Letter to Vodafone Au and Orange UK.
I’ve had enough of being ripped off for mobile data roaming so I’ve sent this to Orange UK and Vodafone Au. You’d think that as a Vodafone client my data costs would be the same both here and in the UK, or anywhere else for that matter.
Running an international SaaS (Software as a Service) business I know that ‘international’ data doesn’t cost 10 times ‘local’ data, imagine Cleartext charging clients in the USA ten times what we charge people in Australia… it’s time the mobile data rip off was stopped, much like the EU’s hammered telcos for voice roaming recently. So here it is;
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Attn: Customer Service management, Product Management.
bcc: Vodafone Au, Orange UK and my blog.
re: international mobile data roaming is still painful, it shouldn’t be.
I’d like to lodge a complaint about the amount of our latest Vodafone (mobile number 0*** ***1) bill attached, and the quality of technical and customer service (rude, unhelpful staff) at Orange (mobile number 0*** ***5) High Wycombe store.
Before travelling to the UK from Australia I enquired about mobile broadband via my iPhone and was informed that I could purchase a mobile data roaming plan for about $300 that gave me a couple of hundred megs of data. Obviously running a small business and staying online whilst in the UK this is just not economical so I decided to get a mobile broadband dongle in the UK. For example about $80 gets 2-3Gb of data,
On arriving in the UK we chose a dongle from Orange because the Vodafone staff in a retail outlet told us that coverage was not good in our locations, Orange said they had good coverage. The reality was that Orange had almost no 3G coverage so we returned the product and purchased a Vodafone dongle, this worked very well and we were happy with the results.
However during the period that the Orange dongle was less than useful I had to connect and used my Vodafone iPhone with mobile data roaming. I did this for about a week, (recall we were snowed in) switching data on and off as needed. The end result is not nice with a bill for ten times my usual monthly bill for 3G data.
Orange: Your service did not worked as explained by your retail staff, our plan was cancelled, but we were still billed via our credit card, this has now been corrected. BUT your staff would not refund the cost dongle, even returned in good packaging. What use is a dongle with no service, what would your industry body or trading standards think of failing to address a faulty product/service combination?
Vodafone: Having been a customer for many years I’d like some negotiation on this invoice and a credible explanation of the excessive charges incurred, especially in the contexts of the European Unions recent ruling on mobile roaming. Running an international Software as a Service business I fail to understand these excessive data costs, even allowing for differences in international market pricing for data I’d still only expect a maximum of double the fees.
Overall not much has changed over the last 10 years with regard to mobile roaming, either voice or data. I’d have thought that by know I could simply plug my iPhone into my laptop and get a data connection anywhere Vodafone has coverage, globally, without feeling like I’ve been ripped off. Charge a premium yes, but 10 times, that’s just outrageous.
Looking forward to some constructive dialogue on this issue.
best regards,
David Banes
Director & CEO, Cleartext
Director & Secretary, Internet Industry Association
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So this is Vodafones automated reply…
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Thanks for your email.
We’ve received your enquiry and we’ll have someone get back to you ASAP.
Below is your enquiry and reference number. If you would like to add to your enquiry, click reply first and enter your update between the lines below.
To learn more about the email support process click here.
To update this question by email, please reply to this message. Because your reply will be automatically processed, you MUST enter your reply in the space below. Text entered into any other part of this message will be discarded.
If you are replying with a new request instead of an update to the below query, please do not update this incident. Please go to http://vodafone.custhelp.com/app/ask to submit your question so we can answer you ASAP.
[===> Please enter your reply below this line < ===]
[===> Please enter your reply above this line <===]
Question Reference #100204-000084
Summary: Fwd: Your Vodafone Email Bill for 10 Dec 2009 to 09 Jan 2010
Date Created: 04/02/2010 11:14 AM
Last Updated: 04/02/2010 11:14 AM
Status: Unresolved
First Name:
Surname:
Enquiry PIN:
Mobile Number:
Email Address
Discussion Thread…. etc
And an automated reply from Orange.
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Orange strive to supply customers with the highest level of service and we would therefore like to advise that this is an automated response.
IMPORTANT…As this is an automated response, please do not reply to this acknowledgment, we will endeavour to answer your original email as soon as possible.
