Orange broadband and mobile dispute.

Thor84

Hello everyone, I'd just like a little advice about what I should do / what rights I have as I've been having problems with Orange since me and my girlfriend took on a mobile phone + broadband max package (landline + 8mb Internet connection) from Orange about a year ago.

First off I had a dispute about how they started up the contract, which took 4 months to settle, but we had hoped that we were finally finished with the whole ordeal as Orange gave in, paid back the money we claimed and gave us 3 months free Internet connection. Unfortunately we got 1 month of appalling service where connections would constantly fail and there'd be delays of 1 second up to a crazy 25 MINUTES. We complained but were essentially told it wasn't their fault and they weren't going to fix it.

After that month had gone we then lost our connection completely, followed by a whole week of calls to Orange just to get an explanation; eventually they told us our line was "seized" by "another company" and that our phone number had been given to someone else. They at first claimed it would be fixed within 4 days, but 2 weeks later the best answer I could get from Orange was that it was "out of their hands" and that I would have to go to BT to get a new line because I didn't have one anymore so there was nothing they could do. BT on their side told me that because there was no line at all they'd have to send around an engineer (which cost me £122.xx).

I decided I'd had enough of Orange and asked them to provide me with the service I was paying for or cancel my account. Roughly 4 weeks after the Internet connection was down I decided to go to a different company to get a line installed as I require an Internet connection (I worked from home at the time). I kept nagging Orange to cancel the account as I refused to pay for a service they were not providing.

Since Orange ignored all my letters and calls (they did sign for recorded delivery letters, but never responded), I went to trading standards and they started contacting Orange on our behalf. After 3 weeks the trading standards rep tells me that Orange has failed to meet his deadline for responding and he's started calling them instead, but they've so far proven to be "the most awkward company" he's ever had to deal with. After trading standards being involved for a month and a half we finally get an e-mail from trading standards saying that they seem to have come to a resolution where Orange will cancel the account, pay for the installation of my new line and that we now "owe them no money".

We barely get a week to feel good about the "victory" before Orange send us a bill for £80-something for the mobile, we query it and get no response for a while until trading standards again notifies us that apparently when Orange said we owed them no money they were only referring to the broadband account, not the mobile contract. Note: We only ever signed one contract for both broadband and mobile and we had previously argued to them that we only got them both because they were part of a deal that reduced overall cost.

Another week later we got a different bill from Orange that's about £15 less than the previous one, now thoroughly confused we contact them again to find out what we actually owe them they say the new bill is the right amount. This is shortly followed by a letter from a debt collection agency saying Orange are taking action over a sum of over £280, we have no idea where they got this number from at all. Since this was just before we left the country on holiday we didn't have time to pursue it and got a second letter saying that we had ignored their previous one and they were going to take action if we don't pay it soon. I'm so !!!!ed off with Orange I wish nothing more than to see them bankkorrupt and burning, but barring that, what can I realistically do to end this nightmare?

isplumm

Suggest you keep all information & write to them recorded delivery asking them exactly what the charges are for .... I suspect you are going to have your day in court .... I wouldn't deal with them by email / phone just letter .... if it does go to court then you can elect to have it held at your nearest court ...

Take all evidence along & claim for reasonable costs,

One thing thou - check the contract - see what it says about the mobile / broadband ... ie. is the broadband free & you are paying for the mobile contract .... then you might have to pay up ....

Maybe talk to Trading Standards / CA / Solictor ...

Mark

Thor84

They've completely ignored every letter I've sent to them, no reply whatsoever. They were signed for, but ignored. We even had the Orange shop send them some papers and that was ignored as well. I'm not sure about the specifics of the contract, but the broadband was not "free", the broadband had a specific charge associated with it that was reduced by buying the "bundle", but it was still £17 or so per month that was quoted as the broadband and landline cost.

Trading Standards and CA don't seem to be able to do much, they've essentially said they can mediate but have no real power and they've barely been able to get responses let alone positive ones.

I might have to go to court, but I have no idea how to go about that. I did go to the Orange shop yesterday to have one last stab at a proper solution, but the only thing I got was an explanation that the latest bill included over £200 as the fee for the debt collection agency.

4743hudsonj

Thor84 wrote: »

They've completely ignored every letter I've sent to them, no reply whatsoever. They were signed for, but ignored. We even had the Orange shop send them some papers and that was ignored as well. I'm not sure about the specifics of the contract, but the broadband was not "free", the broadband had a specific charge associated with it that was reduced by buying the "bundle", but it was still £17 or so per month that was quoted as the broadband and landline cost.

Trading Standards and CA don't seem to be able to do much, they've essentially said they can mediate but have no real power and they've barely been able to get responses let alone positive ones.

I might have to go to court, but I have no idea how to go about that. I did go to the Orange shop yesterday to have one last stab at a proper solution, but the only thing I got was an explanation that the latest bill included over £200 as the fee for the debt collection agency.

well to cover yourself in all instances you need to write to them one more time recorded delivey asking for confirmation that only the broadband has been cancelled and you do not owe them any money on this, asking if the mobile contract does indeed still exist and how much you owe on this. Then ask where what sum of money came from and request complete itemisation of the bill

tell them they had 10 days to reply via post or email fulfilling your requests and if they do not then you will begin court action.

if the debt collectors do arrive refuse them entry as they have no right to enter your premises if you deny them entry

if they stay on your property hassling you call the police

debt collectors have the same powers as any other person wandering off the street regarding entry to your property. If they are court appointed baliffs then you will have to let them in but i doubt they will be able to summon baliffs if they cannot sort out what you owe them themselves.