Orange 'Free' Broadband

nobby1963

fitz2012 wrote: »

Is anyone choosing to pursue a legal claim of specific performance by Orange, for free broadband until the end of their mobile contract? This option could be more beneficial depending on your circumstances.

Fitz, I have no intention of accepting anything less. Unless `the scottish lady` calls me back within the 48 hours promised - and I doubt very much she will, but you never know . I will only accept the equivelant of free broadband to the end of my contract.

If Orange agree to release me from my mobile contract I will still pursue them via the courts for the cost of the broadband elsewhere and may even see how a claim for a new mobile contract can be offset to.

I am happy to `risk` it, luckily it is the principle of the thing to me and the financial implication takes a back seat but I will see how things pan out.

Nobby.

Paully232000

nickbirkin wrote: »

My latest email from Ofcom contained the following;

"Orange has advised us that since the initial promotion, free broadband has not been actively promoted when mobile contracts have been renewed. If we see evidence to the contrary, we will raise this with Orange for further discussion."

To all on this forum who can swear blind that since the initial offer that they were promised the Free Broadband when they came to renew their contracts over the last six years, can you please send an email to

[EMAIL="OCCtelecoms@ofcom.org.uk"]OCCtelecoms@ofcom.org.uk[/EMAIL]


FAO Sandra Sutton,

stating that you were told the FBB continued contrary to Orange's blatant lie to Ofcom.

Please fell free to quote my Ofcom ref 1-217098157

I got the above after badgering them as to why they were simply taking Orange at their word, when forum after forum contains statements to the contrary.

Lets give them the evidence they need.

Please PM me when you do, (a simple done it will do J ) as I shall be in contact with her asking if they NOW have enough evidence to believe the folk they're meant to be protecting.
Some idea of the number of emails they will have received will definitely strengthen the case.
If PM’s ain’t your thing then please post on the forum.

Something simple on the lines of ….

"It has come to my attention that Ofcom are seeking information and evidence that counters Orange’s statement to Ofcom, whereby they deny actively promoting Free Broadband when it came to renewal of mobile contracts after the initial offering.
I can state that this is not the case and when I came to renew in dd/mm/yy.(approx date will do.)
I was categorically assured that I would be keeping the Free Broadband.
The Free Broadband is the only reason I stayed with Orange and did not seek a more competitive mobile deal. It was what induced me into continuing the mobile contract.”

Thank you for this, I have stolen part of your email and added my own musings to Ofcom.

mc2012

Well after 2 weeks and many hours of calls to the exec office, would you believe I finally received my “call back” today, ironically it was from the very first person I spoke to in the Broadband team. However today, unlike 2 weeks ago, she was able to offer me soooo much more;

In short what I have; (Orange customer of 12 years)

I’m currently 6 months into a 2 year phone contract, incl. “free for life broadband”
I’m also tied into Sky for landline until next June, £12.50 a month, evening and weekend calls free.

Final offer from Orange today if I switch broadband (which I have done);

Buy out of my Sky contract
Compensation for the remainder of mobile contract (17months) for the increase in line rental with Orange £18.50, like for like with Sky, currently £12.50, so a £6 difference x 17 = £102 compensated
Brand new brightbox
Caller Id on LandLine

Ok I could argue the free broadband should be for life without line rental etc, but I’m happy they’re at least (finally) offering it until the end of my mobile contract and matching the current line rental deal.
I will reassess my options in 17 months time and decide whats best for me then.

The lady I spoke to today did apologise profusely for the poor service and time taken to resolve.

I think they seriously underestimated the problems this would cause, not sure how, but that said they could have reacted a lot quicker when it became apparent the impact these changes were going to have. I don’t really blame any of those that I have spoken to in the last 2 weeks, its obviously something that has been very fluid, changing on a daily basis, whilst management and PR calculated the damage this was causing the EE brand!

I hope others seek the resolution they are looking for.

Just wanted to say thanks to Eva49 and fitz2012 for whom I’m very grateful for so much information shared throughout the last fortnight which has assisted me in resolving it to a satisfactory end.

Good luck to others!

. . . . . I will continue to read the forum with interest to see the outcomes of others.

Eva49

mc2012 - Great deal! Very pleased to hear you have negotiated a satisfactory solution which suits you (sir/madam)!:T

montage

I see a pattern here... The longer you have left in your mobile contract the better deal you end up receiving. I wonder if this is anything to do with an understanding by Orange that if pressurised a contract cancellation is on the cards they would loose a lot more.

After all there is nothing stopping you cancelling and then signing up again is there.

