Orange Unlimited Internet

bev87x

Hello

In February 2010 my partner upgraded his phone with orange. He was advised that the phone was constantly connected to the interent and so he would need to add some sort of internet access to his current dolphin 25 package. The sales assistant informed him he could add the unlimited internet package for £10 a month which he agreed to so he could take the phone he wanted.
My contract is now coming to an end and we have just been on the phone to the upgrades department who informed me that I could add 500mgbs of interent to my package (dolphin 15) for £5, I then questioned the unlimited interent. She placed me on hold so she could check with someone and then got back to me and said that you could get 1GB of internet for £10. I then asked her to look at my partners account and check what he is paying for.
It now transpires that when he upgraded his dolphin 25 package which he was paying for up until february 2010 was 250 minutes and unlimited texts. On upgrade it changed to also include 500mgbs of internet which he was never informed of, he was told his package was staying the same. So by the end of his contract he will of unnecessarily paid £180 for something he was missold by orange.
Has anyone had a similar situation with orange or any suggestions of the best course of action. I was told by the assistance that they would need to talk to another department but it was likely that the best they could do would be offer 3 months refund. Clearly them admitting there was a mistake but not wanting to refund the whole total.

Jon_01

All contracts used to say unlimited, but they all had a 'fair usage policy'. Yours was 500 meg. All that's happened is they now states the fup rather than unlimited.

grumbler

The OP was difficult to understand and you misunderstood the post.
The contract had 500Mb included and it was more than sufficient for the partner. However, he was misadvised that he needed extra 'unlimited' for £10 p.m. that he actually didn't need. This cost him £180 over 18 months.

myfairrlady

Me and my husband were both on Orange for the last 3 years (he was on contract as he uses phone a lot and I was on PAYG). I am now on PAYG Giffgaff using Orange San Francisco (i have unlimited internet and 300 mins for £10 a month) and my husband is on 3 all you can eat data plan (HTC Desire S) for £32/year (2000 mins everywhere and 5000 to other 3). I was so fed up with Orange, so difficult to get anything changed or resolved, spending all time on phone with them,not possible to do anything online. I will never sign with Orange again.
I think for people who want to use smartphones stress free, the only choice is either Giffgaff on PAYG or 3 on contract, I wonder how do other networks still manage to trick customers into signing contracts for 'unlimited internet' which is actually limited to 0.5-1 GB.

WelshBluebird

Jon_01 wrote: »

All contracts used to say unlimited, but they all had a 'fair usage policy'. Yours was 500 meg. All that's happened is they now states the fup rather than unlimited.

While that may be true in reality, it really shouldn't be. If you are told you have unlimited internet, then unless you are specifically told that it has a FUP of x MB, then it should be deemed as truly unlimited. Even then IMO networks shouldn't be allowed to advertise as unlimited if it isn't in reality.

Jon_01

WelshBluebird wrote: »

While that may be true in reality, it really shouldn't be. If you are told you have unlimited internet, then unless you are specifically told that it has a FUP of x MB, then it should be deemed as truly unlimited. Even then IMO networks shouldn't be allowed to advertise as unlimited if it isn't in reality.

I completely agree, but the ASA don't. They sided with the networks and allowed them to use the word 'Unlimited' without restriction or more explanation.