Orange - Can I Get Out Of My Contract

Hudge

I called Orange CS on Friday and they didnt know what to make of it. I initially spoke to a lady who told me there had been no increase and she said she had checked with four departments who all confirmed this. When I quizzed her about the website showing the increase (and gave her the exact web address!) she still claimed there was no increase!

I called through again, this time to billings where they did confirm the increase. I quoted the t's & c's and told them I would like to exit the contract. They said this was not possible as picture messaging ''was only a little bit of the contract''. After going round in circles the manager told me he had only been there 6 months and didn't ''really know the in and outs of the contract''.

With regards to proving the charges are excessive, surely a 20% increase is hugely disproportionate to the annual iflationary increase of RPI (5%) - as Saeed says, its written in black and white. I think the only way they could wriggle out of it is if you had never sent an MMS

I'm going to send a letter in this week. If you do not respond to the changes within 1 month they take that as acceptance.

emptycup

Hi Hudge,

I have not received a response from my email yet (I did only send it in yesterday on a Sunday though ).

What address are you sending your letter to? It seems that is the only way to do it from what I have read on these forums.

Hudge

Hi Emptycup,

They gave me an address over the phone which is based in Bristol. I've left it at home but will post up tonight I when I get in.

I think i may send the letter in recorded post and mark as 'immdediate action required' - that way they can't turn round and say they havent received it!

Let us know how you get on with the email!

H

proplusplus

Where is this update?

I can't find anything on orange.co.uk or in their price guide.

can you provide a link pls!

thanks

proplusplus

Hudge

The text message that was sent highlighted the increase and directed you to www.orange.co.uk/photo for more info. If you then look under the cost tab.

Emptycup - some info on RPI here...
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/CCI/nugget.asp?ID=21&Pos=6&ColRank=1&Rank=160

and the latest monthly digest...

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/Product.asp?vlnk=611

princessjessica08

I've been reading this thread since it started and commented on it as well, and only just realised I'm with Orange as well lol I haven't received any text message telling me about the increase either (my contracts up in november so not duly concerned).

emptycup

Thanks Hudge.

If I am reading this correct then the RPI change over the last 12 months is 4.8% and I think the eprice increase (of 5p)on the picture message is about 20% there abouts.

Can anyone corroborate this as I am not familiar with all this RPI business.

Dan:)_7

could you PM me the address please, i cant seem to dind one on there site

eco21

Hi,

I have not recieved any word from Orange regarding increasing the price of MMS but I thought I should do a little snooping on your behalf.

I have looked at the RPI increase which is sitting at 4.8% and we 'technically' can cancel should excessive increases in our bills occur due to the way Orange have changed their prices.

I am with Orange so I would like to get out if I can, I know, that the single price of an MMS has increased via 20% 25p to 30p however that obviously doesn't mean our bill has increased 20% (if it did, we would be able to cancel as the price has excessively increased)

If for example, I take my bill - I pay £30 a month, for my Line Rental (1200mins, unlimited text and unlimited internet) now, if before the price increase I sent 10 MMS, by bill at the end of the month would be £32.50.

The same bill, after the increase would be £33.00 which is an increase of 50p; and if we put that as a % of my bill, my bill is an increase of 1.8% I think.

So after the price increase, I have to pay Orange 1.8% more; which according to their T&C's they are legally allowed to do.

Now, for my bill to increase more than the 4.8%; I would have to send 45 MMS a month - which would increase my bill by 5.2% - which means I could say to Orange that your price increase has cost me more than the RPI 4.8%.

Problem being, I have never sent 48 MMS in my lifetime.

I then thought what is the average number of MMS sent by a UK user but no stats are avaliable - I however went onto the Mobile Data Association which gather the mobile usage across the year - for 2007 the number of SMS sent was 6 Billion - for MMS the number sent was 448 million.

I then thought with a bit of ratio maths, for every 127 SMS sent, a MMS is sent. So when I send 1270 SMS a month, to fit in with the statistics, I should send 10 MMS.

I could say to Orange, I predict I will use 10 MMS a month, as I do send around 1300 SMS a month, and as a result, my bill will increase 1.8% not 4.8%

I honestly do think, they have got this covered and their will be very little they can do about it, if anything what I think they may do, is give you 30 free MMS a month, meaning that even if you did send 45 a month, the number needed to increase your bill by over 4.8% you would only be paying for 15 of them - which means you bill is only increasing 2.2%ish.

Sorry for the post being so long, and I apologise if my maths is out or you cant understand this, just trying to help people. But, I feel that there will be very little we can do, unless you have been sending 45 MMS a month and being charged full price for them.

emptycup

Thanks for the info Eco...

I have looked at the terms and conditions and it only states that we can terminate contract if they increase charges (as opposed to our bill). So, I suppose it depends which way they interpret it (I have an idea which way they are likely to go )

Not sure what to make of it now.