I have to be honest, I usually tend to blog about a whole load of negative things, and rarely get around to giving credit to good service etc. Occasionally I will, but usually only if I'm REALLY impressed. And on this occasion, I am just that.
Having recently found a new love in my life, in the form of scuba diving, I needed to find an online shop which stocked a wide range of products, was simple to browse, and was backed up with good service. Looking through the options, the friendliest to the eye as well as the wallet came up as Simple Scuba .
After sending off some questions about my planned first purchase, I expected the same rubbish generic reply you get from lots of online enquiries. Cut and paste paragraphs with a little to make it seem personal. Instead I received a prompt reply, with a detailed response. Which in turn convinced me to press CONFIRM for the purchase.
Being the awkward bugger that I am, I found that the wetsuit I had ordered was not gonna fit. A 7mm SubGear is not the easiest thing in the world to get into on the best of days. Contacting Simply again and asking to use their FREE size exchange service. Obviously I was going to have to pay to return it, and for new postage to me, but no restocking fee. That's what I thought it would be...
Wrong.... turns out that FREE means completely free. A returns label was emailed over, simply dropped it off to a Collect+ location and off it goes, totally free of cost. The replacement is also sent free of charge too. Such a simple, pain free and most satisfying of all, cost free service. Once more for good luck.... FREE !
With my first experience all sorted, I decided it was time to take advantage of the next great thing about Simply Scuba... Their store based in Faversham is open 7 days a week, which any scuba diving fanatic will know, is not too common for a dive shop. Being able to visit on Sundays is great for the girlfriend who is unable to get to the shops any other day of the week.
Needless to say, the visit wasn't cheap!
Following the visit, I was newly inspired by seeing so many shiny objects in the shop, so went straight online and ordered some more bits. Unfortunately the bag I bought, a ScubaPro Dry 120, had a defective strap on it, so needed to go back. What a great excuse to go back for more shopping. So after a quick exchange of emails, apologies received and exchange arranged, we returned to the shop. A painless and simple exchange was made, followed by about another £1200 spend in store, and we were off again.
Sadly on Monday evening aka dive night, on unloading the bag from my car a shoulder strap gave way. Taking a quick picture just to show how it broke, I popped off an email and tweet to @simplyscuba , just as a time stamp and to excuse why the bag was worn. I wasn't for one second expecting a reply via Twitter at 10pm at night. Exceptional to say the least. The following day a quick email again, and the return was arranged, as usual FREE of charge and done with ease via Collect+ . At the same time I ordered a replacement (different brand) bag, this time a Mares Cruise Backpack Pro.
After making the order I confirmed with customer services that as I needed it quickly, I would buy the new one while the old one was being sent back, if a refund could be arranged on its return. Of course this was agreed to by the no problem approach of the customer service team at Simple Scuba. As an added bonus, and very kindly they also waived the charge for the Next Day delivery I had selected. Thank you Simply.
So now I have a complete scuba kit, including an amazing bag to carry it all in. All I need to do now is sort a dry bag for putting the wetsuit and boots in after diving. My guess that a Mares 25 litre dry bag was sadly a little ambitious. Needless to say for a wet 7mm suit and boots im gonna need something a little bit bigger. My next purchase maybe?
So my advice to you... If you like scuba diving, or a whole range of other outdoor sports, kayaking, hiking, running and more, give the Simply Group a look. Hassle free interest free credit, superb online shop, great customer services, fantastic store in Faversham staffed by lovely people, and so much more. I cant recommend Simply enough.
So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you to Simply Scuba for only helping to increase my love of diving, and making the journey of getting all my gear so trouble free. I already have a long shopping list of things to buy, including a 3 or 5mm wetsuit, Suunto Vyper, a decent small light, and so on...
Like diving - Love Simply Scuba
Showing posts with label customer service. Show all posts
Showing posts with label customer service. Show all posts
Friday, October 10, 2014
Friday, January 3, 2014
The polls are in, and Yodel.......
... well quite frankly they suck !
A recent poll from a reputable source, conducted in the UK about domestic parcel delivery put Yodel dead last.
In fact they were SO last, they actually had almost double the amount of BAD votes to the next placed carrier. Now that really says something when it comes to customer DIS-satisfaction.
A recent poll from a reputable source, conducted in the UK about domestic parcel delivery put Yodel dead last.
In fact they were SO last, they actually had almost double the amount of BAD votes to the next placed carrier. Now that really says something when it comes to customer DIS-satisfaction.
| Good |  | 592 votes (18%) |
| OK | | 654 votes (20%) |
| Bad | | 2104 votes (63%) |
As the boss of a company scoring THAT badly, surely you would start to look for ways to improve.
As the boss of a company USING a company that scores this badly, surely you would be looking for alternative carriers to keep your own customers happy.
But thats not how business works, we all know that by now.
Most people complain about foreign call centres, but more and more companies are outsourcing their customer service centres by the year.
So, all my moaning, all my complaining and blogging. It seems I was far from alone in my bad feeling towards the company. Even more reason to maintain my stance that I will NOT order anything from a company in the knowledge that they use Yodel as a delivery agent.
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
At least someone is replying !
Thank you to the Financial Ombudsman for taking the
time to review my email and get back to me with a case number regarding my
complaint against Wonga.com
Dear Mr Snasdell
Your complaint
Thank you for contacting us. We will reply as soon
as possible – but within six weeks.
If you need to get in touch before then, please use
your reference, XXXXXXXXXXX
In the meantime, Wonga have still not managed to
overcome sending me the same perpetual automated replies, asking me to call
them, or asking for more information so they can work out who I am.
Well we have established one thing for sure.... My
name is NOT Stephen! Idiots!
I don't really expect much from Wonga, at best, the
next email I get with my name on it will probably be this time NEXT month saying
they have screwed up again and my payment has failed again !
Sunday, October 20, 2013
Are Wonga just taking the piss now?
Just got this automated template again!
But this time with a twist.
I'm positive they are just taking the piss now!!
Dear Steven,
After reviewing your email, it seems clear the best way to get this matter sorted is over the phone.
Please call us on 020 7138 8331. We look forward to discussing your account and trying to help find a solution for you.
Who the FUCK is Stephen ?
Who the FUCK is Stephen ?
More Wonga bullshit.
For the third time now, in the past couple of days, Wonga have sent me another automated reply, this time saying all is well. Still unable to get a human to look at the problem, they simply persist in sending automatic, template responses, answering nothing.
Obviously by them saying this I could be led to believe that my payment went through ok on the 18th, and in turn assume that the unauthorised payment was an extra payment they had no right to take?
Of course, if a human just took 5 mins to look at the account and explain it to me in an email it would all make far more sense, and be clearer, but no. Seemingly it's not the Wonga way!
Wonga, you continue to be a cause of stress and frustration in my weekend, so please once and for all, read the damn email I sent you, address the questions and give me a straight answer.
Oh and one more thing, that script you give the outsourced call centre..... When a customer phones up distressed and angry that YOU have failed to take a payment.... scripting the agent to ask 'so how is your day going so far' is a bit fuckin retarded! #JustSayin!
Hi Michael,Thanks so much for your patience while we were checking your account. Your payment was received and your plan remains in good standing. We really do appreciate you keeping your word. The status of your arrangement can be viewed, and payments can be made anytime, by logging into the 'my account' area of our site. To avoid any hiccups, please make sure your debit card information is up to date. If you know of any potential problems, please call us on 0207 138 8331 asap.Best wishes, Collections Team
Saturday, October 19, 2013
Dear Wonga.... you utter muppets!
So, if you had not already guessed, my previous blog entry was referring to ... WONGA.COM. Those happy little people that are great when all is going well, and I have had good dealings with before. But when anything goes wrong, they are simply UTTER SHIT !
3 months the issues have dragged on for now, with them not even being able to arrange one single monthly payment from my account without sending me shitty emails telling me how they are going to systematically drain my bank account over the next day if you dont call them immediately. And if you DO call them, the agent will just take an unauthorised payment anyway, so its lose lose suckers !
So after saying in my email I didnt want a templated response from them, and would like the matter looked at properly, this is the insulting shit they send.
Hi,
After reviewing your email, it seems clear the best way to get this matter sorted is over the phone.
