Issues with Orange - Uncancelled contract charges

Roblo

Hello there, I have recently run into a problem with Orange, and would appreciate some advice.

After being an Orange customer for around 8 years, i left my contract (at the end of the 18 months) to change to a different network. To cancel the contract, i went into an Orange shop on the high street, but since they cant seem to do much in there at all (apart from sell phones), they put me onto customer services who assured me that the contract would end after the next bill (i naively didn't request this in writing).

Around 3 months later, i noticed Orange was still being paid to Orange, so thinking it was a mistake and it merely hadn't cancelled properly, cancelled the Direct Debit. Having changed address since, i hadn't noticed any orange mail arriving, and only noticed when i received letters from a Moorcroft Debt Recovery, saying i owed them around £90.

At this point, i contacted MCR (who are very dodgy indeed, both from my experiences, and other references to them i have seen),and called Orange Customer Services. Their customer services rep was pretty rude/curt (despite me being polite), and said that at the time, I called but 'decided not to cancel' (there is NO chance of this happening, i already had my new phone on a new contract in my pocket!). He said that a Orange rep had 'taken the time to call me to confirm my cancellation', but i had not picked up. Therefore, they hadn't ended my contract, and i carried on paying them 30 odd quid a month.


At this point I sent a full and polite letter to Orange customer services, explaining what had happened. This was ignored, so i sent another (via recorded delivery), again explaining the situation. this has also been ignored. A month later, i received another letter from Moorcroft Debt Recovery, thanking me for my correspondence (there hasn't been any, i told them i was disputing the situation with Orange), and asking for more information. The letter was signed, but with no name. (this may be standard).

I am somewhat at a loss now, Orange is ignoring any correspondence i send them, and i am receiving threatening letters from this debt collection agency. They have been hassling my parents via the phone (while refusing to say who they were apart from "MDR", luckily my parents can use the internet and googled it). Bit infuriated that after being a good customer for so many years, they end up doing this for something which i believe to be their fault.

Thankyou for any assistance you might be able to give me!

thatsean

The problem is that you've no proof of cancellation. You say you cancelled, they say you simply chose to stop paying. Drop their exec office an email stating the attempts that you've made to get in touch, and if you can give the time, location and date of the call that you made to cancel - see if you can get the call pulled. If not, then you need to offset paying off the debt you feel isn't yours, against the damage this has done (and will continue to do) to your credit until resolved.

Roblo

Very true, it would just end up being me vs them. They do know i called on that day and spoke about cancellation (their rep told me that), and they know i didn't even touch the phone after that point. Do e-mails to their exec office tend to have any results?

Also, i presume the debt recovery agency is taking on the mantle of dealing with the dispute, is this normal? I dont want to have any dealings with them, Orange are bad enough.

computersaysnoagain

I have read some horrible things re orange, one sticks in my mind. They only record 1% of their 5 million calls a month, okay so far, so if they are saying they know you called, but that you chose to continue, ask them to source the call, listen to it and prove to you that you in fact decided to stay with them, rather than cancel as you requested.

If they say they dont have the recording or cant source it, you could do a subject access request to get the information they have re the call on their system or use that or just write when know they can provide no proof and say I want a refund of such and such for the money you took in error.

They will play hardball there is no doubt about that, their ceo office is not very consumer friendly at all, so you need to stick to your guns and in necessary put in a letter before action giving them 14 days to comply and be ready to take them to court.

Look at it this way, you ring them up, you then change to another provider. What is the likliehood of you choosing to deliberately continue to pay orange and not use the phone. Hopefully a judge will see it that way!!!!

It is really up to you because you when have the information could go down the cicas route after demanding a deadlock letter, but cicas is paid for by the mobile industry, do help some cases, but you have options, best of luck.

I would also recomend recording all calls with orange, as their own admission of what they record leaves customer unless they protect themselves open to staff abuse in such matters, also when recording them as has happened to others they are rude or say shall we say admissions they might not have if knew the call was recorded, they might want to end the issue sooner to your sattisfaction. You see orange dont seem to appreciate that more consumers are recording them, picking up on their rued, curt behaviour, in fact I would say the staff have no fear of recorse in how they treat someone for instance they might not like, due to knowing and happily reporting they do not record most calls. Be warned.

Roblo

Am attempting to contact their executive office via e-mail. Worth a try at least. Yet another letter from Moorcroft today, threatening litigation if I don't respond within a few days.

computersaysnoagain

Dont worry about 'morcarp' other than to say the issue is in dispute hence should not be past to them and continue with email to ceo office.

Remember they say you agreed, so you want the proof and you have a right to a copy of the recording, see how you go.

Roblo

Ok, thanks for the reassurance. I dont want to deal with MDR, I just want to deal directly with Orange (hence wanting a reply!). I have no idea if it is standard to ignore a customer after passing on to a DRA, but it certainly isnt helpful.

Guys_Dad

For future reference, always ask for a PAC and use it. Then there is no danger of the sort of dispute you have had.

thatsean

If they haven't recorded the call, from my former life as a call centre manager (don't throw anything at me), it's possible for their tech guys to run a report from the switch/IVR to see if a number did call in. Even if they won't admit it to you, as it's really pushing the SAR, they can verify that you did make a call. This is of course assuming that they can even be arsed to do anything... which is far from guaranteed. Have you emailed the exec office?