orange charged me illegally

kellycon9

I am an orange mobile phone customer and have had nothing but prolems with them. this time they have gone too far. I currently have a blackberrry torch, my original phone would constantly cut off on calls so i was sent a replacement phone. however when i received the replacement phone it soon became apparent that the phone was reconditioned but had several faults. when i rang and complained I was told I would instead receive a brand new replacement and not a reconditioned phone. My contract is 21 pounds a month and i pay an additional 6.99 for insurance. however when checking my bank account today I noticed that orange had debited 78.40 from my account. when I rang them to ask them what they were playing at they told me i had been charged for the replacement phone and that they were claiming off my insurance that i am pay for. this i believe is illegal as the phone was not accidentally damaged, nor lost or stolen which is what the insurance covers. not at any point did orange advise me they would be charging me (why on earth should i be out of pocket for a product they sent that is faulty). incidentally orange email approx a week before they debit from your account to advise you your bill is now available to view. this month they did not email me until after they had taken the 78 pounds from my account. i am unable to view my account online it keeps saying error. am i allowed to cancel my contract with them, can i stop my direct debit. are they allowed to take additional money without first advising you? are they allowed to claim it as an insurance case when it was clearly their poor repairs service and nothing my end. please help i hate this company so much and constantly have problems with them. at one point they took over 140 pounds out of my account because they charged me my friends two mobile contracts aswell when she only recommended me as a customer. they are awful and corrrupt and i want nothing more to do with them, what can i do??? i have naturally emailed a complaint to them

JJ_Egan

If you cancel a contract you have to pay the balance in full .
If you stop a Direct |Debit you get into loads of trouble debt recovery and credit blacklists for starters .

jje

grumbler

Call your bank and demand a refund under the DD guarantee.
http://www.bacs.co.uk/bacs/businesses/directdebit/collecting/pages/customersrights.aspx

If there are any changes to the amount, date or frequency of your Direct Debit (insert your organisation name)will notify you (insert number of) working days in advance of your account being debited or as otherwise agreed.

Then discuss the problem with Orange.
How old was the phone.

kellycon9

the original phone was less than 2 months old and my phone records prove that i was constantly ringing people back when it kept disconnecting me. the replacement phone i complained about within a few days. so both phones were covered by the 12 month guarantee. im astonished that these people can help themselves to whatever sum they like from my bank yet im not allowed to cancel the direct debit to prevent them from doing this again.

sdduk

kellycon9 wrote: »

the original phone was less than 2 months old and my phone records prove that i was constantly ringing people back when it kept disconnecting me. the replacement phone i complained about within a few days. so both phones were covered by the 12 month guarantee. im astonished that these people can help themselves to whatever sum they like from my bank yet im not allowed to cancel the direct debit to prevent them from doing this again.

The trouble is once you set-up dd they can take what they like

If you cancel your dd before your contact ends they will send you a bill with extras on it or they could end the contract and make you pay what's left on the contract....so not a good idea to cancel DD.

[Deleted User]

Just a point, but if you're paying £6.99 a month for insurance, it's not Orange's official insurance. Their official insurance is £6.00 a month.

Sounds like you're dealing with a 3rd party - Phones4U, LSG, Fonesafe, or similar.