MSE News: Orange to raise monthly mobile costs

thischris1991

drbesty wrote: »

Would you be happy to exit the contract if you had to send the phone back?

wouldnt bother me in the slightest to be honest with you as im going to go onto a pay as you go sim .

St_Marco

Got my text earlier and like most are not happy about it. It isn't about the money, that isn't the issue. The issue is should a company be able to increase monthly costs for a service after you signed a contract? Personally i think that is wrong and shouldn't be able to happen. If you sign a contract saying something cost £25 a month for 24 months then it should remain that way for 24 months. I totally get that Orange need to make more money to cover rising costs, we all do. But that should be done with new contracts not existing ones.

I will give them a ring tomorrow as i think i am in a good position to argue with them. My contract actually runs out in 3 months so i will only get the increase charge for just under 2 months. In the 21 months i have been with them i have had to return my HTC desire twice, going nearly 2 months without the phone. And 2 months ago their pylon where i live failed meaning i had no signal for a month. They were actually ok about that and credited me £25. But really that is just refunding me the £25 i paid, so really i didn't get charged for there being no service. I still had to buy another cheap phone on another network. On top of that i actually joined Orange via the Mobiles.co.uk website which is a Carphone Warehouse company. When i signed up i was not given any Orange T&C to sign. I actually keep all documents and looked and there is nothing about the T&C's. The only ones i can see are from Carphone Warehouse themself. So i am wondering if those rules apply to me or not seeing as i didn't sign it.

Maybe because i am now able to upgrade they will offer me something better because of it. I would prefer to stay with Orange but as said above if they can jack the price up now and get away with it then what is stopping them doing it again? By doing it to people who are in contracts shouldn't be allowed. New customers and new contracts then fine as the people know what they are being charged before they sign. But if you agree to pay an amount for a set amount of months then it should remain that in my opinion.

Mhadf

drbesty, would that be the phone I bought myself from china or the one my kids got me from abroad?

However, generally phones are given at reduced cost seperately and do not form part of the mobile contract. They are just a sweetener to tempt you to that particular network due to exclusivity etc

kelvinguest

Flip77 wrote: »

Got my text today, but (and forgive me if this has been mentioned) I got my phone from the carphonewarehouse. I do not ever remover being given oranges t&c's to read should I want to before the purchase. I'm frantically checking emails and paperwork sent to me.

I'm a but annoyed cause I got my phone in late September 2011 on a 24 month contract. They must have known then of the price increase and should have notified me prior to agreeing to the contract!

I read somewhere that this applys only to contracts before 1st September an the increase for contracts after this date should have had the increase added automatically?? i can't rememer where i read it though

molly3

ok so where do i stand with this one my mobile contract is for £40.00 so it says on the paperwork but because i went through phones 4 you i have a credit on my bills to reduce it down to £35 a month as that was the highest I was willing to pay for the samsung gallaxy s2! Are they going to increase the price based on the £40.00 or the £35.00 a month which was what I signed up for?

Also surely we are able to be released from the contract as it is possibly material detriment?

thischris1991

St_Marco wrote: »

pany. When i signed up i was not given any Orange T&C to sign. I actually keep all documents and looked and there is nothing about the T&C's. The only ones i can see are from Carphone Warehouse themself. So i am wondering if those rules apply to me or not seeing as i didn't sign it.

Maybe because i am now able to upgrade they will offer me something better because of it. I would prefer to stay with Orange but as said above if they can jack the price up now and get away with it then what is stopping them doing it again? By doing it to people who are in contracts shouldn't be allowed. New customers and new contracts then fine as the people know what they are being charged before they sign. But if you agree to pay an amount for a set amount of months then it should remain that in my opinion.

Having read what you have put i would say that the contract you signed be in verbally or in writing would have been given to carphone warehouse by orange so technically although you didnt receive anything you did sign up to it and use the service.

Correct me if im wrong people.

drbesty

:money:

Mhadf wrote: »

drbesty, would that be the phone I bought myself from china or the one my kids got me from abroad?

However, generally phones are given at reduced cost seperately and do not form part of the mobile contract. They are just a sweetener to tempt you to that particular network due to exclusivity etc

I realise phones are separate from contracts, i think the main reason everyone is moaning about this is because they want to exit their contracts but keep the phone, same as last time

Mhadf

I forgot I can't post links yet. So here's the heavily edited version with links removed

Dear Orange,
Due to the increases that Orange are implementing in January I would like to cancel my account XXXXXXXX without penalty due to the material detriment I will suffer when the increase occurs.
The current charges are approx £XXX per month, and using the calculator provided by yourselves at orange link from text it will increase by £X.XX per month.
This is a significant increase in my monthly costs and therefore a Material Detriment as determined by Ofcom, under the telecommunications act 2003. Ofcom have written guidance available at ofcoms general regulations link
Under Section 9.6 it is explained that as this is material detriment I am allowed to cancel my contract with yourselves without penalty.

I also feel that your section 4.3.1 would be classed unlawful and therefore unenforcable under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Regulations 1999.

Furthermore when the terms and conditions were changed in the summer of 2011 Orange gave reassurances that the contract prices would remain the same. See orangeworld [dot]co [dot] uk /p/helpandcosts/eeterms link

I look forward to your confirmation of receipt and acceptance of this email.
If you have any problems please don't hesitate to contact me in writing.

Regards,

Mhadf

St_Marco

thischris1991 wrote: »

Having read what you have put i would say that the contract you signed be in verbally or in writing would have been given to carphone warehouse by orange so technically although you didnt receive anything you did sign up to it and use the service.

Correct me if im wrong people.

Possibly.

My argument is that chances are there was a box you tick saying "you agree to T&C" etc

But does it make it lawful if you don't actually get to see/read the T&C? Obviously i am not going to go down that route with only 3 months remaining but it is maybe an arguing point for people who also signed up online that have newer contracts.

Mhadf

drbesty wrote: »

:money:

I realise phones are separate from contracts, i think the main reason everyone is moaning about this is because they want to exit their contracts but keep the phone, same as last time

Sounds about right, I know lots like that. However I prefer to think of it as payment in lieu of cash for their illegal screwup