Please call us on 020 7138 8331. We look forward to discussing your account and trying to help find a solution for you.
You may also find you can get things sorted by using the options in the ‘my account’ area of our site.
Best wishes,
Hi,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, HI !! are you fuckin kidding my. My email signature has my name on it, my account has too, hell, even your threatening little YOU FAILED email has my first name on it, but now im 'Hi' FUCK OFF !!!
From this point in, everything goes public, nothing is a secret, and yes, I fucked up and used a pay day loan company, my bad! lol.
Wonga, your customer 'care' is an utter disgrace, disorganised, ill informed, poorly trained, and a complete polar opposite of the experience you offer when tempting people into taking loans with you.
I can see now why so many organisations have targeted you, and understand fully the stories that people like Sky News have run.
Shame on you !
Disgusted!
After a running battle with a financial company, that shall remain nameless for now, I am finally at my wits end with it all. I have just sent them the most balanced email I possibly could at this time. Right now I am full of anger and contempt with them for the way they are behaving, and can understand why they have come under such intense fire from the media over recent months.
I am of course going to follow up this matter, and forward it to anyone who might like to take a bite out of them, as well as the financial ombudsman and maybe a few media outlets, given their unauthorised activity on my bank account today.
VERY ANGRY RIGHT NOW !!
As my letter and blog writing skills show, im mind is not my own right now.
**EDIT**
In a hilarious twist, the company concerned have just replied to my email, stating they cant find a record of me, and for me to supply more information for them to be able to help me. I wonder if they have 'lost' my account finance information too, I doubt it eh !
I am of course going to follow up this matter, and forward it to anyone who might like to take a bite out of them, as well as the financial ombudsman and maybe a few media outlets, given their unauthorised activity on my bank account today.
VERY ANGRY RIGHT NOW !!
As my letter and blog writing skills show, im mind is not my own right now.
Dear Sir / Madam
I have just come off the phone from one of your agents after having probably THE worst customer 'care' ever. I am outraged at the events on the phone, as well as how your company has behaved over this matter. I therefore wish to advise you of my intentions to approach the Financial Ombudsman with this complaint.
Please see below the catalogue of errors which has lead to this issue.
A few months (payments) back my debit card was changed. Forgetting to advise yourselves, I rightfully received an email saying my payment had failed, and that I needed to call. I did so, and made payment there and then, as well as giving my details and authorisation for future automated payments to be taken.
Last month I received an email saying it had failed again. So I phoned up only to be told they could not check anything or change anything as the computer systems were down, and to try calling back later. Which I did.
I was then told that the payment had gone through fine, the email was an error, and all would be well THIS month.
Well, yesterday I received an email saying my payment had failed yet again. Not having time to stay on hold as the wait was a long time, I emailed, to which I received no response. Today I received an email saying the payment had failed, the plan was cancelled and that an attempt would be made to take the full amount tonight.
Let me just take that last email for a second and try and work this out. Your system and my bank for some how doesn't allow you to take 10% of the sum owed, so somehow the logical thing to do is to use the same system and bank details to take 100%. That makes sense doesn't it!
So, I have called your call centre again today, and this is where my biggest issue really starts. The scripted drone that I spoke with advised me that your systems were running very slowly today, so getting my details up would take a while, while waiting she asked me various security questions, and details of the existing arrangement and payments. While doing so she enquired about the agreement amount, which I told her of. Shortly after she asked for the last 4 digits of the card being used, and the security code, which I also told her. After a short pause she said 'ok that payment has gone through today'. I enquired what payment she meant, was the system showing the same as last month and had in fact collected payment. No she replied, the payment I just requested...
This is appauling that without so much as 'would you like me to try and collect a payment from your card now' or similar, she authorised herself to take payment on behalf of your company. Therefore I protest at this unauthorised payment being taken from my account in this way, and will be formally advising the financial ombudsman of my experience with yourselves. From what I see in the media, im sure it will just be one of many.
Falling into financial hardship is bad enough, without complete jokes of companies like your own behaving in the way you do.
On the ending of the conversation she also advised me that she had set up a payment plan that would come out on the 18th of each month from Nov. Once again, please accept this as my notification of intent towards your company. IF the payment fails for any reason other than fault of my own, and I receive the same automated email threatening to systematically milk my account of every penny you can, I will immediately cancel payment and willingly forfeit the settlement, with the explicit intention of taking legal action.
For the whole time, I have maintained my side of the agreement, but on a monthly basis you fail on your side time and time again, with escalating incompetence.
I expect this matter to be thoroughly investigated, and for a completely human typed, non templated response to be sent to me explaining the actions of the agent today, and explaining why oh why something as simple as this cannot be maintained.
I really hope this matter can be resolved properly once and for all.
Thank you sincerely for ruining the start to my weekend.
Michael Snasdell
PS, this letter is being published on my blog at the same time of sending. The company name has been withheld at this point out of common courtesy.
**EDIT**
In a hilarious twist, the company concerned have just replied to my email, stating they cant find a record of me, and for me to supply more information for them to be able to help me. I wonder if they have 'lost' my account finance information too, I doubt it eh !
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Dear Yodel, poor confused Yodel
Firstly let me say, thank you to the guys from Yodel on Twitter, for making things happen, shooting from the hip and just being down to earth. Without your input today I would be fuming.
So lets get to the fun part.Last night I tweeted, blogged and Facebooked my frustrations about a failed delivery, which was eventually scanned as an incomplete or unusable address. The call centre told me in no uncertain terms that the soonest the package could go back out was Friday. I was NOT happy and vented this by complaints of many forms to Yodel.
This morning, first thing I get a tweet from Yodel asking if they can help, 30 mins and a few messages later and I am assured the package is going back out for delivery, and am told the time the package was scanned onto the van. 09.52. And indeed it shows on the online tracking as just that.
| 02/05/2013 | 09:52 | Parcel with courier, its on its way! |
So, with this in mind, and knowing I am still pretty much housebound anyway, I relaxed a bit.
You can imagine my confusion when I then received an email from Yodel customer services in response to my rather sarcastic email from yesterday evening, stating the following....
Please accept my sincere apologies that you have had cause to contact Yodel regarding your delivery.This email was sent at 10.24, a full 30 mins AFTER the package had been sorted and scanned onto a van for delivery TODAY. Naturally a rather sarcastic reply was sent questioning the accuracy of the information in the email. What this says to me is that the person replying to the email didn't really look into the matter at all, but just grabbed a few bits of information, took a guess and replied with lip service not customer service.
I have looked on our system that states you called around 7.30pm yesterday evening to re-book your delivery, unfortunately our cut of time for re-deliveries is 4.30pm therfore the nearest available day would be Friday as advised by the adviser you spoke to.
Had they looked into the matter properly they would also have noted that the call was connected at EIGHT thirty, not 7 as stated in the email, that was of course after being on hold for 30 mins. At my expense I should add as apparently..... I quote..
With reference to compensation for calls, Im afraid that this falls under the category of consequential loss and as a company Yodel do not cover this. We strive to ensure that all our customers receive excellent service and I realise that on this occasion you feel it was not achieved.So in short...
Yodels drivers will lie when they cant be bothered to try and deliver a package, and state that the address was wrong.
When the address on the package is confirmed as correct by a call centre agent on the phone, they will then in turn suggest access to the house was not possible, or that the road is small and not on a map. And that it will take TWO days to get the package back out for delivery,
When you email customer services to complain about the whole matter, the agent will simply fabricate a call time, ignore the comments made about getting it back out for delivery THE NEXT DAY, and instead say SAME day reattempt is not possible. Finally stating that it WILL take 2 days, and the 30 mins on hold is for you to pay for.
THEN.... You speak briefly in under 140 characters to a helpful bunch at @YodelOnline via Twitter, and they sort the whole matter out, get it back out for delivery, and are polite and honest in the process.
Thanks again to the small contingent of Yodel staff who are actually helpful. As for the rest.. Karma gonna get ya!
Right..... now wheres my bloody package ! Haha
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Yodel, you complete and utter joke!
To say I have had a bad experience with YODEL the delivery company today is pretty much an understatement. The only saving grace is that I am off work sick today, or I would have in fact just wasted a whole day of my life waiting for a package that was destined NEVER to show up. Of course it wasn't, Yodel were dealing with it, what was I expecting.
