Huge bill on Orange stolen phone.

DarkConvict

Then all i can say is what has been mentioned, you were unlucky.

You fall into a small category of where nothing could have been done after the incident occurred. The prior knowledge of knowing you are liable for all calls would have made no difference as you were incapacitated and unable to act.

Sure the phone could require a PIN for each call, but few people turn on the security to sure a level. Not even i do that.

Have you contacted your home contents insurance company?

emily1504

DarkConvict wrote: »

Then all i can say is what has been mentioned, you were unlucky.

You fall into a small category of where nothing could have been done after the incident occurred. The prior knowledge of knowing you are liable for all calls would have made no difference as you were incapacitated and unable to act.

Sure the phone could require a PIN for each call, but few people turn on the security to sure a level. Not even i do that.

Have you contacted your home contents insurance company?

Yeah I thought I had a pin on my phone because I had one when it's turned on, but I agree no-one I know has one for every call. Although I do definitely think that's worth doing and will look into how to set that up. I really am not some hideous person who just wants to hold everyone else liable for my mistakes as I think some posters here have got the impression. I just think that mobile companies are dealing with real people, with real lives where anything could happen and a blanket policy is not useful and they should look to do what they can to protect people who end up in situations similar to me.

I have contact house insurance, but apparently they don't cover mobile phone bills, as I gather has been the response a lot of others have got!

DarkConvict

As has been said you have different circumstances, but a blanket policy has to exist for fairness. But it has to be fair to both the operator and yourselves. If your phone is stolen you are liable until you tell them, and they are liable for all calls after if they fail to block it.

Contracts do exist like T-Mobile solo fixed that have hard caps but a monthly charge, obviously you pick a contract you are most comfortable with.
I do not see you are a person trying to run away, and MSE forums will offer support but they will also offer the honest truth.

Have you tried to ring consumer direct - http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/about/how-we-help/

At the worst this could goto OFCOM, and finally into the hands of a court to settle. Obviously if it goes to court and you loose you will get a CCJ. And judges whilst sympathetic they are there to apply the law and refer to the T&Cs, judges are not there to investigate. For an investigate it would probably have to goto high court as a test case.

baldelectrician

It could be argued that the mobile company failed in its duty of care to the customer

As you have a duty of care to look after the handset and looked after it until you became ill they also have a duty of care to police the account

VF cut a mobile of mine off 2 years ago when it ran up £500 on data when the phone was faulty (and had been reported as having problems)

I would suggest you point out that in your opinion they are at least 50% liable as you had an impecable record before this and they should have systems in place (it's not hard as the cc systems do it and banks do it)

sporedude

baldelectrician wrote: »

It could be argued that the mobile company failed in its duty of care to the customer

As you have a duty of care to look after the handset and looked after it until you became ill they also have a duty of care to police the account

VF cut a mobile of mine off 2 years ago when it ran up £500 on data when the phone was faulty (and had been reported as having problems)

I would suggest you point out that in your opinion they are at least 50% liable as you had an impecable record before this and they should have systems in place (it's not hard as the cc systems do it and banks do it)

Opinion does not make the network 50% liable.....

Jon_01

baldelectrician wrote: »

(it's not hard as the cc systems do it and banks do it)

It's very hard. card aren't linked to the banking system 24/7 being used in real time. You use your card once and that transaction can be matched against your history.

A network has millions of acc live at the same time all using voice/texts and data. Even the billing systems don't work in real time, they only catch up towards your billing date.

You're not comparing like for like.

Wontgetfooledagain_2

On the bill, after the lost/stolen date the calls immediately and obviously ramped up due to lots of long international calls to Nigerias, USA, and others.


I take complete sympathy with your situation OP even though I know you're not looking for it. My boyfriend lost his phone on holiday. We thought he'd left it in a friends room and he didn't want to use it while we were away so we were in no rush to look for it. Reported it 6 days later on realising it wasn't going to turn up. At the time they said the bill was £600...2 days later they said it had gone up to £800, even though it was supposed to have been blocked from the first call. Now we've finally got a bill through, not itemised I might add, stating it's over £1,000!!!!

A friend of mine lost her phone, also on Orange. Couldn't get through overnight, YES THIS DOES HAPPEN, and when she eventually did get through she was told her bill was £600...over 24 HOURS!!!!!!

Has anyone cottoned on that this might be a little scam from Orange? Especially with the lack of itemised bill. It's taken over a month to get a bill sent at all and it's not itemised. My intention was to call some of the numbers and find out who they'd been ringing and if they even existed.

