Orange's Parnasse: the selective brand, or not

Published on 12 July 2017

Two years, that's how long my membership with Parnasse lasted, which I finally quit a few weeks ago, following their repeated threats of unilateral termination.

No time to make the €1,500 entry fee to the "club" pay off, which of course won't be refunded to me. I'm going to try to tell you about this fairly simply.

As a reminder, Parnasse is the "selective" brand of Orange, which offers, on paper, a "premium" service and unlimited usage (LOL) across Europe and around the world, depending on the type of plan you choose (from €120 to €2,000 per month). I'd written a very positive article about it here, after a few months of use.

Before going with Parnasse, I had a simple problem: my Orange ADSL line was faulty at home, and the few GB offered at the time on my Orange 4G plan sadly weren't enough for me.

So I contacted Parnasse, which offered an unlimited 4G plan.

You know me, before getting into this business, I gathered as much information as possible, read all the contracts and the fine print, everything was perfectly laid out. My main questions to the "Parnasse coaches" who handled my sign-up were:

• "Will my 4G really be unlimited?": Parnasse's answer, "yes".

• "Will I be able to use it in a 4G modem or a mobile hotspot?": Parnasse's answer, "yes, we can even supply you a hotspot as an option".

And indeed, no notion of a 3G or 4G usage cap in the T&Cs (the general terms of use), a multi-sim is offered and must be used in a "mobile device", which does indeed correspond to a hotspot, and no speed limitation is specified.

Perfect, I sign.

Sign up for what exactly? €1,500 in "entry fees", then 3 lines in total at €120 per month each, plus €200 per month in membership. So to sum up, for 3 lines: €560 per month. That's what I'll be paying Parnasse every month. On top of the initial €1,500.

In reality I'll pay a bit more the first year, to be entitled to a "dedicated coach", a solution I'll drop quickly given the uselessness of said coach, more on that later.

At this point you're thinking it's outrageously expensive, yes, but 2 years ago it was the price to pay for peace of mind, to avoid any 4G limitation, which was very handy in my activities, both for the blog and for work. So at the time I wrote a first article about Parnasse, in which I describe my usage, namely one SIM in my phone, and one in a 4G modem or a second phone depending on my needs at the moment. That article pleased some Parnasse bigwigs of the time, who even shared it on their Twitter accounts. At that point there was no ambiguity about my heavy 4G usage and my use of my second SIM in a 4G modem, which I lug around with me from time to time.

Before getting to the sore points, I'm going to talk about what is and always has been very positive at Parnasse, from my own experience:

• Customer service works pretty well, in any case they're responsive, especially the Orange VIP customer service, which is accessible to Parnasse customers.

• The insurance works well; across our three lines we had several breakages in 2 years, our iPhones were always replaced brand new, free of charge.

• The Orange network is clearly the best network, by far.

Now, let's get to everything that went wrong, from least serious to most appalling.

The abusive billing:

[](https://i0.wp.com/www.macarel.fr/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/facturationsabusives.png)

Not that serious, but some time before my termination, I noticed my bill had gone up, not by 3-4 euros, but by several dozen euros, for improbable options (basically all the options you see on the screenshot above). So I reported it; they were billing errors that were refunded to me later on subsequent bills. I received no goodwill gesture following these errors. Just apologies (that's already something). Good thing I check all my bills.

The paid SIM-unlocking:

This strongly annoyed me. Parnasse is a no-commitment offer, cancellable at any time. In France, for no-commitment mobile offers, unlocking phones must be free. Well, not at Parnasse. Unlocking is billed. I paid for several of my phones, while pointing it out to them, but apparently that doesn't bother them. So they bill, even though they don't really have the right to. Beyond the "right" issue, for a "Premium" service, billing customers who just want to use their phones with a foreign SIM card is pretty pathetic, frankly.

The coaches who don't reply:

At the start of my membership, I'd taken the "dedicated coach" option, who is supposed to respond quickly to our requests and facilitate all demands. In the end you can't imagine the number of follow-up emails I had to send to the coaches or the Parnasse "desk" to get answers to my questions… I ended up cancelling that option (which didn't fix the follow-up problem, by the way).

The impossibility of actually reserving an iPhone at launch:

At every carrier, even at Sosh, which is Orange's low-cost version, it's possible to order/reserve an iPhone at launch. First come, first served, you pre-order, and you know right away whether you'll get it on the right date or not.

