In 2003,
I took out my mobile phone contract with Orange, the main reason being that
they were the only mobile phone company who could guarantee that I would have a
service when I deployed to Iraq. And true to their word I did indeed have a
signal, via the Kuwaiti system, the whole time that I was there.
The only
problem that I had was when I attempted to change my direct debit date some
months into my contract. It seemed that although the original date was
inconvenient for me, that didn't matter. It was inconvenient for Orange to
change the direct debit date and so they were unwilling to do so. In the end I
had to cancel the direct debit and just pay every month manually, which meant
that I was then penalised for not paying by direct debit, resulting in me
paying more for my bills.
This went
on for some time until I pointed out that it was them that refused to change my
direct debit date to one that was convenient to me and that was the reason that
I wasn't paying by direct debit. In the end, they accepted that they were
at fault, and I was refunded the excess that I had paid.
And so to
this year, and the reason for this slight rant.
The
telephone account had five separate numbers, mine, Julie's, Drew's,
Maggie's and Hannah's. When Julie and I decided that we were moving, it
was agreed that Julie's and Hannah's numbers would be moved into a new account
that would be in the name of Julie's mum.
So in
February of this year, I contacted Orange Customer Services to arrange the
transfer of the numbers. The woman with whom I spoke informed me that it
would not be possible to do this until after the bill date in March.
In March
2013, I again telephoned Orange to transfer the numbers and was told that
it should have been done when I initially telephoned and that there would be a
delay in transferring these numbers. Not particularly efficient, and it
wasn't until April that the two numbers were removed from my account.
All
sorted, just three numbers for me to pay for. Or so I thought!
In May
I received a letter from Orange informing me that there was an outstanding
balance on my account. As I
had only just paid my bill I was a bit surprised so I telephoned
the automated service and discovered that I had a nil balance. So yet
again I telephoned Orange Customer Services and explained the situation to
them. The guy was initially bewildered, but after investigation was able
to shed some light on the matter.
He
informed me that when the two numbers had been dissociated from my account,
rather than being moved straight into the other account they had been moved
into a temporary account which should have been closed when the new account was
opened, but this hadn't happened. He
also informed me that this was a mistake by Orange, apologised, and told me
that I should ignore the letter. Sorted? Not quite, because that would suggest
that Orange Communications were capable of communicating within their company.
A month
later, I received another letter informing me that despite “the previous communication”,
there was still an outstanding balance on my account. So I again telephoned
Orange Customer Services. Different person, but same outcome. Orange had
made a mistake, it would be sorted out; ignore the communication, end of the
matter.
Then in
July, I received another letter, this one from a debt collection
Agency called NCO Europe,
informing me that they were acting on behalf of Orange as I had ignored
previous communications and demanding even more money (apparently, they had now
added their administration fee onto the original sum). And it’s at this point that all
pretence at competence has gone out of the window.
I called
Orange, who confirmed what they'd told me before, and then I called NCO who
didn't believe me. And this was how it would go for about a month. NCO would
call me, I would explain the situation, whoever I spoke to would suggest that I
was making it up, but would assure me that they would investigate and call me
back. And then a different person would call me back, I would explain the
situation, whoever I spoke to would suggest that I was making it up, but would
assure me that they would investigate and call me back, and so on.
Having
spoken with them several times I decided that I would only deal with them in
writing, therefore leaving a paper trail. I also wrote a formal letter of complaint
to Orange.
And still
it goes on, and still there is no resolution. NCO had asked me to send them a
copy of the letter that I have written to Orange which I did. They then
denied receiving it, despite my receiving read receipts to the email that the
letter was sent on. So it has been sent again, read receipts again being
received.
As for
Orange, they still haven't responded to my letter, so as it is now eight weeks
since my original letter of complaint and I have had no response, I have now
had to contact the Communications
and Internet Services Adjudication Scheme (CISAS). I also informed NCO that
I had done so and have now received another email from them, addressed to me
but with the salutation "Good afternoon Ms Foster",
Ms Foster being the person whom I had sent the email to, and who had then
forwarded it to the intellectual giant of a colleague who has sent me the
email.
Daniela
Ferrer Francisco, Operations Team Manager at NCO Europe, assures me that she
wishes to resolve this matter and just needs me to email a copy of the
letter that I have sent to Orange to enable her to do so. As this
would be the third copy that I would have sent them, I have agreed to do so
only on the condition that she first attempt to find one of the copies
that I have already sent and, if unsuccessful, email me stating that due to her
company's incompetence they have lost the previous two copies that they have
been sent and wish me to furnish them with a third. Wonder if they will be
honest enough to do so.
As for
Orange, their slogan for many years was "The future's bright, the
future's Orange". It’s
a shame that their, and NCO Europe Ltd's, employees appear not very bright.
