Where do I stand?

ShrewdSpender_2

Hi there,

I have recently had some problems with Orange, and I was hoping someone here might be able to provide some helpful advice.

I've wanted an Iphone4 for a few months, and being on "Orange Premier" (which comes as an added perk with my current £50 per month contract), I was hoping they'd be able to let me upgrade early from my existing 18 month contract. However when I first rang up in August, this wasnt the case - they said I'd have to pay a fee of around £175 to upgrade early.

I put the idea of a shiny new phone to the back of my mind, until earlier this month when I thought it was worth ringing up again. I again rang Orange and this time was told that I could upgrade to an Iphone 4 for free (if I rang back on the 15th November...a couple of weeks in the future when I rang up), and could even down-grade my contract to £35 a month if I was happy to pay £40 for the phone.

"Brilliant!" I thought, and tried to sign up for this deal there and then, but the bloke on the other end of the phone told me I'd have to wait till the 15th to sign-up. So, patiently I waited a couple of weeks. During these two weeks I bought some Iphone accessories from EBay (including a docking station, a case and a car-mount) so that I'd be ready to go when my new phone arrived.

The 15th (today!) came around, and I eagerly rang up to confirm the deal. However, this time I was told that no such deals were available: that I'd need to spend £125 to upgrade early, AND that the Iphone would cost around £100 extra on top of the upgrade fee, and that was just to keep my current tarrif - not reduce it as I had previously arranged!

I explained that this was not what I was told in my previous conversation, and that I had explicitly outlined the tarrif I wanted, the phone I wanted, and got him to confirm the offer several times (because it admittedly sounded like a great deal!). However the new bloke on the phone couldn't make sense of this previous phone conversation, saying that It wasnt the sort of deal that he could offer...or anywhere near!

My question is: where do I stand? I've now bought a load of Iphone stuff that I cant use (or refund as they were from Ebay!), and from the price of the deals I was discussing with the new bloke today, it sounds as though I won't ever be going to get an Iphone, so its not as if I can hold onto them for a couple of months. Surely I'm entitled to a deal that was outlined by their staff over the phone, and queried and re-confirmed several times? Am I within my rights to ask Orange to refund the cost of the accessories?

Can anyone offer any advice?

Biglad_3

I'm sorry but the moral of this situation is 'get it in writing' i.e. you should have got the advisor to email you the offer. Legally I do not think you can do anything, companies change offers etc all the time depending on demand.

My last 2 contracts I have got the customer sales adviser to email me the deal as I was only wanting 12m deals and not 18-24 month. The reason I asked for this was I have read about them promising you anything on the phone for the sales commission but the paperwork being different !

ShrewdSpender_2

What if they have the call recorded? Would that alter their position?

I agree with you and understand that deals change etc, but I was specifically told to ring back on the 15th for the deal he had been describing - it wasn't as though I was using the time to mull over my options.

frothey

I've tried that with an issue with Vodafone, and conviniently the calls can't be found as they are only used for training purposes.....

Biglad_3

They will not go back through the phone records to confirm a deal. They say at the start that telcons are recorded for training purposes and I dont believe you will be successful. Do you know the person you spoke too? Date? EXACT time? Imagine the amount of calls they take per day !

I really think you will be wasting your time unfortunately.

flyingscotno1

Try again. Took me another 3 times to get through to Orange for a San Francisco at £80 and not the £100 they wanted. 3 advisors hummed and said no until I got one.