Of course anyone who steals a mobile phone is wishing to make hundreds of lengthy international calls morning, noon and night (???) And they are malicious criminals wanting to ruin people's lives with extensive bills...not simply oppotunists... (???)

I have to say I am very very suspicious of Orange especially and I do not intend for my boyfriend to pay his bill before seeing an itemised bill and proving the calls were made from his phone.

I have also read elsewhere that some Orange customer service representitives will give you the opportunity to take out insurance then and there and if you pay it for the duration of your contract you are covered. Why is this not offered to everyone???

gjchester

Wontgetfooledagain wrote: »

Reported it 6 days later on realising it wasn't going to turn up. At the time they said the bill was £600...2 days later they said it had gone up to £800, even though it was supposed to have been blocked from the first call. Now we've finally got a bill through, not itemised I might add, stating it's over £1,000!!!!

Billing is not done in real time on calls made overseas usually takes a day or two to get to your account. It probably was blocked these were calls made before the black came into force and only jsut reported back. Remember if they used the call to call another country then you'll be paying roaming and overseas rates.

Wontgetfooledagain wrote: »

Has anyone cottoned on that this might be a little scam from Orange? Especially with the lack of itemised bill. It's taken over a month to get a bill sent at all and it's not itemised. My intention was to call some of the numbers and find out who they'd been ringing and if they even existed.

I do like how it's always the Mobile co at fault, do you not thing maybe you should have reported it as soon as you could?
Seen as this has been cropping up lately, why did he not have a PIN no set on the phone? This simple step would have probably helped, but to be honest leaving it 6 days when you were on holiday and not reporting it means you are more than likely going to be responsible for most of the bill.

Itemised billing depends what billing data was sent from the foreign provider. If they havent supplied it to Orange then you need to query Orange to get that data.

Wontgetfooledagain wrote: »

I have to say I am very very suspicious of Orange especially and I do not intend for my boyfriend to pay his bill before seeing an itemised bill and proving the calls were made from his phone.

Great idea, get a bad mark on his credit record as well.

The right way to do it is to dispute it with orange and flag it as a problem then talk nicely to them to see what can be done. They may be able to make a goodwill gesture, but if you go in calling them scammers who want to rip you off then that is not going to happen.

rockgirl

emily1504 wrote: »

Obviously I feel sorry for you with your son (I can bet my brother would have done the same thing!!). A similar thing happened to me recently, I was camping and lost my phone, I was very very ill over the weekend and didn't notice it was lost and when I did I did the usual ringing for it, looking everywhere, checking all the lost properties etc and eventually realising it was stolen, blocked it. However, in that time period repeated calls had been made to Algeria, France and China for up to an hour at a time, costing me hundreds of pounds. Same as you, orange told me I was liable under their 'policy' despite the fact that they were in no doubt that it wasn't me. I said their policy benefits criminals and their profits and they couldn't give me a good reason why they had a policy like that. I asked why they didn't flag the calls as unusual and they said that they had far too many customers to even consider doing that. I was horrified and doubted they were even incentivised to have such a scheme when they stand to make a fortune from theft and further couldn't believe they'd be willing to treat their customers so appallingly. It's a double victimisation - you're stolen from and then when you go to your company expecting help and assistance after being a valued and reliable customer for years they tell you they're not interested and you have to pay. I can't believe the world we live when we treat each other so disgustingly. What would the say to the person who had their phone stolen in a violent robbery, burglarly or rape victim who failed to announce the theft of their phone immediately and subsequently had these calls ran up? It's beyond a disgrace and have begun taking my case further with the complaints department and the ombudsman.
Don't trust these friendly looking sales people that want to con you into taking out expensive contracts and don't alert you to the policies that could leave you liable to hundreds or thousands at no reasonable fault of your own. Or at any least at like some anti-social moron who doesn't let their phone leave their side in order to be on constant alert.

I've had a very similar thing happen to me and am now liable to pay £700 and am wondering if it's going to do me any good taking this further. Have you had much luck Emily?

lunarjetman

Tesco Mobile now allow monthly contract users to "cap" their spending- meaning that you can't use more than your inclusive minutes, texts and data in a month. If you want to use your phone beyond your inclusive minutes then you add can pay-and-go credit to your phone. It's a good security feature.

Regrding the stolen phones issue, speak initially to the Citizens Advice Bureau who can advise on legal and consumer information. Also report the crime to the Police and get a log number.