end your orange contract now!! URGENT!!!

austin

so the price increase from 5 to 15p applies to 08 + 070 numbers, not mobiles and land lines?

CLLC

Thank you Roger_Rampant & Naz17

Very informative!

naz17

Roger_Rampant wrote: »

If you want to thank somebody, please make sure that you click the thanks button on post 7 of this thread, as all I have done is copy and paste it. :rotfl:

Firstly, Thank you very much to all the people who have thanked me and to Roger for the recognition of my little mini-guide.

OK - from what I can ascertain it seems that they have gotten a lot stricter on whom they allow to cancel. Please do not just post "what do i say " - it defeats the purpose of the forum. Spend a little time, read post 7 of this thread and follow the link to Bitterwallet, put to use the knowledge gained and your own initiative to make the call. Remember you can always, put the phone down and try again if the operator seems very unwilling to allow you to cancel.

nikki182204 wrote: »

I have been trying to cancel my contract with Orange, I have been refused this right as I do not go over my minutes, I have called an 0870 number but not in the last 3 months. They also told me that because I dropped my price plan to a lower one as recommended by them, that my terms and conditions don't allow me to terminate, I changed to the other call plan at the beginning of the year. I am told by Orange that this doesn't matter as they can put the price of these up as they wish without notifying me. I have now called 4 times and my account has been flagged as being not allowed to cancel. They keep telling me that their legal team and Ofcom have told them it's ok to not allow people in my position to cancel their contracts. What can I do now as after the way Orange staff have treated me I want out now more than ever. Please help.

OK - well firstly you could ring OFCOM yourself to see where you stand.(Ofcom Advisory Team - If you have a complaint about a Telecommunications, Broadcast or general issue please call 020 7981 3040, 0300 123 3333) . Get an official complaint ref no. - ring back make orange aware you want to go through a formal complaints procedure and ask them to advise you of how to do this. - Record or at least tell them your recording the phone call.

If you didn't mind telling a white lie - you could also suggest that you already spoke to someone - who had started the procedure and the red flag was placed for another reason (ie. wrong password given) you now remember the correct password and are happy to go ahead and disconnect.

---

please try these more than once if they don't work straight away, let me know how you get on - what orange's responses are and I can try and work out what i would say if i were in your position.

I heard unofficially - so this may not be true, that some users may only have until the 14th of this month to cancel, in which case time is against you and you need to get on top of it.

Please try to accurately describe what response orange are giving - so other members can give you the best advice about how to respond.

naz17

jenniewb wrote: »

I tried this (I think it was a comsumer channel I went down, sounded something like "consumer direct"?)

The call went something like this:

CD: So you recieved the phone, and when it was not the handset you recieved, what did you do next?

J: I called up 3 to say I had the wrong item, they then said to me "just see what the handset is like, its very similar to the other one, turn it on and try the features, try the text and camera" (it is NOT similar at ALL- Its almost unuseable!). So I turned on the handset and practiced a text message- my sim never went into the card and I never therefore sent a text or saved a text.
I then said "no sim has been inserted" and they told me that I had inserted a sim and sent a text message. I said I had not as I had the sim still attached to the plastic card. It was like talking to an idiot, he just kept saying "you told me you inserted a sim". I tried asking to talk to a manager, he said one would call back in 3 days.

CD: You see if you would have said NO and simply sent back the handset, it would be possible but as you turned it on, 3 are within their rights to refuse your phone back.

J: But they told me to try it first!

CD: But as its a phone, they are not able to take it back after a sim has been inserted.

J: At that point on that day no sim had been inserted. They also told me the contract I had originally asked for had not been possible. It was for £15 not £10 a month and did not include 300 texts it was 50 texts, did not have 500 minutes it was 50 minutes and did not have any music downloads free. I have since inserted the sim but that was because I was sure I was caught in a situation I was unhappy with and unable to get it over-turned.

CD: We cannot get this contract cancelled, as the sim has been inserted. We could look into it for you, but the rules are as the sim has been used, its not possible to cancel the contract.

Seems I am in a no-win situation here. And I doubt ofcom could help- though I am so angry with 3 I will look into it, I don't have any dates and the contract (18 months) is die to start in August (they sent the phone to me in June) so I have nothing of the phone call written down anywhere. I doubt I will get anywhere but I like to think I am increaseing paperwork for 3. Anything I can do to hurt that business is fine by me.

