Orange, PAC Code and 30 day notice

chalky_bertie

Have got to get this off my chest as I have a very short temper at the best of times.

Gave Orange 30 day notice at beginning of December which was my last month and therefore had been with them for 12 months paid line rental. Got a PAC code from the disconnections department and was explained that there may be a pro-rata charge of next months bill if I go into it. OK. Just got my final invoice and there has been a charge on for £16 for half of the month of December as I left before the 30 day notice period. This was not made clear at the time of the call to them. In my eyes I have been charged once for the line rental and again for another half months line rental. Surely if i had paid for the full 12 month contract then why can they charge me again.

I know have to write somewhere to try and get a refund but I don't hold out much hope.

Just beware from that I would cancel after the 12th month once you are into the 13 month and use the PAC Code ASAP.

Can I use an expletive, yes I can...the ****** ********!

kai666

why didn't you cancel at the end of month 11, so you could move as soon as the 12 months were up, then you could have avoided any extra charges

Woby_Tide

a PAC code is your 30 days notice, if you use it on the first day you receive it after porting a week later, you'll pay for the remaining 23 days of the PAC notice period. If you cancel after 21 days or so, by the time you port your notice period will only have a couple of days to run. If your PAC takes you outside of your normal monthly billing cycle you pay for whatever time was outside of your normal billing period

If you cancel your contract you are giving 30 days notice and you lose your number.
If you take a PAC code you are giving 30 days notice that you may leave and take your number.

Cancelling a contract and obtaining a PAC to end a contract are different processes

chalky_bertie

I wish it was explained like that when I got the PAC Code.

yezdi

Woby_Tide,
Could you please explain to me what exactly chalky_bertie should have done. I dont think I've understood why Orange have charged £16.
I am on orange and my contract ends a few months later so I want to make sure I dont get ripped off.
Thanks

Sim_2

This another example of mobile phone companies ripping off consumers. When you use your PAC (not when it is issued) you are giving Orange 30 days notice - the port will normally happen 6-7 days later so for he remainder of the notice period you will be pay for a service you cannot use! My number was transferred from Orange to o2 this morning - both companies told me that was the way it was and I had no choice but give Orange money for nothing.

virgo17

Sim wrote:

This another example of mobile phone companies ripping off consumers. When you use your PAC (not when it is issued) you are giving Orange 30 days notice - the port will normally happen 6-7 days later so for he remainder of the notice period you will be pay for a service you cannot use!

Can you not use your PAC code today but arrange for the transfer to take place three weeks or so down the line? I thought the 5 working days was the minimum period.

V.

Woby_Tide

given the hazy working practices of the number porting teams I wouldn't trust them to remember to port it 3 weeks down the line. Personally I'd always aim about 7 days from the end of the 30 days, if it's quicker you don't lose that much, if it takes longer than 7 days then you still only pay for what you use and no more.

johnk

Woby_Tide wrote:

Personally I'd always aim about 7 days from the end of the 30 days, if it's quicker you don't lose that much, if it takes longer than 7 days then you still only pay for what you use and no more.

How do you manage to do that? I thought, as Sim said above, the 30 days don't start until the PAC is used (ie, the time you gave it to the new provider). And it takes 7 to 10 days to complete the transfer.
Can you actually specify the completion date at the time you present your PAC code? I was never offered such an option when I ported before.

slowen

When I cancelled my Orange contract and requested the PAC code the "customer services" told me that if you request the PAC code and then don't use it your contract is not cancelled and you will still keep on getting billed. Don't know how true this is but in the end I did not bother porting my number and opted for a new number as at least I can get rid of some people that had my old number

Woby_Tide

the 30 days start when the PAC is issued, and you have 30 days to hand the PAC to the new network, if you hand it over on the 29th/30th day you'll just pay for however long it takes until you port. When the new network enter the PAC into the system that controls it all it tells the network you are leaving you have used it.

As said before you can't specify a date as far as I'm aware but you can make a best guess that it'll be about 5 days, 7days is just to give it a bit of leeway for safetys sake