Orange Complaint Strikes Again

BELOW IS A COPY OF THE EMAIL I SENT TO YOUR DEPARTMENT ON WEDNESDAY 13^TH JANUARY – 12 DAYS AGO!!

I STILL HAVE NOT HAD A REPLY OR SATISFACTORY RESPONSE FROM ANYONE AT ORANGE ROMANIA.

I NOTICE THAT YOU ARE VERY FAST WHEN SENDING BILLS, DEMANDING MONEY AND DISCONNECTING CUSTOMERS BUT WHEN IT COMES TO REPLYING TO MAIL AND ANSWERING CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS YOU ARE NEITHER FAST NOR INTERESTED. YOUR COMPANY CONTINUES TO DISAPPOINT ME AND EVERY OTHER ORANGE USER I KNOW.

CAN I PERHAPS HAVE A REPLY NOW? BECAUSE I AM NOT GOING TO PAY YOU ANY MONEY UNTIL THIS IS RESOLVED!!

Dear Ramona,

Further to the many, many emails between me and your department, countless phone calls and the agreement I made with your department before Christmas, I am now totally confused by all the bills I have received from you that seem to contradict our agreement. The 25+ SMS messages I have received from Orange in the last 3 weeks have contributed only to complicate matters more and generally cause me, in equal measure, lots of laughter and much inconvenience. My account is a complete mess and I have no intention of paying anything until this has been finally resolved (I have been trying since November to resolve this but to no avail).

1. On or around 17^th December in a telephone call with your department we agreed that the second contract is suspended without fees. Yet (and somewhat predictably) I still have received a bill for the second number – I will NOT pay it!! I don’t want or need a second number!! We have been through this 100 times already!!
2. I advised your office that I would be out of Romania until 11^th or 12^th January and would pay the bill when I returned – yet (and somewhat predictably) still I was disconnected while I was away and this caused me enormous problems especially with business and which resulted in a loss of income for me. Thanks for that! There is no incentive for me to try and cooperate with Orange when they behave like this and to place their customers in a situation like you placed me in for the last week of my business trip in London is again an atrocious display from a “caring customer services department” of an international telecommunications company. We had an agreement and Orange broke it NOT me.
3. I said I would pay the bill BEFORE I left Romania on the 19^th December IF I received a bill and IF it was for the amended amount. I DID NOT RECEIVE THE BILL so I telephoned your department and asked them to keep me connected until I returned. Your department agreed but (somewhat predictably) STILL DISCONNECTED my service on 7^th January.
4. Whilst I was away I received about 28 SMS messages from Orange (I assume these are free??!!) Some were reminding me that my bill is Ron 51.15, some were reminding me my bill is Ron 728.66, some were reminding me my bill is Ron 397.58 and some were reminding me my bill is Ron 185.40!!!! I had messages informing me I had 9 days to pay and I had messages telling me I had until 8^th January to pay (even though I had agreed with your department to pay after the 11^th!!!!). I had messages asking me to send you faxes!!! I had messages from you telling me to call you on *131# – which despite my 100 requests STILL does not work on my phone AFTER IT HAS BEEN DISCONNECTED! I had messages from you asking me to call you on 021 203 3838 AFTER you had disconnected my phone and knowing that I was on roaming and out of Romania!!!
5. I have messages from you confirming that I have Euro 36 credit for December, messages from you saying I have no credit, messages from you saying I have $90.72!!!! Dollars, Euros AND Ron??
6. I have an SMS from you that says, and I quote, “In 06.01, ora 09:54 mai aveati 90.72 EUR credit, echivalentul a 1008’06”min Orange sau 697’54” min nat. Cost suplim 26.17 EUR….”
7. What I do NOT have are any messages that say the same thing!! What I do NOT have is a clear and concise breakdown of what I owe you!!! What WE have is a complete mess!!!
8. I returned home yesterday and found a bill from Orange. Actually I had 4 bills all in the same envelope!!! One bill is for Ron 728.66, one bill is for Ron 85.93, one bill is for Ron 245.15 and yet another bill is a credit note for Ron –145.68!!!! I threw all 4 bills in the trash bin!
9. MY understanding is that December I owe nothing and in fact have a credit (but whether that credit is $36, Euro 90 or Ron 145 I have absolutely no idea and suspect you also have no idea!). I owe you money for November BUT until you have suspended/cancelled the second contract (0752xxxxxx) and removed ALL the charges and fees for that number I will NOT pay it. My January bill is not yet due but in the unlikely event that I receive it and it’s actually correct I will pay it.
10. So, dear Orange, I have no idea what you expect me to do about it but I will inform you now that I am going to do absolutely nothing about it until I receive a full and acceptable WRITTEN and POSTED summary and explanation. As far as I can ascertain from the 100’s of bills, emails and SMS’s I owe you approximately Ron 400 for November and that you owe me approximately Ron 200.
11. All you need to do is calculate what the balance outstanding is for November and December and send me an amended bill covering both periods. It really is not very difficult in this day and age of computer technology. Honestly, it isn’t! But…PLEASE remember to deduct the costs and charges for the second number!!
12. Since the January bill will soon be due you can also include that amount on the same bill (invoice) and I will then know exactly what I owe you and will pay the bill in installments as and when I have time and available funds. Given the appalling service I am continuing to receive from Orange please do not expect me to make it my number one priority now to pay you. I have better and more important matters to deal with than waste time trying to get a correct bill from you!!
13. You can reconnect my number (0748xxxxxx) if you want to but I am no longer interested in being a client of Orange and have opened a Vodafone account. They at least seem to know what they are doing and talking about – plus it is far less expensive than Orange and their network in the UK is a good one (in the UK Orange is a waste of time as outside London its virtually impossible to obtain a clear signal or no signal at all – not that I needed one because you DISCONNECTED me!!!)

I look forward with much anticipation and pending amusement to receiving your (probably somewhat predictable) reply whenever you have time to deal with it. Trust me, I am in no hurry!

Kind regards and best wishes for a happy and prosperous 2010 to you and all your colleagues at Orange Romania.

D.R.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist

I’m puzzled. I have read a book. I enjoyed it. I thought I knew where it was heading to. But then it ended. All reviews talked about the author leading us ‘toward an uncertain yet ominous conclusion’ or announced that the purpose of the monologue (that is what the book is, in fact) was to become obvious in the end. It didn’t. So what on Earth is the conclusion here, folks? Somebody enlighten me!

According to my records, this was the 666th book I have read, and although I am not superstitious, I would like to sort this dilemma out. Help, anyone? I need closure!!