Hmm. Orange and Me. Mr Grumpy writes ...

Over the years I have done various deals woth my children and their pocket money, in order to do a bit of "Daddy facilitation" for something that would be of use to them. For my youngest, this involved contributing to a mobile phone: Orange being the chosen partner.

As they turn 18, these various arangements are turned over to each of the Young People and so as Hannah turned 18, she decided that she could not afford the monthly contract. So I ring Orange a few weeks before the "out of contract" date to cancel in advance. "oh no sir", says the operator, you have to ring up on the date itself or there is termination charges. Odd, I thought.

So I call up on the contract anniversary and they try and persuade me to stay. I point out my daughter is a student and cannot pay the bill, and you have never seen a commercial organisation back down so fast. But the first irritation creeps in and they insist on a months notice. This is fair enough but am puzzled why they cannot have taken notice a few weeks earlier. Never mind, paperwork arrives that the cancellation is scheduled and everything is fine.

Until they take another months rental. Never mind, I thought, I'll get a refund. Two weeks later, I get a refund of one week. Hmm, I am thinking, feel sure I am being done here.

Now I suspect if I took a second mortgage to dial the premium rate number, spent far too much of my life being told that my call is important and please hold, whilst pressing 2, 5,1 and then 6 - followd by 7, 3 and 9, I may talk to a human being. Who will blind me with science that I should be jolly grateful I have something.

I contrast this with my dealings with Virgin Mobile in the past. Ring them, they are always courteous  and business like. Cancelling an account was handled effieciently. In short I felt I was being dealt with fairly. With Orange, I feel am being done - I may not be, but a nasty taste is left in the mouth. In todays harsh business climate, great service is just essential. My wife and I were discussing Amazon earlier and they are a great example of good service. When you contact them when something is wrong, there default position is "we need to fix this" rather than "you Mr Customer are gulity - send for the police!".

Interestingly my daughter has a new contract with Virgin Mobile, who were flexible enough to convert her pay-as-you-go SIM into a contract. All done within minutes and with a smile in the voice. When I need a new mobile contract, Orange will be my last choice. In the meantime, I am applying ice packs to my head and taking the valium, girding my loins to ring Orange. Grrrr.