Help!! Carphone Warehouse Mis-sold Service Product

keith2k9

Hi guys...I'm new on here and i was wondering if anyone can give me advice on the following posting. All feed-back appreciated.....Have i went about it the right way??


Letter I sent to Carphone Warehouse:


Dear Sir/Madam


On the 7th of November 2008 i visited the CPW store in Ballymena (NI) (280) to enquire about a wireless internet offer. The sales representitive recommended the 24 months Toshiba Satellite L300 Laptop offer and informed my-self and other family members present that there would be a one-off payment for the laptop of £39.99. I was informed the sales Advisor Alister that my wireless internet provider would be Orange and i would have UNLIMITED INTERNET ACCESS for £35 pounds per month. Having signed the required documentation i left the store happy with the my purchase. Several weeks later my laptop developed a critical failure and i returned it to the store. I was informed by Maraid (Store Manageress) that i would have to travel some 20 miles to get a replacement laptop at the Castle Court Centre,Belfast. Having had my Laptop replaced and when i got it home i noticed that the Laptop model was not the same model as my previous laptop. There was no integrated camera nor Mic on the replacement laptop. I recieved my first bill from ORANGE which as i had been advised in the Ballymena CPW store would be £35. On the 10th of December 2008 i recieved my second bill from Orange and to my horror the bill was for £278.54. Immediately i contacted ORANGE BILLING DEPARTMENT to raise the issue to see if the had made a mistake. I was THEN informed that i was NOT ON AN UNLIMITED WIRELESS BROADBAND PACKAGE as ORANDE DID NOT have that type of package for WIRELESS BROADBAND only HOME BROADBAND. At this stage i would like to point out that the Gentleman from ORANGE billing Department was extremely sympathetic and helpful and infact informed me that he had encountered this issue on numerous occassions where CPW had mis-sold and misled customers in relation to orange INTERNET EVERYWHERE 3GB plan as UNLIMITED. At this stage the ORANGE advisor put a note on my account detailing the the incident and put a "hold" on my account advising me to firstly make contact with the store that dealt with my account (Ballymena store NI). The ORANGE advisor informed me that he would most deffinately be raising the issue with Senior Orange Management and proceeded to inform me that mis-selling a product is an offence. Following this conversation i called the CPW Warehouse Customer Services Team. Having been passed from one rude employee to another they took my contact details and several hours later i recieved a telephone call from Maraid (Store Manageress) CPW Ballymena. I out-lined my complaint and she informed me that she could not recall my visits to the store nor the issue with replacing my faulty laptop (eventhough she told me that the Manager of the Castle Court store where i got my replacement Laptop was a personal friend of hers weeks prior to this conversation). Maraid appologised for any distress caused and informed me the was nothing she could do at store level and gave me the CPW complaints Department contact details. Several days later 10th of January 2009 i recieved another bill from ORANGE to the total of £573.71. Again I contacted orange who informed me that as i was mis-sold the product/service the would continue the hold off on my paying the out-standing bill and they informed me to Invoice the bill with my complaint to the CPW Complaints Department (please see attachments). I wish to have this matter resolved as soon as it unfair and causing me anxiety and stress that i do not need. Further to this i have made a complaint to OFCOM, the internet services regulator, ISPA Watchdog and am considering consulting an Independent solicitor. I would appreciate if this can be resolved at your earliest convenience.

Regards,

Keith ********

Enc.

penrhyn

Welcome to the forum.
I find your post very difficult to read and understand.
The person receiving this at CPW waould probably give up as well.
Try reading it yourself and extracting the main points.

Eydon

Agree with above - it's not easy to follow.

However, from what I can gather, you received a bill from Orange in December for £270 odd. You phoned them up and discovered there was a problem, and yet you carried on using the service, so now the bill in January is over £500.

If you knew there was a problem in December why did you carry on using the service.

You may get somewhere with CPW over the bill for December (I don't know - I've never had any dealings with them) but I'll be surprised if you get anything for the additional charges incurred after Orange advised you that there was a problem.

Good luck though.

iceburn

To the other two posters, he might of run up those charges inbetween the date of when Orange posted the Dec billed and when he recieved it. But also the last bit give the impression Orange is advising him to use it as you were sold. About the way he wrote it, I admit I can follow it but than I probably write in similar style hence why I can read it :-D. But on a serious note I think this is what is the problem and what need to be done

a) Laptop broke down and was change for a different laptop.
solution - laptop is an extra thing and not part of the contract, just like cashback. They are subject to avail and can be change if stock run out. Which is probably what happen here. You could of return it to Toshiba who could of repair it. But what is the laptop you got now, cause even through it got no mic/webcam it might actually be a much better model and hence worth not complaining much about it and just buy a webcam + mic for £10 - £30.

b) mis-sold the Mobile broadband by being told it was unlimited when in fact there is a fair usage policy that states you can only use upto 3GB per month. What I dont understand from what you are saying you got charge an extra £208.54 in bandwidth using Dec bill. (assuming £35 x 2 for month advance.) Firstly according to Orange T&C this is what should of happen.

