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A Conversation With Orange

Rough, from memory, transcript of a recent conversation with Orange customer service :

Me : I've just had a sales call from [a company] claiming that you gave them my number.
Orange : We do supply marketing information to them, but only if you agreed to it when you signed your contract.
Me : I wouldn't have agreed to that.
Orange : I'll need to check your account. Could you confirm your name and password.
Me : My name is Graham Robinson, but as far as I can remember I've never given you a password.
Orange : Well just tell me your usual password.
Me : I'm hardly going to tell that to someone I don't know.
Orange : Then I can't help you.
Me : Why?
Orange : You won't tell me your password.
Me : I've already said, I don't remember giving you a password.
Orange : Then I can't help you.
Me : Can I speak to a manager, please?
Orange : [Hangs up]

I then phoned back, arranged to speak to manager, from whom the two interesting comments were :

Orange Manager : We cannot trace which customer service agent you spoke to.

Orange Manager : She was acting correctly. It is Orange policy not to speak to customers who cannot provide a password.

Let's leave aside the fact that passwords do not provide adequate account security, especially when they can be read on the computer screen of any of the 15,000 call centre staff Orange employs. (That figure courtesy of the same Orange Manager paraphrased above.) The simple truth is that many people will forget a password given to a service centre which they contact only very infrequently. Orange's stated policy of refusing service to such people - and I have yet to find anyone who will either investigate this abuse or deal with my original complaint, despite contacting the company both by phone and in writing - means that many Orange customers are effectively cut off from the company, most crucially when they have a complaint.

My current contract with Orange runs out in June. Needless to say, I will be renewing elsewhere.

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