HELP ME!!! Stolen Mobile Phone Abroad -Liable for Fraudulent Phone Bill! PLEASE HELP!

deano27_2

bringmeshoes wrote: »

Also Orange would argue that it is not up to them to monitor the usage on a customers account.

As a customer I would hope so, but I understand what you are saying. I do find it annoying that they will enforce a fair use policy on calls between shared numbers @ 5000 minutues, but couldn't give a stuff if your international spend shoots your usage from £10 and month to £1000 :mad: . I wouldn't mind if you could put a usage threshold on the account, but they can't even offer that due to the fact the roamed calls are so damn slow to process!

mpsusanne

Hello there,

I am not going to go on about what has already happened.

As a tip, I would always go for the sympathy vote rather than the indignation, when speaking to an advisor, as unfortunately a previous writer is correct in stating that Orange are not at fault here.

So, the best way to go would be to get a payment plan arranged, ring 150 from your handset or 07973 100 150 and ask to speak with someone from the collections department, give them your sob story ( young, stupid and poor student) , and I really don't mean this sarcasticly, but it may work in your favour, and ask if they could help you at all, they will advise on what kind of payment plan they can do for you, this should include them putting you on a free tariff, meaning they remove all chargeable bundles and the line rental as well as insurance from your account, then you will still be able to receive texts and calls but will be unable to make any, once the account is settled in full, Orange will reinstate the tariff you are on now, or next available and your contract will continue from that point onwards. This means, your contract will be held on hold at this point and restarted once settled.

Hope this helps, good luck

Tozer

Hi there. Sorry to hear about your misfortune. One thing which I would be definitely keen to impress upon Orange is that they are effectively making a profit out of a crime by charging you the full amount for the calls.

If they could charge you a profit-neutral rate, that would seem to be equitable.

Also be sure to tell them that you were prevented from reporting the loss. Is there any scope for pushing your travel insurance providers on the issue of the calls? After all, it would seem to be a direct loss flowing from the insurable event (the theft).

Does that make sense?

Microstar_2

Tozer wrote: »

Hi there. Sorry to hear about your misfortune. One thing which I would be definitely keen to impress upon Orange is that they are effectively making a profit out of a crime by charging you the full amount for the calls.

If they could charge you a profit-neutral rate, that would seem to be equitable.

Also be sure to tell them that you were prevented from reporting the loss. Is there any scope for pushing your travel insurance providers on the issue of the calls? After all, it would seem to be a direct loss flowing from the insurable event (the theft).

Does that make sense?

A very sensible post, totally agree with this.

It would also help if you contacted your MP and OFCOM. Orange are legally correct in what they are doing, but UK mobile phone companies seem to be indifferent to phone theft. Simple software which monitors call patterns could be used to flag to a CS operative that a phone may be stolen. They could then call the phone to verfiy identity of the user. I have had this sort of thing done by my credit card company. In one case it turned out that my card had been cloned and they spotted unusual usage straight away.
I also think that where theft has occured the calls should be charged at profit-neutral rates - I'm sure that would reduce the bill considerably and Orange could at least say that their profits did not include the proceeds of crime.

melmassey

Thankyou so so much guys! What absolutely brilliant advice! I will definately keep you all updated on what happens. Melissa x

wantmemoney

Microstar wrote:

Orange are legally correct in what they are doing, but UK mobile phone companies seem to be indifferent to phone theft. Simple software which monitors call patterns could be used to flag to a CS operative that a phone may be stolen.

That's a very interesting point. I don't work in the telecoms industry but I have studied telecom 'fraud'.

Some background on calls made abroad:

Companies like Orange have agreements with foreign telecom companies to carry their customers calls that are made abroad.
When the handset is switched on in a foreign country the telecom company in that country automatically checks with Orange in the UK as to the status of the account.
Is the account new or is the account 'billable'.
This helps protect the telecoms companies from fraudulent use of the hand set. They also have in place a mechanism to identify suspicious call patterns (Artificial Inflated Traffic).
Now unfortunately all this is 'switched off' if they know the account is billable and there is a verifiable customer to pick up the costs.

You also mentioned why a phone account doesn't appear to have the same fraud protection that credit cards have.
Several years ago the trade body for the phone companies (GSM) lobbied the UK Government for phone accounts to be exempt from the FSA regulations that credit/debit card accounts are subject to.
One of the reasons for this was to ensure that mobile phone companies were not liable for fraudulent deductions for unsolicited premium rate text messages etc.

I personally believe it's slightly more than 'unfair'

localshop

Seems to be an easy crime to solve - find out what numbers were phoned and ask them who phoned them at that time - catch the thief and make him/her pay. Might not work but wouldn't tie up interpol all month

Thanks for making me doubly sure I would go to hotel phone/phonebox and phone UK if my phone ever walks away.