MSE News: Orange to raise monthly mobile costs

daleski75

Surely the cost of taking Orange to court over this is going to cost people far more than just accepting the increase?

DUTR

daleski75 wrote: »

Surely the cost of taking Orange to court over this is going to cost people far more than just accepting the increase?

Damn you Sherlock! Well I can count 4 on the thread now that can see a little sense

unique.mo

Negative publicity on watchdog would affect Orange alot as it currently has a reputation of giving a good service although Orange's costs are not based on commodity tradings of oil or gas. Nor are many of the employees getting a rise. I wonder why they chose RPI instead of CPI?? Well it was because RPI is a higher inflation rate than CPI which the government has started using. Also their margins are not tight; these companies charge different customers different prices making enough money. Orange gets royalties for selling their phones. If they didnt make enough money they would have diversified.

Phones cost the most in a contract; the majority of the customers recieve a top phone which is worth a couple of hundred to us.

As an example: £20 a month for a Galaxy S 2 for 24 months
20*24=480 total cost; phone is worth £300 odd to us.

480-300=180 is revenue for Orange as a minimum as they recieve these phones on a economies of scale so the phone costs less to them.

The increase we face is 0.86p per month on a £20 a month contract
0.86*24=20.64

20.64/180*100=11.46% increase in revenue for their service; and I wonder what the inflation rate was again.

Another point to consider OFCOM exists for no reason they dont do anything forget about this occassion in the past they suggested me to go court eventhough the other party was going against the legislations we have. Plus dont forget to sign the petition!

daleski75

DUTR wrote: »

Damn you Sherlock! Well I can count 4 on the thread now that can see a little sense

LOL call me Captain Obvious

Guys_Dad

daleski75 wrote: »

LOL call me Captain Obvious

As I said earlier, others will be trying to sell Shergar next.

HarnApes

Anyone read Case 05 in this?
w w w.cisas.org.uk/media/text/CISAS-11-case-studies-26.2.08.pdf
Might help some people.

evilcartman

jimkenyon wrote: »

Orange state that they have to raise their prices due to inflation. This is a false argument as the majority of a contract is taken up by the cost of the handset. Consequently, given that the ongoing costs are the price of calls, text, etc then Orange are increasing the cost beyond the RPI. as these are only a small part of the contract. Effectively, Orange are asking us to pay more for the handset that we have already received at what must be a fixed cost to Orange.

I'm glad you raised that, as I've emailed Orange back with exactly that argument and demanded an amortised statement, given that I am currently about 14 months into this contract. I feel like just cancelling the contract, frankly, and daring them to take me to court. But maybe some of our resident legal brains may be able to advise on the best way to pursue this line of argument?

Guys_Dad

HarnApes wrote: »

Anyone read Case 05 in this?
w w w.cisas.org.uk/media/text/CISAS-11-case-studies-26.2.08.pdf
Might help some people.

This is the case

Contract termination: price increase is a change

C was given notice of increased charges by T. C made several attempts to end his mobile phone contracts but T did not respond. T denied that the increased charges constituted a change to the contract between C and T justifying termination. T had no record of receiving C’s four letters, two of which were delivered by recorded delivery

The Adjudicator found a price increase is a material change to the detriment of C allowing C to terminate the contracts. On the balance of probabilities T had received the letters from C. T was ordered to refund C all monthly sums paid since the first attempt to terminate the contracts

Well, no one can accuse Orange of not responding.

HarnApes

The pertinent point is that CISAS do see price increases as a "material change to the detriment of the consumer".
Like some here, my income has dropped, mine to the tune of about 68%, the increases do cause me material detriment.

I'm not arguing that Orange's operating costs haven't gone up and other factors that will increase their costs (network upgrades as an example). but these should be sought when customers renew or take new contracts. Not as early as 4 months into a 24 month contract, as some here mention.

gjchester

HarnApes wrote: »

Like some here, my income has dropped, mine to the tune of about 68%, the increases do cause me material detriment.

Your 68% income drop is not important in this case. The quesion at hand is does the £2 or so rise cause detriment.

Unfortunatly in yours and Jasons case the answer is probably not to any great extent, the detriment is caused by the large income drop overall not the small extra by Orange. Does it add to it, maybe but no in a significant way.

However it would take a court case to give you a definative answer and until someone tried to do so it's all jsut a point for discussion.