Huge bill on Orange stolen phone.

sporedude

custardy wrote: »

how do you work that one out?
whats the most expensive 30 second call you can make?

I would like to see this expensive 30 second call also!

emily1504

I making a point that the phone companies expect you to act like anti-social morons carrying your phone around with you and checking it every second of the day. It can take people a few hours to notice a missing phone or what about people you have a break in over night and don't notice their phone stolen until they wake up the next morning and see what's happened? Or what about people who left their phone at home during a holiday and it was stolen, that could be days before its reported?
My point is that the policy does not consider human nature that most people (except the current generation of teenagers we have that can't seem to breath without doing something on their mobile) do not obsessively stare at their phone checking it's not stolen. Obviously people should take resposibility for reporting it and if they leave it days without bothering with no obvious reason then they do have to accept that. But card companies know you aren't checking that your purse hasn't been stolen constantly, so they consider this in their policies.
I have no idea why everyone wants to back them up?! It's us as the customers they are screwing over. The policies clearly show that they put profit ahead of anything to do with us. Like I said, what do they say to the rape victim that had their phone stolen during an attack? That they should have reported the phone missing immediately and if they didn't they were liable for any calls made? It is beyond belief

emily1504

MyUserNamesTaken wrote: »

It's not hidden away. It's there in black and white in your contract - you know, the one you agreed to. I thought it was common sense that if your phone is lost or stolen and then misused, you would be held responsible for the cost of the calls upto the time you inform the network.

Actually I was never made aware of something that could and has had such a devastating effect on my life. Everyone knows small print is a disgrace and it's unacceptable when something that important is not emphasised more. But then why would they want to emphasise it when they stand to make a fortune when people do not know?
I thought it is common sense that people don't obsessively check that their mobile isn't stolen every second of the day? It could be a significant amount of time before it's noticed and if anyone here wants to tell me they literally look at their mobile all day to check it hasn't been stolen then I wouldn't believe them. Or I would assume you are one of those anti-social teenagers with no social skills because they are on their phones all day

sporedude

As someone pointed out, Its in the T+C's of the contract, If you dont like it, Dont agree and take out the phone, Simples.

gjchester

emily1504 wrote: »

do you know what's even simpler? rather that hiding very important policies away in the small print so 99% of customers are not aware of them and end up being potentially liable for hundreds of thousands of pounds,the companies could try to give a crap and let you when you're signing up to the contract and tell you that you need to report it that millisecond. Most people take more than 30 seconds to notice their phone missing and look for it and conclude it's actually been stolen and I think if we knew that the horrendous companies did not consider such human nature when constructing their policies we'd all be constant alert. If I'd known I would have kept my phone in my hand 24/7 so I'd known immediately if someone had taken it. But I guess if they bothered to do that they'd wouldn't stand to make the unbelievable profits from theft as they do at moment. As I said, it's a double victimisation and I can't believe that a customer focussed industry would not take in account simple human nature when developing their policies

So how much would you moan if you tried to call a sick relative in China who may not see out the rest of the week and this is your only change to talk to them. Or your son/ Daughter whos on a GAP year in Thailand and has no phone to be contacted on other than the mobile they have., and they are sick and need your help. As soon as this would be detected you'd prefer have the network block this and cut you off as unauthorised because it's not your normal pattern of calls.

This may sound harsh but people have to start to read the contract they sign and be responsible for their action. It's not the networks job to police your calls, it's yours. Calling to says it's lsot after 30 seconds is silly but if you hunt for 20-30 mins and can't fine it make the call as soon as possible, it may be a false alert but better that that a high bill.

Now I realsie there should be some capping but as billing is not real time it's hard to see how any network can cope.

Put a PIN on the phone and lock it, better yet if you can set the Autolock on it.

Boozer

sporedude wrote: »

I would like to see this expensive 30 second call also!

You could not even rack up a high charge by phoning naughty Natalie in 30 seconds, due to incidents like this i will stick to PAYG, my phone is so old that if someone stole it they would most likely come and give me it back.

sporedude

Boozer wrote: »

You could not even rack up a high charge by phoning naughty Natalie in 30 seconds, due to incidents like this i will stick to PAYG, my phone is so old that if someone stole it they would most likely come and give me it back.

Hah thats why I prefer my PAYG phone aswell

gjchester

emily1504 wrote: »

Actually I was never made aware of something that could and has had such a devastating effect on my life. Everyone knows small print is a disgrace and it's unacceptable when something that important is not emphasised more.

This is not intended as a nasty comment but did you read the T&C's before signing up?

Most people don't so would have no idea what was or was not in them.

Many years ago a teacher gave us a test without warning, 20-30 questions started off easy (name, class etc) and got to be impossible. Many people were puzzled. A few (and I was the 2nd to finish) had followed his instrucuction of always reading through the questions before starting and the last question was "Do not answer any questions and stick your hand up".

Seems a silly thing now but it taught me to read things through before starting out on anything. Unfortunatly many people do not.

emily1504

gjchester wrote: »

So how much would you moan if you tried to call a sick relative in China who may not see out the rest of the week and this is your only change to talk to them. Or your son/ Daughter whos on a GAP year in Thailand and has no phone to be contacted on other than the mobile they have., and they are sick and need your help. As soon as this would be detected you'd prefer have the network block this and cut you off as unauthorised because it's not your normal pattern of calls.

This may sound harsh but people have to start to read the contract they sign and be responsible for their action. It's not the networks job to police your calls, it's yours. Calling to says it's lsot after 30 seconds is silly but if you hunt for 20-30 mins and can't fine it make the call as soon as possible, it may be a false alert but better that that a high bill.

Now I realsie there should be some capping but as billing is not real time it's hard to see how any network can cope.

Put a PIN on the phone and lock it, better yet if you can set the Autolock on it.

so about about 6-8 hours after you've been out for the day and didn't check your phone because u were actually out enjoying your life rather than obsessing over a mobile phone? Is that your fault? It's unbelievable what's happening to this country, we are made to feel neurotic about our belongings, particularly technology because the companies are so profit obsessed.
I don't see why we are all so worshipping of these companies and critical of simple human nature. It's like we've been indoctrinated by advertising and marketing to believe we're in the wrong and companies are perfect, when they're treating us like idiots and laughing all the way to the bank. unbelievable

gjchester

emily1504 wrote: »

so about about 6-8 hours after you've been out for the day and didn't check your phone because u were actually out enjoying your life rather than obsessing over a mobile phone?

Again if it has a PIN it doesn't matter. You have the tools to protect yourself use them.