Orange 'Free' Broadband

nickbirkin

Eva49 wrote: »

Is it possible to put personal attacks to one side and collectively look for a way forward?
Acknowledging constructive comments/arguments, some may accept and acknowledge information given, but others will want to exhaust all avenues, and I am one who will.

I agree with Eva on this, those who think the disgruntled Orange users are wrong, then please allow us to make our mistakes and see this through.
The sniping of personalities is really not required and severely obstructs the constructive flow of the forum.
You can all sit back and say "I told you so" if we are wrong.
There are a variety of ways we can try to stand up to Orange's underhanded methods of business and we need to examine and try all of them.
The more I look at the contract law side of things the more I feel that this will end up as a mis-selling issue as I've yet to see one post where a user remained with Orange on their mobile contract, without the mobile contract having been made competitive because of the Free Broadband.

Eva49

The law says that a service provider or shop must not try to sell you a contract which is misleading in any way.
This page tells you what to do if you think your contract or product has been mis-sold.


Your contract doesn’t reflect what the salesperson said

If your written contract does not match the terms you agreed with the sales staff when you bought the service, you may have been mis-sold the contract.
You should make a formal complaint to your service provider. You can ask that the terms of your contract be changed to match what the sales person said. If they do not resolve your complaint satisfactorily, you can report them to the Office of Fair Trading.
If your service provider has a term in your contract which says they disown statements made by sales staff, that would be un unfair contract term.
If the statement made by the sales person is false and it influenced your decision to buy the service, this is called misrepresentation. If this is the case, you can cancel your contract without charges and may be able to take legal action for compensation. A false statement which influenced your decision to enter into a contract is also an example of an unfair commercial practice. This is a criminal offence.

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/consumer_e/phones_tv_internet_and_computers_index_e/consumer_problems_with_contracts_packages_and_offers_e/product_or_service_has_been_mis_sold_to_you_tv_phones_and_internet.htm

bridgedino

Does anyone know what action, if any, needs to be taken if I do not wish to take their new BB deal. I can't lay my hands on the letter so can't quite remember what it said

Eva49

[FONT=arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]bridgedino

Just give us a ring on [/FONT][FONT=arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]0800 294 4747[/FONT][FONT=arial,Helvetica,sans-serif] and we can have a chat about what will be best for you. Our lines are open 9am to 8pm weekdays and 10am to 7pm on weekends and bank holidays.

Copied and pasted from my email

If you are moving providers I think you will need to request a MAC code, which should be provided free, and give Orange notice that you wish to discontinue the service........not positive on the time length which is why I haven't quoted

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mnbvcxz

My understanding has always been that as a consumer any transaction is first bound by what is "fair and reasonable". Any contract or terms are after this fact. If you are a business then you are bound by the specific contract terms.

Thus if it is fair and reasonable to assume that the free broadband would last as long as your mobile phone contract then it should. The fact the paperwork may technically allow them to do otherwise is trumped by the sales of goods act.

Of course even if in your case it is fair and reasonable to have the broadband it may be difficult or even impractical to insist on it.

I am not a lawyer but this was always my understanding. You often read of court cases with business's where they end up as "you may have believed this to be the case but you signed a contract that says otherwise so you are stuck with it". But with consumers the sales of goods act comes first.

That said my brother has free broadband. He started with an expensive phone contract years ago and then broadband was added to it. He had no had broadband before. He has about a year of his expensive current contract left and was assured by phone and in the shop that it would continue to include the free broadband. But he has not had any contact from orange saying his broadband is canceled? I still live in hope that the few people on expensive contracts whose broadband has been threatened is a mistake and that most people of expensive contracts will be let to run out their contracts. I have absolutely no faith that orange is in control of what it is doing all...

If you are on a payg contract or a monthly short contract and are losing free broadband I really don't think you have a leg to stand on. You should be happy for what you have had. Sorry.

