Orange 'Free' Broadband

smiffyrst

Dont see why I should have to change my phone line rental to orange.been loyal to bt for years.good service,not the cheapest. loyal to orange for years again not the cheapest. If I was told at the end of my mobile contract broadband wouldnt be included anymore but would cost extra then fine I would have paid extra to keep. Its the fact that I was told I would keep broadband when I renewed for the length of my contract.2yrs. Dont want to be tied into a phone line rental with orange.

David_P_4

beelzecubz wrote: »

The legality is rock solid.

Only a court can rule on the legality of Orange's business practices. So your statement is utter trite.

Why would anyone join the forum solely to support Orange's bogus claims, unless they have an undisclosed vested interest?

Im going to write to the Guardian, and some dailys, as well as Ofcom and Watchdog and Which.

The fact that Orange are reneging on their promise to many tens of thousands of customers, of 'Free Broadband for life' needs to be reported on a much wider front.

I urge others to write also.

People who voluntarily acquiesce to unethical, unreasonable and probably illegal business practices, undermine their own individuality and willingly give up their own rights.

neil9313

David_P wrote: »

Only a court can rule on the legality of Orange's business practices. So your statement is utter trite.

Why would anyone join the forum solely to support Orange's bogus claims, unless they have an undisclosed vested interest?

Im going to write to the Guardian, and some dailys, as well as Ofcom and Watchdog and Which.

The fact that Orange are reneging on their promise to many tens of thousands of customers, of 'Free Broadband for life' needs to be reported on a much wider front.

I urge others to write also.



People who voluntarily acquiesce to unethical business practices, undermine their own individuality and willingly give up their own rights.

Re my bold I think your getting a bit paranoid, suggest you write to Orange, how do you know its tens of thousands?

neil9313

smiffyrst wrote: »

Dont see why I should have to change my phone line rental to orange.been loyal to bt for years.good service,not the cheapest. loyal to orange for years again not the cheapest. If I was told at the end of my mobile contract broadband wouldnt be included anymore but would cost extra then fine I would have paid extra to keep. Its the fact that I was told I would keep broadband when I renewed for the length of my contract.2yrs. Dont want to be tied into a phone line rental with orange.

So your not tied in with BT then?

Eva49

terminating your Contract because Orange has changed its terms
4.3 You may also terminate your Contract if we vary its terms, resulting in an excessive increase in the Charges or changes that alter your rights under this Contract to your detriment. In such cases you would need to give us at least 14 days written notice prior to your Billing Date (and within one month of us telling you about the changes). However this option does not apply if:


4.3.1 we have increased the Charges by an amount equal to or less than the percentage increase in the All Items Index of Retail Prices published by the Central Statistical Office in the Monthly Digest of Statistics in any 12 month period; or
4.3.2 the variations we have made have been imposed on us as a direct result of new legislation, statutory instrument, government regulation or licence; or
4.3.3 the variation relates solely to an Orange Additional Service, in which case you may cancel that Orange Additional Service in accordance with Condition 15.1.


15.1 When you Register you are asked to choose a Service Plan and to indicate which Orange Additional Services you require. You may switch to a higher Service Plan at any time. You may switch once only to the next lowest Service Plan after one half of your Minimum Term has expired, unless otherwise stated. You must read the rules of your chosen Service Plan as they may restrict your right to change Service Plans during your Minimum Term. In the event you do switch Service Plan and add to or cancel Orange Additional Services you must give us not less than 10 days notice before your Billing Date (subject to the terms of any promotional offers you have accepted). We do, however, reserve the right to vary the terms of this Contract from time to time and to make changes to your Service Plan. We acknowledge that if we do increase the Charges, withdraw Orange Additional Services or introduce new mandatory Charges - or if your contractual rights are affected to your detriment - you may terminate your Contract in accordance with Condition 4.3. If you do not give notice within one month of our notifying you of any change(s), you will be taken to have accepted the change(s)

Listed as Additional Services on my bill:

BT Openzone Wi-Fi Hotspots :
Free Orange broadband

I interpret this as being able to cancel my contract without penalty

David_P_4

By 2005 Wanadoo had 0.7 million broadband users and more Dial up users. They had planned to incease their bb users to at least 1.7 million by 2008.
When Orange acquired Wannadoo in 2006, and offered 'free' Broadband to everyone who took out a pay monthly contract costing £30 pcm, all of those new customers would have offered free BB for life.

Everybody in theOrange Sales department used this as their main 'Unique Selling Point'

I still use my Freeserve email addresses via Oranges servers from pre 2001 when Wannadoo acquired Freeserve.

Its more likely to have been hundreds of thousands of customers, who were verbally informed they would qualify for Free Broadband for life, as well as having this sent to them in writing.

smiffyrst

neil9313 wrote: »

So your not tied in with BT then?

