Since writing that open letter to Orange Telecom Jordan on their terrible service I’ve noticed the link really flying around the twittersphere. It’s gotten around 1,700 views in the past 48 hours, which, along with the comments and emails people left me, is a real indication that many are simply not happy with the Kingdom’s telecom giant and it’s level of service.
As I warned in the letter, blogs and social media can have an impact, and the people who read them, use them and support them are at the helm of that impact. Google’s Top 10 search results for ‘Orange Jordan’ already places the open letter in the 8th position.
So I have a request for my fellow bloggers and my dear readers (for anyone who’s interested that is), let’s build on this letter – maybe (just maybe) it can have the desired impact we’re looking for.
Consider it an experiment in Jordanian social media. People are constantly asking me whether Jordanian bloggers have an impact on politics in Jordan – and I always say probably not. But let’s see if we, as customers and as citizens, can use blogs and social media to impact the private sector.
I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of just writing…
Here’s what we can do:
I will make that link as viral as possible using Facebook, Twitter, etc. But you’ll have to help me out. Spread it as far and wide as possible.
– Send it in an email, post it as a link on Facebook, send it through a tweet or watwet. Retweet it. Pass it on. Like a game of hot potato. Make sure to use the #OrangeJO hashtag at the beginning of your tweet to group it.
– Link to it.
– Leave a comment on the post itself. Tell your Orange (or Jordanian telecom) horror story.
– Tell your friends about it. Have them leave a comment telling their Orange (or Jordanian telecom) horror story.
– If you’re so inclined, check out the video in the letter by the Bugga Team and make a similar on on Ikbis or Youtube. Tell your Orange (or Jordanian telecom) horror story.
– If you’re a Jordanian blogger and have written something about Orange recently or in the past, drop me the link and I’ll add it to the original post. I’ve already added a few after a simple search.
– Lastly, if you have any more suggestions then leave a comment on this post.
Let’s do a bit of cyber activism and see what happens.
So, who’s in?
i am
Seand me an article in Arabic and I will also publish it on my news portal
We the Jordanian people have lowered customer service standards by accepting it and being careless in our jobs. why do you expect the employees of orange to differ than the employees of any other company kolna min nafs el 6eeneh …the hardest thing to do in jordan from an HR management standpoint is to find people who care about their jobs and to keep them motivated…everyone just has that la 6eezy attitude
Maha – pay is low = motivation is low therefore everything is low.
I’m seriously thinking about starting a Customer Service Training Services for various sectors in Jordan according to international standards and procedures, then follow it with Customer Service survey and Quality Check.
Palforce email me on almajali@hotmail.com
This is an idea i have had in my mind for such a long time! If you are serious email me and we can discuss further!
I went to their official web site http://www.orange.com and lodged a complaint about their service in Jordan and added a link to your article. I hope their Customer Service Manager gets sacked.
you guys are wasting your time.
i dont want to go through technical details on how dsl technology works, but basically they wont invest money improving the infrastructure to keep up with demand.
if you know this. then you should have known that in a country like this on such matters, you are wasting breath.
@tambi: good stuff!
@maha: that’s definitely one part of it
@yazan: will do!
@palforce: a good idea, let me know how i can help…
@marian: thanks for taking the initiative!
@tero: suffice to say, i disagree. i’m not looking for a complete overhaul of the infrastructure…simply to get what we paid for as well as a good customer service to match it. simple.
Count me in too – this is about empowerment & justice!
This could well be the 1st step to establishing a credible Consumer WatchDog Society.
It will also have +ve economic repercussions if Orange chooses to take this as +ve criticism.
After all, forewarned is forearmed and when we have a united voice that impacts the bottom line watch them scurry to invest that much needed infrastructure, improve customer services and increase staff motivation.
Let’s rally those virtual troops! Today.
good luck lol
want to do serious action. cancel your subscription, thats something no body will do.
its pure simple, like the meat prices fiasco. moaning and shouting wont get you anything, stop paying and you get their attention.
still this is all fiction in bani ya3rub world.
