argggh! Orange nd Free

[Mrs Trellis]

We changed from France Telecom fixed  line/Orange Internet last July to phone via Livebox, all Orange.  I said we'd be moving within the year - it was a 12 month contract - and they said no prob, you can transfer to the new house.

I phoned Orange today, spoke to a very unhelpful woman who said there would be a transfer fee and it would take 15 days from cutting off the phone in the old house, to getting it (and therefore the Internet).  How can it possibly take so long?  It's just switching to another address in the same village!  What if we ran a business and had no phone for 2 weeks?  We have more or less moved but come back to the old house for phone/Internet TV as we haven't sold it yet.

Well, I thought at least we can get a 2 euro a month Free mobile and simcard.  We tried before, putting in all the bank info but they insisted on a bank card.  We now have a bank card but have tried 4 times, putting in all the info.  The phone rings and we are asked for a code - but we haven't got one to put in!

So we will be hard to contact for some time!   Why are things so difficult in France?   The Orange 'advisor' asked us for the name of neighbours - we haven't met them yet - then who lived there before the previous occupant.  I had explained he has been in the Maison de Retraite, the house empty for 2 year but I have no idea who lived there previously as he lived there 30 year.

Stress levels high......

 

[NormanH]

It is called 'living the dream' [:)]

[Mrs Trellis]

! 

We've been here 5 years, and had the house for 10.  Each step: carte vitale, re-registering car, tax form, is an achievement but then something comes along to do my head in.

I do like a lot of things about being here of course and feel more relaxed than in UK - but then I lived near a biggish city.  The new house is a boring 2 bed 30 yr old one but compensated by having a great view and parking, which we don't have at the moment.  Life is pretty good.  A Brit acquaintance recently said he was bored and moving on but 'well, could be worse, I could be in Syria'.  There's a lot to be thankful for.  Including the nightingales and orchids.

[suein56]

[quote user="Mrs Trellis"]  Why are things so difficult in France? [/quote]

When we moved last year to a new-to-us village, so new post code, to a house that had been unoccupied for some 6 or so months,

with the phone cut off by the previous owners SFR switched off the Internet and phone in our old house around 10am in the morning

and it was up and running in the new house (with a new number) by 7pm that evening.

Funny thing is because of our location we are non-dégroupée so SFR have to rent the lines they use from Orange.

Makes you wonder how Orange manages to be so inefficient.

Sue

[Pommier]

We're with SFR and moved into our new house on 8th March. We arranged with SFR for the phone/internet to be connected well in advance on 25th February (we've had problems on previous moves) and the technician turned up on time and fiddled around with wires (being technical here!). He said it was now connected but the phone and internet didn't work at all for weeks and even now it's intermittant. I'm on first name terms with the chap in SFR's technical support, but the problem remains, and no-one appears able to cure it.

I think all the ISPs are as bad/good as each other, and it's pure luck if all goes well.

[Hoddy]

I think Orange has a weird sense of humour where the rest of us can’t get the joke.

Last September my OH suspended our phone line for the winter and took the livebox into our local office which is what we have to do each winter now.

They have our UK address which they don’t really need because we pay by direct debit.

When my OH returned to France in April he found four bills in the postbox, together with two letters from a huissier, threatening us with court action if we didn’t pay the four bills immediately. He contacted them by phone immediately to get our phone line reinstated and ask why we had been presented with bills for while we were away. They were vehement that we owed the money and fearing court action he paid by card online. A week later we had a final demand saying that the next step was that they would come and start confiscating our property. I rang the huissier and said that we had already paid and the woman in the office eventually agreed with me.

We still have not resolved why we have bills for the period while our services were suspended and if we do have to pay them why they weren’t taken out by direct debit. I’m still working on that one.

Hoddy

[NormanH]

If  Intrum Justitia were the huissiers they are a firm that take on Orange's spurious claims.

You have to have the courage to totally ignore them. they are nasty bullies who prey on the fears of honest people by misleading them.

After the long saga with a 3g card from Orange that never  worked despite me paying the full 2 years subscription I  cancelled, and a few months later had a series of letters and phone calls from Intrum Justitia until I blocked the number.

They were asking for monthly payments after I had already paid 2 years and already cancelled..

Their speciality is to make it look as if they have some sort of legal right to take the money, when in fact they have never taken it to court and got a jugement..

[Jay]

I agree with Norman on this one. I was chased by them for two years for a bill I didn't owe. Documents went back and forwards to them until I got so fed up I sent a letter telling them to take me to court, I would enjoy explaining their stupidity and incompetence. I signed off with a nice little note on the back telling them to go forth and multiply. Never heard from them again.

[Mrs Trellis]

Progress! Possibly.

21st attempt got us to the Orange English speaking line which for the first time told us to hold instead of call again.  After only 15 minutes we did indeed speak to someone.  Having explained the whole thing again, she wanted the phone number of the previous occupant.  By some miracle I found a bill among the stuff from the vendor, dated 2008, with a number.  Apparently that did not help after all.

So we have to start again, but they will not send a man out to the house because we have no French mobile (see OP).   The man from Orange might be late or get lost!  What ever did they do before mobiles?

So I was given an email address, told to go and buy a mobile and send the number.  A kind friend never uses hers (in spite of paying 9.90 a month) and lent it to us.  I sent the email and await developments.

Also the nth attempt to order a Free simcard at 2 euros a month succeeded.  We await the post.

At least the Orange English speaking person was helpful - but she was Polish, not French.

[Hoddy]

Perhaps you and I could form an Orange fan club Mrs T.

The latest in my saga is that I had a bill from Orange this morning with the usual note to say that I don't need to do anything because it will be taken automatically.

This proves that they could have taken the money which they said we owed before. Now I can argue that not only should we not have had the bills or the E12 they charged us for the huissier. I'm waiting until I've got the energy to take them on again.

Hoddy

Hoddy

[AnOther]

I think the problem with Orange is that the left hand doesn't know what the right is doing.

My insurance agent in the village moved office a month or so ago, no more than 300m distance, and about a fortnight before arranged with Orange for a transfer on the actual day which was the end of the month, all OK no problem they said.

Despite that later the same day his line was cut and there was absolutely nothing Orange could or would do for him, needless to say too the connection to his new premises wasn't on time either so in the end he went nearly 3 weeks with no landline or internet.

[Patf]

[quote user="AnOther"]I think the problem with Orange is that the left hand doesn't know what the right is doing.

[/quote]

That's what I think too. We've had some very good help from the english helpline( an example just this pm when the phones went down due to a storm). But another time when the problem was to do with our contract/account, nothing happened because the EHL has no influence with the accounts dept.

It amazes me that a company which takes pride in specialising in communication technology can have such blind spots within their expertise.