My new phone ordered from the CarphoneWarehouse was dispatched yesterday, and the online tracking began, ending with ...
The reason for this, apparently my postal address of 30+ years was a little too complex for someone along the line to cope with, so they just took the package out for delivery, drove around South London with it since 10am, finally decided they didn't know where SE23 was, and scanned it to say the address was inadequate. The tracking screen updated an hour later to say it was back at the depot.
So I called the call centre.... and waited...... and waited, oh and errm waited some more. THIRTY minutes later I finally got through, and after a long discussion about how hard it is to walk up my drive way, or why a courier would not know where the road was, it was agreed it would be redelivered.... ON FRIDAY !!
FFS are you kidding me, its gonna take them 2 days to get the package back out to me, im not allowed to get someone to pick it up for me, and they can only give a 12 hour delivery window.
At least I know a rough idea of why they are called YODEL now. Its either the method of communication between customers and customer service, or the sound the thoughts make as they travel across the vast expanses between some of their staffs ears.
I shall leave you with my email to Yodel.
I have waited patiently all day for a package to arrive and watched as it was updated to received at depot, til out for delivery. Finally at 8pm it updates to say its back at the depot.
On calling your call centre and spending 30 mins on hold, I finally got through to someone and was told the courier was unable to find my postal address. I should point out at this point that I too work for a large international courier service, and know our drivers would never take out a package which they thought the address was incorrect or incomplete on.
So why is it this courier in question has spent all day with the package with a perfectly good address and postcode on, only to claim it was inadequate? And now to rub salt in the wounds I am told I can neither collect it, nor have it reattempted until Friday, and even then its a 12 hour delivery window.
I have a job to go to, I have a life to live, and I now have a rather large phone bill as I had to join the end of a VERY long queue of people probably with similar comments and complaints as myself, waiting to speak to someone at the call centre.
So, can I collect this package and save someone the painful task of trying to navigate across the vast, open, confusing to navigate wilderness also known as South London, or can someone armed with a medieval artefact know as a map manage to deliver it before Friday.
Im not quite sure why it would take 48 hours to turn a package back around and out for delivery again.
This has been a totally ridiculous chain of events, and in turn deserved nothing less that a ridiculously sarcastic email to complain about the service.
Quite simply, can someone please arrange for this package to be delivered, properly and before Friday. And a refund for the call cost would be quite delightful.
Regards
My new phone ordered from the CarphoneWarehouse was dispatched yesterday, and the online tracking began, ending with ...
| 01/05/2013 | 20:01 | Parcel returned to delivery depot |
So I called the call centre.... and waited...... and waited, oh and errm waited some more. THIRTY minutes later I finally got through, and after a long discussion about how hard it is to walk up my drive way, or why a courier would not know where the road was, it was agreed it would be redelivered.... ON FRIDAY !!
FFS are you kidding me, its gonna take them 2 days to get the package back out to me, im not allowed to get someone to pick it up for me, and they can only give a 12 hour delivery window.
At least I know a rough idea of why they are called YODEL now. Its either the method of communication between customers and customer service, or the sound the thoughts make as they travel across the vast expanses between some of their staffs ears.
I shall leave you with my email to Yodel.
I have waited patiently all day for a package to arrive and watched as it was updated to received at depot, til out for delivery. Finally at 8pm it updates to say its back at the depot.
On calling your call centre and spending 30 mins on hold, I finally got through to someone and was told the courier was unable to find my postal address. I should point out at this point that I too work for a large international courier service, and know our drivers would never take out a package which they thought the address was incorrect or incomplete on.
So why is it this courier in question has spent all day with the package with a perfectly good address and postcode on, only to claim it was inadequate? And now to rub salt in the wounds I am told I can neither collect it, nor have it reattempted until Friday, and even then its a 12 hour delivery window.
I have a job to go to, I have a life to live, and I now have a rather large phone bill as I had to join the end of a VERY long queue of people probably with similar comments and complaints as myself, waiting to speak to someone at the call centre.
So, can I collect this package and save someone the painful task of trying to navigate across the vast, open, confusing to navigate wilderness also known as South London, or can someone armed with a medieval artefact know as a map manage to deliver it before Friday.
Im not quite sure why it would take 48 hours to turn a package back around and out for delivery again.
This has been a totally ridiculous chain of events, and in turn deserved nothing less that a ridiculously sarcastic email to complain about the service.
Quite simply, can someone please arrange for this package to be delivered, properly and before Friday. And a refund for the call cost would be quite delightful.
Regards
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Bathroom nightmares... Continued!
Today I had an appointment, for what I believed was someone to look the job over, get it all costed and job codes sorted, arrange the materials, and finally get started on the making good of the mess Bryhill made of it all.
I was a little confused when the first letter from the contractor mentioned that it was tiling they were coming to do. While there is tiling to be done, there is also skimming, painting, bath panel refitting, shrouding and other bits to do too. To be sure, I checked with L&Q and it was confirmed this was just an appraisal visit.
So.... Imagine my surprise to get a call, then a visit from a contractor to do tiling today! It was a very short visit, during which he told me he didn't know what part of the wall he was tiling, didn't have any authorisation to do anything other than white tiles, was ONLY tiling, no painting or other making good works, and would now not be doing anything today.
Needless to say, my heart sank, and I called L&Q back again.
The whole matter is now being looked into AGAIN, and I must await a call back to decide what course of action will be taken next. So, after all the messing around with days off last year, here we are, the start of 2013 and I have already wasted another day of annual leave! Not impressed at all.
So just to be clear, I have attached some pictures of the bathroom for the world to view. Remembering the whole thing stems from a damp problem from a leaking soil pipe back in 2010. Work started at the end of 2011, replacing the soil pipe but left the walls soaked. That was finally rectified (or maybe wrecktified is a more fitting term!) at the end of 2012 with the wall being hacked off and re-plastered.
During this work the toilet was broken, the waste pipe was not fitted back on the bath, the window frames were coated in plaster, the wall was hit with the bath damaging it, the silicone bath sealant was royally messed up, and the bath panel was siliconed on instead of screwed on. When the panel was removed for the waste pipe to be sorted it damaged the pipe boxing it was siliconed to.
When the toilet was replaced following its damage, the plumber could NOT get screws or bolts to take in the floor as it crumbled when drilled, so he used silicone to attach it to the floor.
As I see it, the following jobs need sorting.
Plastering skimmed to prep for paint
Wall repaired/ skimmed
Splashbacks tiled
Toilet fitted properly so it doesn't rock
Bath panel re-fitting
Pipe boxing refitting
Skirting board painting
Plaster removed from window frame
Walls re-painted
Woodword around cistern (1ft from wall) finishing and painting
Silicone seal around bath re-sealing
Window sill re-tiled
In reality it would almost be easier and quicker to pull the whole lot out, give it the once over and be done with it. The only decent remaining things in the bathroom now, is the wall of tiles to the side of the bath, and the hand basin. Oh, the door is ok, and the light is working too. Not all doom and gloom eh.
Anyway, enjoy the pictures.
PS, I don't consider myself to have high expectations, nor to be unreasonable. 2 years ago I had a lovely bathroom fitted by Apollo, which would have been fine except for a leaking external soil pipe causing the damp wall..... Which has led to this!
If you are reading this L&Q... You have been great about most things, and I am a happy customer, but this is getting too much now. I have taken endless days off work for this. Surveyors, contractors, plumbers, builders, painters, plasters.... And I am STILL left with this!
Please sort it soon. It was beautiful before.
Regards
Michael
Sent via Blackberry®
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
EMEA wide RIM server outage affects Blackberry users
OK, I will be the first to admit that it has been amusing to see the over the top reactions that some have been posting on forums and Twitter etc. The hatred and anger experienced by some is laughable, but at the same time the BES side of things is somewhat more serious. Losing a whole infrastructure like that in one hit is not good for business on the best of days, and to be honest I would not be surprised if a few people/companies reconsider their loyalties to RIM/Blackberry. It is one thing to have a problem as a service provider for a short period of time, but its something completely different to have a 24 hour EUROPE wide outage, and to say nothing more that a couple of little tweets on Twitter.
