Orange 'Free' Broadband

ukclarkkent

thanks both. my bt line saver(£10ish) is up for renewal on oct 3rd i think so i'd like to know either way before then. i wouldn't mind staying below their radar though...

calamity_h

I have now made 7 phone calls to Orange and each time get told something different - they even contradict themselves on when my free BB is going to be terminated - originally mid-October then had a second email recently saying mid-November which they dispute over the phone and say it's October!? At one point I was offered £50 to help buy me out of my BT line rental contract and considered moving to Orange because at the moment their offer is quite competitive for line rental, broadband and calls. However, despite this offer being made by a manager and me having his name and the notes being on my account with Orange, I was told yesterday that they will only pay "up to £50" and I have to cancel my contract with BT then submit the final bill to Orange and they will then credit my account. Sincerely doubt they can organise themselves well enough to get that sorted without further phone calls and being fobbed off. I asked for him to email me the details of what he was now offering to me so I had something in writing and was advised he was unable to do this?

I have had a few calls with BT and they are always helpful, clear and consistent with what they are offering and my last call was a complete contrast to any call I have ever had with Orange. I explained that Orange's line rental contract was 12 months and BT's was 18 and went up after 12 months and worked out quite a lot more over the term. The chap then went off, came back and said he could offer me the BB and calls for £8.25 (on top of line rental) on 12 month contract but so that I didn't have to ring back, he gave me his email address and said once I have my MAC code, to email it to him and he would make the changes on the order. Customer service utopia!

He also said that Orange keep changing their minds as to whether they are going to use BT equipment or not (is that LLU?) - don't entirely understand this but he did mention that BT have a strict contention ratio of 50 whereas Orange do not so once everything changes, connection speeds via Orange could worsen.

If I pay for my line rental up front with BT and get a 12 month BB package to run concurrently then it will cost the same as moving to Orange which is the last thing I want to do but just can't afford to pay a lot for BB when I'm already stuck on an expensive iphone contract because the broadband was meant to be free. However, even if BT do work out a bit more expensive I have never had a problem with them with my line rental, they've always been fair, offered discounts when I've queried their deals so I think in this instance you get what you pay for.

Ultimately I don't want my free BB to continue with Orange, I would just like to be able to terminate the remainder of my mobile contract (21 months) and go somewhere else. Not sure about the name change to Everything Everywhere - hopefully if all all their loyal customers move away from them as and when they can they will eventually become Nothing Nowhere!

bod1467

The 50:1 contention ratio comment was a bit of scaremongering (AFAICT) ... Orange lease the connections from BT (Orange don't do LLU connections any more) and so are subject to the same contention limits as any other BT lessee - including BT.

WillBanyard

I'm wholly disappointed with Orange on this matter and have held out until now to post.

I called them on receiving the letter of notice last Saturday and was told a manager would call me back by the end of the day or within the next 24 hours, and nobody called. I did the same on Tuesday
and was told the same thing, and still have heard nothing.

For clarity, I signed up under the "free broadband for life" offer in 2006.

The people answering the phones had no idea what they are having to deal with, some are unaware that people's broadband is being taken away from phone contracts, I get passed to India and back etc. Several Orange employees have already agreed verbal contracts with me to pay me huge amounts in compensation.

So they are "offering" to continue to supply me with "free" broadband if I pay extra for it, even though I am already paying for it as agreed under my mobile phone contract. I have the same issue with being tied into BT line-saver. They also require I agree to an 18 month contract for their line-rental/broadband package.

The question is, what if we all took up their offer, and next month we got a similar letter saying that to continue recieving the "free" broadband, we'd have to pay a further amount per month?

I'm more inclined to use a different company from now on.

As others have pointed out, the terms and conditions can justify their termination of the broadband, so I think it's best to concentrate on the mis-selling and use of the phrase "free broadband for life". I feel terribly sorry for those who have been over-charged over the years and elected to stay with Orange because of retaining their broadband deal, and those who have just renewed long contracts based on it.

Seems like we're getting no help from anyone higher up the chain of authority. I wish there was something a little more helpful on this website...

OrangeLiedToMe

As my unimaginative username suggests, I'm in much the same boat.

We switched the Orange mobile contract recently using the "Best Plan Review"; we've been using this contract for free broadband for years so we were incredibly keen to check that we would retain our broadband entitlement. At least two operators assured as that as long as we had that number on contract, regardless of contract value, the perk would be remain for "life".

Like a few others mention, we aren't too upset about the actual transition away from Orange offering this as a free service, but the way it's being handled. I had been looking at faster/better alternatives on and off, but the main reason I had never actually switched was because Free is a hard price to beat.

