can I claim back from phones 4 u??

jhsmith75

Hi,

My first time on here, and wondered if anyone can help....?
I am an orange mobile user, having taken out an original contract with phones 4 u many years ago... without any problems or incident. I also have orange broadband, and am overall very happy with orange... the issue I have is with the dreaded... phones 4 u!

I recieved a call from phones 4 u, stating that I was due an upgrade etc etc which I agreed to... I was offered a new phone, a better orange tarriff and some 'cash back'. I agreed to the upgrade which arrived in the post a few days later. There was no sim card with the phone, so I inserted my original card into the phone and carried on.....

At the time I had a lot going on, work, personal life etc and didn't notice for 3 months the fact that I was getting charged for a 'new' orange contract, under a phone number that I did not have the number for.... I contacted orange to ask why I had now 3x orange direct debits, instead of 2x (1x mobile & 1x broadband). I was then informed that it was to another mobile phone contract, and that phones 4 u, instead of upgrading my phone... had created a totally new contract!!! :mad:
I asked orange to bar the phone number that I did not have (as I had no sim card for it) and asked if I could cancel. Orange were unable to cancel the contract, without me buying myself out and paying the remainder of the 18 month contract. They informed me that they were aware of this happening to people, and stated that I would have to take up the issue with phones 4 u...

To top it off I havn't even recieved any of the promised 'cash back'...

I have spoken to phones 4 u numerous times now, and to be honest I am hitting a brick wall... I am about to write a letter to there complaints department, but before I do, can anyone offer any guidance?

Am I able to demand that phones 4 u cancel my contract, and reclaim any of the £35 a month payments that I have been paying for the past 5 months??...

Any help or guidance in this would be greatly appreciated...

Many thanks, a very fustrated and annoyed novice...

lambournlad

firstly did you sign for this new contract ? if not cancel the dd and pay nothing else they haven`nt a leg to stand on if they have no signed paperwork for this so called new contract. and the cash back deal dont hold your breath for any money back is scam has been going on for years.

lambournlad

yes cancel all dd`s on this contract & write to there complaints dept stating what has happened & demand they pay you back as you have never even used the new number you should have a lot of ammo to fight them with .

mobilejunkie

THAT is appalling "advice". It suggests the one thing you definitely should NOT do. As with all things where people agree without getting anything in writing it will be very hard to prove your case - especially having gone for three months before noticing things were amiss. I suspect all you can do is make a formal written complaint to Orange, another to Phones4U and to ofcom (but don't hold your breath!). It may be a mistake whose only virtue is a lesson for you and for others who may read what has happened to you. Currently it seems stock in trade for Vodafone to make a practice of signing existng customers up to contracts different to the ones they agreed over the phone - and there are many totally unscrupulous people and organisations quite happy to make a living out of doing the same. Holding them to account will be extremely difficult - but cancelling a direct debit will prove financial suicide for everything else you wish to do for years to come (regardless of the rights or wrongs).

If it really was Phones4u who set this up (as opposed to someone else pretending to be - another thing which has been known to happen many times) you could demand that the recording of the conversation be retrieved to prove that you were not given the contract which yuo agreed to etc.

Guys_Dad

Do I read it that you now have 2 Orange contracts? And you are paying for both?

Hopefully, you can get this sorted out, but, in order to mitigate your potential losses, I would get a PAC code for the original Orange contract which, from your post, is no longer in the initial contract period, then transfer that number to a PAYG/sim only immediately - not on Orange.

Then you have a choice to either activate the second contract by asking for a replacement sim and then transferring your PAYG old number to that.

Now that doesn't get you your money back for the missing period, but I am sure that you could pursue that independently and sue Phones4U for the error they made.

I am assuming that £35 per month on the 2nd contract is better than the original Orange contract that wasn't cancelled/upgraded otherwise you would not have agreed to it.

This advice is only to mitigate your future losses that will continue to mount if you can't get satisfaction from Phones4U, who, as MJ says, might not be the people that signed you up anyway.

His advice about NOT cancelling the 2nd contract's DD is spot on. Do not do that.