At Parnasse you have to reserve your iPhone by emailing your coach. In my case it's simple, I'd reserve my iPhones the day of the keynote, so well in advance, I'd announce the thing straight away. And yet despite that, it was never possible to be assured of getting the product on launch day. What's possible at Sosh or Orange is not possible at Parnasse. In practice we sometimes received our iPhones quickly, but it's hit or miss. It's a problem several Parnasse users have flagged.

The intrusions by phone:

One day your phone carrier calls you and asks you point-blank "what are you doing with your phone?", just like that, bam. So you explain that you have no desire to answer this kind of intrusive question, then the man on the other end tells you that you're using too much 4G, and that they need to know why… But WHAT THE FUCK. That's when things started going off the rails.

So you explain: the Orange ADSL line that's constantly down, so I'm never on Wi-Fi, and I do quite a bit of streaming, Netflix, Molotov, and above all I lost all my data and I have a whole backup to recover over 4G, so of course it eats up quite a lot… And that's when you start to understand that the unlimited 4G maybe isn't so unlimited AFTER ALL.

The threats by mail:

And here's the drama: after a few months you receive a completely insane letter, where your phone carrier, namely Parnasse, accuses you of crazy stuff, and I quote:

• "I'm making commercial use of my line and my 4G", basically I'm reselling my data to people: WHAT THE.

• "I'm sharing my line with several people": Excuse me? I don't even see how that's possible.

• "I'm using my multi-sim in a router": Uh, yes, I never hid it, that's exactly why I signed up.

And so BAM, threats of termination.

I reply to this registered letter, myself by registered mail, I address each point, especially the last one, citing my T&Cs. I receive no reply to my reply, of any kind, but I receive a second letter, once again reproaching me for using a 3G hotspot, and now, as a bonus, for my EXCESSIVE DATA USAGE. EXCUSE ME?

The absence of unlimited 4G:

So I dig up my data usage statements for my line in 2017:

• January: 21 GB

• February: 25 GB

• March: 70 GB

• April: (no idea, it's not listed)

• May: 36 GB

• June: 31 GB (I receive the letter about excessive usage in June)

[](https://i0.wp.com/www.macarel.fr/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/dataparnasse.jpg)

So there you have it, at the price I'm paying, with an average of 30 to 40 GB of data consumed per month, Parnasse considers that I'm making EXCESSIVE DATA USAGE.

There were certainly months, in 2016, where I consumed several hundred GB, when my ADSL line was down, or during my backup saga, but DAMN it why threaten me with termination in June 2017 when I'm not consuming more DATA on 3 plans at €560 per month than if I had a RED SFR plan at €20 per month, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD.

Let me point out that I desperately tried to get precise usage statements for the data on my multi-SIM, without success; they couldn't provide me that precise figure.

And so the problem would in fact be my 3G hotspot, and here it gets really, really dirty.

The changes to the T&Cs.

Having worked for years at UFC Que Choisir taught me to always read every line of every contract I sign, and if I signed with Parnasse, it's because in the T&Cs, it clearly stated that the multi-SIM had to be used in a mobile device. A 3G hotspot being a mobile device, everything was fine (and above all the Parnasse advisers had confirmed to me that it was fine). Now, in the meantime, the T&Cs changed at Parnasse, and they added the term "excluding routers" to that condition, effectively banning the use of a 3G modem or hotspot. OK, except that not only did I never sign that clause, but on top of that at the time Parnasse itself offered a Hotspot option!!!!

So basically Parnasse threatens to terminate me because I'm using a service that they could have offered me as an option (see below in my T&Cs). But come on…

[](https://i0.wp.com/www.macarel.fr/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/wifivoyage1.png) [](https://i0.wp.com/www.macarel.fr/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/wifivoyage2.png)

Do you realize how absurd this is? Basically:

"YOU LIKE APPLES? SIGN UP WITH US! ALL SET, YOU'VE SIGNED? WELL ACTUALLY YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED TO EAT AN APPLE, IT'S FORBIDDEN!!! ON THE OTHER HAND IF YOU WANT WE CAN OFFER YOU SOME APPLES"

It's a crazy thing, really.

The appalling absence of service and agility.

What should I finish this little recap with? Hmm… I'll finish with the service. Because what Parnasse sells at that price is, theoretically, service. Let me remind you we're talking about a "selective" brand, that claims to be "premium", at €1,500 in entry fees and €560 per month for 3 lines. At that price, and with that level of expectation, wasn't it possible to contact me to FIND ME A SOLUTION rather than threatening me with termination while accusing me of mind-boggling things?! If at some point Parnasse has a problem with data usage, well, how about they suggest me an idea?

