Is this customer service?

A month ago I signed up for Orange Mobile Broadband service.

In London, with the wind in the right direction, and very little demand on the system I can get download speeds of 320kbs – not great but adequate for surfing the net and posting this blog.

Monday I came to Llanelli, Wales, “The Land of the Bards”. Switched on the laptop, logged on to Orange and waited, and waited and waited. When it finally got going I tested the speed 18kbs – yes 18 not !.8Mbps. That is three times slower than dial-up.

Went to the Orange Telephone Shop to ask why I wasn’t getting 3G service. Explained the speeds I was getting to the Shop Manager, and received what must be the best customer service reply of all time:

“I don’t do technical type thing talk”

Imagine going to a doctor to be told “I don’t do medical type things”. You can Google Orange Broadband to see how rubbish people think their broadband land-line service is. It appears its mobile service department doesn’t aim to be outdone with its poor customer service.

Is it pure arrogance or inept management that allows a company to treat its customers with total indifference? Guess what? I’m not recommending Orange to anyone.