Why was it down, how long will it take to restore, what is affected, what action can users take, when it does come back on will there be lag... And so on. A multitude of questions people had, and bombarded their network carriers with, who were sadly as in the dark as the rest of the RIM users. Its somewhat ironic that a company who prides themselves in revolutionising the world of wireless communication failed so badly to in any way communicate what the hell was, and still is going on.
An outage apparently starting at 11am Monday, but my carrier Orange UK was already having issues communicating with the RIM servers on Sunday afternoon, hence why my device swap has been in limbo now for over 36 hours. At this point there were already lag issues, maybe this would have been the right time to contact users to notify them of service issues. I'm sure RIM can do this somehow.
OK so I guess I should show my hand at this point, and say, as pissed off as I am, I still remain 'loyal' to Blackberry at this point, as the device and services are what I am used to using, and as a whole until yesterday was more than happy with. But it raises questions in my head. How the HELL did something like this happen, and why in god's name has it taken so long to get anywhere near to resolving the issue.
Dear RIM, Its a bloody joke! I don't get it. Twitter was working fine yesterday, so fine in fact that 'blackberry', 'rim' and 'BB' have become trend topics. The outage is all over the news, forums are full of anger and upset at this poorly managed outage, yet the official websites say NOTHING about it, not so much as a link to some info if you don't want to splatter your front pages with it. Poor show I say.
The worst part for RIM at this point, is how much of a laughing stock they have become. And speaking of stocks, I wonder if they have been affected by this total failure of service and customer service. Apple will be laughing their socks off at this gift thrown towards them. While the two are not comparable, it has certainly spiced up Apple's argument for which is the superior device. BBM failure just in time for iMessenger to be launched. Free advertising if I ever saw it.
So what now? When will the service be up to 100% again, when will I finally be able to finish my device switch, when will I be able to reply to people who BBM me, that RIM has decided I currently cant contact.
I really hope serious lessons are learned here, and that a repeat of this is impossible, but lets wait and see eh. Will we ever know the real reason for the outage, and reason it could not be restored using back-up servers quickly? All I want is a rough explanation of what happened, how and why..... But I'm not gonna hold my breath for that.
Why was it down, how long will it take to restore, what is affected, what action can users take, when it does come back on will there be lag... And so on. A multitude of questions people had, and bombarded their network carriers with, who were sadly as in the dark as the rest of the RIM users. Its somewhat ironic that a company who prides themselves in revolutionising the world of wireless communication failed so badly to in any way communicate what the hell was, and still is going on.
An outage apparently starting at 11am Monday, but my carrier Orange UK was already having issues communicating with the RIM servers on Sunday afternoon, hence why my device swap has been in limbo now for over 36 hours. At this point there were already lag issues, maybe this would have been the right time to contact users to notify them of service issues. I'm sure RIM can do this somehow.
OK so I guess I should show my hand at this point, and say, as pissed off as I am, I still remain 'loyal' to Blackberry at this point, as the device and services are what I am used to using, and as a whole until yesterday was more than happy with. But it raises questions in my head. How the HELL did something like this happen, and why in god's name has it taken so long to get anywhere near to resolving the issue.
Dear RIM, Its a bloody joke! I don't get it. Twitter was working fine yesterday, so fine in fact that 'blackberry', 'rim' and 'BB' have become trend topics. The outage is all over the news, forums are full of anger and upset at this poorly managed outage, yet the official websites say NOTHING about it, not so much as a link to some info if you don't want to splatter your front pages with it. Poor show I say.
The worst part for RIM at this point, is how much of a laughing stock they have become. And speaking of stocks, I wonder if they have been affected by this total failure of service and customer service. Apple will be laughing their socks off at this gift thrown towards them. While the two are not comparable, it has certainly spiced up Apple's argument for which is the superior device. BBM failure just in time for iMessenger to be launched. Free advertising if I ever saw it.
So what now? When will the service be up to 100% again, when will I finally be able to finish my device switch, when will I be able to reply to people who BBM me, that RIM has decided I currently cant contact.
I really hope serious lessons are learned here, and that a repeat of this is impossible, but lets wait and see eh. Will we ever know the real reason for the outage, and reason it could not be restored using back-up servers quickly? All I want is a rough explanation of what happened, how and why..... But I'm not gonna hold my breath for that.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Thank you Odeon cinema.
I thank you for your wonderful staff who prove they are not only incapable of dealing with a complaint in an unbiased manner, but also choose to pick out people from random, make allegations about them in a public domain, and represent the company in such a poor way.
I refer of course to the comment left on this blog... http://michaelsnasdell.blogspot.com/2010/10/re-guest-services-ref-bkg20102624.html
Unfounded allegations of abusive behaviour towards members of staff, allegations with no detail suggesting I am some sort of repeat offender at Odeon.
Thank you for providing employment for this 'special' kind of person.
And to the author of the comment..... You have a picture of me, email for me, my full name, my address is easy to find too, so lets have something from your emptiness now, maybe even some depth to your allegations.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
The weekend is almost over.
Well it might as well be, the weather is crap, the other half has gone home for a family dinner, and I'm broke. So it looks like another day in front of the TV for me.
On the plus side, it gives me a little time to thin about this whole building collapse thing, and think of new angles and approaches to get things in motion.
Its not so much whats happened now, more about what is left that could still happen. The wet weather has arrived for the season now, and also freezing weather is approaching, which is all bad news for unstable ground, and buildings sitting on the edge of it.
So with the issues at the site down the road, I am going to selfishly attempt to steal a little of the spot light it is receiving and focus it on the site remaining empty at 6 Church Rise. Since its collapse there has never been a detail investigation carried out, nor an inspection on the foundations of the property I live in.
Now correct me if I am wrong here, but if a building collapses from the foundations up, with a huge pit dug BELOW the house, just a couple of metres from the house next door, would you too not assume that your property and foundations had been compromised? Especially when the cracks start to open up in your rooms nearest to the collapse. When floorboards no longer reach the skirting boards, and the concrete path between the properties moves over half an inch AWAY from your property. Am I just being paranoid here, or do I have a valid point that someone needs to look at this properly?
In an idea world I would call in a private surveyor, pay for a full survey, and put my mind at rest. However we all know this can cost a lot of money, especially when its foundations you are looking at. So my next angle may be to approach Lewisham and ask if they will send their own surveyors. if they are not willing to, then I shall take the angle of "If you are SO confident that there is nothing wrong, I will call the surveyor in, and if they find anything, not only will I claim back the costs, but I will sue too for failure of duty of care". Next step, find out how much this kind of survey costs lol.
Anyway, im getting caught up on this whole house thing again. My god I thought I was done with it all, but realise now that it has only just begun. With the change of management of the property, maybe I need to contact the new company to see if they are happy with the situation too. OK thats enough about that for now.
So the rest of the weekend, only thing I can say really is FAIL. That just about sums up my weekend. Things planned to do, not done. Things planned NOT to do, done! Too much eating, not enough getting out there and doing things.
Which leads me neatly to the next part. Failing to get the dog food from the shops yesterday, has led to the the other half leaving here today a little pissed off with me, and me a little grr at us for being lazy. Its only a quick trip to a shop a few miles away, but we didnt bother, so thats the dog food running dangerously low.
My plan for the remainder of the day, sulk a little, eat a little, get the Wii Fit out and mess about a bit.
Hope your weekends have been a little better than mine.
PS, pissed off but still positive :)
Oh PS.... I got a letter from my mates at Orange yesterday. Over 2 months since I cancelled my home broadband account they send me a letter which simply says "you own use £27, pay in 7 days or we take you to court" OK there were a few more words that than, but totally unprofessional, unacceptable, and something I will be following up agressively. Bloody cheek!
On the plus side, it gives me a little time to thin about this whole building collapse thing, and think of new angles and approaches to get things in motion.
Its not so much whats happened now, more about what is left that could still happen. The wet weather has arrived for the season now, and also freezing weather is approaching, which is all bad news for unstable ground, and buildings sitting on the edge of it.
