Orange Price changes ?

SallyUK

Qwerty wrote: »

My other half received their text on the 24.07.09, I hadn't received anything.

I got my text about 2 hours after cancelling today

HTH
~Q~

Thanks for taking the time to reply, Qwerty.

Sal
x

northerngeezer

Having been refused cancellation on 3 attempts today I am following the outcome from this thread http://www.bitterwallet.com/orange-increase-charges-can-you-cancel-your-orange-contract/15723.

Have a read of "Posted by Lewis Roberts | August 8th, 2009 at 5:10 pm" post, hopefully on Monday we may get some feedback.

4810510

Seems to be a fair number of people who are being refused the chance to cancel their contracts so I thought I would add to my earlier posts by posting the text from the website that people are directed to by the txt message from Orange.

"changes to your monthly plan
Between 14 September and 23 September we'll be changing the cost of mobile internet browsing and some calls outside of the allowance included in your plan.
mobile internet browsing down to just 58.7p a day
From 23 September our mobile browsing charges are changing. Instead of paying £2.94 per MB up to a maximum of £1.47 per day, you will be charged a flat rate of 58.7p per day, subject to a 25MB fair use policy. If you have a mobile internet browsing bundle this will also be the daily rate applied if you go over your allowance.
If you often use your phone to browse sites like Facebook, or check for news, sports and weather, you could enjoy even better value with a 250MB bundle for just £7.34 a month.

calls in the UK
From 14 September if you exceed your inclusive minutes, the minimum call charge will be 14.7p for calls made to mobiles, fixed lines and your Answer Phone. With our Best Plan Promise we also automatically review your phone usage every six months and work out if your current plan is right for you. If it's not we'll tell you if a different one would suit you better.
from Europe

On 1 July we also cut the costs of our roaming texts by 60% to just 10.8p per message."

What isn't mentioned here is that if you look at the Orange price guide on the O website the "calls to premium rate and other special numbers" section it says "From 24 August 2009 phone calls to numbers beginning with 070 will be charged at 75p/minute and also subject to a minimum call charge of 75p per

call. For more information just go to orange.co.uk/guidetopaymonthly.

All calls are subject to a minimum call charge of 5p unless stated otherwise. From 14th September the minimum call charge will be 15p."

Essentially if you have called an 08 or 070 number then you will be seeing a large increase in your call charges.

I note that there has been some talk about O saying they have Ofcom agreeement to these changes. Just to be clear on this, it doesn't matter one jot what Ofcom agree to. When you entered into your contract with O you are bound by the terms and conditions. O are entitled to charge a higher rate if they are imposed by government - this isn't the same as Ofcom agreeing that the increase is reasonable.

Term 4.3.1 has also been mentioned and this says "we have increased the Charges by an amount equal to or less than the percentage increase in the All Items Index of Retail Prices published by the Central Statistical Office in the Monthly Digest of Statistics in any 12 month period;" the increase in question is way above the rate and therefore you are entitled to cancel as the contract has been changed to your detriment.

What if I don't go over my inclusive minutes?
If you don't go over your inclusive minutes and NEVER call 08 numbers then O will tell you that the increase charges don't apply to you. But they do apply to you, so if you make a call in the future the charge will be higher and that's going to be to your detriment. Quote them condition "4.3 You may also terminate your Contract if we vary its terms, resulting in an excessive increase in the Charges or changes that alter your rights under this Contract to your detriment."

What if they won't let me cancel?
If you call and they won't let you cancel try and try again. If you still don't get any success ask them to note on your account that you called to give notice and they wouldn't let you cancel. Ask for the name and ext no. of the person you speak to then call back 10 minutes later and make sure the note is on your account. Now make a short 10-15 second call to an 0845 number and see what appears on your next bill.

Under your contract you can ask for arbitration.

"disputes between you and us

19.10 You may request that disputes between you and us are referred to arbitration under our Code of Practice for Consumer Affairs. We will supply a copy of our Code of Practice for Consumer Affairs to you on request."