Please be advised that Orange aim to answer all email queries within 24 hours. However, for this time of year we are unusually busy and there may be a longer wait than anticipated.
It is not intended that this service should be used to obtain information on your account. Customer Services will not reply to messages relating to your bill, top ups, change of personal details or activated products and services via email. If you have any queries specifically related to your account please call Customer Services on 150 if you are a pay monthly customer or 450 if you are a pay as you go customer.
If you have a Billing Enquiry I am pleased to advise that you can now send a secure message, please sign into your online account at http://www.orange.co.uk. Once you have signed into the account select the billing and payment tab at the top of the screen. Please select the option to view your bills and you will then be taken to the screen where you can view your last 18 invoices.
Next to your latest or the previous months bill will be an option to view an e-bill. Please select this tab and you will be taken to a bill summary page. Please scroll to the bottom of the page and select the option to “click here to make a general enquiry”. This will take you to the secure message page. Select on the send a message tab and this will enable you to submit a secure message query to Orange.
Emails relating to lost, stolen, damaged or faulty phones cannot be answered by email and will not therefore receive a reply. Please call Orange Customer Services on 150 (07973100150 from a landline) for Pay Monthly or 450 (07973100450) for Pay As You Go or you may be able to find the answer to your query by going to http://www.orange.co.uk/mobile_help_and_support/
If you have an Orange phone and you are experiencing difficulties with your online account, you can contact our technical helpdesk by dialling 439 from your Orange phone or 07973100439 from a landline.
Kind Regards
Orange Online Services
@David Banes
And then Vodafone asked me to confirm my ID – still no help yet.
@David Banes
And today Orange have sent me a customer service survey asking how the issue was handled (btw this email had no reply address and contained dozens of other peoples emails ‘bcc’d'!!)
Shame the issue is still open.
UPDATE – Vodafone offers big discount. – Still no response from Orange(#fail)
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Hi ,
Thank you for your email.
In order to assist with your query please provide the 4 digit PIN you selected to authorise my access to your account.
If you do not remember your PIN, please provide the below identification requirements:
On Account (billed) Customers: If you are the account owner, forward your full name, date of birth, current residential address and method of payment to enable me to access your details.
Prepaid: Customers: If you are the account owner, forward your full name, ID number (I.e. drivers licence number, passport number etc) used at time of connection, date of birth, and address at time of connection so that I can confirm your identity.
If you are not the account owner, I cannot confirm this information with you. The account owner will need to raise a new incident and provide the required details to authorise access to their account.
If the account is in a company name, I will require a Letter of Authority on company letterhead, listing your ABN, and signed by a Director in order to action your request. This letter of authorisation may be scanned and attached to this email or alternatively faxed to 03 6210 3362 attention ‘Correspondence Team’ for actioning.
Once I have verified that you are the account holder, I will update your Contact Us profile with your mobile number and account PIN so that this information is automatically provided should you email us from your registered email address in future.
I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Kind Regards
Tara
Correspondence Team
Vodafone Pty Limited ABN 76 062 954 554
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So Summary- Vodafone wins on in store pre-sales, coverage (even underestimating) and post sales complaint resolution.
Orange OK on store sales, but failed terribly with in store post purchase complaints (Emma I hope you’re reading this, try to remember customers pay your wages) and online complaint handling.
Update from Orange UK;
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Hello
We recently sent you an email requesting feedback on our Online services. We’d like to apologise for an error which meant that a number of customer’s email addresses were not hidden from view in the mail. We’re now reviewing our email policy to ensure that this doesn’t happen again.
Once again we would like to apologise for any inconvenience this has caused you.
Orange
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And my reply …
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How about actually providing some customer service!
Here’s our experience so far;
- Purchased from a store in UK
- Returned defective product via rude staff, and only a partial refund.
- Got a letter saying ’sad to see you go’
- Direct Debit wasn’t cancelled as promised causing another payment to go out
- Got a call weeks later saying ‘Welcome to Orange’. wtf!
- Completed internet for asking for explanation of bad service etc but no reply after a week except dodgy emails like this…
Is there anyone at Orange who cares?
David.
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