Massive Orange bill £800

moneymeltdown

oh dear - just tried to negotiate a payment plan with Orange regarding this whopper of a bill - which has grown steadily since spending the last couple of months (on and off) overseas dealing with a family bereavement.

Orange say that until the bill has been settled in full - my phone is barred for outgoing calls/emails/texts etc.

This unusually high usage has never happened before and will never happen again - I am at a loss to know what to do. Can anyone offer any advice?

Do I get on the payment plan and buy a new PAYG phone until it's all paid off?

Many thanks everyone1

grumbler

moneymeltdown wrote: »

Do I get on the payment plan and buy a new PAYG phone until it's all paid off?

IMHO this is the only reasonable option. You can get a basic headset on PAYG almost for free and use it for outgoing calls while keeping using the barred one for accepting incoming calls.

(http://www.) mobiles.co.uk/pay-as-you-go-mobile-phones.html

5 phones are less than £1 + £10 topup, but with £6 cashback available from Quidco (and TCB?). After using £10 you can get a better sim.

Make sure that Orange don't destroy your credit history. Otherwise it is worth considering borrowing somewhere.

moneymeltdown

thankyou grumbler - much appreciated!

The_Boss

Such a shame this has happened. Is your phone barred or the SIM? You could just get a PAYG SIM as above and put it in your phone, then pay off the Orange contract. Just let everyone know about the new number.

moneymeltdown

The_Boss wrote: »

Such a shame this has happened. Is your phone barred or the SIM? You could just get a PAYG SIM as above and put it in your phone, then pay off the Orange contract. Just let everyone know about the new number.

I'm not sure what exactly will be barred - Orange said all incoming texts/calls and emails.

grumbler

Outgoing I guess, not incoming...

d123

Only the sim should be suspended, get a free/cheap Orange PAYG sim and use that in your handset.

custardy

its only the sim,so you can use your handset
they will block outgoing calls first,then later incoming

McKneff

Its a long shot, but if you were an executor of a will abroad, this could be claimed back rom the estate.

grumbler

custardy wrote: »

they will block outgoing calls first,then later incoming

Why on earth would they block the incoming calls if they get paid for this by the other side? It's like PAYG with zero balance. You can keep receiving the calls forever.

d123

grumbler wrote: »

Why on earth would they block the incoming calls if they get paid for this by the other side? It's like PAYG with zero balance. You can keep receiving the calls forever.

After a certain length of time all the networks will bar incoming calls, the next step after that is complete cancellation of the line (and the debt being sold on).