Results tagged “Mobile phones”

After finally leaving Orange, I'm happy to say Virgin have been pretty good. Orange screwed up my final bill, of course, and I had to write to tell them (again) that I'd cancelled my contract and they can't invoice me for another month. But hopefully, they'll accept my final payment.

Just as a comparison, my monthly orange bill was £30. That's despite my working from home most of the time. My first month with Virgin? £2.32.

I'd call that a result; wouldn't you?

Still, I would say if you're joining Virgin and not very literate technically, either get someone at a mobile phone shop to fix up the new settings on your existing phone or get one straight from Virgin. I thought I'd migrated over the settings correctly from Orange, but despite the fact I was able to send picture messages, I couldn't receive them. I had to re-install the MMS settings to get the messages that people had sent me. Odd, huh?

Still it all works beautifully now.

Tomorrow is Orange Wednesday aka The Day I Leave Orange Forever. Here, though, is my final reason for leaving Orange.

Remember how Ernst & Young seemed to be taking their time getting back to me? Turns out they called back almost instantly and left me a voicemail on my mobile phone. That was on the 6th July. Orange finally got round to telling me I had a voicemail - on Friday. That means it took a grand total of 15 days for Orange to let me know I had a voicemail.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is yet another reason why I'm leaving Orange.

There's something about Virgin Mobile call centre staff. You just can't be nasty to them. It'd be like killing Bambi. You just can't do it.

As you may know, I'm in the process of moving from Orange to Virgin Mobile, a process that is taking way, way longer than it should. Since I've now got a PAC code from Orange, migrating my phone number to Virgin Mobile is now a Virgin problem, rather than an Orange problem.

Trouble is, Virgin aren't proving terrible efficient. There was that trouble with setting up my direct debit for starters. Although I mentioned in that last entry that I'd set up my direct debit, what I should have said was "I asked Virgin to set up the direct debit for me".

You see, two days after getting my new PAC code, I rang to give it to Virgin. The trouble was that direct debit hadn't gone through, so they couldn't start the migration. The fluffy person who took my call promised, just promised that as soon as it was authorised, she'd text me (on my Orange number) to let me know and that she'd start the migration as well, texting me the date of the migration at the same time. She was on duty till 11pm that evening, so she really would, honest.

Except I didn't get a text. A day later I tried my Virgin SIM card and there was a text waiting for me there, to tell me the paperwork had all gone through. No migration date though.

So I called the next day. Oh yes, the fluffy man at the other end said. She'll text you when it goes through. She'll do it for sure. That was Friday.

Today, textless on both SIMs, I called Virgin again. Fluffy new lady spent six minutes going through my account before revealing that the port hadn't been authorised because of the direct debit screw up. She'd put it through now and I'd be getting ported on the 26th.

That's 16 days and five phone calls to do something that should take seven days and one phone call at best. And yet, they're so fluffy at Virgin, I just don't have in my heart to complain. At least I'm on my way at last.

The one redeeming thing is that Orange's rubbishness means that I still haven't had my account disabled, so I can still use my old number for now.

Thanks heavens for small Orange mercies.

They just won't let me go. It's just getting ridiculous. Didn't I tell you they wouldn't?

Last I left you, I'd got a PAC code to migrate my number from Orange. Today, 26 days from the day I gave Orange notice, I rung up Virgin to migrate the number.

I got a very earnest person trying his hardest to do the customer service thing. This appears to consist of saying 'Excellent!' a lot and going into infinite detail about every step that's involved, even when I'd already reassured him I'd done something. I don't have problems with that, really: they have scripts to go through. So I let it coast over me.

First obstacle, before I can migrate my number, I have to pay by direct debit. Before I can pay by direct debit, I have to have set up my voicemail. I've already set up my voicemail, but clearly not on the new number once it's migrated to Virgin. But that's all right because it's Virgin and we're chummy at Virgin. So I set up the direct debit.

Next step, they need my PAC number. I gave it to him. When did I get it? 14th June. Oh, you won't be able to use it then. You're best off going back to Orange and getting a new PAC code. Why? The letter says I'm okay to use it within 30 days. Ah, but migration takes seven days. By the time the PAC number needs to be used, it will have expired. Could they not have put that in the letter? No one's ever thought of that. Could you try the PAC code anyway? It won't work. We could try but I don't want you to be disappointed. I want the migration to go as smoothly as possible.

It's a little late for that.

Advice point 1: Use your PAC code within 20 days of getting since the letter is a lie

So I ring up Orange to get a new code (remembering my contract probably expires on Friday).

Well, I try. "...please call our Mobile Number Portability team on 0800 376 2885". I do. The number's unobtainable. So I ring the main Orange number, type in my mobile number, descend through the seven layers of the "Press 1 to be connected to Satan" voicemail system, get asked for my mobile number again before finally being allowed to ask for a new code.

