Alice/Free

[Iceni]

Some time ago Free bought Alice. Nothing changed. Now with no warning the setup has changed. Reciproc which I was doing very nicely with has gone, we have had mails saying our phone will go but as far as we can see they have removed the inclusive payment for television and replaced it with the VOIP phone - but is it going to stop at the end of the month.

They refuse to speak to us in English though we can hear them speaking English.

The worst thing is that the mails (same ones) keep coming in in their hundreds in blocks. I have some expensive monthly subscriptions which I want to cancel and others to use but now all my time is spent sorting out mail and what is old. Alice also have a habit of not dating mail so it just goes into space. I cannot download it or read it from their webmail.

The fact that they have given us free dial-in worries me the most - and speeds of 45k are not unusual - so perhaps dial-in will be faster.

Anyone else got different abonment pages recently?

Thanks Di - who is totally fed up to her back teeth.

 

[Danny]

We are also still with Alice and there have indeed been many changes.

There is a useful site here

http://www.c-alice.com/

with heaps of information on the changes and how they affect subscribers.

As for not speaking to you in English - to me that is understandable I'm afraid. In order to even try to give you correct advice/information they would have to make sure they had native or extremely fluent speakers there all the time and that is not something I can see them investing in.

Speeds of 45K - now I am confused. Are you on broadband with Alice?  If so, and you really mean 45 kbps, there is a major problem there.

Thers are certainly some changes taking place at the moment with the migration over to servers of FREE. This could be responsible for some of the issues you have.You might like to have a read at the forums on the site I mentioned - if you are able to connect!

Danny

[Martin963]

Thanks for the call to arms.

Thanks to this thread I've just checked my abonnement status and they've started charging me €5 per month for Alice Music (on top of the basic sub of €34.95) which I didn't want and which in any case hitherto has been free.

As I can't ring them from Britain and as they don't accept instructions by email I'm now lumbered with paying them this extra until we get back to France.

It's absolutely APPALLING!

I can feel a resiliation coming on in May.  

[Danny]

Hi Martin

according to the C-alice forum theis is happeningto many people and it is not really true. They are changing all the 'Aliciens' over to Free's database and there are lots of anomalies coming out of it. It is not actually changing your abonnement  - allegedly. Of course if they are actually taking more money out then you have to call them.

See this thread

http://www.c-alice.com/phpBB2/migration-espace-abonne-vt13993.html 

That's how I understand it anyway

Danny

[Martin963]

Thanks Danny.    The pdf facture says €39.95 and I have emailed them,   but just checking my bank statement I see that in fact they've only grabbed the usual €34.95.

Shame that a not bad operator is going through such a change -  probably for the worse.

Thanks for the check.

[Iceni]

Having read the letter on the C-Alice.com site it "seems" that over the new year all 'Alice' Help staff were told that they were no longer needed.  http://www.c-alice.com/actu/221/alice-free-iliad-lettre-ouverte-c-alice-dirigeant-communication-avenir.html

They are even buying and supplying modems - charging for them of course.

Do not take my word for this statement but it does seem that there is a large fee for leaving Alice.

I have spoken to Alice in the past and they had technical staff who spoke English. I can set a broadband modem up myself - I had to get a French tech in as they had turned us off at their server (Alice) and not turned us back on. The language he used I think did the trick! This was 3 years ago and no problem since.

It looks for the moment as if old Alice users who get no joy will have to use C-Alice. This is a forum so will be easier for those who don't know their DSL from ADSL2 + which it seems we are now on at speeds that can be beaten by a good 56K modem.

And I almost had enough Reciproc points for a free months surfing.

Di

[Martin963]

Looking at my pages personelles I actually can't see any mention of Free at all- they all look exactly the same,  and in the desultory few Alice Newsletters there seems to be no mention.

As I'm one of the @aliceadsl generation I wonder if I've yet to be hit with the changes,   (apart from the erroneous bill of course).

And it still suggests contacting them (free of charge) via 1033. 

I wonder if this is because my first year hasn't fully run its course yet and they daren't modify the package at all until it comes up for renewal.

