Orange - Trying to Downgrade Price Plan

Bunnie

I am 9 months into an 18months contract with orange and I was looking to downgrade my price plan. I was on their dolphin25 plan for which i got 150mins and unlimited texts for £25 a month. Looking on their website I saW that the dolphin25 now has 20mins and unlimited texts for £25! And whats more there is a "special offer" on and its now only £20 a month! Humph. Just aswell I was wanting to downgrade to the dolphin15 plan which they advertise online.

Phoning up their customer services I was directed to their India call centre. Grrrr. Have delt with them before and they have no clue how to answer the questions I ask them. When you ask a non standard question your met with silence as they dissapear to ask a manager for an answer.

Well I explained that I was on the dolphin25 plan and i wanted to move down to the dolphin15(one grade down). To my surprise I was told that it didnt exist! What!? I was looking at it online as we spoke. Apparently I could downgrade to the dolphin20. I had no idea what that was as it wasnt listed on their website. As I explained that I was looking at the dolphin15 offer and I couldnt afford the 20 I was told again that it didnt exist. Needless to say that I was getting rather confused and angry at this stage so I asked to be transfered to the cancellation department.

When i finally got though to a wonam in a uk call centre I explained my circumstances. As far as I was concerned all I wanted to do was drop 1 price plan to the dolphin15. I was told that this was a special offer and therfore wasnt available to me. What!? Why not? It states on their website that "existing customers now get the same deals as new". So why couldnt I have this one? I was told I could only downgradwe to the dolphin20 which although it doesnt exist now it did when i took out my contract. Huh? Apparently that was all that could be done. Fine.

I am now on a dolphine20 which gives me 200mins and unlimited texts for £20 a month. This is exactly the same as their dolphin25 online (which i was already on) just at the special price of £20.

All that i can see is thet they have updated my original plan and given me the current special prce and called it the "dolphin20". All that to stop me from downgrading to the 15?

Oooft i think orange customer service is somewhat lacking.

If anyone can explain what has happened to me or knows that ive been ripped off i would appreciate hearing from you.

Rant over.

Ah i feel slightly better.

Thanks.

jd87

Hi Bunnie. I agree that Orange customer services is terrible at times. Let me explain what I think happened. Firstly, all of the online prices have a £5 discount for new customers. All of the price plans are available to existing customers, but the £5 discount is only for new customers. So the Dolphin 15 you were looking at is actually the Dolphin 20. You can downgrade by one grade after 6 months, and the way Orange looks at it, one grade equals £5. So the most they will reduce you by is £5. You were asking for a £10 reduction which they can't do. I started on a £45 contract and the most I have been able to reduce to is £40, so it applies at all levels.

It sucks I know, but I think that's what happened.

rmanpaul

So are you saying that on an ORANGE tarrif that I can only reduce my tariff once in total?

Thanks

jd87

rmanpaul wrote: »

So are you saying that on an ORANGE tarrif that I can only reduce my tariff once in total?

Thanks

Not sure. You can reduce it once after 6 months. Then maybe after another 6 months (if on an 18 month contract) you can reduce it again. Don't know.

x.sophie.x

I tried to downgrade my plan by £10 about six months ago, and I was informed that I could only downgrade by £5 at a time, per month (not per 6 months as someone stated before). The guy I spoke to said that if I rang up the following month I could re-downgrade to get to the £10 discount I was after (I actually never re-downgraded, so I don't know if this is 100% true).... not sure if this is the same now, but possibly worth asking.

TighterThanTwoCoatsOfPain

tbh it depends on what you sign up for... if you signed at 18month contract @ £25pm thats what you pay for 18 months.. Just because they change the price for new customer makes no difference. This is the case in every time of contract. (eg internet providers etc)

If they allow you one downgrade within your contract then you have just had it.. Just enjoy the extra fiver!