In their letter, had Orange said something along the lines of "From the end of your current contract...etc." or given far more notice/made their operators more aware, I would probably have accepted it without any fuss at all. As it is, we have a bizarre situation where customers are being notified in small bursts (presumably to stop a massive surge of complaints?) and a lot of people feel rightly deceived.

I'm sure decisions like this aren't made overnight, so I'm not sure if sales operators are just guilty of ignorance or deceit, I suspect wilful ignorance from above.

I'm reasonably sure that what they're doing contract wise, is legal, I'm still entitled to "Free" broadband, as long as I pay the line rental, but it's been handled in an awful, awful way; it's hard to view the move as anything other than intentionally deceitful.

Thankfully in our case, the broadband is just an excellent free perk that has saved us money over the years, we would keep the phone contract anyway. I truly feel for those who have taken out recent contracts specifically for the free broadband, because they're truly changing the goalposts and to put it bluntly, shafting you. I personally will be steering people clear of Orange/EE/Whatever - even if their current broadband line rental offer is more favourable than the alternatives, I couldn't bring myself to commit to this company again.

I'm not entirely sure what resolutions will be possible if we make enough noise, hopefully those that want to cancel their contracts are allowed to do so without penalty, maybe we'll get the line rental free for the remainder of the current contract period; I won't hold out much hope for either.

The official complaint routes seem dire.

I have some cheap web hosting, I'm potentially willing to purchase a domain with the usual "orangeliedaboutmybroadband.com" to summarise our complaints - childish, but the official channels seem useless.

I can only assume the next move will be for me to keep my monthly free texts, but charge me for use of consonants.

This post got wordy quite quickly, apologies.

syco1

Some great posts being made, thanks to everyone. Throughout my life there have been companies who have stood out as the biggest rogue traders ever - and I have always made a point of never dealing with them again. Orange/EE are the latest to that long list, joining such memorable companies as Time Computers, nPower, Homeserve, Gordon Lamb (Rover), and Chard of Blackpool, Sheffield City Council, and the DWP. All people who thought they were above the law, and, unfortunately in some cases, they actually were above the law.
I have had many sleepless nights because of these companies and after years of high blood pressure I now have a damaged heart - so no more arguing, goodbye Orange !

WillBanyard

So I finally spoke to a "manager" who refused to believe that any service originally promised was being taken away from my contract. He just kept on about the fact the broadband would still be free if I committed to a landline rental contract. Over and over I replied that I already have a landline contract and stated that making me pay for another service contract isn't a substitution for what is being taken away. He also refused to send a deadlock letter because "there are many options available to me". However, the only option is paying extra for their landline rental, losing internet altogether or paying another company for it.

I am pushing on the mis-selling as their written terms and conditions are water-tight. As proven by the increase of charges in the middle of all our contracts, they can legally change anything on our packages and make us continue to pay what ever price they choose. However, at the point of sale, customers are not able to access the terms and conditions and, of course, the sales people do not mention terms that would put people off.

After having his script repeated to me several times, I finally got him to agree to escalate my complaint, at which point he offered me £20 credit to my bill if I were to take out the 18 month landline contract. It's just an issue of trust really. He said he couldn't guarantee that charges or broadband would remain the same as on sign up for the 18 months, because the same terms are built into all their contracts.

I suggest anyone considering going on their line rental plan also complains first to get the "compensation" incentive.

Woodlandman

Just for those who think the offer being made by Orange is ok heres my current situation:

1. I only pay £4.80 per month from BT for my line rental.

2. I only pay orange £32 per month to get a mobile & free broadband. (I do not need 600 minutes & unlimited texts)

Therefore if i change over to the orange offer it will cost me another £10 per month.

If i was able to get out of my current contract i would be able to change my mobile contract to something that suits me better ie. £7.50 per month for 100 mins, 500 txts etc.

This would leave me approx £25 to get broadband from whoever i wanted.

syco1

Well, I am currently on the phone to India trying to get a MAC code. Got straight through, went through security questions, but refusing to send me the code until I have spoken to the dispute team. Been listening to music 15 minutes so far, blood pressure going up.... 20 minutes.
Just got back to Orange UK, and had the most tremendous argument with an arrogant man who told me total lies and said I was to blame for paying BT for my line rental. I am physically shaking with rage. He just talked over me and would not listen and kept saying that Orange are the best and cheapest on the market and BT and Plusnet will just tell lies to get my custome ARRRGGHHHHH. Now got to wait 5 days for MAC code.
I WILL NEVER EVER DO ANY BUSINESS WITH ORANGE AGAIN IN MY LIFE !

WillBanyard

So the letter says £14 for 18 months... so where does this offer figure?

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