Orange "Service In English 58cents/min 902 Number

[Capvermell]

I just wanted to warn anyone here tempted in to getting an Orange SIM Mundo to benefit from the supposed 1 cent per minute call rate to UK landlines (although the little shysters do not mention the 25 cent per call connection charge anywhere on their promotional material and these can add up if you are not careful about lines with answerphones etc) about the appalling ripoff they will suffer if they try to Contact Orange customer services on their free 470 customer number but cannot speak absolutely perfect fluent idiomatic Spanish.

Basically I called Orange on their free 470 customer service number to try to find out why my online account showed calls to the UK charged at 2 cents per minute and not the advertised 1 cent a minute and how to switch off the Answerphone (answers after only four rings - very annoying) and if I could change the phone voice menus to English and also why I could not use a UK credit card to top up my credit through my online account on their website. I speak limited Spanish that normally gets me by but even after wading through their trick menus that try to leave you only with an automated answer and finally working out how to speak to a real live adviser the adviser refused to make any effort to speak to me by ignoring my request to "hablo un pauco mas lente" (speak a little more slowly) and then just cut me off. At the point I was put through to an automated customer service survey where my Spanish was good enough to score them zero on everything after which I got a text in English telling me to call the Orange "Service in English" on a 902 number.

I realised this wouldn't be free but as my knowledge of 902 is that it equals 0870 in the UK I expected it to be charged at the advertised 7 cents a minute for Spanish landline and mobile numbers. After I then called this number and had a quite useless conversation about the double charging on UK calls and trying to change the phone menus to English and the credit card problem with a guy who had English skills no better than Manuel The Waiter in Fawlty Towers I was suddenly cut off and found my formerly 7 Euros credit balance had totally disappeared. When I checked my online account I found that Orange charges its own customers a disgraceful 58 cents per minute but makes no mention of this premium rate charge to speak to a Spanglish adviser in the text message it sends you.

I then tried to find somewhere to send a high powered complaint to at Orange Spain but basically couldn't find anywhere at either European Companies at CEO e-mail addresses - CEO email address - chief executive officer - managing director list - UK - US - Asia - customer services - customer care or anywhere else. I therefore emailed the UK CEO of Orange/Everything Everywhere (Olaf Swantee) about these issues but his PA emailed back basically denying any responsibility for Orange Spain.

The best I have therefore been able to do is vent my disgust on the matter here and at Website orange.es Complaints & Reviews Anyone sharing the same view as me about the Cowboy behaviour of Orange Spain might also find the existence of the website at Reclamaciones Orange - ndice of interest as an indicator as to the true totally cowboy nature of this company.

In short if you do get an Orange SIM Mundo take account of the 25 cent connection fee, the fact that you won't be able to top up online or on the phone with a UK credit card or at a Spanish cash machine but only at a Spanish petrol station, that the call charge to the UK is 2 cents a minute and not the advertised 1 cent and the fact that you should never ever call their Service In English 902 customer service number as it charges a disgraceful 58 cents per minute!!!