MSE News: Orange to raise monthly mobile costs

Del_Astra

Daft_Punk wrote: »

So what outcome would satisfy you about being told by an advisor the wrong info? do you expect them to let you out of the contract? Or would you prefer them to cancel your price increase? Or would you like them to sack/discipline that member of staff?

If I was that advisors manager I would take them aside and say:

Me:"please stop telling customers that the government are forcing us to raise prices as that is the wrong info"
Advisor: "sorry I thought that was correct info"
Me: "no, the government set the inflation rate but we decide whether we follow it"
Advisor: "ok now I know"
Me: "cool, get back to work"

All I was looking was my option, can I reduce my minutes / allowance as has been offered to others?

Yes Orange should explain to staff that it is not the Government that are forcing this increase, I would not expect anything further to come from that. Although I would expect some people skill training for the person I spoke too, if they listen to the call.

I shall of course as a customer never expect to be given a surname again, even if I feel praise is justified. I mean how dare I:rotfl:

RoyalSwank

Daft_Punk wrote: »

So what outcome would satisfy you about being told by an advisor the wrong info? do you expect them to let you out of the contract? Or would you prefer them to cancel your price increase? Or would you like them to sack/discipline that member of staff?

If I was that advisors manager I would take them aside and say:

Me:"please stop telling customers that the government are forcing us to raise prices as that is the wrong info"
Advisor: "sorry I thought that was correct info"
Me: "no, the government set the inflation rate but we decide whether we follow it"
Advisor: "ok now I know"
Me: "cool, get back to work"

If I were the Adivisor's Manager's Manager I would say:
Me: "Stop telling the advisors that the government set the inflation rate. The government can define the different ways they measure inflation, like CPI or RPI, but they don't actually set the rate. There are a number of factors that do that, many well beyond the control of the government"
Advisor's Manager: "ok, didn't know that"
Me: "OK, now get back to work fobbing customers off that this increase in prices is somehow fair just becuse we've built the provision into our contracts"

g0recki

A technical point, but possibly an important one...

4.3% RPI inflation in October means that the prices have risen by this much over the last 12 months, i.e. since October 2010. However if like me you took out a new contract this August, prices have not gone up 4.3% in 4 months (the economy isn't that bad!).

I'll admit that I'm only on a £10 per month contract and I'm not going to move on the basis of this small increase. However as others have said, it's the principle of the matter. £10 per month was the price agreed this August, not in October 2010.

It seems to me that people who agreed to contracts between November 2010 and August 2011 are in effect having retrospective price increases, which I would argue is very much "material detriment".

I have some sympathy for Orange's position for people who signed up before October 2010.

cmbc2010

Still not received my text but rang Orange anyway. On the phone for about half an hour including hold time. I pointed out that the rise is in costs is actually more for any existing customers paying £25+ than for new customers, so not exactly bringing everyone in line, and that on a limited budget I really cannot afford the £1.50 rise (I know it's not a lot to some people but it really is a lot to me). The best they said they could do was if I ring back up in January they'll put me on the same tariff as the new customers, so it will be in line.

The thing that annoyed me is they are obviously reading from an incorrect script! The first person (in the foreign call centre) told me that ALL the phone companies in the UK are doing this right now, to which I told them they weren't.

The supervisor tried to compare it to petrol prices going up, to which I replied that you don't make 24 month contracts with garages. He then told me Orange had already treat me really well because they'd given me £7.50 bill credit. I informed him that phones4u had offered me that after I'd shopped around!

Now wondering whether to go straight to Ofcom or see what I can get out of them in January. . .

marcjleesmith

Hi all,

I've only just found this forum so apologies for being a day or 2 behind the fight!

I recieved my text on the 29th of November and immediately contacted Olaf Swantee (the CEO) by email. The saga goes on below:

Email 1:

Dear Olaf,

I am writing to you directly having struggled to gain a reasoned response from your customer service teams. I would ask for a response from yourself or an appointed case manager at your earliest possible convenience.

I have received a text message from your company today stating that you will be increasing my monthly plan by 4.34% from the 8th of January 2012. This is unacceptable. Whilst I understand that your terms and conditions prohibit me from ending my contract with Orange I believe that this action is both immoral and unjustifiable (especially given today’s grim Autumn Statement) and would appeal to you directly to allow me to end my contract with your company prematurely and without penalty.

I note that you are a member of CISAS and although I do not wish to cause any undue hassle or additional costs to your company, I do intend to place my case with their adjudicators should this wish not be agreed both promptly & amicably. Should this wish not be met please forward the required deadlock letter to me as per below details.

My Orange account details can be found below:

Account Number:
Contract Start Date: 20-04-2010
Contract End Date: 19-04-2012
Name:
Orange Mobile Number:
Billing Address:

I look forward to hearing from you shortly.

