Ok I will take a deep breath before I start as Orange Broadband are slowly sending me insane !!! Any advice on how I could solve the problem would be appreciated...........
On the 11th December my internet connection stopped working (after 4 years), I called Orange customer service who told me it was a technical fault and to call the technical help line at 50p per minute. This I did which resulted in them advising that they would carry out a line test which would take 5 days. Fine, I heard nothing so called them again. They said that they could not find anything and to call customer service who told me they could not find anything and to call technical support. In a nut shell this has go on and on for the past 8 weeks with them advising it is a fault at their end and they have to carry out line tests. All the time I have the same error message of 0720 on my PC which no one can tell me what this means.
So after 40 phone calls and nearly £60 in phone charges I am still no better off. Oh and I worked out that in total I have spent 3 1/2 hours on the phone !! Last nite they told me that the line test had found a fault so they have to carry out another line test and would contact me in 24 hours (two hours left and still no contact). After all these calls I have only had one call back from Orange and one text.
Not to mention that a number of the operatives have been rude, including one hanging up the phone on me last nite. I have not become irate or aggressive on the phone, infact I am a Customer Service Team Leader so understand how to get my complaint across. I can say this is the worst Customer Service I have ever received.
I have asked to cancel my contract but they advised me there would be a cancelation fee. One advisor kindly pointed out that the broadband is free on my contract so why am I so worried ??? Also, I am not sure if I cancel would the same problem happen with a provider ?
Excuses given are the transfer of lines and providers from BT to SLU ? Also that I have two names on my account - my ex partner who moved out 3 years ago. .......... I had to send my bank/phone bill details to change this.....
Am currently in the process of logging in to every known forum on the web for advice - somebody help !!!
Compensation so far is a £20 refund on my bill, if I wish to claim more I have to write a letter and send my phone bill. More inconveniece. Thank you Orange.
I have asked to cancel my contract but they advised me there would be a cancelation fee.
If you've had no connection whatsoever since 11 December with the number of calls you indicate to CS/TS then you should get a MAC with no cancellation charges, this normally applies after 30 days of no connection and a record of CS/TS involvement.
Please could you explain to me what a MAC code is ???? I do not really have a clue when it comes to PC's and tech talk !!!
Also, I have a combined contract with my mobile phone, I pay £30 per month for a package with the internet. Do you think it would be possible to cancel both as I do not want to be stuck with a mobile contract of £30 per month as i only use it for texting ........................ could anyone advise ?
A MAC code is short for Migration Authorisation Code.
Basically if you have broadband on your line (working or not) then you need a MAC code to transfer to a new internet provider.
It makes the process smoother so you have minimal downtime when you switch.
So when you sign up online for a new provider they will ask you the usual name, payment details etc and your MAC code.
You enter this and then wait to switch over - you will be given a date by your new provider.
Now the law changed last year so all broadband providers have to provide a MAC within 5 working days of request, REGARDLESS OF ANY CONTRACT REMAINING.
So you don't have to let Orange fob you off as they have broken the contract by not providing you with a service for over 30 days.
This gives you the right, under their conditions, to leave now.
I can thoroughly recommend Idnet as a new broadband provider.
Also BE have a great reputation too, amongst others.
Hi - this is in response to the original post by Cosmicdance, and it mirrors my own story! I am a long term customer from Freeserve, thru Wanadoo and onto Orange. I upgraded to the Livebox service in June 07 and my first real problem started 11 Nov 07 when my internet connection ran the scale from a 1.5mbps (as advised for my 'area') to an astonishing 7.8mbps and down to a paltry 100kbps! I rang Tech/Customer Services re help/refunds and was advised that it had to be my BT connection as Orange was fine! Customer Services had the cheek to insinuate that I must have 'done something' as they couldn't possibly be at fault! This was my first experience of problems with my server and as I had an alternative source for the internet I persevered with an 'up and down' service. Xmas interlude saw me away from my computer until early January and - miracle! - my computer was working again! Service was registered at 6.7 mbps and I was up and running. In the past 3 weeks the service had dropped to 5.5 and then 5.2 mbps, and on the 31st January 07 it gave up the ghost altogether again. We had a hailstorm/lightning on that day and I wondered if the weather had 'affected' services, but so far I've been unable to determine anything as Orange are suspiciously uncontactable! I have done a factory restart using online documentation and I have a successful connection, even my laptop is registering 54.0 mpbs!!!, but I cannot access the web sites.
The advice from 'Andy' stating that MAC's can be obtained without contract obligations means that I will be heading elsewhere for my internet services!!!
Thanks for posting - it has given me hope!
[quote="cosmicdance"]A MAC code is short for Migration Authorisation Code.
Basically if you have broadband on your line (working or not) then you need a MAC code to transfer to a new internet provider.
It makes the process smoother so you have minimal downtime when you switch.
So when you sign up online for a new provider they will ask you the usual name, payment details etc and your MAC code.
You enter this and then wait to switch over - you will be given a date by your new provider.
Now the law changed last year so all broadband providers have to provide a MAC within 5 working days of request, REGARDLESS OF ANY CONTRACT REMAINING.
So you don't have to let Orange fob you off as they have broken the contract by not providing you with a service for over 30 days.
This gives you the right, under their conditions, to leave now.
I can thoroughly recommend Idnet as a new broadband provider.
Also BE have a great reputation too, amongst others.
I've just managed to get broadband back after a 3 month enforced holiday by Orange. All was fine for about 3 years, but I was stupid enough to move house and the debacle started from there.
First they cocked up the transfer from the old line to the new line. So, a one week lay off was quickly doubled. We then hit on connection problems immediately after activation.
3 line tests followed, but no results were forthcoming despite a promise to text them through. Apparently the original request had dropped off their system and we needed to start it all off from scratch again.
A fault on the line was then apparently detected and we stupidly thought we had got somewhere. They were sending an engineeer to the exchange to investigate but it would take a week. Then it all went quiet again.
The line was then miraculously confirmed to be OK, but more line tests were still suggested, at which point the penny started to drop. They hadn't actually got a clue and more importantly didn't care either.
They said they'd send us a new modem because they thought it was faulty. It was a long shot and almost definitely not the problem, but I wasn't going to turn down a freebie. Another week passed and no modem arrived. A quick call to check it was on its way saw us finding out that they weren't sending a modem because our modem was OK (bangs head against wall at this point).
Multiple further calls to various departments saw us get the odd call back, but usually on the home phone while we were at work and only to say that they assumed our broadband is working and to call back if it wasn't.
The camel's back was broken when a further line test was suggested! We spent in the region of £150 phoning their no help line, which we will be looking at recouping. I will also be hitting them with a subject access request. For the sake of £10, it should make good reading.
Anyway, we asked for the MAC code and that arrived inside 48 hours - the only thing they got right. We moved to BT and still had the connection problems. However, they resolved it inside 48 hours and we are now back to normal (and running at a quicker speed too).
Joined: 12 Jun 2006Posts: 907Location: Weston-super-Mare, UK
Arrowsmith wrote:
We moved to BT and still had the connection problems. However, they resolved it inside 48 hours and we are now back to normal (and running at a quicker speed too).
Glad you are sorted but what was the fault - may help others.
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