Tero,
One of the reasons why we have bad customer services is that people feel un-empowered to change anything … add to that negative attitude… khalas we will be stuck where we are….maybe if enough people took part something can happen?
the killer majority of jordan are on 512 lines. such subscribers arent always affected, and ether way they are not heavy downloaders.
that leaves us with the higher lines, we are a very small in numbers. but we pay extra for speed that orange doesnt deliver, thats the argument we should base on.
however if you can get a newspaper to make some interviews with internet subscribers and publish a fully detailed article on internet problems (((((on the front page))))). it would be a great start.
http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2008/09/29/japan-to-get-1gbs-in-the-home/1
After reading this article, I really feel stupid of what we are getting here.
People in Japan is now getting a 1 Gb internet connection for almost the same price as we are paying for a 2 Mb internet connection.
So if those people in Japan can afford to provide a 1 Gb internet connection for that price, why its hard for peaople here to provide 0.1% of that speed for the same price!!!
I know that there is a big difference in the infrastructure, but all what we are asking for is getting what we paid for…
Nas, I will make a group on facebook dedicated for this cause, I will also write another post on my blog and link everything back to you and write a few words of my own about this whole issue, I covered one of many problems from orange which is Internet limitation, I will help you out as much as i can.
Also i will ask all the jordanian bloggers who would like to join this cause to add a Icon to there blogs like this one http://tinyurl.com/le8zyp, I already added it to mine and under it i will add links back to you.
ya3tek alf 3afyeh man, We are all with you 🙂
I did a complaint on their web site about their bad service.
Have you contacted @majd_shweikeh ?
@Palforce…I tried contacting her she ignored me, No one bother himself 🙂
@Nas…Check http://tinyurl.com/mxm5kz & http://tinyurl.com/ksaznk , Invite everyone to join the facebook group, I will add links to all your posts and everyone posts about the issue to the group, If you want to be admin with me there let me know, I don’t think i can do this alone.
Feel free to add on msn if you use it ali-h.a@hotmail.com
here is how it is, i know we are talking about ORANGE here which is without a doubt one of the worst ISPs i have ever seen! but at the same time its not only ORANGE, see, i’m one of lots and lots of people who suffered deeply from ORANGE bull shit, i stayed a very long time (almost 5 years) with ORANGE complaining and getting frustrated over and over again from this company until 2 weeks ago that i decided to just stop the bull shit and stupid customer service orientation they have and just go with ZAIN and not any ZAIN service but i went for the highest service they have (WiMAX 5MBPS) only to realize that its somehow better than orange, at least you get someone to answer your calls and try to help but still a BS service which includes lots of other frustrations like being near to the antenna and so on! and also that your modem only can get 80% reception which as they say is the maximum and the best anyone can get! and ofcourse sharing the bandwidth with so many other subscribers so your internet connection speed always varies from slow to fair to no browsing and still you dont really get the 5MBPS announced which normally should mean that you would get a transfer rate of 600kb/s but there is a no way in getting this speed at all, by the way, since i started with ZAIN the maximum transfer rate i got was 450kb/s and that was like a very HAPPY DAY to me and that was a rare chance!!! not mentioning the custoer service representative who start speaking to you as if they know it all when you just realize that they dont know SHIT and you just get to waste like 30 minutes of your time for no good reason what so ever!
so what i think, that the best thing to do is to write and blog and complain about all those stupid services, not only ORANGE!
what we are getting in Jordan from internet access and technologies should be a very easy thing to do and apply comparing it to the technologies and the speeds and the customer care they have all over the world now which sadly our jordanian ISPs dont know how to do it but the very hard, inefficient and Unprofessional way just to keep their customers FRUSTRATED AND ANGRY all the time!
ZAIN is much better than ORANGE, thats for sure, but still there is a long way to go just to get the easiest tasks done properly and effectively.
thanks for reading
good for u .. and if it doesnt get the result u want .. u can always boycott ..
btw isnt there a hotline u can call to complain about telecom providers .. it belongs to the wazart il itisalat .. i remember overhearing my uncle calling them to complain about some sms service his provider wasnt unsubscribing him from despite his repeated requests when i was in amman this summer .. maybe if u all called them they might take action?
and/or u could also make a petition and submit it to the wazara ..
