Ben
5th November 2005, 11:42 AM
Well, having never been put through to retentions before, I was promptly enlightened last week (or was it the week before? I forget...) when I asked the CSR to extend my Try data bundle for another 12 months as I was now out of contract. As the CSR couldn't do that, I found myself at retentions.
I asked for data, obviously, and explained that I needed that 50mb to keep my bills under control - bills that are already in the region of £60-£100 despite my core line rental only being £15.
To my surprise (and detriment for being so niave) I was informed that they 'don't do data'. Obviously Orange don't consider Data to be an area of competition over their rivals. They only offer calls and texts, neither of which I needed. I asked to be given the standard 10% discount on my line rental instead, as seen on TV and as I have probably mentioned elsewhere, and was told, after the member of staff checked with someone else, that I wasn't eligible.
So, screw retentions :) Now I know why there are a good few posts from long standing, medium-spending Orange customers around the old Interweb that are grouchy about how their relationships 'soured with time'.
I popped on the website, logged in, and applied the 10% line rental offer myself :) Perhaps I'd have had more bargaining power if I was actually planning on leaving. Still, it has given me the excuse to remove everything from my Orange account, bar the £13.50 line rental, and use it just for business incoming calls and the odd outbound one within my 30 mins talk time.
Instead, I've turned my heavier 6680 usage to Vodafone on their SIM-Only £25-for-250-minutes-and-a-£40-extras-pack deal for a while. Who knows, maybe for good. I greatly value technical quality, but I hardly expect my increased usage of Vodafone to yield a lower quality than Orange have been able to provide.
I asked for data, obviously, and explained that I needed that 50mb to keep my bills under control - bills that are already in the region of £60-£100 despite my core line rental only being £15.
To my surprise (and detriment for being so niave) I was informed that they 'don't do data'. Obviously Orange don't consider Data to be an area of competition over their rivals. They only offer calls and texts, neither of which I needed. I asked to be given the standard 10% discount on my line rental instead, as seen on TV and as I have probably mentioned elsewhere, and was told, after the member of staff checked with someone else, that I wasn't eligible.
So, screw retentions :) Now I know why there are a good few posts from long standing, medium-spending Orange customers around the old Interweb that are grouchy about how their relationships 'soured with time'.
I popped on the website, logged in, and applied the 10% line rental offer myself :) Perhaps I'd have had more bargaining power if I was actually planning on leaving. Still, it has given me the excuse to remove everything from my Orange account, bar the £13.50 line rental, and use it just for business incoming calls and the odd outbound one within my 30 mins talk time.
Instead, I've turned my heavier 6680 usage to Vodafone on their SIM-Only £25-for-250-minutes-and-a-£40-extras-pack deal for a while. Who knows, maybe for good. I greatly value technical quality, but I hardly expect my increased usage of Vodafone to yield a lower quality than Orange have been able to provide.