So with the issues at the site down the road, I am going to selfishly attempt to steal a little of the spot light it is receiving and focus it on the site remaining empty at 6 Church Rise. Since its collapse there has never been a detail investigation carried out, nor an inspection on the foundations of the property I live in.
Now correct me if I am wrong here, but if a building collapses from the foundations up, with a huge pit dug BELOW the house, just a couple of metres from the house next door, would you too not assume that your property and foundations had been compromised? Especially when the cracks start to open up in your rooms nearest to the collapse. When floorboards no longer reach the skirting boards, and the concrete path between the properties moves over half an inch AWAY from your property. Am I just being paranoid here, or do I have a valid point that someone needs to look at this properly?
In an idea world I would call in a private surveyor, pay for a full survey, and put my mind at rest. However we all know this can cost a lot of money, especially when its foundations you are looking at. So my next angle may be to approach Lewisham and ask if they will send their own surveyors. if they are not willing to, then I shall take the angle of "If you are SO confident that there is nothing wrong, I will call the surveyor in, and if they find anything, not only will I claim back the costs, but I will sue too for failure of duty of care". Next step, find out how much this kind of survey costs lol.
Anyway, im getting caught up on this whole house thing again. My god I thought I was done with it all, but realise now that it has only just begun. With the change of management of the property, maybe I need to contact the new company to see if they are happy with the situation too. OK thats enough about that for now.
So the rest of the weekend, only thing I can say really is FAIL. That just about sums up my weekend. Things planned to do, not done. Things planned NOT to do, done! Too much eating, not enough getting out there and doing things.
Which leads me neatly to the next part. Failing to get the dog food from the shops yesterday, has led to the the other half leaving here today a little pissed off with me, and me a little grr at us for being lazy. Its only a quick trip to a shop a few miles away, but we didnt bother, so thats the dog food running dangerously low.
My plan for the remainder of the day, sulk a little, eat a little, get the Wii Fit out and mess about a bit.
Hope your weekends have been a little better than mine.
PS, pissed off but still positive :)
Oh PS.... I got a letter from my mates at Orange yesterday. Over 2 months since I cancelled my home broadband account they send me a letter which simply says "you own use £27, pay in 7 days or we take you to court" OK there were a few more words that than, but totally unprofessional, unacceptable, and something I will be following up agressively. Bloody cheek!
Thursday, April 1, 2010
My experience with Orange UK customer services
OK, so I know I have already blogged about this, but wanted to get it all into one entry. Reason being is, I want to copy it and send it to any organisation, governing body, or media body that wants to read it. As a whole I feel the way Orange have dealt with this matter is ridiculous, so it deserves as much attention as it can get. So here goes.
On Thursday 25th March I awoke to find my Blackberry was not sending or receiving data. Its not the first time it has happened, but usually a battery pull or re-registering it on the network solves the problem. However on this occasion it didn't.
After doing all the usual things I decided to call Orange and report it as a fault. I called them at about 11am, and spoke to the handset faults team, who after running some basic diagnostics were unable to resolve the issue. The matter was then escalated to the next level, and I spoke to someone else who ran me through a whole host of diagnostics, including deleting settings, resending things etc. None of which worked. At this point he suggested purging me from the network was the last resort, and set about getting this done. Sadly this didn't work either. He then said he had exhausted all the options and needed to speak with someone about replacing the handset, and he would call be back..... The call back never came.
I made a couple more calls to Orange, that day, but nothing was resolved. I spoke to another guy that evening, who again ran through some ideas, but was unable to resolve it either. He too said replacement would be the best call on the matter. Just wanting to be sure it was a handset fault and not a network fault, I asked if he could call me back once I was at home, so I could try and alternative SIM in the handset. 30 mins later he called back, and I tried the SIM..... Nothing.
The strange part in all this is, both my BIS SIM's work fine in my other Blackberry (8520) Full BIS service, no issues. But when put in the 9700 neither can use the data service. Giving him this information he too was satisfied that it was the handset, and requested a replacement be issued. To my surprise the request was denied, and the matter was passed to networks as that is where is was now believe the fault lay. Quite how this could be the case, with both SIM's operating fine in another handset, I do not know, but then who am I?
I was told it could take a couple of days, so left it until Saturday afternoon to call back. When I called back I was told network were aware of the issue, but had not finished with the matter yet, and I would have to wait until they have made their decision on the matter until it could progress any further. Over the weekend I was told networks work normal hours, networks work limited hours, networks run a skeleton crew, and finally networks don't work at all over the weekend, so nothing will be done with the case til Monday.
Sunday comes around, I call Orange to ask what the outcome is with network. They tell me that its just being looked at now, and hopefully I will get a call back that afternoon, but to give them til late, as they work til 10. 10pm comes and goes, no call back. By this time it is about the 4th time I have been promised a call back, and it has not come. Monday now rolls around and to my shock I get a call. A voice says "hi I'm from customer relations, I have someone on the line who can help with your faulty Blackberry", seconds later I am connected.... To level 1 tech support, in what sounded like India. I don't make that assumption from the fact I am speaking to an Indian guy, but more to do with the loud native chatter in the background drowning out his voice as he tries to speak to me.
Now at this point again I get a little wound up. Firstly, I have been through level 1 over and over with numerous people over the last few days. And secondly that the instructions he is giving me (screen prompted of course) are wrong. Telling me to "press the trackball" errrm, the 9700 has a pad, not a ball. Eventually, as expected he admits defeat and passes me to the next level.
I am now connected to a guy who says he hopes he can help me, as its his first day. GREAT!
After a few mins of explaining that the SIM's work fine in other handsets he also states that its not a network issue, but a handset issue. However they cannot replace it at this point.
I ask for an escalation and a call back as its now getting stupid.
Somewhere along the line, I forget where now) the matter is passed to RIM themselves. As it is now believe this is where the real issue lays. (I will come back to this in a bit)
(at this point, forgive me if I contradict myself with dates etc, with the hours of calls I have honestly lost track of time)
On Tuesday, its now been 6 days, no data, no replacement handset, no sign of an answer to it all. I am getting fed up now, so I place another call to see what is going on. I also ask for the matter to be escalated to a manager or team leader the day before. This is the second time I have done this, and for the second time, surprise surprise the call back never comes. I also called retentions to see how much it would cost me to leave Orange. By this point I am really starting to get fed up of messing about with a broken phone, pulling the battery out etc to satisfy the curiosity of a tech support guy who is sure he can fix it.
The guy at retentions was very nice and polite, disappointed the Orange have dealt with it so badly and says he wants to make some calls and get back in touch with me and hopefully he can speed things up for me. No shocks, but no calls back, no resolution, nothing. Yet another department full of empty promises.
Tuesday afternoon rolls around and I am searching the web to find a way to speak to someone more senior, who can maybe just over ride the ongoing stupidity, and agree to replace the handset. I find a complaint site about Orange (seems there are a few of these now) with the email address executive.office@orange.co.uk so I give it a go.
I fire off an email of annoyance, explaining the situation in a much detail as I can, and cross my fingers. An hour later I get a call from the executive office who want to discuss the matter further. My hopes rise for the first time in a week.
On speaking to the guy all seems well, sounds like I have someone on my side finally, and the name "executive" would kind of indicate that the matter is finally serious. At this point I should mention, I have been a loyal customer to Orange for about 6 years now. With 6 contract with them, and an average annual spend of £2000+. While I don't expect "special" treatment, I do hope that they will take the case seriously, and try and look after a good customer. Apparently this has no bearing and they don't give a toss.
The call ends with me agreeing to give Orange and RIM til Thursday afternoon to try and decide on the matter, and get my phone working again. I wait all Thursday afternoon with baited breath, hoping to see GPRS appear in upper case..... it does not happen.
I call the same guy at Orange back, and tell him the bad news. Now at this point its day 8 (yes EIGHT) of this charade, so surely with Easter holidays looming (the next 4 days) something is going to be decided now. We start the conversation, but I can tell its going nowhere. As he continues to talk, I can tell there is NO intention of replacing the handset for me. He goes on to explain that they will use this to learn from, and will make changes if deemed necessary to the way they handle these matter in future. Now I'm all for change, and improvement, but how the hell exactly does this help my case right now. Eight days without my 9700, and I'm meant to be impressed about promises about the future?
