Orange changed my contract terms for the worse :(

jtlowrey

My girlfriend's contract has just been changed without her consent from:

£17.99 which included 200 free x-net minutes + 30 texts

to

£22 with 120 x-net minutes + 0 texts :eek:

as you can see she is not very happy with this. Is there anything thing she can do to get her old tarriff back? Are orange allowed to change the terms of your contract like this?

seanparkin

No they arent, but they won't care and they'll basically tell you to sod off if you try and speak to them about it.

A similar thing happened to me - they put the price of my contract up from £15 to £25 and took my 30 texts a month off me - I called to complain and the manager I spoke to said 'well if you don't like it, I'll disconnect you now but you're still liable to pay your bill. If you stop paying we'll take legal action against you'

I responded with 'you can't do that' - his reply? 'I can do whatever I want to.' He then proceeded to block my phone and hang up on me.

It took complaints written to Oranges executive office (I believe their email is executive.office@orange.co.uk or something similar) to get it sorted - eventually they offered me half price line rental for life - IE. £12.50 for 120 minutes.

I moved my contract as soon as I was able to though.

-1-

This is a part of their t&c in the contract :-


"4.3 terminating your Contract because Orange has changed its terms
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:


4.3.1 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; or
4.3.2 the variations we have made have been imposed on us as a direct result of new legislation, statutory instrument, government regulation or licence; or
4.3.3 the variation relates solely to an Orange Additional Service, in which case you may cancel that Orange Additional Service in accordance with Condition 15.1. "


I'd say it's a change that is not in your favour and has increased your monthly costs.

Ring them up and quote this part of their terms, see if they budge.

seanparkin

Believe me, they'll take the exact same standpoint as I've detailed in my post above. They wont give a monkeys. They won't be bothered about their T&C's (I tried quoting them, they didn't care).

seaniboy

exeutive.office@orange.co.uk will though

seanparkin

Yes, which is why I mentioned emailing them in my first post. Don't bother ringing, if you want to try and get it sorted email the exec office.

dj_lloyde

no they cant do that, u singed up for a contract on whatever terms and they have broken that agreement

kevin_M

i rember the deal orange was offering it was discounted rate for 18 month then after the 18 month it goes back to full price. so the T&Cs have not been broke as the discount has just ran out

check the org offer if you still have the paperwork

sorry for the bad news

seaniboy

its more than a change to full price 200 mins down to 120

seanparkin

Kevin,

Not quite. At no time whatsoever was I told that it was an 18 month offer. When I upgraded at 12 months I was not told it was only an 18 month offer. I had all my original paperwork etc, there was NO mention of it being any sort of offer (it literally said, '120 minutes, 30 texts, £15 a month' and nothing else).

I was fed all sorts of rubbish from 'we didn't know how long the offer was going to be applicable for when you signed up' (haha?) to 'you would have been told when you upgraded about it' (Nope. Nothing).

We all know legally they aren't allowed to do that. But they don't give a poo and as the senior manager said to me, 'we can do whatever we want.'

Sponge

A similar thing happened to me. I was paying £15 pm for 120min and 30 sms and it was an 18 month offer. I discovered that I still qualified for a handset upgrade after 12 months, with a new 12month tie in. I got them to confirm my existing tariff wouldn't be effected by what was in effect a new contract. It wasn't and for the next 6 months I continued to pay £15pm for 120+30.

After 6 months (18 months passed since original contract) it reverted to the closest tariff at the time, which was 120min + 0 sms for £25. I stayed on this tariff and it's now due to expire. I'm now in the process of moving networks after Orange made no effort to keep my business. Their loss.