Well done mc2012... nice to see some resolutions for people.

moon777

montage wrote: »

I see a pattern here... The longer you have left in your mobile contract the better deal you end up receiving. I wonder if this is anything to do with an understanding by Orange that if pressurised a contract cancellation is on the cards they would loose a lot more.

After all there is nothing stopping you cancelling and then signing up again is there.

Well done mc2012... nice to see some resolutions for people.

Yes well done mc2012 - great deal for you.

Montage - i have been left scratching my head about how far EE will go to keep the landlines (i was offered a deal like this 3 weeks back - but i want out) If they settle lots of contracts like mc2012 its going to cost them big - for some people perhaps it would cost them more than allowing release from contract. So why? I am sure something is going to change in the next year that has led to this landline fight

Could it possibly be that during the next year BT will finally be made to sell landline rental for those who only use it for BB at a vastly reduced rate? as per campaigns and mentions like:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/phones/2012/09/the-death-of-the-landline

moon777

fitz2012 wrote: »

I had an interesting phone call with BT this morning.

I could not verify the statement, however BT said last week they received a statement from Ofcom.

The statement apparently advised BT, that they could inform Orange customers, that they can leave their mobile and broadband contracts penalty free, because of the changes.

She checked with her Manager, but could not give me a name from Ofcom or email me the statement.

I was advised to ring Ofcom, who would confirm the statement.

Others here have contacts at Ofcom, is this true ? Can we verify this statement ?

I have my doubts because this is BT informing me, to keep my business.

Hi Fitz, I have gone fairly in depth with Ofcom and no whisper of this, via myself or who i work for.

However one of my emails from Ofcom did imply that Orange would allow penalty free cancellation, which proved not to be the case and was not repeated in subsequent emails.

Was this actually BT or a third party seller pretending to be BT - I have had a call months back from someone pretending to be BT offering deals - whilst I was in contract with BT!

This would be a very interesting move if it proves to be true.

moon777

fitz2012 wrote: »

Hi moon777, it was me personally calling BT to discuss my final bill. As I said I have my doubts because cannot verify, also this is the weekend, do BT also outsource calls to other sales teams ?

I challenged the statement and all she could say was for me to ring Ofcom.

This would be an outrageous lie to tell!

Given the obvious doubt, and because it is the weekend, Ofcom are closed, I will ring BT again, today and Monday, take names, see if they give the same information.

You could also ask Ofcom via simple email - they do reply but tend to take 2-3 days. You could even be cheeky and use the address mentioned in post 1275 page 64 as she is aware of all this and communicates;)

Eva49

fitz2012 wrote: »

I had an interesting phone call with BT this morning.

I could not verify the statement, however BT said last week they received a statement from Ofcom.

The statement apparently advised BT, that they could inform Orange customers, that they can leave their mobile and broadband contracts penalty free, because of the changes.

She checked with her Manager, but could not give me a name from Ofcom or email me the statement.

I was advised to ring Ofcom, who would confirm the statement.

Others here have contacts at Ofcom, is this true ? Can we verify this statement ?

I have my doubts because this is BT informing me, to keep my business.

I am extremely suspicious as to exactly what is going on with land line retention/acquiring at the moment .............hence my decision.
However, one thing we do know, a miss-sold mobile contract allows penalty free cancellation, and I am sure I read that in a reply from Ofcom to moon777......I will have a look back

*Finally found it*... but not the penalty free part ....sorry
[FONT=&quot]CISAS is an important piece of consumer protection as they are free and independent for residential and small business consumers like you. Additionally, service providers must abide by their decision, but if you remain unhappy then you are free to consider legal action. Whilst they will not be able to prevent Orange from making these changes, they should be able to consider whether your contract has been breached or if you have been mis-sold.

CISAS confirmed to me they considered it mis-sold at the same time I was informed they could not mediate.
[/FONT]

Eva49

fitz2012 wrote: »

For me, Monday is the 7th and last day I could cancel my switch, so will be ringing Ofcom at 9am! I just cannot believe the authenticity of the statement to leave penalty free from mobile contracts, after all this hassle!

We have all been fighting this decision on the basis of miss-sold contracts, CAB, CISAS and Trading Standards all agree, after being in discussion with them personally,that this is the case.

[FONT=&quot]"If this is the case, you can cancel your contract without charges and may be able to take legal action for compensation[/FONT]"
http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/englan...d_internet.htm


Could it be possible some sort of directive has now been sent out from one of the above?..........or Ofcom even? I think we need to keep an open mind that at this stage anything is possible