The next day.. no response... so email two:

Dear Olaf,

I am yet to receive any kind of confirmation that the below e-mail is being attended to.

Please respond at the soonest.

I then recieve a call from Chris in their CEO team. The long story short is that they wont budge and wont allow me to end my contract. So I fire off another e-mail...

Good morning Olaf,

Many thanks for forwarding my complaint to your CEO Team. I am happy to confirm that Chris called me this morning to attempt to appease the below outlined issue as per stage 1of your complaints code of practice (CCOP).

Unfortunately Chris was unable to resolve the dispute and consequently passed me onto his line manager; Melanie (as per stage 2of your CCOP “If you are not satisfied with our response, ask for the issue to be considered again. You have the option to discuss the issue with a Customer Service Team Leader, and if still unresolved a Customer Service Manager.”).

I regret that Melanie was also unable to resolve the problem but refused to provide me with a deadlock reference letter to allow me to proceed to stage 3of your CCOP (“If after contacting us we have not resolved your complaint to your satisfaction…”).

Both Chris & Melanie were very polite but were unfortunately ultimately powerless to help, believing that my complaint did not fall within CISAS’s remit - which is clearly incorrect. CISAS’s own website confirms this – “You can use CISAS to settle disputes about billing and service issues”. I am unhappy with the proposed changes to my bill & wish to complain. My complaint has not been resolved and I wish to use your ADR scheme.

I am writing to you again to request that I either be sent a deadlock reference letter as “my complaint has not been resolved to [my] satisfaction” or cancel my contract (without penalty) as per my original email.

So this is where I am currently... as and when I recieve a response I'll post it here for all to see. My personal expectation is to have to wait the 8 weeks then apply to CISAS.

The irony being that it would cost Orange more to fight the CISAS case than it would to release me from the remainder of my contract... but ho hum!!

Del_Astra

g0recki wrote: »

A technical point, but possibly an important one...

4.3% RPI inflation in October means that the prices have risen by this much over the last 12 months, i.e. since October 2010. However if like me you took out a new contract this August, prices have not gone up 4.3% in 4 months (the economy isn't that bad!).

I'll admit that I'm only on a £10 per month contract and I'm not going to move on the basis of this small increase. However as others have said, it's the principle of the matter. £10 per month was the price agreed this August, not in October 2010.

It seems to me that people who agreed to contracts between November 2010 and August 2011 are in effect having retrospective price increases, which I would argue is very much "material detriment".

I have some sympathy for Orange's position for people who signed up before October 2010.

It was 5.41% but Orange picked 4.3% to increase by.

molley

Daft_Punk wrote: »

/Rant on

This is just to say to all those people who post or read here complaining about what they are told by the customer services advisors (CSA) they speak to.

What ever reason you are given by a CSA as to the price rise (whether it be right or wrong) is not going to change the fact that the prices are going up. I assume, as you read this forum, you have some savvy about you as to looking deeper into things and finding out how to save money. So don't listen to what they tell if you think they are wrong.

In the very first post of this thread there is a news article that has a statement from Orange saying the prices are going up because of inflation and the RPI index. The CSA is not going to suddenly say "hey you know what you are right and I am wrong so I am going cancel your price increase". They will never say that because they cannot do that. They have no power or influence and cannot change a price increase even if they agree with what you are saying.

/Rant off

Very true but still doesn't mean that Orange are right in refusing the option of allowing contracts to be closed re what has been said re Material Detriment

jasonwatkins

Is it worth someone drafting a template letter that people could use to complain to orange ?

I really think I have to put this into motion because at the moment i'm wondering how i'm going to pay the £2 extra charges i've somehow accumulated this month without dipping in to my food budget, which is pretty tiny as it is.

i'd ring the call centre to talk to them but, by the sounds of it, they'll just revert to script and nothing will really happen.

maybe if we could collaborate on a "how to" guide for people it might make it easier for more people to actually try doing it ?

executiverocker

molley wrote: »

Because if you need to take the matter further then it obviously helps to sort the matter out knowing who you spoke to and on what day. If you know the day you phoned then an audit trail should find who dealt with your account at that time but going down that road might be more complicated than simply providing the name ...all dealings on anyones account should be logged onscreeen but whetehr they are is doubtful .

As long as you know what number you called from and time of day/date then tracing call should be fine.

jpmroberts

My text said 1st Feb (as does the link I was sent, though they told me on the phone that my plan would increase from 8th Jan. I'm not sure which is correct, but it's sloppy and unimpressive either way (particularly as the representative also justified it as something "the other networks are gonig to do too"). Given I'm less than 2 months into an 18 month contract, I wonder how early in people's contracts they're doing this - messages a few hours after signing?