AT first glance it looks like the kind of text message sent by a stroppy teenager with a poor grasp of the English language.

The angry tone, missing apostrophe, extra vowels and childish insults would no doubt grate with anyone who despairs at the grammatical horrors of text speak.

However, it appears that this style of communication is not reserved for angry adolescents as it was in fact sent by mobile phone giant Orange to startled customer Emma Townsend.

Morrisons worker Emma, 23, a mother-of-one from Dudbridge Hill, Stroud, was ‘horrified’ by the message, which she received after her partner Carwyn Davis spoke to a customer service assistant about their bill.

Emma has a joint account with car salesman Carwyn, 24, although it is in her name.

In April, the couple received an unexpected bill for around £110 and called Orange.

They had arranged for their bill to be paid by direct debit, with the first payment due in March.

However, there was a problem and the payment was not made.

“Apparently the direct debit wasn’t in action and we missed a month which resulted in us receiving a bill at the beginning of April which came in at around £110," said Carwyn.

“We did not understand how the bill had shot up this much so we rang Orange.

“They told me that Emma should have rung up and paid the bill over the phone.

“But we had set up a direct debit with them so we assumed that the bill would be taken straight out of the account.

“I think customer services should have called us to let us know that the bill was due to be paid instead of letting it run on.

“I became very agitated on the phone as the lady was talking over me so told her I would call back to speak to a supervisor and ended the call."

An automated text was then sent asking for ratings on customer service.

“We were so unimpressed that we responded with ‘one’ to every question," said Carwyn.

The following day Emma received a text from Orange which read: “You are so pathetic you cant pay your bill and you blame it other people. You are sooo PATHETIC.”

Carwyn called the company to complain.

“The employee apologised on behalf of the colleague who had sent the text and I was told it would be dealt with however nothing has been done so far," said Carwyn.

“I have chased them at least once a week since and I feel like this has not been taken seriously at all.

“Emma was horrified when she received the text and the fact that they have not bothered to ring and apologise properly is shocking.

“Even just a supervisor or manager calling to let me know that they have acknowledged the matter and taken it seriously would be enough at this point.

“The contract doesn’t finish until September so basically we’re drawn in until then although I don’t want to carry on giving them our business after all of this.

“We are still waiting for a formal apology.”

Orange said it was taking the matter 'very seriously' and would be addressing it 'as a priority'.

A spokesman said: “We apologise to Ms Townsend for the text she has received. We are investigating the origin of this message as a matter of urgency.”