My understanding is that the country as a whole doesn’t have the bandwidth to support the level of performance that customers are willing to pay for, so why are these companies stepping in to promise those customers services that they know cannot possibly be delivered?
In plain simple terms, this translates to all you guys HAVING TO downgrade your subscriptions, because you’re simply paying for something that no ISP in Jordan can deliver.
Honestly, what these companies are doing by calling these service levels 5Mbps and above is borderline scam.
Don’t fall for it, downgrade your services now!
I read the previous post.. and had in mind to be part of any such initiative..
Count me in in your campaign on both twitter and my blog.
and i like the Watchdog idea… we should definitely start paying more attention to the level of services we pay for .. rather than just sheepishly agree on what provided to us.
Great Job Nas.
I personally have had nothing but trouble from Orange since I signed up with them last November. I am utterly sick and tired of having to constantly call them for whatever reason and can never get a person to speak to me. Any time I call, I am tranfered from person to person with no one being able to speak english well enough to communicate with me, or they just can’t be bothered as I know the english levels in this country are generally very high! Only for the fact that I am working long hours and have commitments in the evenings and weekends, I would love to go and change my service provider to something else, but don’t know where to start and really, are they going to be that different? 38JD a month is not a small amount of money for a service that works sporadically.
Join the causes
A website AND a facebook group were launched to bring to the “government’s” attention the fact that the Nestle-produced Kit Kat infiltrating the market is nowhere near as good as the UK-original silver wrapped Kit Kat. What an outrage.
Once again, the (TRC) is providing a hotline (080022313) where one can file an official complaint about any of the service providers (which was instantly dismissed as ineffective!) AND they are installing a whole system to monitor ISPs!
If the highest governmental body in charge of regulating all forms of communications in the kingdom cannot force the corporations offering those services to provide what they are offering, then there is no need to for the TRC and its 6.6-7.3 million dinars of annual expenses (2.7 million in annual salaries alone) to begin with!!
The TRC was specifically founded so that a quasi-humorous rant and a status message website designed for fifth grade girls are not the only ways Jordanian internet users can be protected.
“Protecting the users, monitoring the people and the licensed parties who provide the services to ensure the service providers’ compliance with the licensing conditions, including the specifications, the quality and the prices of the service, in addition to taking all the measures that allows the TRC to do so, and PENALISING those who do not comply.” [Third point in the TRC mission and duties according to the Communications Law (13/1995)]
There is nothing wrong with “demanding better” from everybody – especially from blood-sucking corporations (although a “little revolution” is a little bit of an extreme use of language especially in our part of the world), but lets just assume/wish that there is a law in this country, try to use it, and if all fails, then launch a multi-layered social media web2.0/3.0 geek-oriented global voices-attention-grabbing you-tube v-casted colour-coded revolution (too bad orange was taken ….twice) ….. against the TRC..of course.
http://www.trc.gov.jo/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=990&Itemid=1140&lang=arabic#
well you can add my experience too a year ago
http://mayyasi.blogspot.com/2008/09/about-orange-adsl-special-service.html
my experience with orange a year ago
http://mayyasi.blogspot.com/2008/09/about-orange-adsl-special-service.html
@Yazan Al-Majali: Even the lower paid employees hardly earn the majority of their paychecks, it’s a culture issue, the organizational culture mirrors the culture of the society. It’s not that employees are not getting paid enough for the job that they are doing they actually aren’t earning the pay for that job as low as it is.
