Orange Data Charges Dispute

unknown1988

Hi,
This is a complaint letter I have written to Orange with regards to data charges when travelling abroad. I just wanted to know the opinion of the posters on here and whether I have an actual argument with regards to the claims:

To whom it may concern (preferably a customer service manager as talking to the customer service team in general has not resolved any issues),
I have been a customer with Orange for a number of years and feel highly aggrieved about the current treatment of your company towards me. I have never complained to any service or store prior to this, but this issue makes me feel extremely wronged particularly due to the circumstances of how it arose. Prior to travelling, I purchased a data bolt-on of 10mb to prevent a large bill on my return. On ringing the advisor I was assured this would be sufficient (eventhough I had wanted to purchase a higher amount of data she advised me this would be sufficient and there was no need) and I also told her the dates I was travelling (most of August). On my return I found not only was the data purchase seriously insufficient, but also that the bill I received was extremely high (£258.67 which could pay for my contract for an ENTIRE year). I rang the advisor up and was informed due to the error of the operator on the other line, he would recalculate my bill according to £12.77 per 10mb data charge and I would receive a substantial amount of the money already paid, back. However, today I have been informed this has been declined. To add further insult to injury, I have received another bill for the 15th August- 15th September period, of £100.35. I clearly told the advisor when I was going abroad, therefore she should have told me to purchase a separate bolt-on for when the contract month finishes and the majority of this charge could have been avoided. I do not mind paying £12.77 per every 10mb used, however I feel it is unjust to pay £8 per mb (this is an extortionate amount) especially since I clearly went out of my way to give the full details to the operator and purchase the bolt-on. I would like both bills between 15th July - September to be amended according to the calculation that I had purchased a bolt-on as it is clearly unfair to pay premium charges for data usage when I was ill-advised and also receive a substantial amount of money back which I have already paid. After being a customer for this long and never disputing or complaining about any faults within your service or packages (I use less than 10% of my contract every month and have never received a call to downgrade my contract) I kindly ask you take into consideration my request and hope this matter can be resolved today.


Also I want to add that I requested numerous times for a text to be sent when my 10mb limit had run out and this was denied which I find quite odd. I don't want to blame the advisor but these charges £8 per mb is extortionate especially since I was willing to purchase more data but was advised not to. Also I did not go over the 50mb package limit and cannot understand why my request to recalculate the bill was denied. Cany anyone suggest any further action after this?

TakeThis

Write to Tom.Alexander or the Executive Office, not Customer Services, unless you wish to be frustrated.

Guys_Dad

Where did you travel to?

grumbler

£8/Mb suggests that it was outside the EU. And a bundle voids the €50 cap anyway.

m0nkeymrs01

Turn on Watchdog on BBC right now...!

wandos

TakeThis wrote: »

Write to Tom.Alexander or the Executive Office, not Customer Services, unless you wish to be frustrated.

Tom Alexander is no longer the CEO, Olaf Swantee has taken up that role

unknown1988

Hi, Thank you for the replies. I travelled to the Middle East hence the large data charge. Also, how do I contact someone more senior?

unknown1988

Also, I have just checked the watchdog website and with regards to data charges the Orange spokesman said 'Furthermore, when abroad, customers are notified via SMS when they have used 10MB worth of data.' This is completely contradictory to what I was told by the 'advisor' and neither did I receive this message.

TakeThis

wandos wrote: »

Tom Alexander is no longer the CEO, Olaf Swantee has taken up that role

Thank you for the update.

spiro

unknown1988 wrote: »

Hi, Thank you for the replies. I travelled to the Middle East hence the large data charge. Also, how do I contact someone more senior?

More senior than the CEO?

unknown1988

I meant how do I contact someone more senior than the general customer advice team. I have emailed Mr Swantee and hope to get a positive result. I will keep everyone updated on how the situation is resolved (if at all).