All your incredible time - you'll never be alone with Orange

Missing someone to talk to at daytime, feeling isolated and your French need some refreshing? Don't despair, take a subscription on any Orange product and you will never be totally alone again. 

"All of your thoughts and dreams"*

We are planning to be a lot outside, having nice encounters with the French and learn more of the beautiful language. Orange customer service is a brilliant way to do the last two and best of all it does not cost you an arm and a leg either.

"All of your incredible time"*

You will be fortunate enough to speak to a new person every day. This is done to be helpful and aid you in understanding their message. As they might be paid per words per minute it helps talking to a lot of different persons so you can catch new words and meaning and in the end understand what they are telling you.

"Will stay with me"*

Some help you out by just hanging up. First I thought it was because I was a foreigner but my French friends assured me that's not the case, it happens to them to. So like you prepare for exams you can then study and learn important sentences before calling again: "Ne raccrochez pas le téléphone s'il vous plaît" (please don't hang up the phone) and "allez-vous me rappeler s'il vous plaît" (will you call me back please) and other vital informative sentences you need in everyday life.

"All of you whispered schemes"*

You might want to be a little bit careful as they might suspect that you are calling just to have someone to talk to. To ensure you are not they'll have you to go through the same procedure every time: "You need to turn off and on your ruter. You need to turn off and then on your decoder. Are you sure you have waited 15 seconds before starting again?"

It might be a tiny bit annoying when you are calling for the 3. time in one day but on the other hand you learn new French words and sentences: "Yes I've turned the decoder/ruter off and on and waited 15 seconds" or " 2 weeks ago a man from you was here and did not find any flaws in our house but we still have problems with internet".

"All your courageous tears"*

Ok granted, your blood pressure might not be the best after talking to the customer service every day for months. It does wonders for your language skills though. One day you'll even manage to argue in French with the customer service. That is a day to remember. As a French friend of mine commented: 

Congratulations you are now integrated in France!

Winning the lottery

This was written about Orange and our decoder but could just as well have been about trying to get a mobile phone, car insurance, membership in a organisation, extra health insurance and so forth. The easiest thing so far has been getting the national health card and social security number. 

As with everything else it depends on the person you meet at the other end of the phone. Yesterday I was so fortunate to meet a man who was both service minded and good at what he was doing. When I started out saying "This is the hundred time or so I'm calling" he responded by saying: "Then I'll not insult you by asking if you have turned the decoder off and on". He solved the problem with the decoder, he called back every time the line was broken (we have internet phone) and he will call back on Friday to be sure everything is ok, if not we'll get a new decoder. I was so happy, it really felt like winning the big pot in the lottery.

Update: Guy called today as promised. We're getting a new decoder and he will call back on Monday. I give him 5 of 5  stars! Orange SA, this is excellent customer service and he should be used as a brilliant example on how to do the job.

Update 2: New decoder, working like charm. Guy called back on Monday to check everything was OK. That guy is worth gold!

* Some knows the words of the headings all to well, for those who don't it's the music played when you're put on hold with Orange. Its a catchy tune (Sudden Dreams by Sophie Hunger) that is haunting me in my sleep.  And its not even in French.