· Connections on Business Everywhere and Internet Everywhere Service Plans ("the Service Plan(s)") are subject to status and subject to a minimum contract length of twelve (12), eighteen (18) or twenty-four (24) Months (or such other Minimum Connection Period as stated in your agreement with Orange) unless otherwise stated. Travel Data Bundles cannot be taken by Non-Business Customers (see clause 12 below).
· Out of bundle charges are as stated above.
· Business Everywhere Daily, Business Everywhere and Internet Everywhere Unlimited 12, 18 and 24 and Business Everywhere Traveller 12, 18 and 24 are only available to single users and are subject to a fair usage policy of 3.6GB per Month (Unlimited 12, 18 and 24 and Traveller 12, 18 and 24) or 1GB per day (Daily) (the "Fair Use Policy"). Where your use of the Services exceeds the applicable Fair Use Policy, Orange may contact you in order to request that you moderate your use of these Services. If, even after contact from Orange, the Fair Use Policy is still breached by you, Orange reserves the right to Suspend your access to the Services (or restrict your bandwidth and/or data consumption); and / or require you to move your access to these Services to a Service Plan more appropriate to your use.

Even on the t&c that states about allowance and if you exceed it you will be charged. The charge will be as follows.

£1.43 / MB
(so £14 / GB)

Therefore if we use 208.54 and divide by 1.43 = 145.83MB
or
208.54 and divide by 14 = 14.89GB

And for other ppl I know that doesnt add up cause there is 1024MB in 1GB so have to assume for now they cap it but worth OP calling Orange and ask them to explain the T&C..

http://shop.orange.co.uk/shop/terms#businesseverywhere

but either way from the sounds of it you should of been contacted and there should be no charge. Also with that usage you should of not been sold a mobile dongle cause they are not made for that.

You now know the problem and most likely at the end it will be cancelled. Stop using it now, and sign up to a "LANDLINE BASE Broadband." Or give it all back to CPW and say it was mis-sold and take it from there.

NB: Just throught about the MB/GB in the terms and condition and it might be £1.43 per 100MB you download over your allowance.

keith2k9

Thanks for your advice guys...I'll try re-sending the complaint to CPW and make alterations to it...I run up those charges inbetween the date of when Orange posted the Dec billed and when i recieved it. Orange did advise me to continue to use it as i was sold it and put a "hold" on the amount disputed. I have however continued to pay the £35 pound per month....at-least this shows my intention to pay!! I'd appreciate any further feed back from you guys!! Much appreciated. Thanks again. Keith

Save-Me-Money_3

Wow........

SGWT

I have a similar issue.

I bought a 24 month mobile broadband contract with O2 from CPW. The usage is 3gb per month. I bought this for my 21 year old daughter. I explained to the CPW that I did not understand the usage limits for 3gb. I explained that she will want to use it for surfing the internet and using such applications as Facebook. I was told that 3gb usage would be fine. I took their advice and signed the contract.

The contract payment is £30.00 per month. No problem. Except this month the bill is £180.00! When I spoke to O2 they told me about the usage. They explained it clearly and I now understand were it has gone wrong. No problem.

My problem is that I asked CPW if theuseage was okay. They said it was. On the back of their advice I bought the contract. Is this mis-representation?

I am happy to pay £30 per month but clearly there was a lack of understanding of the usage policy. Any recommendations as to how I can resolve this issue? I will be visiting the CPW branch tomorrow.

Answers on a postcard.

emily1981_2

:money:Hi I found a website on a phone forum claiming to settle my mis-sold mobile phone contract. I visited the website and emailed them for an application form and within 48 hours it arrived, They ask for a few details about the mis-selling of the phone contract and your details, within 3 weeks I had £140.00 back through the post. It cost £10.00 to register but it is worth it if you think you have a claim and have been duped into paying more money for a service you did not really want. You could try trading standards and consumer direct but I would us Tariff Trading Standards:money:

frank1985_2

just submitted a claim through tts or tariff trading standards, cost me 20pounds to register a business claim for 2 mobile phones, had a letter from orange saying they are reviewing the contract charges so tts must have been in contact, I owe orange 800pounds so hopefully the claim will be resolved and the phone bill may be lowered or wiped out and that would be a good outcome for just spending 20pounds, would reccomend the service if you have a large bill you would like to question and not have to phone preium numbers to speak to some lame call centre staff