Orange mobile phone £590 bill - please help!

Blitz01

SurreyBear wrote: »

Write to your MP - they can be very helpful in these situations

Why would an MP want to get involved with someone's mobile phone bill?

flyingscotno1

thatsean wrote: »

Don't understand what the op is looking for here, the service was used, and must be paid for. Ask to speak to credit control, and agree a payment plan. They will likely agree to taking it over 3 months.

Even so the amount charged is not reasonable in any way shape or form for service used.

It does not cost Orange anywhere near that amount week in and week out for the extra few hundred MB of data. A sensible rate and the customer would probably have no real complaints.

This needs move to Mobile phone board however.

Idiophreak

danfoster79 wrote: »

Last year they offered me an upgrade to the new HTC Desire phone, with unlimited 3g internet

Did they explain the fair usage policy to you at the time?

Rosie111

In your original post you said it was unlimited 3G internet. Is this truly unlimited or does it have a fair usage policy? if not, that could be your arguing point with Orange. Hope this helps.

mothmanxxx

Hi Dan,

I am a indepentant telecomms consultant and connect a vast amount of my customers on the orange network. Recently a new customer of mine had the same problem (mistakenly used the internet without knowing) their bill was in the region of £500 I called them up and within a matter of minutes they had credited the next bill for the full amount.

What I would suggest is calling them back (speaking to somebody different) explain that this is the first time it has happened it was a genuine mistake and that you have made changes to your plan to prevent this from happening again, also tell them you have been with them for so many years and are currently out of work and this would severly hamper your chances of re-employment as that number is the only contact number you have (but be nice dont lose your rag) if that fails continue the calls and speak to as many different people there you can. If this fails post back and I will try and advise you further.

Hope this helps let me know how you get on.

KiKi

Hi there

I recently got an HTC Wildfire (fabulous phone) with the same package as you: unlimited (1GB) internet, unlimited texts and 100 mins.

Unfortunately you obviously weren't on your parents' wifi and must have been sending and receiving over GPRS - although to exceed the allowance by so much you must either have streamed TV, radio or viewed a HELL of a lot of websites with pictures etc! You are liable for the amount; there's nothing you can do about that.

However, I have had VERY VERY poor experiences with the T-mobile / Orange call centre. BUT. On Twitter (and don't laugh) there is a T-mobile feed (@TMobileUKhelp). Every time I've lost patience with the call centre, I have sent Direct Messages to the Twitter guy who responds within minutes, and has ALWAYS sorted out my problem. They are there to answer your queries and sort out bill issues.

Obviously they're not going to write off the bill - you either aren't connecting properly on your phone (although the Wifi signal on the HTC is very clear so it should be obvious), or you're browsing massive sites / streaming mass data when you're on GPRS. But the Twitter guy might be able to help resolve something there, whether it's a payment plan, helping out with your phone etc.

One of my problems was that I was being charged for MMSs I never sent. The Twitter guy advised it was an HTC issue because the phone automatically converts text messages sent to 'groups' to picture messages. It's supposed to be 'clever' because in theory it's cheaper to do that - but I don't have MMS on my tariff. So he refunded all my charges because it was down to the phone and not me.

Please try Direct Messaging them with brief details (140 characters!) and see if they can help.
KiKi

KiKi

Rosie111 wrote: »

In your original post you said it was unlimited 3G internet. Is this truly unlimited or does it have a fair usage policy? if not, that could be your arguing point with Orange. Hope this helps.

It has a fair usage policy - over 1GB. But if he was on Wifi that would make no difference; he's obviously used 1GB on the GPRS which would incur very large costs. It's in the T&Cs that you sign (I have the same tariff!).


KiKi

Malky

It looks to me that the update had over-ridden all your previous settings and you never thought/checked afterwards before connecting to the internet. Hard lesson to learn I know but I think you'll have to put this one down to experience and be more careful in the future.

KiKi

Malky wrote: »

It looks to me that the update had over-ridden all your previous settings and you never thought/checked afterwards before connecting to the internet. Hard lesson to learn I know but I think you'll have to put this one down to experience and be more careful in the future.

The thing is, though, that with HTC phones it does clearly show if you're on Wifi or not. Wifi is the default option, and once you're connected it doesn't 'choose' GPRS over Wifi. The only time it will connect to GPRS is if you leave the Wifi area, or if you deliberately switch Wifi off.

Even if his phone DID 'choose' GPRS over Wifi, or if he switched it off accidentally, he would see it. There's no way you can miss the Wifi and 3G signs at the top of the phone. Even when the phone's locked, they're there.

OP, do contact the Twitter guys; they may be able to negotiate a better cost for the 200MB. They certainly won't ignore you or refuse to answer your questions!

KiKi

Idiophreak

Malky wrote: »

It looks to me that the update had over-ridden all your previous settings and you never thought/checked afterwards before connecting to the internet. Hard lesson to learn I know but I think you'll have to put this one down to experience and be more careful in the future.

I don't think this is one to put down to experience at all. The OP had been told they had "unlimited" internet. The fair usage policy is there purely to prevent people from abusing this. OP did not intend to abuse it, has only done so once and will, presumably, not do it again in the future. They were also only 20% over the amount considered "fair" - so I think a bill of £500+ in this instance is a joke.

If the OP were on a "hard" 1GB limit, things would be different...