you let me finish. Right OK what is it? Well Sir (I'm no longer Mr. Philips, I've now been knighted!) you will have to wait 5 days for the code to be generated. At this point I'm looking for something to *. If there was any way I could get down that phone line I'd be on remand now facing murder one. Fat chance of that anyway when I can't even get DSL on it!
Right fine then I said will you contact me when you've done it or should I call back? 'Oh, no Sir', she says, 'you will get an email from us with it!' My brain is hurting beyond belief now and my head is spinning like I'm 14 again and just necked a bottle of vodka and what's left of my cool headedness and manners that I was brought up with have gone for a Burton.
I DONT HAVE A ****ING INTERNET CONNECTION YOU STUPID ****ING MORON!
'I meant, Sir' she said as if she had made a simple mistake that she was well aware of the moment she said it, 'that you will also get it by post'. 'Good', I said, 'that's all I need to know, bye!’ 'Oh Sir, just one more thing', she interrupted as I was about to slam my telephone through the brick wall, 'if you request the migration code it may stop our engineers (let's use that word loosely) from working on the issue' she said just to have one last twist of the rusty old knife buried in the side of my head.
I swore and ended the call.
I sat alone for some time then in my workshop with my head in my hands trying to see a way of getting someone to help get me back online so I could earn some money to feed my kids and pay First Telecom. I was worried what that horrible old hag had said about the engineers stopping work on the problem and decided I couldn't afford to risk that as I needed all possible solutions open. I had a coffee and chilled out a bit and proceeded to call 0844...
I know I was starting to lose my mind now as it took me several minutes to remember the 3rd digit of my security code for account verification but I got there in the end and Hammed Poppa hula Aliabad was ready to assist me. 'Oh I see you have already called today and the @ light is still flashing fast on your router is it not?’ 'Yes', I said, 'nothing's changed but what I would like to say is that if you can get this broadband working before I get the migration code I will be happy to stay with Orange'. I had no intention of it but desperately wanted to get online so I can get some work done. Even now as I sit and write this I am surrounded by P.C's and laptops waiting to be updated and dreading the phone calls from angry customers.
I mentioned to him about what hag lady had said about the engineers stopping work and he said this was incorrect and that my account status would only change on the sign-over day with the migration code. So I was deliberately misinformed. He also said that I was due a callback tomorrow (now today) to update me on the progress. I actually thanked the guy this time, his English was good and he had a personality, not the usual pre-programmed Orange, 'Yes Mr. Philips I understand your frustrations but 24 hours..' routine.
Getting to the end now! I waited all day today for the call back but nothing. It dawned on me that although I was with Orange and First Telecom it is still BT that owns the phone lines and the exchange. I looked into this and found out that BT rent out the line to other ISP's for a low rate and provide no support. Both of my neighbors have BT broadband and they have no problems like I do and I live in a terrace. It seems to me that BT give priority to their customers and any line faults etc from any other ISP is pushed to the back of the queue. I think also they may be ranked for importance by their company profile. I.e. AOL is a bigger more popular (lord knows why!) ISP than Orange so gets support before them. Some of this is guess work so please feel free to correct me if you feel you need. So logic would suggest that being with BT would indeed be the most reliable ISP in the UK? Simply because they have no one to pass the buck to. I'm not saying they don't have faults but at least I think they are likely to know what is wrong and how long it will take to fix.
On this thought I phoned BT today and ordered BT Business Broadband and line rental. It's £26 per month for the broadband and £40 something a quarter for line rental. Ok that isn't really that cheap or is it? It's still broadband for less than a quid per day. They also send you a decent wireless router, not that crappy home hub thing and give you 5% cash back on your bill if you spend £500 a year with them in total. I don't think that's bad. The real selling point however is that because it's a business connection you have first priority for repair I am told, usually an engineer on site same day.
Great, it's sold. Spoke to a real nice young lady on the phone, friendly, helpful, non robot type who said I would need to get the migration code first before I could order. She suggested I phone Orange as they may have already processed it but not sent it yet. She said she would ring back in 15 minutes to see how I got on.
0844...Amazing, 'Yes Mr. Philips, here is your MAC code - EM1532183\GH23J'.
BT phones back and I give it to her but she says it's wrong. She asks advice from her manager who states that a MAC code is 4 letters followed by 8 digits, forward slash then 3 letters followed by two digits. She agrees to call me back in another 15 minutes while I double check.
0844...'Oh no Mr. Philips, that is not your MAC code it is as follows (I have changed this for security but the X's are letters and the 0's numbers) LYST0000000/XX00X. Well that's not what BT said it should be although I'm sure the first part (LYST) is right as I seem to remember this being the same from AOL. I verified it slowly with him 3 times and have since checked it in the email Orange sent and it is correct as they gave me.
BT phoned back but again it was showing as invalid so the only other option has been now to have a new telephone line installed (Free on a 5yr contract) on the 11th September and broadband activated on it by the 16th September.
Why? Because Orange have cost me loss of earnings, don't have a clue what’s wrong with my phone line and cannot give me a migration code that works. And they think I'm paying the rest of the contract. Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!
Anyway at 6PM I got on the old 0844...Welcom.1..If Yo.5..For PC us.4...If you have.1.....Ring Ring.....Velcum to Orange my name is handyegwjdyyhejhdghh may I get your name please most welcoming humbly please be online thank you, gibberish! I'm getting tired now!
Apparently the call was booked for tonight at 21:45hrs! They gotta know I'm not sleeping too well! So again I waited. At 11PM still no call so I phoned them to be told that there is a 'core network fault' and that they are still waiting for an update from the engineers!
I still have no broadband, my telephone is fine and I can make and receive calls normally and have just paid the bill (this one doesn't include the 'tech support' calls but I will update this as to the cost next month if anyone wishes to know.
Now I will upload this on a 56k modem for you folks to read. I have been writing this for 3 hours and if you have read it all then I thank you and apologize for my bad grammar. But if this put's one person off signing up with Orange then it has been worthwhile doing it. I have been truthful in everything I said and as hard as it may be to believe, I have not exaggerated in any way.
Well here's looking forward to the superhighway again on the 16th!
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