City Link at their finest...

I almost forgot... when I went out to lunch earlier, a City Link van pulled up alongside me in the road I work in... another one was lurking in convoy behind it too. I walked over to the window, and the guy asked me for directions to...

the road containing the local City Link depot...

which I could point at from where we were...

because he'd just driven past it to reach the road we were on.

:)

Mobile phone companies make No Sense. Film at 11.

So I want to upgrade my handset. So I go to the Orange website. And indeed, it gives me a fun selection of things to choose from.

But it appears to be trying to sell me a new contract instead of an upgrade. So I ring their helpline. They quote me the same price for the phone as an upgrade as they would for a new customer (bit crap, I think, what about rewarding customer loyalty? But okay, go on). They tie me into a 12 month contract again, just as they would with a new customer (fine). They give me the same 3G bundle (whee). But hang on... if I'm not a new customer, I don't get the double free minutes every month, and nor do I get the 1000 free text messages that a new customer would get.

"Um, that seems a bit unfair."
"That's how the system works."
"Hrm. What happens if I give the notice on my current contract, and then buy a new contract just before this one runs out?"
"Then you get the new customer deal."
*pause for non-forthcoming recognition of the silliness of this policy*
"Isn't that a bit silly?"
"That's how the system works."
*pause while I reject the sentence "You keep saying that phrase... I do not think it means what you think it means"*
"I don't suppose anyone's considered changing how the system works so that it's in any way sane, have they?"
"..."
"Never mind, you've been very helpful... I'll just go and ring the contract cancellation number I guess. Goodnight."

Don't they have any interest at all in keeping a customer who has been with them for four or five years? I guess I should go and shop around the other networks - if I'm going to have to fuck around this much, I probably should consider the alternatives. The only thing is, I've heard more horror stories about all the other networks' quality of service than I have Orange, by a significant margin. Maybe that's why they're so casual...