@Hamzeh.N
before orange introduced 4mb and 8mb, i said the same and i knew it. i told everybody to not upgrade for 8mb because they wont see it, but no body listened and orange got their money.
seriously if you are on 8mb i strongly advise you to downgrade unless you are lucky and having good speeds.
aah there’s the musa i know. where would we be without your enlightened cynicism to guide us! 😀
well you provide a reasonable outlet for complaining…just call the complain hotline, which you know is pretty useless to begin with so point taken about the existance of the TRC…but handling complaints is merely one aspect of a regulatory body’s job. and you probably know that, so let’s put all notions of citizenship aside.
we, as consumers, are launching a complaint. yes, revolution may be too “extreme” a word but it’s the word that comes to mind if you’re looking for significant change in a system, as opposed to the narrow-minded classical definition of the word that conjures up images of heads on a pike outside the castle walls.
so here’s my suggestion to you: since you first suggested it in, why don’t you join by helping to mobilize calls to the TRC? That would be your contribution to all this. and hey, it wouldn’t even involve using that status message website designed for fifth grade girls, and you can safely retain your sense of masculinity.
it’s a win-win.
and it sure beats spending a lifetime standing on the outside flinging rocks, no?
“call the complain hotline,which you know is pretty useless”
-How did you assume that? Why the negativity?
The TRC is publishing daily newspaper ads urging people to make use of its services, they have complete sections on their websites for consumers on how to make use of their services….the least we can do is try it out.
“handling complaints is merely one aspect of a regulatory body’s job”
-But a vital and primary part of its duties no less. Actually the above-mentioned communications law (13/95) came out in twelve sections, one of them completely dedicated to “monitoring service providers and protecting customers”.
The point was that in the case of theft one is more inclined to go to the police and not start a facebook group to help him find the robber. When the police fails, that’s when one would usually “blog” about it to seek the fake compassion that would make him feel better about the loss ––– and in the rare rather unlikely situation help find the robber.
I appreciate your suggestion for me to join and help and mobilise, but to be honest with you I am completely satisfied with my ISP and with everything else. On the rare occasion when my internet does not work I just turn to my cached HM Queen Rania’s twitter feed which instantly puts a smile on my face and serves as a quick reminder that a 2.0MB internet connection that is operating at 512k is as insignificant as it gets (on a personal level of course).
this seems to be updated in the wiki, which is a good thing, as many people do use it as a source for information, good job!:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_Jordan
who edited the wikipedia page? you made a huge mistake.
you must talk in general, not “differences between the actual and advertised speeds led Naseem Tarawnah to complain about it in a blog post”
who ever reads this as it is now will think that those bunch of bloggers are the only ones having problems.
wasn’t me :), but you can edit it as you think it should be.
@Musa: im speaking from experience. i have called to complain with the trc in the past and others i know have done so as well to no avail. secondly, this isn’t about personal theft as you put it but rather a common issue that affects a wide range of customers, and i would dare to say, the majority of ISP customers in this country. it is about an issue not a single case. i think that much is clear simply from the comments left by the many people on this very post.
@tero: wasn’t me either. thanks for the link though. and i guess wiki is open source so it does allow its users to edit.
lol @ the wiki page.
keep in mind that when making a google search for Orange Jordan, the Wikipedia page is the second hit! amazing…. 🙂
I did add the last reference in the wiki page to the original letter, and the moderators of Wikipedia have not removed it, so looks like good news after all! Orange Jordan should be getting it big time.
Not every page on wikipedia is moderated.
quote:
Not every page on wikipedia is moderated. -end quote
You’re sure? 😉
Try adding some very silly and nonsense text, and then reload the page in an hour or so. As far as I know each modification does go through channels, but then maybe am wrong.
yes thats right, every edit goes through an automated system and wikipedia checks it to see if theres any nonesense etc..
well that particular wiki page has no protection on it, so AFAIK no admin currently cares about it.
@ tero
“want to do serious action. cancel your subscription”
oh really!!! great idea. what do you think we are doing? we are indeed trying to make people cancel their subscription. that’s what im gonna do and that’s what every unsatisfied customer should do. especially after reading such articles.
i think you got it wrong. orange still gets your money if you switch to another isp.
unless you go with wimax or wireless providers, you are still paying them 🙂
I like the idea! Thank you Mr. Naseem for starting this! I am in!
