Went to pay for my mom’s cell phone account.
Years ago, Orange accepted payments in all of their outlets. A couple of years ago, they restricted walk-in payments to their service centres only. About a year ago, they closed their Mongkok service centre and started accepting payments in all of their retail outlets again until a couple of months ago.
I just went to Sai Yeung Choi St. in Monkok as usual to make a payment this evening. There used to be an Orange outlet between Soy St. and Dundas St. No more. So I went all the way back to Argyle St to the 3 outlet. Only to find out they no longer accept walk-in payments. The sales told me only Watson’s accept payments and in cash only.
I went all the way back to the Watson’s at Nathan Rd and Nelson St., only to find out they needed the customer number to process the payment, and the phone number would not do.
Orange does not send out invoices and only send out SMS payment reminder messages without the customer number. The Watson’s sales said I could call the *?? number to ask for the customer number. Without my mom’s phone, the *?? number is no good for me.
It is easier to convince mom to switch over to Sunday which has at least 3 full service outlets in the area that I just went thru this evening.
Update (23 July):
A look at their website indicates one can pay by walk-in through any 3Shop or 3 Service Centre or Watson’s with the Argyle St. 3Shop I went to listed. A call to the number listed only to find out it is actually a sales hotline rather than service hotline under the service webpage. I was passed to the customer service line. It rang for a full 10 minutes before I had to answer another incoming call.
I called again (both time took less than a couple of seconds to answer BTW, maybe ’cause it is a sales hotline), and I was passed to the customer service line again. This time it took about 10 seconds to get an answer.
The rep said, yes, they need the customer number regardless of where I make the payment and that the phone number with the name would not do. Which is quite understandable for a Watson’s payment, but even at their shops and service centres?! And no, I cannot make a payment at their Argyle St. shop even with a customer number.
I think a Borg designation of “3rd of 3″ suits them better than just “3″.
WhaUSay?!