RGH BUT DAMN IT THIS DRIVES ME NUTS, IT'S UNBELIEVABLE.

THE GUY WHO WROTE THESE DAMN REGISTERED LETTERS, at no DAMN POINT did he think, let's call him and see what we can do? Have his ADSL line checked? Suggest him a plan suited to use in a 3G hotspot? Offer him to come recover his backups in-store on a fiber line? I DON'T KNOW, DAMN IT. BUT IS IT SO COMPLICATED TO HELP PEOPLE INSTEAD OF THREATENING THEM, FOR GOD'S SAKE.

This makes me furious.

The upshot: faced with PARNASSE's repeated threats, I took the initiative and terminated all my Orange lines, personal, professional, ADSL, mobile, as well as all the various family lines. About ten subscriptions in total, all switched over to SFR and Bouygues. Needless to say, in the course of my professional activities, I've become a specialist in advising on "alternatives to Orange".

I switched to a basic SFR plan with 100 GB of data at €25 per month, and a RED SIM with 100 GB for €20 that's in my 3G hotspot. I turn it on when my ADSL is down, like I used to with Parnasse. Over the last 15 days I've consumed 12 GB on that multi-SIM in my hotspot.

€45 per month in total.

And you know what? They made a mistake at SFR on my plan, mistakes happen. I pointed it out to them, they refunded me within the minute, and gave me a €10 goodwill gesture.

Remember Parnasse, above, billing me weird extras, with zero goodwill gesture.

Worse, at Parnasse there's a part of the subscription (the monthly membership) that we pay annually. Since the Parnasse offer is no-commitment, I asked to be refunded the remaining advance for the coming month, following my termination. Two account managers assured me "yes of course that's normal and provided for", and at the last moment I received a lovely note telling me that no, it wasn't normal, and that they were making a "goodwill gesture" by refunding me.

A GOODWILL GESTURE. RGH, DAMN IT.

So I offered them to keep that money, after all this mess, no I don't want a goodwill gesture from these people. It's too late.

To conclude:

With Parnasse, Orange continues its unhealthy relationship with "unlimited", which I'd already denounced back in 2009 in this article, and above all, is incapable of providing a minimum of thought and interest for their customers (at least for me), to offer a solution to a problem, when there were loads of them. Favoring threats over thinking is confoundingly sad.

I'd like to add a point about my good faith: from the very start I took several lines precisely to be honest and not share my SIM with several users. In particular the line for LaFille, who I'm with 24/7; she could have connected to my hotspot and that would've been that, but no, we got her a dedicated line, precisely to comply with the T&Cs.

And above all, I cancelled my subscription a few weeks before being able to benefit from several free iPhones under my contract. I could have played them dirty, waited to receive them, and cancelled right away, but no, because I'm not a crook, contrary to what you suggest in your DAMN registered letters, dear Parnasse.

One anecdote to finish:

A few weeks ago I shattered the screen of my iPhone, I called on the insurance, which offered me a brand-new iPhone as expected. Cool, and since I was in Paris, I thought "hey, this is a chance to go see their Opéra showroom, then I can talk to them about all these issues and clear everything up!"

Yes, Parnasse opened a space in the Orange store at Opéra. I'd never been. So I offer them to pick up the new phone there, I was in Paris that day, it was perfect.

They refused, I still don't know why. Instead I went to collect it at the reception of their office, in a run-down lodge from a somewhat lost security guard who handed me the phone with a rather dubious look. The featured photo is their mailbox, which I happened to come across on that occasion.

Well yeah, why meet a customer in a nice setting that probably cost a fortune to set up, when you can leave their phone in a somewhat grim lodge, without even seeing them.

"Selective" they told us.

But anyway, following my termination I received this, and it would seem that what I'm telling is "erroneous public statements" that I "spread across various social networks". As it happens I archive absolutely everything, my emails, my registered letters, my contracts.

I even put together a nice file, just in case, you know.

[](https://i0.wp.com/www.macarel.fr/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/parnasse_declarations.png)

Come on, one last reminder Parnasse: all it took was to call me and offer me a solution instead of sending me threatening letters. Just that and everything would have been so cool.

It was so easy.

Photo credit: DR

By Paingout