[Danny]

[quote user="Iceni"]

Having read the letter on the C-Alice.com site it "seems" that over the new year all 'Alice' Help staff were told that they were no longer needed.  http://www.c-alice.com/actu/221/alice-free-iliad-lettre-ouverte-c-alice-dirigeant-communication-avenir.html

They are even buying and supplying modems - charging for them of course.

Do not take my word for this statement but it does seem that there is a large fee for leaving Alice.

I have spoken to Alice in the past and they had technical staff who spoke English. I can set a broadband modem up myself - I had to get a French tech in as they had turned us off at their server (Alice) and not turned us back on. The language he used I think did the trick! This was 3 years ago and no problem since.

It looks for the moment as if old Alice users who get no joy will have to use C-Alice. This is a forum so will be easier for those who don't know their DSL from ADSL2 + which it seems we are now on at speeds that can be beaten by a good 56K modem.

And I almost had enough Reciproc points for a free months surfing.

Di

[/quote]

Di, you are misunderstanding what is said in the letter - there were two Alice staff whose job was to liaise with people on the C-Alice website. They stopped this activity - that is all. No one was sacked, as it were (as far as I know) Certainly the Alice helpline staff still exist!

I don't know what you mean about the modems...??? I didn't notice any mention of modems in that letter.

Danny

[Danny]

[quote user="Martinwatkins"]Looking at my pages personelles I actually can't see any mention of Free at all- they all look exactly the same,  and in the desultory few Alice Newsletters there seems to be no mention.

As I'm one of the @aliceadsl generation I wonder if I've yet to be hit with the changes,   (apart from the erroneous bill of course).

And it still suggests contacting them (free of charge) via 1033. 

I wonder if this is because my first year hasn't fully run its course yet and they daren't modify the package at all until it comes up for renewal.
[/quote]

Martin, the Alice brand is being completely maintained as a separate brand from Free with different offers and price and services even though they will be sharing technical resouces. Migrating all the Alice subscibers on to Free's Network, it is not going to be done overnight.

There should not really be any noticable change for you or Di or us here as we are all in pretty rural areas and our physical connections remain the same. Your contract will continue as is, like ours. The 1033 number remains free to call.

After the first year, you are free to cancel.

I am tempted to change at the moment but they may well offer something soon to try to keep their old Alice clients so I am hanging on for a bit longer.

we will see.

Danny

 

 

[Martin963]

Alice have now indeed debited €39.95 from my bank account;   they are in breach as far as I can see of their terms and conditions as they have changed the amount of my subscription during the first year WITHOUT notification or authorisation.

CHECK YOUR ALICE STATEMENTS CAREFULLY FOLKS!

I can feel a long and cross phone call coming on when we get back to France.

[Martin963]

They've also taken to billing a month in advance,  my March period is billed in advance on 2nd March,  with the direct debit leaving the account on 19th March.

The Feb bill was debited on 2nd March (ie in arrears).

I've never asked for Alice Music and I was told that it was in any case free.

My previous email enquiry about the extra charge has been met with the usual "you need to ring us" -  which I can't do from Britain.

I shall not be recommending Alice any more.   Shame because up to now they've been OK.

[pachapapa]

I have all months at €34.95 with the exception of January at € 31.56.

I have 214000 Reciprok Bonus Points, enough for almost 3 months or 214 hours of bas débit.

Seems in order.

[Martin963]

I think they used January to adjust everybody to calendar month billing.     My Jan bill was only €20 or so but was only for a couple of weeks (ie the latter half) as the first half was covered by December's bill.

It's the sudden unauthorised charge for Alice Music that is my problem....

Still,  glad you're not being ripped off pachapapa!

[Danny]

I have just logged in to the Espace abonné and they have changed the layout of the latest facture but the amount seems OK - 34,95 + 2,78 for communications

can't check what the calls were as the normal detailed facture is not available...

Danny

 

[Martin963]

Looks like I've been unlucky.   We'll be over fairly soon and I'll add it to the list of things to do.

It does annoy me though that they won't deal with written instructions (at least via the web).    Someone else I know had terrible trouble changing his debit card details with Alice from Britain,   they just would not respond to anything other than calls to 1033.

Whilst I rate their free phone access highly it's pretty irritating that it's the only mode of contact as far as they are concerned.

Affaire a suivre.