'it costs on average; 10x more to get a new customer than it does to keep a current one.'
I wish mobile phone companies would actually take the above point seriously when dealing with their customers. I made the mistake of trying to stay with the same phone company today...
I've been with orange for over 2 yrs now and haven't even bothered to upgrade my phone because i was happy with it. It's starting to play up a bit now and i'm spending more than i should be on my current plan so I decided its time to look for a contract thats better suited to my lifestyle. I've been happy with orange thus far so I had a look at their current plans. The dolphin one looked decent enough and it gave me more anytime minutes which is what i'm after. On the website i see a new customer can get just what i want: £25 a month - 150 mins - 600txts - samsung d900 free.
I call up orange with the website information in hand and explain that I'm interested in changing to this new plan. First off it seemed that in the 5minutes i spent perusing the website I had aquired more information about the dolphin contract than the person i was speaking to. Alarm bells struck but I put it down to being late in the afternoon. I started asking a few questions about the plan etc and explained what phone i wanted etc. After him clicking around for a while he said 'ok i've added that to your account'. At this point i thought it was a bit odd that he hadnt asked me to confirm that i wanted to proceed with the deal which is standard practice. Before i had the chance to ask... "That handset comes with a £99.99 upgrade charge." I explained that it should be free with that contract and he went a bit quiet and just said its because the contract is a middle of the range one. I repeated myself and also mentioned that I have selected the same contract on the website and I can get the phone for free. Again he just told me i cant because its a middle range plan.
My brain begins to whir into action as I ask if I cancel my current contract and start a new one with orange will I be able to get the phone for free. "Yes". I asked how orange can justify the additional paperwork etc just for the sake of statistics to which he had no answer. I asked to speak to someone who might be able to save me going through the pain of cancelling and starting a new contract. I was transferred through to someone else and they hadnt been briefed so i had to go through it all again. He took my details and then told me I had a new 18month contract on my account. I explained that this had not been authorised by me. He asked where I purchased it from.... "From your colleague who just transferred me through to you." After a brief discussion ending with me asking to remove this from my account the guy spoke to his supervisor and i had to wait while they messed around to find out who I had spoke to previously. I dont really care who added the phone to my account, they can deal with that in their own time. Eventually the 2nd guy comes back to me and says the best they can do is a 25% discount on the upgrade cost.
With my contract suposedly returned back to normal I decide that if i stick with orange i'll use the website instead.
I know alot of people have had this kind of cr4p happen to them too. Having to cancel the current contract so that they can get the upgrade phone they want. What a ball ache.
I had to get that off my chest because its the first time I've had to deal with the stupidity of a mobile phone company.
I wish mobile phone companies would actually take the above point seriously when dealing with their customers. I made the mistake of trying to stay with the same phone company today...
I've been with orange for over 2 yrs now and haven't even bothered to upgrade my phone because i was happy with it. It's starting to play up a bit now and i'm spending more than i should be on my current plan so I decided its time to look for a contract thats better suited to my lifestyle. I've been happy with orange thus far so I had a look at their current plans. The dolphin one looked decent enough and it gave me more anytime minutes which is what i'm after. On the website i see a new customer can get just what i want: £25 a month - 150 mins - 600txts - samsung d900 free.
I call up orange with the website information in hand and explain that I'm interested in changing to this new plan. First off it seemed that in the 5minutes i spent perusing the website I had aquired more information about the dolphin contract than the person i was speaking to. Alarm bells struck but I put it down to being late in the afternoon. I started asking a few questions about the plan etc and explained what phone i wanted etc. After him clicking around for a while he said 'ok i've added that to your account'. At this point i thought it was a bit odd that he hadnt asked me to confirm that i wanted to proceed with the deal which is standard practice. Before i had the chance to ask... "That handset comes with a £99.99 upgrade charge." I explained that it should be free with that contract and he went a bit quiet and just said its because the contract is a middle of the range one. I repeated myself and also mentioned that I have selected the same contract on the website and I can get the phone for free. Again he just told me i cant because its a middle range plan.
My brain begins to whir into action as I ask if I cancel my current contract and start a new one with orange will I be able to get the phone for free. "Yes". I asked how orange can justify the additional paperwork etc just for the sake of statistics to which he had no answer. I asked to speak to someone who might be able to save me going through the pain of cancelling and starting a new contract. I was transferred through to someone else and they hadnt been briefed so i had to go through it all again. He took my details and then told me I had a new 18month contract on my account. I explained that this had not been authorised by me. He asked where I purchased it from.... "From your colleague who just transferred me through to you." After a brief discussion ending with me asking to remove this from my account the guy spoke to his supervisor and i had to wait while they messed around to find out who I had spoke to previously. I dont really care who added the phone to my account, they can deal with that in their own time. Eventually the 2nd guy comes back to me and says the best they can do is a 25% discount on the upgrade cost.
With my contract suposedly returned back to normal I decide that if i stick with orange i'll use the website instead.
I know alot of people have had this kind of cr4p happen to them too. Having to cancel the current contract so that they can get the upgrade phone they want. What a ball ache.
I had to get that off my chest because its the first time I've had to deal with the stupidity of a mobile phone company.