I admit, I've been a fool. When I changed to Orange I was bedazzled by offers of unlimited free calls to an Orange number, Orange Wednesdays, but most...by their free internet offer with a £35 a month contract.
I have had no internet since the 31st July 2007 - why? Ask Orange but don't expect an explanation.
Voted worst ISP by BBC Watchdog in 2007, Orange have a history of long, prolonged outages.
They are members of ISPA but if your internet is provided free as part of your mobile package your broadband is not covered by the ISPA!
You have to complain to CISAS but they will only look at your case if the ISP has not resolved the problem after 3 months! 3 months without internet?
I'm off to Virgin...except I'm in an 18 month contract with big penalties to pay if I close the account so I remain tied to the fruit for a further 6 months.
The story so far...
Apart from the inconveniences to my social life, not to mention my working life (I have to go into an internet cafe to work, incurring charges and usually unwanted conversation/invitations) the process of "fixing" the problem has been a Brazil-style vortex of circular motion that would make even Yossarian's head spin.
Moreover it has upset my elderly mother who runs a business from our home - and, by crikey, if anyone upsets my mum there's going to be fisticuffs.
We phone Orange on at least a daily basis yet clear information is rarer than a still mooing steak. To date no-one can tell us why the problem cannot be resolved and when it might be.
First came a line test - this took a week. Then we were told it was not an individual line or account issue. Rather it was supposedly a failure or breakdown of Orange's technology within BT exchanges. It was, apparently, affecting very many customers (they couldn't say a number at this point).
Rather than owning up to a major crash, Orange appeared to be attempting to treat each case as a separate issue to avoid a clear and truthful admission of failure. As their recorded message continues to bleat out "connections may be slow but Orange know of no other problems". This is clearly untrue.
Then we were told that an engineer would call. Waiting patiently, this failed to transpire on the 6th, 8th, 9th and 10th when we called on each day. On 11th August we were informed that engineers are not available but 'Leena' assured us that an engineer would call us on the 12th. They didn't. We were later told by 'Istu' that 'Leena' hadn't logged this call so it didn't officially exist and that she 'had lied to you' (his words) as no engineers were available that day.
13th August: having had no call, we phoned up to complain and find out the address for complaints. We were passed from department to deparment, being told Orange have no formal complaints procedure. We finally ended up at the Escalation department where we were told that we would not receive a response if we sent a letter in (which we did anyway) as 'we don't do that'.
At this point we were also told that, no, it wasn't affecting any other Orange customers, it was just us and they would have to send an engineer over. But we wouldn't hear anything for 48 hours.
15th August: we're told the problem is affecting 60 subscribers.
16th August: a forty minute, heated phone call with Istu produces these results. Our complaint log, apparently, had been closed (meaning no action was taking place on it) and was only opened when they received our complaint on 15th August. This was partly due to Leena's 'lies' on the 11th. So...we have to start all over again with the process.
The problem is an LLU (Local Loop Unbundling) problem and is affecting 60-100 users. Apparently this does not make it a 'major problem'.
Currently we have been promised that an engineer will check the line in 48 hours. Yes, even though the line was checked at the beginning of August, because our complaint has 're-opened our log' we have to start from the beginning.
So thanks, Orange, and thanks to your team of unhelpful, script-reading, pass the buck staff. I present to you the leading cast (not including bit part players early on in our journey)...
03/08 Juanita
04/08 Rohit
04/08 Chinpas
05/08 Hari
05/08 Lisa
06/08 Hayman
06/08 Kelly (promises us someone will call on the 8th with 'good news'. No-one calls)
09/08 Kelly (says we will receive no calls and there is no timescale for resolution)
10/08 Paul
10/08 Kim
10/08 Rob (who has no record of our problem...)
11/08 Leena (aka 'the liar')
12/08 Samir (who says it's an error on the line, even though engineers say it's not)
12/08 Nik (Says 60 people also affected, we could be connected on Wed 15th)
15/08 Ranya (promises a 'positive outcome' in 24 hours)
15/08 Sam (says it can take up to 4 weeks, offers dial up account)
16/08 Kelly (we have to wait 48 hours for any news, she cuts us off)
16/08 Darius (can't connect us with Kelly, claims no way of emailing her)
16/08 Julie
16/08 Istu (of the escaltion specialist team, says no letters have been received)
17/08 Kelly (we would receive a technical call on Monday(we didn't))
22/08 John and Paul of the escalation dept (promised the world)
If this b3ta post is anything to go by, I'm sure you're working hard at my problem.
The moral: if it seems to good to be true, it's probably Orange.
Thanks to Agitprop and James Jin for the photo
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