I explain that I am frustrated beyond description now, and just want the Blackberry away from me. I am sick of being the test dummy for the tech guys asking me to go through menu's and pull the battery, and just want the phone out of my sight until they have fixed it or replaced it. The response I get to this is amazing. They refuse to take the handset back until RIM have made their decision of if the fault lays with them, just in case it can be fixed over the air. The funniest part is the reason for this... Apparently Orange would not want to cause a delay getting a working phone back with me!! Are you freakin kiddin me or what. Its been 8 days, when exactly did you start caring about that !
Then the killer blow. Now I don't expect to speak to a nerd with knowledge of every handset out there, but I don't expect to be spoken to like a complete a-hole either. He starts to tell me what they believe the fault is, and why they cannot replace the handset at this point. Its something like this.
Exec: The fault is with the account, so even if we send you a replacement handset out, it would still not fix anything.
Me: Yes it will, both accounts are working fine on my other handset, so replacing the handset clearly does work.
Exec: No it wont, the problem is with the PIN, so if we replace it the problem will remain.
Me: The PIN is tied to the handset, if the fault is with the PIN, then its a handset fault, and replacing it will solve everything.
Exec: No, the account is the problem, you wont be able to use another Blackberry on that account.
Me: I already am, I'm using my 8520 just fine. I can log into either of my Blackberry accounts, and assign them to the 8520, and they both work perfectly, data, email, BBS etc. So its nothing to do with the account, its the handset, so replace it!
Exec: The issue is with the PIN......
I give up trying to explain at this point as its becoming very frustrating now, to be insulted, to have your understanding of the way it works questioned, and to be messed about to such an extreme.
Now from what I have learned from places like Crackberry (thanks guys for all your help) the PIN could be the issue, as RIM could have a block on it for some unknown reason. Which is unfortunate, but Orange know that they CAN issue a replacement to me, to get my service back up and running, then take the issue up with RIM about why it was blocked. But instead I have to sit around for 2 weeks with a bricked phone sitting on the side, waiting for someone to finally decide I can have a new phone!
So, its Thursday night now. The end of the 8th day of no phone (thank god for keeping my 8520). The outcome is I have to wait for RIM to contact Orange to tell them what next. Then at that point Orange MAY finally decide to replace the handset. But with my luck the whole matter will turn another corner. I mentioned 2 weeks without a phone earlier as tomorrow is Good Friday, so all customer services are closed. Then its the weekend, then Easter Monday, so no services resume til Tuesday. So days 9, 10, 11, and 12 are wasted. Who will day 13 be unlucky for.... Somehow I think me!
So my sincere thanks to Orange, for taking 7 hours of my life, wasted talking on the phone to people pretending to give a damn, promising to call back, then not bothering. I am now left with a talk plan WAY over its allowance, due to the hours spent on the phone to your tech support. A seriously bitter taste in my mouth over how you treat big spending and loyal customers, and a ticking timebomb in my head about if I bother to remain with Orange or not. Although grasped by the balls due to the dates on all the contracts, I am not going to be had over a barrel and will not stop until I have told this story to anyone and everyone who will listen.
Letters have been sent now to all the appropriate bodies, as well as the customer services, and head office of Orange. I have contacted RIM directly to ask their opinion on the matter and their part in the issue, and will just keep going.
The chances are I will stay with Orange if this gets resolved soon, all my expenses are reimbursed, and we talk hardball about where we go from here.
After so many years of loyalty, and singing the network praises, I am left with just one thing to say..... Orange UK, right now YOU SUCK!
PS I have missed out lots of things here, most of which can be found in earlier entries, but I hope it gives a rough idea of the crap I have been putting up with for over a week now.
On Thursday 25th March I awoke to find my Blackberry was not sending or receiving data. Its not the first time it has happened, but usually a battery pull or re-registering it on the network solves the problem. However on this occasion it didn't.
After doing all the usual things I decided to call Orange and report it as a fault. I called them at about 11am, and spoke to the handset faults team, who after running some basic diagnostics were unable to resolve the issue. The matter was then escalated to the next level, and I spoke to someone else who ran me through a whole host of diagnostics, including deleting settings, resending things etc. None of which worked. At this point he suggested purging me from the network was the last resort, and set about getting this done. Sadly this didn't work either. He then said he had exhausted all the options and needed to speak with someone about replacing the handset, and he would call be back..... The call back never came.
I made a couple more calls to Orange, that day, but nothing was resolved. I spoke to another guy that evening, who again ran through some ideas, but was unable to resolve it either. He too said replacement would be the best call on the matter. Just wanting to be sure it was a handset fault and not a network fault, I asked if he could call me back once I was at home, so I could try and alternative SIM in the handset. 30 mins later he called back, and I tried the SIM..... Nothing.
The strange part in all this is, both my BIS SIM's work fine in my other Blackberry (8520) Full BIS service, no issues. But when put in the 9700 neither can use the data service. Giving him this information he too was satisfied that it was the handset, and requested a replacement be issued. To my surprise the request was denied, and the matter was passed to networks as that is where is was now believe the fault lay. Quite how this could be the case, with both SIM's operating fine in another handset, I do not know, but then who am I?
I was told it could take a couple of days, so left it until Saturday afternoon to call back. When I called back I was told network were aware of the issue, but had not finished with the matter yet, and I would have to wait until they have made their decision on the matter until it could progress any further. Over the weekend I was told networks work normal hours, networks work limited hours, networks run a skeleton crew, and finally networks don't work at all over the weekend, so nothing will be done with the case til Monday.
Sunday comes around, I call Orange to ask what the outcome is with network. They tell me that its just being looked at now, and hopefully I will get a call back that afternoon, but to give them til late, as they work til 10. 10pm comes and goes, no call back. By this time it is about the 4th time I have been promised a call back, and it has not come. Monday now rolls around and to my shock I get a call. A voice says "hi I'm from customer relations, I have someone on the line who can help with your faulty Blackberry", seconds later I am connected.... To level 1 tech support, in what sounded like India. I don't make that assumption from the fact I am speaking to an Indian guy, but more to do with the loud native chatter in the background drowning out his voice as he tries to speak to me.
Now at this point again I get a little wound up. Firstly, I have been through level 1 over and over with numerous people over the last few days. And secondly that the instructions he is giving me (screen prompted of course) are wrong. Telling me to "press the trackball" errrm, the 9700 has a pad, not a ball. Eventually, as expected he admits defeat and passes me to the next level.
I am now connected to a guy who says he hopes he can help me, as its his first day. GREAT!
After a few mins of explaining that the SIM's work fine in other handsets he also states that its not a network issue, but a handset issue. However they cannot replace it at this point.
I ask for an escalation and a call back as its now getting stupid.
Somewhere along the line, I forget where now) the matter is passed to RIM themselves. As it is now believe this is where the real issue lays. (I will come back to this in a bit)
(at this point, forgive me if I contradict myself with dates etc, with the hours of calls I have honestly lost track of time)
On Tuesday, its now been 6 days, no data, no replacement handset, no sign of an answer to it all. I am getting fed up now, so I place another call to see what is going on. I also ask for the matter to be escalated to a manager or team leader the day before. This is the second time I have done this, and for the second time, surprise surprise the call back never comes. I also called retentions to see how much it would cost me to leave Orange. By this point I am really starting to get fed up of messing about with a broken phone, pulling the battery out etc to satisfy the curiosity of a tech support guy who is sure he can fix it.
The guy at retentions was very nice and polite, disappointed the Orange have dealt with it so badly and says he wants to make some calls and get back in touch with me and hopefully he can speed things up for me. No shocks, but no calls back, no resolution, nothing. Yet another department full of empty promises.
Tuesday afternoon rolls around and I am searching the web to find a way to speak to someone more senior, who can maybe just over ride the ongoing stupidity, and agree to replace the handset. I find a complaint site about Orange (seems there are a few of these now) with the email address executive.office@orange.co.uk so I give it a go.
I fire off an email of annoyance, explaining the situation in a much detail as I can, and cross my fingers. An hour later I get a call from the executive office who want to discuss the matter further. My hopes rise for the first time in a week.
