ARGHHHHHHHH!

We've been internet-less for 3 months now. This is the longest I've been without internet for over a decade. Asking Orange to switch our broadband to our new address seemed simple enough, and yet we've been faced with some of the most extreme cases of incompetence *ever*.
Guaranteed to have the internet on Monday, the 15th February (by three separate Orange reps), I rushed home eagerly to update my status and chat to those neglected friends who aren't aware I still exist. Re-starting my router on the hour, every hour, I was disappointed to see that I'd been lied to.
The next morning, I called Orange, hoping to get to the bottom of the problem and to get it sorted as soon as possible, as we've been without internet for so long. I was told that it was a problem with my line, and that they'd need to do a line test, which could take from 24- 48 hours. Now, when they agreed to move the broadband, they ran a line test, and it came back saying the line was in absolutely perfect condition. This second line test seemed a bit like we were being fobbed off, but we let them go ahead in the hopes that we'd have the internet soon.
Nothing. The next day, more frustrated than ever, we called yet again. This time, they really pushed their luck as far as lying. We were told that the problem lay with our line, with our router, etc etc. None of these things are true. We'd already had Orange confirm our line was fine, we had Belkin confirm our router was fine, so we knew that we weren't to blame. Orange finally confessed that the problem was their fault, and that they needed to re-start their server, which (surprise, surprise) could take up to 48 hours. I demanded to speak to a supervisor. This time, I was at least apologised to, but told that we just needed to wait and that it would be sorted within 24 hours.
Nothing. I've been losing sleep planning my next attack on the Orange team, and I finally had reason to do so today. I'd sent a fuming email to the Orange team and received a response telling me they were going to do a line test (haha) but that we would be compensated for the time we'd been without internet. This was my response to their feeble attempts at resolving the problem:

Leanne,


I'm afraid that just won't do. The line test you're referring to will make the THIRD line test we've had done by Orange since we tried to have broadband moved to our new address and following the problems with your service. The grave error you're making here is underestimating us - we know when we're being lied to and we also know that you don't need to do three line tests. You've done one, you've got the results. Unless the first line test was a) inaccurate or b) never carried out in the first place, you shouldn't have to do another. I'm not willing to wait for however many more days this is going to take for Orange to admit that they have no idea what the problem is, and for us to keep phoning back in the frail hope that maybe the fourty-third person we speak to about it might be able to sort it out.

Let me fill you in on our situation and why this is so frustrating. Our actual home was severely flooded over Christmas and we were evacuated to a hotel to live in for over a month. Since then, we've been moved into our temporary accomodation, which is where we're trying to move the broadband to. As you can imagine, stress levels are at an all time high in our family, and any attempts to regain some stability in our lives have been stalled by the sheer incompetence shown by the Orange customer "service" team. My father works from home, and thus requires the internet to do so. You've rendered him unable to do this. My brother and myself are Honours University students, and thus require the internet for email, coursework, and research in order to complete our degrees. You've rendered us unable to do this. My mother works from home, and is now also in charge of the entire house situation. She needs the internet in order to liase swiftly with the insurance companies, cleaning companies, decorating companies, organising a builder to come and re-build our home, organising skips to come and take away all of our possessions...etc etc. I'm sure you can get the picture of how badly we've been affected by the terrible service offered to us by Orange, and how quickly we need to get the problem sorted. We just can't wait "another 24 -48 hours". If you would care to place yourself in our situation, and then imagine having to go for three months without internet access, one month of which is caused by sheer incompetence, would you settle for a "sorry, we'll do another line test..", or would you not?

We have NEVER had problems like this with any other internet provider. You are the only company that has rendered us internet-less and then failed to provide a solution to this problem.

I received another text this afternoon from Orange informing me that they had an update on my situation and to please phone them (yet again, at 5p a minute..). When I did so, they had absolutely no idea why I was phoning and attempted to go through the whole process with us again. I fail to see how in a communications company such as Orange, there can be such a terrible level of communication? I fully understand that you have many customer "service" representatives, having spoken to approximately thirty of them about this situation.

I hope you understand the gravity of our situation, and ask you to please stop lying to us about these line tests; our line is fine - you've already tested it twice. Stop putting off finding the problem, and just sort it out. If the problem isn't resolved by the morning, and I highly doubt it will be, given Orange's track record, we're going to look for another, better company who won't treat us so poorly and offer feeble apologies instead of practical solutions. And just maybe, these companies might just give us the internet.

Yours.