And for what its worth I personally would not pay for orange broadband. Its ok for free but ours is very variable. Often just fine but then some evenings you can't use the iplayer or anything as it all flakes out. But its probably no worse than the other rebranded bt scemes like the post office and tesco. O2, sky, Be, or even the bt owned plus.net are probably more pleasurable to use though.

greatsite17

Yeah it was a casual offer that you shouldnt put your house on, quite a clever use of language.

Ive been duped by orange over the past few weeks. In my case I was literally told on three seperate occasions that there would be no line activation fee, no hidden cost, only £20 a month or whatever, and then today Im told that I do have to pay an activation fee... Ive wasted 10 days with Orange but fortunately none of my money. Orange will lie to you. In comparison I phoned O2 and the first thing they tell me is every cost I will incur (I didnt even ask), upfront and honest that is how I like it. Orange is a risk.

Eva49

Last week I was assigned a case manager by Orange Executive Office.
He assured me he worked for the mobile division of Orange, but was handling my case as there was no BB representative available.
He said he would be managing my case and would call me back by Wednesday (today) at the latest .......
As this was not forthcoming, I phoned for an update; I was informed he is not in the office until tomorrow AND he is a BB representative.
It really does leave me questioning not only the integrity of the company, but the senior managers as well.

I am posting a copy of my BB account, which clearly says BB Plus free with your Orange phone; I have made hard copies of my bills (for future reference) as the format of the BB account site is rapidly changing and I had great difficulty in logging on this morning.
If anyone may consider this pertinent they may wish to do the same before all information/evidence is lost or changed.

Account Charges Broadband Plus - free with your Orange phone 12/08/2012 - 11/09/2012
£ 0.000 Total
£ 0.000

diamonds

Eva49 wrote: »

Is it possible to put personal attacks to one side and collectively look for a way forward?
Acknowledging constructive comments/arguments, some may accept and acknowledge information given, but others will want to exhaust all avenues, and I am one who will.


I am slowly, following days of research, coming to the opinion Orange have dotted the ‘I’s’ and crossed the ‘T’s’ in terms of their T&C’s…… and will be sat smugly thinking they have their customers over a barrel.
I am unable to find T&C's relating to my free BB which was in July 2006.......can only find from October 2006.

However: Fact:
Orange retained their Mobile Contract Customers by offering ‘Free BB for Life’ as an inducement to renew their Mobile Contract for a minimum term, and most of us relied upon that representation that Orange would not remove this incentive, certainly, it was not foreseeable at the time of renewal this would be to my detriment some 5months into a new contract.

Fact:
Customers are now under duress to accept the current offer which is a substantial variation in terms, and has to be acceptable……which for me, it is not.

If you check, you will see that while there has been 248 replies on this thread, there have been 12,528 views; indicating the traffic, and interest this thread has attracted. Does this not indicate just how many people are interested/affected?? But simply do not wish to join the forum and post; maybe put off by some of the volatility of the members.
And remember some of these readers may be Orange representatives.

Here here !

As for Orange reps THEY are reading our posts, they are REGISTERED & approved as official by Martin, would be acceptable Orange made a comment, the silence around the issues in this thread say more about Orange than the silence.

Perhaps a Orange employee in thier own time would care to break the silence & tell us what employees are being told and how to address customers on this issue...

diamonds

Eva49 wrote: »

[FONT=arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]bridgedino[/FONT]

[FONT=arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]Just give us a ring on [/FONT][FONT=arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]0800 294 4747[/FONT][FONT=arial,Helvetica,sans-serif] and we can have a chat about what will be best for you. Our lines are open 9am to 8pm weekdays and 10am to 7pm on weekends and bank holidays.[/FONT]

[FONT=arial,Helvetica,sans-serif][/FONT]

You should all reply whats best is seeing FREE broadband continue until the minimum mobile contract period.

The above email can be used as evidence in a small claims court

Woodlandman

This is just my opinion but people beware that if orange has done this now to its loyal customers.....how long before they withdraw the free broadband from line rental subscribers????

I will be moving my custom of about 10 years to another provider as soon as possible.