Orange Mobile Phone contracts.....

pecker_woods

Can any one help me with this one???
I have three mobile phones, all of which are with Orange. One for me, One for the Wife and one for my 16 year old son.
I just recieved my mobile phone bill for last month and got a bit of a shock. My usual bill is around £100.00. This time however, it was for £548.03.
My son had run up a massive bill phoning his girlfriend. (in the UK).
Whilst I dont dispute the fact that he made the calls, All Orange customer services would tell me was that they dont do warnings if the regular monthly usage is excessive. They only cap contracts on data roaming, not on calls. I asked if this was normal as my son had gone nearly 1800 mins over his allowance and was told, Yes, this is normal.
They went on to tell me that if we had registered his girlfriend as a magic number, The bill would have been a regular bill!!! How am I meant to know who her supplier is???
I have also been informed by a collegue at work, that there was some sort of government rulling relating to this kind of problem! Is this correct?
I have had to cancel my direct debit instruction and pay this bill on credit card, Leading to more interest.
Dont these companies know that we are in the grip of a recession?
What ever happened to good old customer service?

Carlm90

Unfortunately that's how they make their money and it's a shameful way to do it.

Orange will let you know that you had the option to manage your account online and monitor the usage through there, which is a good habit to get into. This is a story where the young lad will need to learn to help you out to repay this one, a paper round, paying part of the bill with saved birthday money or similar. Best to learn young about the consequences of abusing your phone contract.

I know Tesco offer a service that puts a cap on usage but I'm not sure whether you can ask Orange in future, to monitor usage on the accounts.

Another resort, confiscating the phone!

grumbler

pecker_woods wrote: »

How am I meant to know who her supplier is???

By asking her?

I have also been informed by a collegue at work, that there was some sort of government rulling relating to this kind of problem! Is this correct?

I don't think so.

Dont these companies know that we are in the grip of a recession?

Why do people keep blaming everyone except themselves? And paying £100 p.m. for three mobiles doesn't look right for a family suffering from recession.

pecker_woods

Firstly, If I was going out with this girl, I may have asked her which mobile phone suplier she was with. I am not. Thanks for stating the obvious!!!!!

Secondly, The point in question, is not the fact that the regular payment per month is £100.00 but that the extra £440.00 to pay on top, correct me if I am wrong, is a little hard to swallow for any family.
If companies used there Customer Services, like Tesco do, (with a price cap) it would stop the average person being lumbered with such a high bill. I am not as unfortunate as some people, but at this timwe of year, dont you think there might be a few other things that £440.00 might be best spent on, rather than paying a mobile phone bill.

macman

How on earth is Orange supposed to know what is 'excessive'? Some people manage on 10 minutes airtime a month, some use 600 minutes or more. Since your son apparently spent 1800 minutes (that's 30 hours) over his limit whispering sweet nothings, he must have been perfectly well aware of what he was doing. So vent your anger on him, not on Orange. Teenagers and contract mobiles do not mix, so get him a PAYG instead so he can budget it himself out of his allowance.

grumbler

pecker_woods wrote: »

Firstly, If I was going out with this girl, I may have asked her which mobile phone suplier she was with. I am not.

Your son is.
If your son knew his allowance, why had he not asked his girlfriend or you if he wanted to make 30 hours of calls?
If he didn't know his allowance, whose fault it was? Yours or network's?
My son had a contract mobile (on my name) with 100-200 minutes allowance since he was 10. I made sure that he knew his allowances and he had never exceeded them.

Secondly, The point in question, is not the fact that the regular payment per month is £100.00 but that the extra £440.00 to pay on top, correct me if I am wrong, is a little hard to swallow for any family.

I disagree. This is OOT, but IMHO a family spending 100 p.m. on mobiles has to have some savings to cover unexpected £400ish bill without using an expensive credit card as the last resort.

If companies used there Customer Services, like Tesco do, (with a price cap) it would stop the average person being lumbered with such a high bill.

Only some tariffs at Tesco have caps. It's up to the customers to chose what tariff they want.

macman wrote: »

...Teenagers and contract mobiles do not mix...

This depends on the teenager (and ultimately on the parents).

mobilejunkie

What a lot of nonsense. This crops up time and again. Give someone else a blank chequebook and then cry "foul" when your bank statement rolls in. The OP ONLY has himself to blame and NO-ONE else; except perhaps his son, who obviously DOESN'T know "there's a recession on" - though actually there isn't.

Perhaps if the OP actually cared about how a contract works they'd also look up the definition of "recession" - but methinks they are too busy blaming everyone else, as usual.

MissKeith

How dare a company charge you for a service you have used that they have provided?! I would sue if I were you.

xbrenx

I have 2 contracts with orange, 1 for me, 1 for my son. Other son is on a different network. However, with all 3 I check online at various times through the month and I let both sons know if they're coming close to limits, passed them, whatever.

In other words - I manage the accounts.

Very basic stuff to be honest. OP you have no one to blame but your son, sorry but it's true. You're going to have to pay up. You should consider some way of getting your son to pay for at least some of it too. My two both know, I pay the monthly contract fee, they pay for extras, mishaps.

30 hours in a month though.. I don't know what to say about that!

didi78

Wow so much harshness and the chap only asked for advice!!! I'm sorry that you have a huge bill but I do see where Orange are coming from, I work for a telecommunications company and we do put on a restriction on account when 'Unsual phone activity occurs' which causes lots of problems as we usually ask for a payment to restore services. A lot of the time people get upset that we dare question if we they have the means of payment and that we dare question their financial status? Which we are not obviously we restrict the account so the account holder will contact us so we can make them aware, usually we have tried and failed to reach the account holder before this point. To find out where you stand you may be better actually checking the complaints procedure for Orange they may see you as a good cst and at least meet you half way with the bill and also maybe contact Ofcom and see what they say they are generally the better people to speak to and at least it is good sound advice. Good luck in sorting it but whatever you do don't sound off at the poor person at the end of the Orange Customer Service line as that will get you nowhere. Go to ofcom.com and contact numbers re complaints and enquiries.

grumbler

didi78 wrote: »

...maybe contact Ofcom and see what they say they are generally the better people to speak to and at least it is good sound advice.

Maybe they are good people, but unfortunately the advice they give is not always sound (I can find an example if you wish), but formally "although Ofcom is the regulator for phone companies in the UK," they "do not handle individual disputes or complaints." They direct you to the ombudsman instead, but in all honesty I don't see any case for complaining.