Orange Customer Services

My main phone is a T-Mobile G1. I bought this after seeing a friend demonstrate his down the pub one night and because it's not a iPhone. However as any other users know the battery life is dreadful especially if you want to use the device. Because of this I decided to get a PAYG phone for emergencies if the G1 died. I call this my "get me home phone" as it won't be used for much else.

Therefore I popped into the local branch of phones4u and puchased a Nokia 1661 on Orange PAYG. This phone seems perfect as it is light (2 grams), small and has a standby battery life measured in weeks. Bargain too, £14.95 for the phone plus a £10 toupup. I decided to link my debit card to the account to allow easy online or phone call topups. However I wanted to setup a auto topup so when my balance falls to say £5 it would automatically topup by £10. I called Orange Customer Services to request this. The guy on the phone took my card details and I explained £10 everytime balance falls below £5. "No problem sir" was the reply. 5 minutes later a text arrives saying my £10 topup was succesful and my balance is now £18.91. Wonderful the droid had basically performed a one off topup and completely ignored/misunderstood my perfectly clear and reasonable request. Where do they get these people?

I have since learnt that you can't get completely automated topup but there is a SMS service that alerts you when credit is low and allows you to reply to topup.

Anyway thanks Orange Customer Services, my first time contacting you resulted in a incorrectly actioned request, how you inspire confidence.