I'm sorry this post is so long but hopefully it will help some people.

CharlesC

Hi, I requested a disconnection and so did my friend, both approved. Im waiting for my letter, however my friend got his letter with his PAC number but it says he may be billed for the remainder of his contract. We have both ordered new phones from 02 and were planning to transfer numbers using the PAC code but are now confused if we will be billed.

Can anyone advise?

I bet we will all get this but is this standard or is this around the changes?

We can't commit either way until we kniow. Do Oranges standard leaving letters read this way?

Help!!! This may get us all

SallyUK

Just a quick question again, sorry.

Is there any time limit on this? Do we have to have rung up and cancelled our contract by a certain time?

Sal
x

SammyS1987

Just been told by Sandra @ Orange that I have to of made an average of five calls a month to an 08** number. I made 8 in May, 2 in June & 1 in July.

I said what if my average goes up between now and September and she said I am now aware of the call charges so that wouldn't qualify me to cancel. (Although I haven't received a text yet to tell me about the increase in call charges.)

Apparently data charges have actually gone down so you can't use that as a valid reason to cancel.

I just made 15 calls to 0800 numbers before they could send me a text to tell me about the charges. I guess I'll try again tomorrow.

4810510

SallyUK wrote: »

Just a quick question again, sorry.

Is there any time limit on this? Do we have to have rung up and cancelled our contract by a certain time?

Sal
x

30 days of receiving notice of the change per T&Cs.

4.3 You may also terminate your Contract if we vary its terms, resulting in an excessive increase in the Charges or changes that alter your rights under this Contract to your detriment. In such cases you would need to give us at least 14 days written notice prior to your Billing Date (and within one month of us telling you about the changes). However this option does not apply if:

4810510

SammyS1987 wrote: »

Just been told by Sandra @ Orange that I have to of made an average of five calls a month to an 08** number. I made 8 in May, 2 in June & 1 in July.

I said what if my average goes up between now and September and she said I am now aware of the call charges so that wouldn't qualify me to cancel. (Although I haven't received a text yet to tell me about the increase in call charges.)

Apparently data charges have actually gone down so you can't use that as a valid reason to cancel.

I just made 15 calls to 0800 numbers before they could send me a text to tell me about the charges. I guess I'll try again tomorrow.

I think Sandra is either following the party line or making it up as she goes along. If you make regular calls that will increase in cost in September then you are absolutely entitled to cancel. Ask her to point out the part of the contract that specifies the average of 5 calls per month. T&Cs are binding on both parties. Just imagine if you called up Orange and said you wanted to cancel your contract because your income had dropped. I would call back and get them to put a note on your account that they have refused to cancel because you don't make an average of 5 calls per month. Get the CSRs name and ext number then call back and make sure they have put the note on.

SallyUK

4810510 wrote: »

30 days of receiving notice of the change per T&Cs.

4.3 You may also terminate your Contract if we vary its terms, resulting in an excessive increase in the Charges or changes that alter your rights under this Contract to your detriment. In such cases you would need to give us at least 14 days written notice prior to your Billing Date (and within one month of us telling you about the changes). However this option does not apply if:

Thank you.

Sal
x

CharlesC

ThreeNineThreeFive wrote: »

You can just not use the PAC and then stay with them without any problem, though you'll have agreed to the change in terms and conditions by remaining a customer.

From Orange, on the PAC letter I got: "if you decide not to use the [PAC] code before the expiry date, your account will remain active and you can continue to use your phone and services with Orange as normal"

The PAC is valid for 30 days from the date of issue.


My phone is still working just fine, until the PAC is used and the number transfers, at which point the account will be cancelled and a final bill sent out to me. Apparently I'll be billed on a pro-rata basis for any remaining days of the notice period after the PAC is used.

Did your letter mention you may be asked to pay the remainder of your contract? I fear Orange may have a sting in the tail with this one??? :-s