Orange £50 upgrade charge without telling me

kingpuck

Hi,

Need some advice.

Upgraded the phone last week, had phoned up to cancel and give my 30 days notice but I was given a free D600, 240 texts and 500mins. Got my bill in yesterday and it inculded a £50 upgrade charge.

I phoned customer services last night and explained, they put me through to the disconnection team who had given me the upgrade. I told the lady that at no time was a £50 charge mentioned and that I was given this deal to stop me from giving my 30 days notice.

She claims that the charge was not for the phone and that it was because I upgraded my contract early. Is this right? Apparently the person who gave me the upgrade was not available and he is the only person who can cancel this charge. He was supposed to contact me today but as of yet I have heard nothing.

The obvious problem I have is that this was all carried out over the telephone and I have no proof that he never told me about the charge.

Any advice please?

Steve_xx

Regardless of whether this was carried over the phone, a contract exists between you, based on what you asked for and what you were told. But you will need to be able to prove this, and any written notes you made at the time of the conversation will help.

It seems to me that Orange have indulged in sharp practise here. You have telephoned them prior to your contract ending and they have induced you to take an offer. They have failed to inform you of the proper cost of the offer, or they failed to tell you that if you took the offer prior to the last day or ending of your previous contract that you would incur the early termination/upgrade charge.

Perhaps Orange record their calls? If so then they can listen and hear what was agreed?

Under the distance selling rules you have a 'cooling off' period of seven working days from placement of order. You may be able to invoke this.

In any event, I would tell Orange that you do not accept their charge and that if they do not refund it to your account then you will start a claim in the County Court in order to recover this money plus any other costs that you may incur in order to recover it. I would tell them this on the phone and if they did not concur then I would write to them, giving them seven days notice of your intentions should they fail to cooperate.