Can I escape my new Orange contract because there isn't coverage at my house?

EyePeaSea

lawbunny wrote: »

Phone them straight away and get it logged that you have no coverage. Then excalate the problem in writing to Orange. They are a lot more likely to be sympathetic if you report the problem straight away, not weeks or months down the line, as it is clear you are being honest.

Those coverage maps online just give you a general idea of the coverage in your postcode area: they do not take into account the exact location of your home in the street, the material the house is made of, whether there are tall buildings etc blocking your signal. Networks are aware fo this, and their technical team will normally have a more indepth network checker which will show the exact network for your home. Make them aware of it immediately and they are more likely to be agreeable to letting you return the equipment and cancelling.

Hi Lawbunny - thanks for the message. I spoke to their customer services this morning and they suggested that I could try forcing my phone to 2G only (not an ideal scenario). I tried this, but it makes no difference, so it looks as if the phone was already sucessfully falling-back to 2G anyway.

They also said that they were aware of problems on their network and that this might be the cause.

I've just written a letter to their correspondence department and I'm waiting to hear from the store manager tomorrow.

I'll let you all know how I get on.

Cheers

Ian

EyePeaSea

jamespir wrote: »

i have one for my phone as where my house is i get zero signal but now i have a booster and im able to use the net send texts and make calls without problem

I'm glad this worked for you, although I'm still rather skeptical about this sort of solution.

Surely - it's in the network provider's interest to give people the best possible signal - if they could increase the efficiency of a phones ability to receive a signal by just 5%, then they would get less support calls and higher customer satisfaction. Any 'device' that retails sub-£2.00 is clearly very simple to manufacture so why don't the phone companies and/or network providers 'add' this functionality as a default?

Very odd.

Cheers

Ian

Hasslehoof

If you get no joy in the store, ring 150 and go to handset faults, in certain circumstances, they can authorise the account to be cancelled without you incurring any contract charges.

billsavings

BBC Watchdog discussed the mobile no signal problem on Monday . Worth reading Oranges responses.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/watchdog/2009/03/mobile_charges_but_no_signal.html

eng_2

Had problems with phones4u and Vodaphone with exactly the same problem. We bought online and were told we had 7 days cooling off online but 14 if bought in the shop. The signal was non existent. It took 3 days with our local phones4u shop, being very helpful and agreeing that the signal was useles, but it went to the top management at Phones4u and they said Vodaphone wouldn't allow them to disconnect. On speaking to Vodaphone they said that was an utter lie. Went back to Phones4u and repeated what Vodaphone said and I had details of who said that. We were reimbursed and the contract cancelled within 15 minutes! The manager at the Luton phones4u shop was excellent as was Vodaphone, but the higher management at Phones4u just made up a load of nonsense in order that we couldn't cancel.:T

Mar.cresham

Make it clear to the store manager that the postcode Thing on the Orange website said that network would be fine in your area so thats why you took the phone out but that clearly its wrong when it wont pick it up. There website is wrong so to be you have to be let out of this

flowerfairy159

EyePeaSea wrote: »

Hi,

I was looking for a new phone and as the one I wanted (HTC Touch HD - very nice, BTW) wasn't available from my current provider, O2. So I signed up for a new 18 Month with Orange yesterday.

My O2 phone gets 100% reception at home and I assumed bad coverage was mostly a thing of the past (or possibly just Cornwall). However, to be on the safe side, I checked my post code on the Orange website before I went to the Orange shop - sure enough, 'Excellent' coverage for 2G, 3G and 3G+.

Did the deed at the shop, got home and I've got no signal at all in my house apart from on the top floor. My partners house is 1/2 a mile away and I got an intermittent signal (from zilch to 2 bars out of 5).

Went back to the shop today and was told the on duty manager would need to speak to the shop manager on Tuesday to discuss whether I can cancel my contract.

Possibly, when I explain the problem to the store manager, she'll agree to let me cancel. Alternatively, the duty manager might well just wanted to avoid giving me bad news and so left it up to her boss who is presumably paid to dish out bad news!

Whilst I did specifically say that I needed a phone that supported 3G / Mobile Broad band - I didn't put that in writing - just mentioned it to the sales girl and I certainly didn't specify that I wanted data connectivity at home and, silly me, I didn't even say I wanted to make voice calls! But seriously, whilst these things seem reasonable, I assume they don't really make any difference as my requirements weren't written down.

To make matters worse (I think), I paid by setting up a direct debit and I did this in a shop, not over the phone, so I assume that excludes distance selling protection?

So - my question is - do I have any rights to cancel the policy, or am I at the whims of personal discretion of the store manager?

Thanks in advance

Ian

Hi Ian,

I just got out of my contract after 5 months for the same reason. It took me 3days of argueing for about and hour a day but now both my OH and I are free.

The route to follow to suceed ( and I worked in the bristol office so I know this is true) -

1.Make complaint to handset faults
2.Insist on being refered above (no excuses)
3.insist on them conducting a drive by signal test of the areas you require signal in and cannot get (youll need postcodes)
4.This is done within 24 hours (always!!!!)
5.Once confirmed insist on disconnection.
6. If denied go to offcom.

They then give you the number for the executive department who deal with offcom complaints about orange (the orange office number) and they cancelled the service within 5 minutes for me due to all the proof. And let me keep my free broadband for 6 months and the mobile as an apology!!!
Works everytime.

Any problems ask for stephanie on handset faults. Tell her Jody told you she was good. (she knows the procedure as the others are idiots and is really nice and helpful. Have ext 20867 for her and she works 2pm till 10pm)

Hope this helps