Orange salesperson doesn’t know much about data charges
I popped into the Orange shop on Oxford Street today. I thought it was about time I had an Orange connection. I’ve got handsets and price plans on all other UK networks and, well, it’s all about putting your money where your mouth is.
I walked in and had a browse at the rather small selection of pay-monthly mobiles. The pay-as-you-go section was double the size!
My attention was drawn to the latest HTC Touch that comes complete with a keyboard. I wouldn’t have minded that. But let’s talk data. A sales person came over to me after giving me about a minute’s worth of browsing time. Good strategy. He gave me enough time to have a poke about, then asked if I needed help.
I thought I’d get stuck in.
“Talk to me about your data charges?” I asked. The chap looked a bit put out.
“Do you mean browsing?”
“Ah, no,” I said, “I mean pure data. The last time I was in an Orange shop it was 4 quid a meg… what’s it now?”
“Oh, er, a pound (a quid) per meg,” he replied, quickly. Good. Good knowledge.
“Aye but do you have an unlimited style 1g service plan?”
“On our data cards it’s 3GB per month,” he replied.
“But on your handsets, on a standard service plan?”
“A pound a meg.”
Hmm.
“Are you sure? You don’t do some sort of 7 pounds a month, 100 meg or 1,000 meg offer?”
Insert look of panic on the salesman’s face.
“Errrrr,” he said, “You’ll er… no,” [He was about to get a brochure], “No, it’s not in the brochure. You’ll need to phone.”
“Phone?” I prompted.
“Yeah, er, phone up. Phone up and ask. They’ll know.”
Right.
Can’t be bothered.  Next.
I love that you do this.
Good work.
James Whatley’s last blog post..?Nokia Users? LOVE SpinVox
Posted by James Whatley on March 26th, 2008 at 3:37 pm.Last time I got a data bundle on my phone, unlimited was 30Mb and is £8 a month. Not great at all. It’s by far time I left orange to see what everyone else has to offer me.
Posted by Rachel on March 26th, 2008 at 4:07 pm.This kind of bloody ignorance is what really annoys me. It’s their job to know so they should. Make the customer’s purchase as easy as freakin possible.
Posted by Issah on March 26th, 2008 at 5:02 pm.“Cant be bothered…. Next”
Love it
Posted by Ed Cave on March 26th, 2008 at 5:08 pm.I completely agree with James. Keep this up! Who knows, maybe next year when someone goes to the same Orange store, that lovely salesperson would have become useful.
Vlad’s last blog post..The laptop has arrived
Posted by Vlad on March 27th, 2008 at 1:20 am.Orange and Voda are way behind the other three on data bundles, but shop assistants up and down the country have (in my experience) next to no knowledge on data pricing full stop. If you really want to have fun, ask them what data roaming charges are. Except that the actual charges themselves are not funny.
My favourite worst moment came in a 3 shop, when all three assistants and the manager conferred to tell me that I can’t have the 5 quid a month unlimited data bundle on PAYG. Great dedication, just wrong information
Posted by Malcolm Murphy on March 27th, 2008 at 12:10 pm.I spoke to Orange the other day and heard the following:
On mobile phones it is £8 for unlimited (30mb) but this is phone only browsing, if you connect a laptop it’s £3 a meg.
Great eh! Guess they want to push sales of pcmcia cards.
Posted by Rachel on March 28th, 2008 at 8:56 am.