Escape from Orange harder than Colditz?

Shoshana

Hello, respected Money Savers! My partner, (who is great with money) has been on your forum for years, highly recommended I sign up here at ask you for advice, because you are the total best at this kind of stuff, and I am my hour of need... : )

I've been with Orange for about 15 years in total, with a 1 year break to the unreliable 3 network, and emotional customer loyalty, plus mobile 1200 minutes (paying for 600) per month (at £30) stupidly seduced me into a 2 year contract with Orange. The reception in Swansea is appalling. The final swing vote was cast by a promise made to me at the time, over a year ago now, that the reception would improve with the T-mobile merger, but it took far longer than anticipated (have had T-Mobile a month now) and the reception hasn't improved. At all. The only way I can make calls from home (where I work) is to perch the phone on the upper windowsill of my sash windows - in my bedroom (!!!) - and use a bluetooth headset. I can't carry it around the house when I talk and I can't even make calls from my office! I REALLY don't like mixing up my work and leisure space by working from my bedroom, especially since I have a lot of clients with sex abuse issues (sorry to get heavy here, just wanted to demonstrate how unpleasant it is do my own work from my private boudoir). I've discovered an O2 contract at £240 per year after redemption for a 12 month contract (£20/month) for unlimited calls and texts (it's real, my good-with-money partner found it - am I allowed to post the link here?) and I would ever so much like to get away from Orange.

But they won't let me. I've got 10 more months of the 2 year contract and they won't let me go without smacking me upside the head with a super-hefty cancellation charge, despite the incredibly poor service.

Here are my queries:
1) CAN I get away from Orange without the massive penalty?
2) If so, HOW?
3) And if possible... What are the chances of my being able to do it?
and finally,
4) Any takers for £100 success fee to get me out of here?

I haven't pushed Orange very hard yet - I could do but I am really, really busy and this is massively unpleasant. If it's worth it somehow, please do let me know.

Thanks so much, people!

Best wishes,

-Shoshana.

Techhead_2

I'm not sure that someone who is so tasteless and thoughtless as to compare a mobile phone company with a Nazi POW camp (especially so close to remembrance day) deserves any help.
I'm sorry, I'm a blunt speaker.

brightgirl

Contact CS and register your problem and request a PAC code..... If they say they will investigate then thats fine. Call them again after the deadline.

Guys_Dad

"I've been with Orange for about 15 years in total, with a 1 year break to the unreliable 3 network, and emotional customer loyalty, plus mobile 1200 minutes (paying for 600) per month (at £30) stupidly seduced me into a 2 year contract with Orange. The reception in Swansea is appalling. "

Well, unless things havd dramatically deteriorated in 15 years, you can hardly say that you were unaware of the reception situation.

Read some other threads on this matter. The situation is that you signed a contract for 2 years and you need to adhere to it or pay it off.

You seem educated enough from your post to accept that you have no proof of the salesman's verbal inducement, you must be aware that he would not be in a position to advise whether or not your individual reception would be guaranteed to improve and, of course, for many people it has, indeed, improved.

So, it's pay up your contract or ride it out another year.

spiro

If you had used the 'search' option you would have found loads of threads asking for a way out of mobiles contracts. The answer in 99.9% of cases is to pay off the remainder of the contract, in your case £300.

I also have to agree, why would you sign up for 2 years when the signal was so c**p?

Shoshana

I hadn't quite given emough information, I had only moved to Swansea for 1 week after being in London before signing up again, so my experience of Swansea poor reception was measured in days. Why did I sign up? Cheap 1200 minutes, unlimited landline calls. They often record calls, and since I did the sign-up so close to moving in time, I might be able to track it. Orange has been great with customer service before, took my (true) word in the past about a favourite number I thought I had signed up, and found out in one £230 bill later that Orange Favourites can only be with Orange. They took my word that the sign-up wasn't done properly and they took the extra £200 off the bill.

And, hands up, it was a dumb, emotional decision to sign up again with Orange so recently after moving to Swansea. Anyone reading this, beware the obvious: Emotional decisions are often the linear reverse of wise financial decisions!

I got a private tip for getting out of the contract - if it works, I'll let you know.

Thanks again, everyone!

Best wishes,

-Shoshana.

JackAndrew95

Please share of this tip ,