Another reason NOT to use Orange , pro_ rata !

boyohboy

I have made the mistake of joining orange to what I thought was 200 mins and 75 text. I just received my 1st bill to find I had run up a bill because all I had the 1st month was 177 mins. It seems that because my billing date was not a full month they pro-rata the 200 mins. I just rang CS thinking "they will understand" how could a customer know what day they have set , and refund the few pounds. Yes I know all you orange veterans are laughing away , and yes I got the famous orange CS "Tough" . So now stuck for 11months before I can tell them to stick it .... but I will.

reehsetin

im sure all the networks do that, you get a partial bill (and mins) till your bill date then it starts with the right amount
well i tell all my customers what happens anyway so dont blame everyone in orange

Tedrick_2

reehsetin, correct...

All networks pro-rata the minutes for the first couple of weeks, unless of course you are lucky enough to have setup the account on your billing date, with Orange you are able to choose your billing date at point of connection so if you want to avoid this in future, choose 'todays' date and you will have all free mins when you are connected and the first bill will be very near the monthly amount it should be.

I connected on the 12th, billing date of 14th, i received a bill with £2 on top, and didn't notice the loss of minutes as for the first day i charged it up and the second worked out how to use it!

boyohboy

Maybe they do, reehsetin hit the nail on the head though with "well i tell all my customers " . My point to Orange was, how do customers know what the bill date will be before the 1st bill, and it will not just run for a month from the start date . Sorry, but to just be told its in the terms and condition is not a great start in any relationship. Just trying to warn others.

redux

This has been true for years, for most if not all networks (I don't know about Vodafone)

And it is very easy to call free on 150 to find out how many minutes are included this month, which would have made it quite clear.

Mobile_Mole

I am pretty sure Three do NOT pro-rata allowance and line rental. As far as I am aware connection date and billing date are the same. There would be far less confusion if other service providers followed this model.

But true, the system of calculating pro-rata allowance and line rental is rarely explained in full by service providers and dealers. It's just one of those things you apparently have to know about. This is why I always recommend the first call you ever make on a new contract is to customer services to find out what your billing date is and what your allowance is until that date.


Cheers
Mark

reehsetin

boyohboy wrote:

Maybe they do, reehsetin hit the nail on the head though with "well i tell all my customers " . My point to Orange was, how do customers know what the bill date will be before the 1st bill, and it will not just run for a month from the start date . Sorry, but to just be told its in the terms and condition is not a great start in any relationship. Just trying to warn others.

thing is they dont expect you to go out on the first day you get the phone and use up 200 mins, they probably expect people to use the phone just as they normally would in which case it wouldnt really make a difference

boyohboy

reehsetin wrote:

thing is they dont expect you to go out on the first day you get the phone and use up 200 mins, they probably expect people to use the phone just as they normally would in which case it wouldnt really make a difference

I dont know what makes you think I used them up in a day, It was at the end of the period I had used 170 and thought I had 30 to go so went over my time. 30 min at X network rates can be a lot of money. I was just telling others watch out. I understand 3 and T mobile dont pull this trick.

Queenie

boyohboy wrote:

..... and yes I got the famous orange CS "Tough" ...

Wow, I feel really left out now and I've been with Orange for a while; I've never had any 'famous orange CS "Tough"' treatment :think: Maybe I should complain to their CS because if it's that famous, I shall have to demand that they treat me fairly and give me the "tough" routine!!

Last week phoned Orange for my d11yo's PAYG to make a simple enquiry - they gave him extra minutes. The swines!

Last month phoned Orange regarding confusion over end of contract ... signed me up with new contract which has saved me £23 pm overall, plus they credited my account with the equivalent of 2mths tariff, gave me a new top of the range phone worth £200 thrown in and a new wireless thingywotsit as well! I didn't even *ask* for anything!!!!! The double swines!!!! :mad:

You're right, Orange is the PITS! How dare they treat me differently and not even let me in on this "famous Orange 'Tough!'" routine

No laughing from *this* Orange veteran!

lamb7994

In fact T-mobile do charge Pro-rota for monthly contract.


James

redux

boyohboy wrote:

I understand 3 and T mobile dont pull this trick.

What trick?

They split billing periods just like the others

The instruction leaflet contains the number to ring to get free information on remaining minutes. Unless this service deliberately misleads, there is no attempt to perform a trick