"To everyone starting out in this beautiful city, welcome! Mine is a very atypical case, but it should nevertheless be mentioned as a warning to the new and incautious. I´m sure it does not represent the majority of cases, but then again, I don´t consider the people in this great company are anywhere near the concept of "average" either. This said, I want to make an example out of my own case with setting up internet in this wonderful city and let you know of potential pitfalls and cracks of the system. Do take this as a disclaimer and keep my description of events under that light.
I want to share with you that if you´re thinking of an internet provider, avoid Orange and their customer service. I have a signed contract with them for internet and 12 months after I joined up with them (yes, you read it right - 12 months / 1 year / un año), I still haven´t enjoyed ONE minute of service in my house. You must be thinking that maybe up in my cave on the mountain there are no landlines... Let me just tell you that I do not live up in the mountains or anything of the sort. I live in Lesseps, near Park Güell (which I very strongly recommend visiting), many people in my building take full advantage of internet "privileges", and my flat mates even manage to occasionally pull out some from the neighbours. For those who need to use / work on a somewhat constant basis though, I would recommend evaluating the risks of signing up with the well branded company of the color with the same name. Most cases I know personally, have had no problems whatsoever thus far. And that´s precisely where I want to add my 2 cents. In the remote possibility that you do run into a problem, that´s where you hit the wall, I´m afraid.
You see, the entire Orange system is standardized and automatized. It has little space for non common issues. And to my knowledge, the small component of it that requires human interaction, does not respond very promptly or even efficiently. In my realm, that translates into months of calling customer support, technical services, being put on hold endless “minutes” while phone melodies prepare me for the next foreign / Hispanic / Equatorian employee. This next one, invariably rushes me through the procedures I´ve been explained far too many times, using his/her local accent while he redirects me to the “correct” department. I am then told that I should await for Orange to reestablish contact while the tech dept is working on the best solution to my case. - I may add at this point that one thing has remained constant al throughout this process, that´s the billing. I´ve been receiving my monthly receipts from Orange, you can count on them for that!
Take a minute to breathe, laugh or taunt, if you wish:)
I had a land line installed in December 2007, and from that point on, I supposedly was enabled to setup and install my modem and start surfing the World Wide Web. But it just so happened that it didn´t go according to plan. The land line belongs to Telefonica, and the latter company holds complete monopoly of underground cableways. After many attempts to resolve my issue, I´m told that it´s Telefonicas responsibility that the signal is not coming to my house. Repeatedly, the operator convinces me that Oranges Technical Dept will get in touch with Telefonicas so that in conjunction, they can resolve this issue. An incident is open, I wait for Orange to get back to me with good news, but this is the one thing that hasn´t happened so far. I then go back to square one, file another incidence, and… you know the rest.
After a few rounds of the same procedure, I tried breaking the contract, which basically means I would have to buy my way out of it - another 65€. I tried calling the complaints dept, I always talk to someone who convinces me there´s a new functionality in Orange for this kind of things, that if I stay with them, not only will they resolve the issue but they´ll also gladly discount 50% off my next 3 months bill. I´ve had another technician come to my house and after running more tests… Lo and behold, the problem remains.
Note: my Spanish is very OK for a foreign so remove the “lost in translation” factor out of this, I´ve been understanding and making myself understood very well every time I talk to an operator on the phone.
I´ve been told the relationship between the 2 giants is not the best and that this is possibly the reason why they´re letting this one client slip through the cracks, so my bottom line after this long debrief is that if you need internet, try staying away from a situation where you depend on more than the provider itself. Consider Telefonica (who have interesting packs at competitive prices) or outside “the monopoly”, ONO gathers votes as a safe bet, Tele2, Jazztel, etc. There are options, so take this piece of advice and let it simmer with you.
My point is: you´re fine just as long as you don´t have a problem (as redundant as that may sound). If you get in a situation where you need assistance, a google search will provide plenty of examples of other Orange disgruntled customers. And that´s a BIG “if” for you to consider before signing a one-plus binding contract with a company. After all that I´ve said, I´m sure you´ll find better luck in your own case and I really wish you do. You´ll increase your chances by staying away from Orange."
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