URGENT Orange Ending Free 0800 calls

MSE_Martin

Orange has announced calls to freephones will no longer be free. A major shame as it's touted it as a sales point for so long, many signed up and will now lose it! They will be charged as standard landline calls.

This is not good for anyone (like me) who's been successfully using this to override their call charges for years. The only freephone calls that will be free are those to charities on the charity register.

The following is the rather curt statement the Orange press office sent me

"As of 1 December calling an 0800 number will be charged at the standard national call rate in line with all mobile phone operators. All registered 0800 charity numbers will be free of charge to call and a full list of registered numbers is available on [url="file://www.orange.co.uk/charity"]www.orange.co.uk/charity[/url]."


What does it mean for override users?

It means override can no longer be used for calling landlines cheaply. It should still work for calling mobiles and overseas (unless you have cross network free minutes, in which case it is pointless). The override your mobile article will be updated soon.


Martin

To discuss this click reply

mobilegossip

Martin MSE.

You must have missed this long thread, originally started by Pricefighter in Oct on this very matter.Which contains useful info about the possibility of Orange allowing free calls to 0800 until your contract term runs out.

See http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=101715

Edinburghlass_2

No, not missed, merely a new discussion thread which will be linked to from the main site articles

selector_2

Well can Martin at least mention in his next newsletter Orange is being very inconsistent in its approach to customers who query this.

Some customers have been able to get on the "Freefone Bundle" tariff which will allow 0800 calls to be free until the end of their contact or cancel their contracts due to the price rise.

When Jo Public calls the usual answer is there is no "Freefone Bundle" tariff and you cannot cancel your contract as price rises to 0800 numbers don't count!

Seems here that Ofcom need to get involved to straighten things out..MSE could assist greatly!!
.

Edinburghlass_2

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batman_3

Is this a change of terms & conditions of the contract? I remember a thread a while back when T-mobile(I think) changed some T&C's and people used it to get their contracts terminated early & kept their handsets!

tirreni

Having just spoken to Orange Customer Services and then a Supervisor for the past half hour all I can say is BE PERSISTANT! The supervisors have been told that quote: "All people who have used a freephone number in the past 6 months will have been notified in their November bill. Everyone else will be notified in their December bill. From Dec 1st everyone trying to connect to a freephone number will hear a recorded message prior to connection warning them that this number is now no longer free. Orange reserves the right to change it's tarriffs without any prior notice"

After much persistance I have managed to have the freephone bundle applied to my Your Plan 200 account, and to my partner's Select 500 account until the end of the contracts.

This was done by a Team Leader in North Tyneside. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to quote his name on here???? :silenced: Don't be put off by the lies they'll tell you - they ended up quoting me one thing, then another, until they completely tied themselves up in a tangled web of lies and had to relent!! :rotfl:

ericpode

I'm on everytime 200 which (as far as I recall 10p per minute for almost any call at all times/days except about 35p per min to other mobile networks).

I've just discovered the bad news about freefone charging - I'll have to check the wording on my last couple of bills but I presume I'll be charged from tomorrow. I'll have to do some calculations to see how I can reduce the damage a little by using the 020 geographical override number instead of the 0808, but it will still hurt a lot as I rely on the mobile for nearly all my calls.

What's this about the "freephone package"? Is this something they have just created so that they can charge us a flat fee for having access to "free" freephone numbers? If so then why the struggle to get it added to your contract?

And how much does the freephone package cost to get it added?

overworked_underpaid

I've been on the everyday 50 contract since it came out and have only used orange due to the 0800 free override calls. Doe anyone know whether they 0845/0870 numbers are going to be taken out of the inclusive minutes? If so, it seems I need to look for a new contract. Any recommendations?

Stabilo

overworked_underpaid wrote:

I've been on the everyday 50 contract since it came out and have only used orange due to the 0800 free override calls. Doe anyone know whether they 0845/0870 numbers are going to be taken out of the inclusive minutes? If so, it seems I need to look for a new contract. Any recommendations?

No change for 0845 / 0870 numbers.

I emailed CEO's office this morning to see if they had added the freephone bundle to my account. 4 hours later no reply.

I have just checked my account online and it has 'Freephone Non-calling card' listed against my bundles so it appears they have kept their promise. Thanks Orange, another 12 months of unbelievably cheap mobile calls for me :j .

tOpCaT_3

Stabilo, can you explain how you achieved this? Who did you email and had you already been trying to negotiate something beforehand?