Feel sorry for Andrew at Orange

Apparently Dave is the most common name of Orange customers, but I suspect Andrew is the most common victim.... let me explain

I got home early tonight, eager for a beer and a catch up with my girlfriend, Sylvie. Alas she was chained to the phone. She'd already invested 30 minutes in the queue at Orange to stop them taking money out of her bank account. She wasnt going to let go now!! Why?

Orange had texted her a week or two ago to apologise for billing her the wrong amount on her international calls, She'd kinda guessed that when her bill went from £35 to £180, but it was at least honest to admit it.

So you'd think they'd be ready for the barrage of people asking what the real bill was. You'd think they'd have some procedure for saying sorry, what happens next. They might wait til the bill is correct before taking the money

Nope, they take the money from your bank account anyway and cause untold strife

And when you phone......there's a lot of people phoning.

Anyway so what's this got to do with me? Well I got to her house to find her on her third such company just today, about ready to rip, and not ready to go for a hard earned glass of wine. So I took the phone, to just hold on whilst she was being transferred to "complaints". Whilst she was having a makeover and a change of clothes. Apparently complaints was the only thing to do

Alas the queue to complaints was less than the 15 minutes it takes a lady to dress and so I ended up speaking to Andrew in complaints

Quite thrown by the surprise of getting through, I engaged in polite banter, aka research, to see what was happening in Geordie land.

No he couldn't say what the real bill was. Yes, all he could do was offer an address to write to. No there was no email address. No his supervisor was busy, already taking escalated calls. No, he didnt have the ability to email people in Orange. And yes there were lots and lots of people he couldnt help. I explained a system whereby he could inform management that he was about to give up the ghost because so many customers were so fed up and he thought that'd be great. But he didnt have that system. In fact all he could do was offer an address to write to. Yeah right..... that'll really happen

Dumb things

A waste of Andrew's life. A waste of Sylvie's life. Is there a better way?