Okay, we'll send that out to you and it should arrive within three to four working days. Can you not give it to me now? No, it has to be done by letter.

Okay. How come you don't put on your letter that it needs to be used within 23 days, incidentally? Well you need a new PAC code because you let the old one expire. I didn't. I used it within 30 days. It's the networks that need an extra seven days. You let the PAC code expire, so you need a new one. No...

Eventually, she understands what I'm getting at.

Could you perhaps put 20 days or even 23 days on the letter?

It's not up to me. It's Orange who decide.

Well, could you suggest it?

I've had lots of customer suggestions and this is the first time I've had this request so they probably won't listen to me.

Could you suggest it anyway?

No.

Ah. Orange customer service. And they wonder why I'm leaving.

I'll keep you posted.

Curses. Just as I thought my escape to Virgin Mobile might lead to competent customer service for a change, I find out that NTL has just acquired Virgin Mobile.

You know, you set up a blog as a journalist and before you know it, everyone's pitching story ideas to you. I've had about 15 emails from one guy who wants me to explain his continuing life story to the world.

Last week, I got an email from Karl Khan, who (assuming this isn't someone claiming to be Karl Khan) has been involved in some legal struggles with the easyJet people over the use of the easyPizza name. According to him, the full story has yet to be heard, although it's been on the Beeb and other sites.

Now, I'm completely the wrong sort of journalist for this kind of article, but if someone would like to investigate the story instead, I've provided the details below.

Note to the libel lawyers: I have no idea if any of this is true - this is purely what Karl Khan's sent me. It may all be completely fabricated, but I'm putting it up here so that others can make that determination for themselves.

So first there was the singular problem of getting Orange to actually accept I wanted to leave. Then there was the problem of having to pay Orange £20 to use my phone on another network.

I've overcome those two issues. Last week, I got an email with the unlock code for my phone. I typed it in and my Virgin SIM card now works just fine in my phone. Hooray.

The next step was to change all the settings on the phone so that it can use Virgin's 3G/GPRS and MMS access points rather than Orange's. Turns out Virgin has a handy little web page for doing just that: just select your phone model, type in your number and if it's sufficiently modern, the phone gets a text message that will add the correct settings to your list - no fiddling with menus required.

Of course, Virgin's MMS services are a bit pants, it turns out - certainly, messages from Virgin to Orange take two days for the message to arrive and when it does, it's just a text telling you to view the picture online. I'll have to wait to see if what Virgin to Virgin and Virgin to networks other than Orange are like.

But I'm nearly free of Orange. I'm a bit worried by this bill I've just received saying I'm paying for services until the 21st July, when I actually gave them notice on the 14th, but hopefully that'll be the last thing I have to sort out. In about a week, I'll ring up Virgin, give them my PAC code and get my mobile number switched over - if I'm going to be paying Orange anyway, I might as well use up as much of my allowance as possible before the contract expires. Once the five to ten days necessary to migrate the number have elapsed, I'll swap the SIMs, delete the Orange settings and that should be that.

How do I know it's not going to be that simple? Again.

It wasn't £35 - it was £20 to get my phone unlocked.

Thanks to the helpful people who pointed out that there are plenty of free ways to unlock the phone that are available on the Internet. Unfortunately, I have a Nokia 6630 (I say unfortunately advisedly) which so far appears to be uncrackable. Nokia won't even tell the network providers how to unlock the phones - they have to write off to Nokia and get a code sent back to them that's specific to the phone being unlocked. So it's £20 or an unusable phone, unfortunately. Still, given that's less than a month's line rental, I'm perfectly happy to pay up to be shot of Orange.

The end is in sight.

Why did I think, even for a second, that escaping Orange's clutches would be easy? They've locked my phone so that only Orange SIM cards will work with it. That means I either need to give them £35 or something to get it unlocked (assuming they agree) or I need to buy a new phone. Curse them all.

Called Orange a minute ago to let them know I wanted to leave. Well, I tried anyway. I called 150 from my mobile. After being asked to press 1 to confirm it was a mobile, not a broadband query, I was told that 1 was an invalid menu option. Tried calling back but I couldn't even get through. So I had to call Orange the mobile phone network from a landline to get through.

Quelle surprise. They hadn't received my cancellation letter. How did I not see that coming? Oh wait. I did.

Still, the man did I ask why I was leaving. It took a long time to explain everything.

I asked for a PAC number to migrate my phone number over to Virgin. “Well, if you do want a PAC number, you'll have to pay for a further 30 days line rental”. And if I don't? “Well, you'll still have to give 30 days notice you want to terminate the contract.” I did. “Well, we didn't receive it.”

So 30 days of Orange either way. Oh well. It'll all soon be over. I've already got my Virgin SIM card so I'll be swapping over today, I think.