Orange is the pits!

officeguru

I bought an android flip phone in June... I know absolutely nothing about phones but, due to this forum, I was able to buy the phone and I thought it would enable me to check my emails and look up recipes on the Internet. I am housebound and find it difficult to lift my laptop to and from the kitchen so the phone seemed ideal. I transferred the balance from my hubby's old phone, which meant I started with £26 odd as a balance.. Within days, that went down to £18..:( I phoned up Orange and they informed me it was because I incurred some sort of background charge so they switched it off.. They assured me that I would not incur anymore background charges as I was only linking the phone to my home wireless network to download emails etc...

Well yesterday, I got a text balance from them informing me that I had .68p left... I was absolutely livid... I phoned them up and they went on to tell me that it was because I was on the internet.. I told them I know I was on the internet... but I was assured it wouldn't cost me anything as I was linked to my home wireless... He then went on to tell me that when I switched off the broadband hub at night, the phone linked onto the network elsewhere... or some such reason.. I told him that I was informed by his colleague at the time, that I couldn't incur any background charges and that I didn't use the internet during the night as I was in my bed... but he wouldn't budge..

I am sorry about the rant, but I informed him that the phone was going to get thrown into the back of the drawer and that I would never again use orange and that I had been treated shabbily.. He apologised that his colleague had not warned me about making sure I switched off the internet if the home network was switched off... :mad: The best of it was, that my son was asking about the phone the other day so I had switched it on and never switched it off again as I wanted to see how long the battery lasted when it was just sitting there... I never for a million years realised it was costing me almost £20 for the privilege..

Sorry about the rant, but I can't afford to lose that kind of money.. I would rather have phoned my daughter in Australia and used up the money that way!

I'll get over it!

Cheers

gjchester

officeguru wrote: »

I bought an android flip phone in June... I know absolutely nothing about phones but, due to this forum, I was able to buy the phone and I thought it would enable me to check my emails and look up recipes on the Internet. I am housebound and find it difficult to lift my laptop to and from the kitchen so the phone seemed ideal. I transferred the balance from my hubby's old phone, which meant I started with £26 odd as a balance.. Within days, that went down to £18..:( I phoned up Orange and they informed me it was because I incurred some sort of background charge so they switched it off.. They assured me that I would not incur anymore background charges as I was only linking the phone to my home wireless network to download emails etc...

Well yesterday, I got a text balance from them informing me that I had .68p left... I was absolutely livid... I phoned them up and they went on to tell me that it was because I was on the internet.. I told them I know I was on the internet... but I was assured it wouldn't cost me anything as I was linked to my home wireless... He then went on to tell me that when I switched off the broadband hub at night, the phone linked onto the network elsewhere... or some such reason.. I told him that I was informed by his colleague at the time, that I couldn't incur any background charges and that I didn't use the internet during the night as I was in my bed... but he wouldn't budge..

I am sorry about the rant, but I informed him that the phone was going to get thrown into the back of the drawer and that I would never again use orange and that I had been treated shabbily.. He apologised that his colleague had not warned me about making sure I switched off the internet if the home network was switched off... :mad: The best of it was, that my son was asking about the phone the other day so I had switched it on and never switched it off again as I wanted to see how long the battery lasted when it was just sitting there... I never for a million years realised it was costing me almost £20 for the privilege..

Sorry about the rant, but I can't afford to lose that kind of money.. I would rather have phoned my daughter in Australia and used up the money that way!

I'll get over it!

Cheers

All smartphones use data for updates, ndf all phones default to 3g if there is no wifi available. Unfortunatly there nothing you can do about the used credit, but look in the settings for APN, it may be under network or mobile data.

It will be somethign like WAP.ORANGE.CO.UK so change it to DO.NOT.USE this means if the phone drops wifi it will try get a 3g connection it will try to connect to the non existant do.not.use server and fail so not run up a 3g bill.

officeguru

gjchester wrote: »

It will be somethign like WAP.ORANGE.CO.UK so change it to DO.NOT.USE this means if the phone drops wifi it will try get a 3g connection it will try to connect to the non existant do.not.use server and fail so not run up a 3g bill.

Thanks for this, gjchester, I'll have a look at the phone tomorrow..

Cheers

Daft_Punk

It doesn't really sound like this is Oranges fault. Seems the staff have been pretty helpful to you by trying to resolve the issue. All smartphones work this way on all networks. You really should find out how a phone works before you buy it.

Guys_Dad

You bought a handset, but not a course on how to use it. Not Orange's fault.

Regrettably, you didn't read up sufficiently on the pitfalls and how to configure it properly. Ask yourself the question "As this is a mobile phone and Orange are a mobile network, would I really expect the handset to come configured so that it didn't use the network for internet browsing?"

Android handsets are very powerful devices and people using them need to learn how to use the facilities. Just the same as learning any new skill. The best way is a mixture of manual reading and experience from friends who have the knowledge.

There is no point in pointing the finger at the network and blaming them. Just what did you expect them to do - send along a tutor to go through the handset or second-guess what options you would want?

Sorry if this sounds harsh, but from your post, I can't see what Orange have done to warrant your rant at them.

grumbler

Guys_Dad wrote: »

.... I can't see what Orange have done to warrant your rant at them.

Allegedly they said that "they switched it off" and they really could have done this.