No not tied in dont want to be with a landline. Happy with bt. Orange have lost my custom along with many others I imagine. As soon as my contract expires. Orange may be legally right to cancel the broadband but morally wrong. should have waited till our contracts were ending.

beelzecubz

baronmax wrote: »

That's not 'free for life' then is it? Its 'free for the duration of the contract'. Funnily enough I don't remember that being the message promoted to me. I am still on the same contract though - just kept renewing it...

Beelzebub you seem to have a very keen interest in this. You claim not to work for Orange but do you work for Everythingeverywhere?

My screen name is beelzecubz. Just a small point of course, but if people can't get one word right when it's in front of them, it's hardly surprising that the terms and conditions of an offer escapes them.

And no, I don't work for Everythingeverywhere, either.

MissMayhem wrote: »

I've had 3 or 4 contract renewals since this point (at least one of which was whilst they were still doing the "free broadband" deal for all customers), and have always made it quite clear that I'm renewing the contract on the basis that I still get the broadband.

Precisely. You've had 3 or 4 renewals SINCE the original contract, thank you for clarifying that. I made it quite clear to my parents that I wanted to be an actor but that never happened either.

The fact that you renewed your contract because you got free broadband doesn't mean it's part of your contract (I'm not certain how many times I'm going to have to say this but I'll give it another go, just in case), just that taking a mobile contract MADE YOU ELIGIBLE to receive free broadband. People say they weren't told that it wasn't part of the contract, but how many people were told specifically and implicitly that the free home broadband formed part of their mobile phone contract (after the inital period of course)? None. And if you were and are able to prove that, THEN you have a case for a missold contract.

MissMayhem wrote: »

The broadband is quite clearly listed on my bill under "extras and discounts", along with "Loyalty - 10% off line rental". So by your reckoning, does this mean that they can legitimately withdraw the 10% off line rental too, despite the fact that it was agreed to when I signed the contract?

You've hit the nail on the head right there. If the 10% discount is written in to the contract you signed, then no, they can't just withdraw it without a lot of trouble, and quite rightly so. I notice you didn't say that the broadband had also been agreed as part of your contract (as opposed to you being told it would continue to be free if you renewed your contract, which is ENTIRELY different).

Allgriffs wrote: »

But the broadband can never have been 'free' (except to the copywriter)? There was an aggregate cost for the service(s) which we paid. If you pay money then no part of it is 'free'; money has changed hands for a defined service.

What rubbish. Your mobile charges aren't going to change when the broadband element is switched off and I'm not going to patronise you by telling you what that means regarding the cost of broadband.

David_P wrote: »

Only a court can rule on the legality of Orange's business practices. So your statement is utter trite

Another nail hit squarely on the head. If only a court can rule on the legality of Orange's business practices, then all the comments on this thread regarding the illegality of the withdrawal of free home broadband must be disregarded until a lawful ruling.

And did you mean 'utterly trite' or utter tripe'?

If it was the former, then you're right, because by repeating myself constantly, the freshness of the information has waned and it's no longer original.

If however you meant the latter then ponder this; Do you really think that Orange would have even CONSIDERED a move like this if they'd not had their legal teams go over it with a fine tooth comb to ensure that this withdrawal was watertight and unassailable?

David_P wrote: »

Why would anyone join the forum solely to support Orange's bogus claims, unless they have an undisclosed vested interest?

Probably for the same reason so many people are happy to remain wilfully obtuse when all the facts are there for them as they are for me.

David_P wrote: »

and probably illegal business practices, undermine their own individuality and willingly give up their own rights.

As you said at the beginning of the very post this quote was culled from, only a court can rule on whether or not the practice is illegal.

Eva49 wrote: »

terminating your Contract because Orange has changed its terms
4.3 You may also terminate your Contract if we vary its terms, resulting in an excessive increase in the Charges or changes that alter your rights under this Contract to your detriment. In such cases you would need to give us at least 14 days written notice prior to your Billing Date (and within one month of us telling you about the changes). However this option does not apply if:

I interpret this as being able to cancel my contract without penalty

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As your mobile bill WITH ORANGE will not increase, this clause does not apply.

smiffyrst wrote: »

Orange may be legally right to cancel the broadband but morally wrong.

Three nails in one post. Marvellous.

Eva49

beelzecubz it appears you are Pro Orange.
In your last post it would seem you have been very selective in 'snipping' my posted Orange T&C's

T&C - 4.3 is to be read in conjunction with 15.1
The reason for my post was in order to help people and not to blatantly mislead!

Gadgetmaster

beelzecubz wrote: »

People say they weren't told that it wasn't part of the contract, but how many people were told specifically and implicitly that the free home broadband formed part of their mobile phone contract (after the inital period of course)? None. And if you were and are able to prove that, THEN you have a case for a missold contract.

Nail...squarely...head My wife and I renewed both our (identical) contracts on the same call. I got a much better package than she did, and on querying why, was clearly advised that it was because she gets free broadband as part of her contract. Proving that 18 months down the line is another matter