MSE News: Orange to raise monthly mobile costs

damageandy

thats a good listen wollix, orange really cant have a say wheather it will cause each person material detriment or not, simply wouldnt have enough man power to prove each case, i hope. ive sent a letter so like everyone else lets hope they bow to the pressure.

oh and complain to ofcom w**.ofcom.org.uk/contact-us/
Ofcom


Riverside House
2a Southwark Bridge Road
London
SE1 9HA
If you want advice or to complain to Ofcom please call us on 0300 123 3333 or 020 7981 3040. We are open Monday to Friday from 9.00am to 5.00pm.

CSales

Sent my email to them via their website on Friday night but had no reply yet! Not very good!

baggy13

Done rely on there email system I've been trying to get a response about multiple direct debit charges for ages before I sent a recorded letter suddenly I got a reply not the one I was after but they are now aware of the complaint

Mhadf

Summary of the Consumer Lawyer Ingrid Gubbay from that Radio 4 program before it disappears from iPlayer

Regulated by UTCCR.
Material detriment is a subjective test down to individuals to say they feel so.
Multiple contracts in the same household would be materially detriment.
Frozen wages and less than RPI rises mean that RPI increase could be seen as materially detriment.
Consumers thought they were being put on a fixed price and term and UTCCR.
Buried terms can't be excessive and are still covered by UTCCR.... and still need to fit in with the law.

liannee22

Hi All, ive just called to see if Orange have recieved my email following my conversation with them on 2nd dec when they refused to let me cancel and refused to change my tariff as i have only been with them for 4 months. The fella was ever so nice, said he would look at my tariff for me.
I have an 1phone 4 on the iphone extra 40, but i get nhs discount so i only pay £30 for 700 mins, 750mb and unlimited texts plus a few extras.
He offered me 600mins 1gb and unlimited texts for £27 with no price increase guarenteed (if u can take their word!!)) ive said i will think about it and get back to them so he give me his name as a ref.

I think its a good deal, im just a bit miffed that its the 2nd time ive had to call and ive only been with them 4 months! i feel like if i agree im supporting them in increasing their prices in such a terrible economic climate... i think i would prefer to give them back the phone and cancelling my contract, he did however maintain that no matter what ofcom stated i was not eligable to cancel despite the various clauses and id had to pay £600 to buy out my contract...

gjchester

liannee22 wrote: »

i think i would prefer to give them back the phone and cancelling my contract, he did however maintain that no matter what ofcom stated i was not eligable to cancel despite the various clauses and id had to pay £600 to buy out my contract...

Giving back the phone and cancelling the contract is almost NEVER possible on any network.

There are some rare cases it's done but thats not common at all.

t-1000

Hi All

I have 7 months left of my orange contract and like most have been infuriated by the price rise. I received my text on the 30th of Nov. I sent an email to the Executive, Office [EMAIL="executive.office@orange.co.uk"]executive.office@orange.co.uk[/EMAIL] on the 3rd Saturday. So I have received the standard orange response yesterday. Just wondered what is the best way to proceed now.

fairnessfighter

I, like many people here, am furious with Orange for the recently announced price hike. So I phoned to ask a few questions.

They claim the hike is in line with (in fact they go to great lengths to point out that it is less than) the increase in the RPI. Although they compare it only to the most recent rate of inflation (5.4%) measured in October which - barring February (5.5%) and September (5.6%) - is the highest it has been all year.

However, as the helpful customer services representative pointed out when I questioned him he will not be getting a pay rise this year in line with inflation (or even in line with the 4.34% that Orange plans to inflate its income). So where will that money go? Into the pockets of its senior management team, no doubt.

But worse still, I asked for more detail on the price hike and was informed that the rise will be applied to the base tariff but NOT to any discounts that form part of the account.

So for example:

In April this year you took out a £30 dolphin tariff with Orange on a 2 year contract.

You were awarded a £5 loyalty discount (for being a faithful customer over the past few years) and a further £2 web-saver discount for ordering online.

This means you expected to be paying £23 per month for the next two years. That is what you agreed because that was what you could afford.

Now you are told (by text) your contract will rise by 4.34%

So a quick calculation will tell you that from the New Year you can expect to pay £24 per month (£23.9982 to be precise).

Well you'd be wrong. Because Orange just told me (and only because I asked) that they would inflate the base rate of the tariff but NOT the discounts applied. Therefore:

(£30*1.0434) - £5 - £2 = £24.30 is what you would ACTUALLY pay.

That is an inflation of 5.66% which is well above the RPI as measured in October. And even further above the average 5.23% increase in the RPI since you took out the contract at the beginning of April. And, anyway, why is Orange using the higher RPI when the government uses the lower CPI to measure inflation?

This is inherently unfair, and whilst it is hard to argue that a few pounds a year is of 'material detriment' to any individual many of us live to the very edge of our means which is why we plan our spending carefully and lock ourselves into fixed rate contracts to reduce outgoings. Combined with rapidly increasing living costs, cuts in tax credits and rising transport costs, for some it really could be the difference between surviving and falling off the edge.

But is there anything we can do?

jasonwatkins

I've yet to receive my text regarding the price rise, so if it does indeed rise on the 1st of January then, as it stands at the moment, i've essentially got an open road out of my contract because I won't have been notified within the 30 day period.

It's frustrating really because I really can't afford the contract as it stands due to my 40% drop in income.

Even a giffgaff sim for £10 a month less would get me a better deal - I'm on an old Dolphin tariff at £35 a month with a £5 discount.

For that I get 800 minutes, unlimited texts and 500mb data.

For £25 a month on giffgaff, i'd get 1,500 minutes and unlimited data and texts.

The temptation to dump the contract anyway is very high at the moment - at some point during the next 12 months I need to seriously consider applying for a debt relief order so it wouldn't be much of a stretch to add the orange contract to that.

burnleymik

I think it's wonderful to see how many people are standing up and fighting this, unfortunately I doubt we will get anywhere, but we must continue to voice our frustration about the rise and the way it has all been handled.

For me personally I will see out my contract and never use Orange again and I hope many others will do the same. We must get the message out that treating existing customers like this is simply wrong, especially when you are tied into such long term contracts.

I have sent my emails and made an unsuccessful phonecall so far.

Great work so far to those who are fighting, keep it going!