On speaking to the guy all seems well, sounds like I have someone on my side finally, and the name "executive" would kind of indicate that the matter is finally serious. At this point I should mention, I have been a loyal customer to Orange for about 6 years now. With 6 contract with them, and an average annual spend of £2000+. While I don't expect "special" treatment, I do hope that they will take the case seriously, and try and look after a good customer. Apparently this has no bearing and they don't give a toss.
The call ends with me agreeing to give Orange and RIM til Thursday afternoon to try and decide on the matter, and get my phone working again. I wait all Thursday afternoon with baited breath, hoping to see GPRS appear in upper case..... it does not happen.
I call the same guy at Orange back, and tell him the bad news. Now at this point its day 8 (yes EIGHT) of this charade, so surely with Easter holidays looming (the next 4 days) something is going to be decided now. We start the conversation, but I can tell its going nowhere. As he continues to talk, I can tell there is NO intention of replacing the handset for me. He goes on to explain that they will use this to learn from, and will make changes if deemed necessary to the way they handle these matter in future. Now I'm all for change, and improvement, but how the hell exactly does this help my case right now. Eight days without my 9700, and I'm meant to be impressed about promises about the future?
I explain that I am frustrated beyond description now, and just want the Blackberry away from me. I am sick of being the test dummy for the tech guys asking me to go through menu's and pull the battery, and just want the phone out of my sight until they have fixed it or replaced it. The response I get to this is amazing. They refuse to take the handset back until RIM have made their decision of if the fault lays with them, just in case it can be fixed over the air. The funniest part is the reason for this... Apparently Orange would not want to cause a delay getting a working phone back with me!! Are you freakin kiddin me or what. Its been 8 days, when exactly did you start caring about that !
Then the killer blow. Now I don't expect to speak to a nerd with knowledge of every handset out there, but I don't expect to be spoken to like a complete a-hole either. He starts to tell me what they believe the fault is, and why they cannot replace the handset at this point. Its something like this.
Exec: The fault is with the account, so even if we send you a replacement handset out, it would still not fix anything.
Me: Yes it will, both accounts are working fine on my other handset, so replacing the handset clearly does work.
Exec: No it wont, the problem is with the PIN, so if we replace it the problem will remain.
Me: The PIN is tied to the handset, if the fault is with the PIN, then its a handset fault, and replacing it will solve everything.
Exec: No, the account is the problem, you wont be able to use another Blackberry on that account.
Me: I already am, I'm using my 8520 just fine. I can log into either of my Blackberry accounts, and assign them to the 8520, and they both work perfectly, data, email, BBS etc. So its nothing to do with the account, its the handset, so replace it!
Exec: The issue is with the PIN......
I give up trying to explain at this point as its becoming very frustrating now, to be insulted, to have your understanding of the way it works questioned, and to be messed about to such an extreme.
Now from what I have learned from places like Crackberry (thanks guys for all your help) the PIN could be the issue, as RIM could have a block on it for some unknown reason. Which is unfortunate, but Orange know that they CAN issue a replacement to me, to get my service back up and running, then take the issue up with RIM about why it was blocked. But instead I have to sit around for 2 weeks with a bricked phone sitting on the side, waiting for someone to finally decide I can have a new phone!
So, its Thursday night now. The end of the 8th day of no phone (thank god for keeping my 8520). The outcome is I have to wait for RIM to contact Orange to tell them what next. Then at that point Orange MAY finally decide to replace the handset. But with my luck the whole matter will turn another corner. I mentioned 2 weeks without a phone earlier as tomorrow is Good Friday, so all customer services are closed. Then its the weekend, then Easter Monday, so no services resume til Tuesday. So days 9, 10, 11, and 12 are wasted. Who will day 13 be unlucky for.... Somehow I think me!
So my sincere thanks to Orange, for taking 7 hours of my life, wasted talking on the phone to people pretending to give a damn, promising to call back, then not bothering. I am now left with a talk plan WAY over its allowance, due to the hours spent on the phone to your tech support. A seriously bitter taste in my mouth over how you treat big spending and loyal customers, and a ticking timebomb in my head about if I bother to remain with Orange or not. Although grasped by the balls due to the dates on all the contracts, I am not going to be had over a barrel and will not stop until I have told this story to anyone and everyone who will listen.
Letters have been sent now to all the appropriate bodies, as well as the customer services, and head office of Orange. I have contacted RIM directly to ask their opinion on the matter and their part in the issue, and will just keep going.
The chances are I will stay with Orange if this gets resolved soon, all my expenses are reimbursed, and we talk hardball about where we go from here.
After so many years of loyalty, and singing the network praises, I am left with just one thing to say..... Orange UK, right now YOU SUCK!
PS I have missed out lots of things here, most of which can be found in earlier entries, but I hope it gives a rough idea of the crap I have been putting up with for over a week now.
Today is D Day, for Orange that is.
Well after a couple of days of grace for them to sort the matter out, today is the last day that was agreed I would wait for them to sort the issues out.
Its 8 days now, this all started over a week ago now. After loads of diagnostics there is still no joy with the matter. Suggestions have been that maybe RIM has accidentally blocked the wrong PIN as the phone seems to be behaving as if its data is blocked on purpose. (or its just bloody broken!)
Either way, I agreed with Orange Executive Offices that I would wait til this afternoon before chasing them up again, and its coming up for 1pm. So in a couple of hours time I will be calling them back and asking what decision they have come to. Either way, with Easter just around the corner (tomorrow) I am likely to be without my Blackberry for a few days more until a replacement is sent out, if they even agree to send one out.
If there is no resolution agreed today its gonna get a little bit messy. I understand that networks have grace in-built into the contracts to allow them time to sort stuff like this out, but I am not sure it is quite this long, certainly not without them even having diagnosed the issue.
So if I am told they are still waiting on RIM, the response will be something along the lines of, breach of contract, failing to provide a service or reasonable timescale for resolution, and so on.
My solution offered to them will be, I will return the phone in the next available mail service, they can keep it and sort the problem out at their own leisure, and either replace it or return it to me repaired. In the meantime they can suspend billing on that account, reimburse me for the calls made to tech support, and discuss how they are going to convince me to remain with Orange as my contracts begin to run out.
I will update as it all unfolds, but either way, I am past caring too much about it now, the whole scenario has dulled my enthusiasm for Orange by about 90%, and if they are not willing to talk about it, I will start to pull the contracts as soon as economically viable.
Its 8 days now, this all started over a week ago now. After loads of diagnostics there is still no joy with the matter. Suggestions have been that maybe RIM has accidentally blocked the wrong PIN as the phone seems to be behaving as if its data is blocked on purpose. (or its just bloody broken!)
Either way, I agreed with Orange Executive Offices that I would wait til this afternoon before chasing them up again, and its coming up for 1pm. So in a couple of hours time I will be calling them back and asking what decision they have come to. Either way, with Easter just around the corner (tomorrow) I am likely to be without my Blackberry for a few days more until a replacement is sent out, if they even agree to send one out.
If there is no resolution agreed today its gonna get a little bit messy. I understand that networks have grace in-built into the contracts to allow them time to sort stuff like this out, but I am not sure it is quite this long, certainly not without them even having diagnosed the issue.
So if I am told they are still waiting on RIM, the response will be something along the lines of, breach of contract, failing to provide a service or reasonable timescale for resolution, and so on.
My solution offered to them will be, I will return the phone in the next available mail service, they can keep it and sort the problem out at their own leisure, and either replace it or return it to me repaired. In the meantime they can suspend billing on that account, reimburse me for the calls made to tech support, and discuss how they are going to convince me to remain with Orange as my contracts begin to run out.
I will update as it all unfolds, but either way, I am past caring too much about it now, the whole scenario has dulled my enthusiasm for Orange by about 90%, and if they are not willing to talk about it, I will start to pull the contracts as soon as economically viable.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
I have never felt SO insulted!
OK so this is the 6th day this whole "no data" thing has been dragging on today, and I have placed a number of calls to them, once again.
First call today was to retentions. After not getting a call back from them yesterday, after asking to be called by a manager, I was seriously wound up, so thought I would explore how much it would cost to get out of this particular contract.
Truth of the matter is, I dont really want to cancel it, as I have 5 other contracts with Orange, and cant be bothered working with 2 service providers, having 2 billing points etc, but want to keep my options open anyway.
