Orange False Advertising?

Tucker1985

Been due an upgrade on my orange contract so decided to go into the orange shop at the Trafford Centre, went through it all, got told no Iphones in at the moment, however luckily for me I could Pre-Order an Iphone. The sales consultant explained by paying £20 up front, I could have preferential choice as soon as an Iphone came into the shop. Upon which I would receive my £20 back, so basically a small fee would help me receive priority over any other person.

I thought the situation was win win, it meant it cost me nothing as I receive the money back as soon as I get my phone. However after a week I still hadnt heard nothing, I telephoned the shop and got a cagey response that no Iphone's had been in the shop.

However I asked my girlfriend to go into the shop and enquire into buying an Iphone in cash, sure enough they came out with an Iphone for her, then when she explained that it wasnt for cash but rather for an upgrade they came out with some story that the Iphone is only for the broadband packages and that I wouldnt be able to have one.

I wanted to know have Orange in fact broken the law in acting like they have? My understanding is that they have falsely advertised the pre-order service, for example using the USP of priority to obtain £20 from me yet clearly selling the only Iphone's that came in instead of using the pre-order service so the staff have sales on their monthly targets. But also if they receive money from me & I receive a receipt from them, is that not a form of legal contract? Which they have breached?

Any help would be great as I am unsure however I am annoyed at how big companies think they can act how they like irrespective of what they said they would.

johhn_2

why not just ring up orange and talk to their retention team?

dreamypuma

They probably haven't done anything wrong. Often PAYG stock is different to contract stock.

If you feel that strongly about it, you need to speak to the store, and confront them with your beliefs. Hopefully they will provide you with an explanation.

reehsetin

PAYG stock is different to contract stock! it's highly likely they have one and not the other, it also depends on colour and size (e.g. 8gb/16gb/32gb)

If anything stores would be much more likely to care about their upg target than payg - no conspiracy

Orange_Company_Representative

HI Tucker1985

As other posters have advised PAYG and PAYM are completely different. They may have iPhones in stock on PAYG if you wanted to buy one outright but they may be out of stock on PAYM.

The phones set up are slightly different as they PAYM and PAYG both charge differently so the shop cannot simply use a PAYG model for a PAYM upgrade.

The majority of iPhones are on PAYM so it is highly likely they were out of stock on PAYM but still had PAYG available.

Hope this helps

^Steve_OrangeHelpers