Thanks,

Jennie

Ofcom might be more receptive than you think- again try to start formal complaint proceedings against them. They did (possibly still do from the sounds of things) have an awful reputation for customer satisfaction. At the very least Jennie, I would suggest you ring Ofcom (020 7981 3040 or 0300 123 3333) and get a complaint reference - ask them for any advice - then write a long letter to 3 customer service (via recorded delivery) stating you have contacted Ofcom and including you ref no.

Also - it seems to me 3 are in breach of distance selling regulations so have a look at - http://http://www.oft.gov.uk/advice_and_resources/resource_base/legal/distance-selling-regulations/ or contact them on 08454 04 05 06 -you usually have a cooling of period - I assume you signed up for the contract over the phone - Let me know what happens and i'll try to suggest what I would do in your position. - I'm pretty confident from what you've wrote you should be able to extricate yourself from the contract - But you'll maybe have to work that bit harder as the time issue may already be against you.

BFG_2

Suggestions...

Write to them [then the lying scum can't deny talking to you...oh, yes they do.]

If you're certain of your rights, and they are delaying/refusing tell them you'll be cancelling the direct debit whatever they say and you'll see them @ arbitration/court.

Don't take any sh17 from them.....

Doobdonk

I tried to cancel, but apparently i don't meet their criteria.

All the operator would tell me was to contact ofcom, so of course i have.

Ofcom told me i have a case, and to contact Orange and ask them to put their position in writing.

I am now on the phone to orange again, they seem very busy today.

Ofcom also gave me the number for the ombudsman to register my complaint and it's a free service. CISAS on 0207 5203827. I will be calling them next.

Will see how far i have to take this.

Doobdonk

Doobdonk wrote: »

I tried to cancel, but apparently i don't meet their criteria.

All the operator would tell me was to contact ofcom, so of course i have.

Ofcom told me i have a case, and to contact Orange and ask them to put their position in writing.

I am now on the phone to orange again, they seem very busy today.

Ofcom also gave me the number for the ombudsman to register my complaint and it's a free service. CISAS on 0207 5203827. I will be calling them next.

Will see how far i have to take this.

Update whilst on the phone on hold having finally got through.

Apparently i'm the first person to call this operator today that's been in contact with ofcom. He's gone to speak to someone, regarding what i don't know. Will update once i've heard back from him and then contacted CISAS.

Ok, apparently i have to write to Orange Compliance team to be able to request a letter stating their position. The address is

Compliance Team,
Astral House,
Orange PLC,
Sen House Road,
Lingfield Way,
Darlington,
Co Durham
DL1 4YG

I have also requested a pack from CISAS to process a complaint against Orange.

One more thing, i have made sure that Orange have noted on my account that on this date i called to cancel but was refused, and have name and extension number of initial operator.

cifpower

Well that was very simple and pain free. Rang up and said, "I'm ringing about the text I received about the change in call charges and I would like to exercise my right to cancel the contract." She doodled about on her computer for a minute or two and it resulted in a PAC code being sent out. Yay!

super_dad

Thank you thank you thank you!!

I have had my 24 month contract for 4 months and they just cancelled it. I had to stand firm but I got there no problem.

Initially I went through to a very nice chap who said that I couldn't cancel "because I don't dial 08 numbers and don't go out of my call time"... I replied "yes, but I may do in the future and if YOU can't cancel the contract can you put me through to your customer services department please"

After a couple of minutes holding I was put through to Kelly who terminated the contract without any further discussion. She said that obviously they try to keep customers, but the contract has been altered and LEGALLY I was allowed to cancel under 14.1...

It could have been cancelled instantly but I opted to keep it for a week, so I can find myself another contract with a "free" TV for the little ones room (and quidco too!)

Cheers for that.

maxtweenie

Got my daughter to phone up and get out of her contract 6 months early. They wouldn't tell her whether or not she was eligible to cancel, but kept offering her some really crappy deals to 'save her money.' I told her to keep pushing, and they finally caved in. I'm now hunting Quidco for the best deal for her.