Orange mobile rant!

Nicklt

hi, this all happend about a year ago but wanted to see if this had happend to anyone else, i was on contract with orand and when my contract ended i blocked the sim card and threw it away, BUUUUUT! orange conveniently don't actually cancel your contract unitl you phone them to say it has ended, so an 18 month contract is only 18 months if you tell them when 18 months is up, because all their computer systems don't hold records of when peoples contracts end :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes: they also put you on a high rate contract when you proper contract ends so you end up paying double if you do use the phone. So i got charged £30 on the 19th month of an 18 month contract and phoned them and was told i should of told them that my contract had ended, obviously i was very angry at this and made it known, so i told them to cancel the contract which they did BUUUUUT again conveniently for orange you have to give them 30 days notice, so the contract wouldnt be canceled for 30 days so again i would be paying another month on top, so an 18 month contract turned into 20 months. It's a bloody con im telling you!

I also don't beleive phone contracts are all that, i think they hole mobile phone contract thing is a scam, for example Tesco give you £10 free credit if you top up £10, surely this means that the service actually costs them £0 if they can give you £10 free. also i bet people didn't know that unlimited texts isn't actually unlimited, most networks have a far usage policy and the average is about 3000 texts when they will then start charging you.

shellsuit

Any contract keeps on running after the minimum term and it's upto us to inform whichever company it is, to tell them we want to cancel.

I know about the fair usage policy too, but to be honest, anyone who can send more than 3000 texts a month either needs to get a life, or a job.

It's all in the terms and conditions, also about giving 30 days notice too, so I'm afraid it's your own fault for not reading up on what you were getting yourself into.

LeeSouthEast

Your contract doesn't "end" after 18 months, you merely exit the "minimum term".

Nicklt

ah yeah never though of that minimum term thing, ah well, this was a year ago just wanted to see if it happend to anyone else, its obviously all in place to catch people out.

Amistoso_2

Orange don't have a crystal ball, so don't know that you wanted/intended to cancel after the 18 months, lots of folk keep their contract going after the minimum term, don't think they would be very chuffed if they were just cut off!! It's not in place to catch people out, how else do you suggest they deal with it?

soolin

I would prefer to have to 'end' a contract than for my provider to just turn off my phone and service one day when I wasn't really expecting it.

pinkshoes

Nicklt, what you have described is a perfectly normal phone contract.

The 18 months is the minimum fixed term (at your agreed price), and after that, unless you give notice, it goes onto their standard contract.

In future, you should put a note in your diary 2 months before the end of the fixed term, so you can find a cheaper deal and cancel if necessary.

They're not trying to trick people, and it's clearly written in the T&Cs. I would be furious if they cut my phone off after my fixed minimum term ended!!

Fuzzy_Duck

All of the above is true but I will agree the worst thing ever is to enter a contract with Orange. They blocked my phone right after I bought it so I couldn't use it, and kept demanding I send proof of identity to them (but it's very specific- ie gas bill- useless if you don't pay the gas bills so they don't have your name on). Proof of identity got 'lost' constantly and I went months without a phone because they wouldn't take the block off no matter what I did. Eventually I managed to speak to someone helpful and get it sorted, by which time I got landed with a nice big bill for a phone I hadn't even been using :rolleyes:

Needless to say the second my contract ended I was straight on the phone confirming I was leaving them!