Well well well. I've just come off the 'phone to ... guess who ... Orange!
Called 150. Spoke with an offshore call centre. Asked to speak to a UK call centre, as I was told would be possible. Was told this wasn't possible. Kicked up a (polite) fuss. Suddenly it was possible, and I spoke with a UK call centre.
Problem (with a bit of a recap): No data when on 3G. Phone says "3G" on the screen, showing (I assume) that there is a 3G signal, but data transmission is zero. Orange had told me there was no problem with their signal, it had to be my 'phone, so I took my 'phone back to the CarPhoneWarehouse to be repaired. They sent it to HTC, who 'repaired' it, and sent it back to me 2 days ago.
This morning, in N13 area, I tried to connect to 3G. It connected, but data transmission was zero. I tried to make some telephone calls - none of them connected (three of them were to three different landlines).
This evening (just now), in the E3 area, I tried to connect to 3G. It connected, but data transmission was zero.
Lady at Orange immediately said it was the handset. I said that no, it wasn't the handset as it had just had clean bill of health from HTC. She checked with their technical teams who said that there was good 3G signal in the areas I mentioned and therefore it wasn't their fault. I said it wasn't a question of signal, it was a question of data. Oh well, she said, it could be the SIM card. She would send me a new SIM card, and talk to HTC about whether there was as known fault with my handset.
So, she will call me back on Monday afternoon. In fairness to her, she sounded genuinely perplexed that there was a problem and at a loss to explain it.
I also pointed out that when I called a month ago (gave her date and time and name of the person I spoke with), I had been promised a 50% reduction on my bill for that month which hadn't materialised. She denied this conversation had taken place, and said that there was no-one by the name I gave working in their call centre.
So, let's see what happens on Monday afternoon. It has all ended up precisely as I expected; I really don't believe there was ever a problem with my handset, nor that there is a problem now, but am willing to play their game until they run out of answers - or solve the problem. I will, needless to say, be angling for a VERY large discount from every single bill for the rest of this contract if it turns out to be anything but my fault.
I'll keep the thread updated.
Oli.