On speaking to retentions the guy was super helpful and made some calls for me to try and get the matter sped up. He also gave me the cancellation fee of £67, which is a small price for the amount of time I have wasted calling Orange over the past week.
I got a call back from Orange early this afternoon, a guy from customer relations, announcing to me that he had someone on line that was going to take care of the matter for me. To my dismay (hardly suprised) it was a guy from the indian call centre, level 1 handset faults. He proceeded to start ask what was wrong, and start going through the basics all over again. Which pissed me off no end! remained calm and went through it all to keep him happy, but it made no difference to the service on the handset.
I was then passed to, yup Level 2 diagnostics, networking. After running through the matter again, I pointed out it was already with Level 3, so he decided to call them. Even though I have been told over and over that they CANT contact Level 3 by phone.
A few mins later he came back on the phone, and advised me it was NOT a handset fault, it was a problem with RIM, then started to try and explain who RIM are..... Oh do shut up !
After a brief conversation he said he could only tell me what level 3 had told him, and that they were still looking into the matter. I pointed out this is day SIX of this issue, and informed him I am not a guniea pig for running geeks experiments on, and if someone wants to sort it out, maybe they can send me a new phone in the meantime and let the geek work on it in his time not mine!
He advised me he would escalate the matter for me, and ask his line manager to call me back, so I am waiting on a call back now from Level's 1 2 and 3 from Orange tech support now.
Note to Orange.
You are a complete joke now. I spend over £2000 a year with you as a private customer, I have stayed with the network for 5-6 years, and always sung praises for the great service, brilliant products and customer services.
BUT....
That has all changed now.
Six days..... SIX days to try and decide what is wrong with one of your handsets, no replacement, and leaving me without a usable handset is a disgrace, and one I will tell EVERYONE about. Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Blogger, Google, anywhere, thats where it is going now.
I will also now be escalating the matter to the official bodies, so an email will be getting fired off shortly.
I am at a total loss for words now, so will shut up for the time being, but please Orange, restore my faith in you.
First call today was to retentions. After not getting a call back from them yesterday, after asking to be called by a manager, I was seriously wound up, so thought I would explore how much it would cost to get out of this particular contract.
Truth of the matter is, I dont really want to cancel it, as I have 5 other contracts with Orange, and cant be bothered working with 2 service providers, having 2 billing points etc, but want to keep my options open anyway.
On speaking to retentions the guy was super helpful and made some calls for me to try and get the matter sped up. He also gave me the cancellation fee of £67, which is a small price for the amount of time I have wasted calling Orange over the past week.
I got a call back from Orange early this afternoon, a guy from customer relations, announcing to me that he had someone on line that was going to take care of the matter for me. To my dismay (hardly suprised) it was a guy from the indian call centre, level 1 handset faults. He proceeded to start ask what was wrong, and start going through the basics all over again. Which pissed me off no end! remained calm and went through it all to keep him happy, but it made no difference to the service on the handset.
I was then passed to, yup Level 2 diagnostics, networking. After running through the matter again, I pointed out it was already with Level 3, so he decided to call them. Even though I have been told over and over that they CANT contact Level 3 by phone.
A few mins later he came back on the phone, and advised me it was NOT a handset fault, it was a problem with RIM, then started to try and explain who RIM are..... Oh do shut up !
After a brief conversation he said he could only tell me what level 3 had told him, and that they were still looking into the matter. I pointed out this is day SIX of this issue, and informed him I am not a guniea pig for running geeks experiments on, and if someone wants to sort it out, maybe they can send me a new phone in the meantime and let the geek work on it in his time not mine!
He advised me he would escalate the matter for me, and ask his line manager to call me back, so I am waiting on a call back now from Level's 1 2 and 3 from Orange tech support now.
Note to Orange.
You are a complete joke now. I spend over £2000 a year with you as a private customer, I have stayed with the network for 5-6 years, and always sung praises for the great service, brilliant products and customer services.
BUT....
That has all changed now.
Six days..... SIX days to try and decide what is wrong with one of your handsets, no replacement, and leaving me without a usable handset is a disgrace, and one I will tell EVERYONE about. Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Blogger, Google, anywhere, thats where it is going now.
I will also now be escalating the matter to the official bodies, so an email will be getting fired off shortly.
I am at a total loss for words now, so will shut up for the time being, but please Orange, restore my faith in you.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Emailed the CEO of Orange
OK so im not expecting him to personally read it and mail me back, but some attention from someone higher up the food chain would be good right now.
I escalated my issue to Orange earlier this evening, before my last entry. At this point I was told the issue would be viewed by a manager or team leader and I would get a call back. Well suprise suprise I am yet to hear back from Orange in any way shape or form.
On calling them about an hour ago I was informed by the lady I spoke to, that she was not allowed to discuss the matter further with me until the manager had called me back.
When I asked when this would be, she was unable to tell me, as she is based in Darlington, but the dept the manager was from are based in Bristol.
Instead all she could suggest was that I was owed an apology, and I would have to wait until the manager called back until the matter could be continued/resolved.
So I finally got fed up and fired the email off to the CEO in the hope that it will find its way to someone who can actually do something about this once and for all.
I escalated my issue to Orange earlier this evening, before my last entry. At this point I was told the issue would be viewed by a manager or team leader and I would get a call back. Well suprise suprise I am yet to hear back from Orange in any way shape or form.
On calling them about an hour ago I was informed by the lady I spoke to, that she was not allowed to discuss the matter further with me until the manager had called me back.
When I asked when this would be, she was unable to tell me, as she is based in Darlington, but the dept the manager was from are based in Bristol.
Instead all she could suggest was that I was owed an apology, and I would have to wait until the manager called back until the matter could be continued/resolved.
So I finally got fed up and fired the email off to the CEO in the hope that it will find its way to someone who can actually do something about this once and for all.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
P**sed off with Orange
Just sent an email off to Orange UK cust services regarding the ongoing issue with my Blackberry.
I think, all things considered its pretty damn polite.
"I have had a data issue with my handset now since Thursday AM. I have spoken to numerous call centre agents, handset fault engineers and now network engineers, but as of yet, at 19.00 on Saturday evening I am still not able to use the said handset.
No one seems to be listening to the fundamental issue which is... The SIM in the handset operates fine in another of my Blackberrys, and the SIM from the working BB will NOT work in the 9700... It is a hard/software issue NOT a network issue. Yet still I am bounced from department from department, being told each time to run through the whole matter again as if no one has made any notes on my account.
On the last call I was asked to verify the PIN and IMEI from the software, the handset and the box as if I am trying to con Orange or something.
I have 5-6 contracts with Orange and have had for years and I have NEVER had such a long winded, frustrating and outright unacceptable issue in all my time.
I have been without the handset for 3 days now, will I be credited this? Should I even consider renewing when the contracts expire? Right now the answer is no.
I just want my handset working, my Blackberry functioning with data, and not to keep being told to pull the battery, delete service books, and other pointless exercises. Is there ANY chance of a replacement, please? "
Fair ?
Michael
Sent using BlackBerry®
I think, all things considered its pretty damn polite.
"I have had a data issue with my handset now since Thursday AM. I have spoken to numerous call centre agents, handset fault engineers and now network engineers, but as of yet, at 19.00 on Saturday evening I am still not able to use the said handset.
No one seems to be listening to the fundamental issue which is... The SIM in the handset operates fine in another of my Blackberrys, and the SIM from the working BB will NOT work in the 9700... It is a hard/software issue NOT a network issue. Yet still I am bounced from department from department, being told each time to run through the whole matter again as if no one has made any notes on my account.
On the last call I was asked to verify the PIN and IMEI from the software, the handset and the box as if I am trying to con Orange or something.
I have 5-6 contracts with Orange and have had for years and I have NEVER had such a long winded, frustrating and outright unacceptable issue in all my time.
I have been without the handset for 3 days now, will I be credited this? Should I even consider renewing when the contracts expire? Right now the answer is no.
I just want my handset working, my Blackberry functioning with data, and not to keep being told to pull the battery, delete service books, and other pointless exercises. Is there ANY chance of a replacement, please? "
Fair ?
Michael
Sent using BlackBerry®
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