I was about to offer you guys to send the letter to the CEO of Orange Jordan (Majd Shweikeh), but then found Ms. Shweikeh twitter, and the last tweet was to Nas :), so I guess she already knows.
Why not sending it to the board of directors of Jordan Telecom Group (http://jordantelecomgroup.jo/jtg/group/board_of_directors.php), maybe that will get things shacking.
i disagree, should talk to ceo or executives.
the board of directors are a group of shareholders and who own most of the company, they dont necessarily interfere with services.
check out this isp:
http://www.jcs.jo/
unlimited download
“the board of directors are a group of shareholders and who own most of the company, they dont necessarily interfere with services.”
i beg your pardon! directors are shareholders? they cant interfere? thats just bullshit
yes, i really wish me and you go ask one of them what is adsl?
and the isp you linked only covers 2 streets :)))
Great post, I swear I sometimes get so frustrated with JT and all ISP and mobile Operators and such that I just want to do anything to harm them, but unfortunately I cannot!! start with their lie to your face internet speeds, ending with their response mechanism, and how they make us feel that bad service quality and even worse customer service is OK and that this is the way it is here in Jordan…I was leaving the country last year to work in the gulf, and I wanted to disconnect the service, only to find out that i had to pay the subscription fees for the whole remaining period even though i wont be using it and give them their modem back, and they told me that it is written in the contract, their typical response is throwing the contract terms at you, the customer…I can keep writing for days on really bad experiences i’ve had with JT ..I wish they just disappear and we have a proper service provider.
I have subscribed with JCS 2 months ago and I am REALLY happy with their service, unlimited download, static IP, fast file sharing, very low pings, very cheap internet and cable TV services, new FTTH technology, upload speed is same as download speed, local networks just for games, demo line for testing for 5 days …
@Maha – Sorry I dont understand what you mean!
I mean that Orane has made so much money out of Jordan that the can atleast invest in some sort of Customer Service. Qualify employees to decent standards of CS skills and half of their problem can be solved.
Imagine if the wlecome you got was 100% customer service and friendly, you would gat annoyed for paying the extra for something you not getting, probably downgrade. However in the future when the service you want is available properly you would more than likely come back. On the other hand if customer service was terrible you would probably cancel your subscription and never return even they were one of the cheapest. Thats my personal opinion customer service either leaves a sour taste or a sweet taste in your mouth. Give them sweet and they will return whatever the price or service.
Frankly, at first I wasn’t much concerned about this campaign because I was happy with my Orange Internet connection, but just yesterday I heard my father yelling over on the phone, he was speaking to somone at Orange Telecom, they disconnected our internet saying that we haven’t paid the bill, although the other day my dad went to pay and they told him that he’d already paid for everything, and now they are saying that we owe them 70 JD’s… not to mention that after we upgraded our connection speed they said that we only have to pay 41 JD’s the first month and then it’s supposed to becom 29, but the bill came with 41 JD’s 2 months in a row… so we decided that we’re fed up with Orange, there are many other ISP’s in Jordan, it’s not like a Hobson’s choice or something
Sign me in will do all of the above ………
Well… here you are, your letter is #1 on Google search.
What do we do now? More pertinently what will Orange do now?
If we create a system in which equitable access to national resources is guaranteed regardless of any form of affiliation, then people will no longer feel the need to fall back on these affiliations either defensively or offensively and political leaders who then seek to exploit our differences for their own ends will find themselves without followers. ,
hmmm….Daddy68/Crazy22/Loy or Roy or whatever else you’ll calling yourself: Why are you lifting other people’s words from other sites & sticking them onto threads here? No rhyme or reason, either, to what you’re sticking where.
The above (“if we create a system…..without followers”) is lifted from here: http://wherehermadnessresides.blogspot.com/2009/05/michela-wrong-its-our-turn-to-eat.html. You’ve also nicked stuff on Car Talk from Wikipedia. I’m not going to check all your stuff, waste of time.
Enjoying yourself?