Upgrade Unfairness (General Comments...)

Member Name: kimm

Product:	General Comments...
Date:	16/09/01 (118 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: None.

Disadvantages: Bad customer service, used phones

The other day I walked past my Orange shop and saw adverts about upgrading Orange phones. I have had my Nokia for about 2 years and thought now was a good time to change it to something a bit smaller than a brick. So I went into the Orange Shop and the assistant was very keen to get me signed up with a new phone.

I got a Nokia 3310e and the assistant said that if there was anything wrong with it, I had 14 days within which to return it. I signed the contract and went off with my new phone. They had put my old SIM card in and I had to wait for a new SIM card to be sent to me, so that I could keep my original number. This was all fine and dandy until the SIM card came.

I couldn't open my phone! It was impossible, I was trying everything except throwing it against the wall. It just wouldn't open. So, I had to wait until the Saturday to go back to the Orange Shop so that they could take the back off it. Once this was done I put in the new SIM card and it kept coming up with a security code request. I tried my old code and the codes given in the manual but nothing worked. I phoned Orange and they said it was because I hadn't registered the SIM card. I then went through the motions of doing this and they told me that I would receive a text message of confirmtion in 20 minutes.

I waited and waited for about 4 hours. Then I phoned Orange again and they resent the text message. My phone still had the security code thing on. In the end they decided that the handset must be faulty.

I took it back to the Orange Shop on the Sunday and asked them to change it for me. They said that they couldn't change it as they didn;t have any in stock. By this point, I just needed a phone and I was prepared to pay £40 for the next one up. Nope...couldn't do that. The systems were down. I was sent away. When I phoned them up, they told me that I couldn't have a different phone and I would have to wait for Orang
e to send me a new phone. I was then told that it would take 28 days. I was very annoyed and in the end they said they would have it delivered in 3 days.

I then found out that the 14 days period for bringing the phone back did not apply to upgrades. I was also told that I was lucky I had brought it in on the Sunday because you only have 7 days within which to bring a faulty phone back. I was so annoyed as it wasn't my fault that they had given me a faulty phone which had obviously been returned by a previous customer.

I am disgusted with the way Orange con people into upgrading their phones. I think it is unfair that they don;t give you the same terms and conditions as if you signed up for a phone as a new customer. I don;t see any difference. I was out of my contract and resigned up.

My advise is to cancel your contract first and start again. Every customer should have the same terms and conditions as it is exactly the same thing. I only remain with Orange because all my friends are on Orange otherwise, I would take my business elsewhere. I also lost my 50 minutes for about 5 days, which they said couldn't be rolled over.

Summary: