MSE News: Orange ends free broadband

nickbirkin

diamonds wrote: »

Its not the withdrawl, its the way they have done it with trying to trap mobile customers as not to be able to leave - the FREE broadband (second) contract CANNOT exist without the first (mobile) contract - Orange have invalidated themselves by trying to remove the secondary contract (broadband) & enforce the otherFIRST contract (mobile) whilst customers are within thier minimum 12/18/24 month contracts with a one size fits all situation & to add insult to injury are implying customers cannot leave the agreed first (mobile) which was only agreed too as the second contract (broadband) was FREE on account of the first (mobile) contract.

I have posted info to cancel both contracts FREE to Orange customers in the other thread through small claims court.

Ofcom will lodge complaint but do nothing & Alternative Dispute Resolution will take you past the broadband CEASE date, small claims court is the only way customers can get out mobile contracts as Orange are denying you are free to leave both unless you transfer your line rental to Orange (which has a minimum period which may even run over your minimum mobile contract 12/18/24 month term), thus Orange in everyway want to FINANCIALLY penalise you for them removing FREE broadband, via mobile or via transferring to Orange Line Rental, all because they could not get thier act together with thier internal broadband (as they outsourced much of the control & management of it to third parties) and transferred Orange Broadband to BT as a Wholesale partner.

On all counts these are unfair contract terms & thus Orange have no leg to stand on (as much as they have no brains in the first place to try and think they can get away with such unlawful contract entrapment behaviour!).

Simply its a change of hidden change of pricing, you pay more to get FREE broadband if you dont we will keep you in your minimum mobile contract term (which is obsolete with the withdrawl of the FREE second contract (broadband) which formed the agreement of both parties to the first (mobile) contract).

Dear Diamond,
I agree with your premise and wonder if you have a crib sheet so to speak so that the thousands of us in this position can all swamp Orange with these court proceedings?
Cheers Nick

chanz4

don't forget if you loose, you will pay their costs

neil9313

bod1467 wrote: »

???

How about being helpful rather than obtuse? On a quick read NOTHING in that 1 year old article appears relevant to the current situation, other than the title of the article. So how about pointing out what YOU believe is relevant?

:wall:

Try reading it slowly...........................

So in what way are you helping bod? I have seen nothing helpful from you so far

neil9313

chanz4 wrote: »

don't forget if you loose, you will pay their costs

Not in a small claims court normally, that's the whole idea of a fast track system.

nickbirkin

bod1467 wrote: »

Relevance of a (near) 1 year old article? (I admit I have only skim-read it ... care to highlight any relevant parts?)

I think the relevant part is new head of Broadband stating
"Our objective is to get to a point where we are no longer ashamed of what we are doing to our customers – or, to put it positively, where we are proud of what we are doing to our customers,"

Good to see he's living up to his word.

bod1467

neil9313 wrote: »

Try reading it slowly...........................

So in what way are you helping bod? I have seen nothing helpful from you so far

Pot. Kettle. Black?

Thank you - for absolutely NOTHING. :T

bod1467

nickbirkin wrote: »

I think the relevant part is new head of Broadband stating
"Our objective is to get to a point where we are no longer ashamed of what we are doing to our customers – or, to put it positively, where we are proud of what we are doing to our customers,"

Good to see he's living up to his word.

At last - a sensible response to a genuine question. :beer:

neil9313

bod1467 wrote: »

At last - a sensible response to a genuine question. :beer:

Nothing that you could not have read yourself of course.

neil9313

bod1467 wrote: »

Pot. Kettle. Black?

Thank you - for absolutely NOTHING. :T

I rest my case.

Remind me again of what you have put forward re the "Orange debate" ? :money:

nickbirkin

The following is from the Office of Fair Trading's document on Unfair contracts and should hopefully clear up the grey areas with regards Orange hiding behind their clauses;
17. Orange reserves the right to amend these terms and conditions at any time on reasonable notice.
18. Orange reserves the right to replace, amend or withdraw this Offer on reasonable notice.
The OFT states;
10.1 A right for one party to alter the terms of the contract after it has been agreed, regardless of the consent of the other party, is under strong suspicion of unfairness. A contract can be considered balanced only if both parties are bound by their obligations as agreed.
10.2 If a term could be used to force the consumer to accept increased costs or penalties, new requirements, or reduced benefits, it is likely to be considered unfair whether or not it is meant to be used in that way.
10.3 ( c ) there is a duty on the supplier to give notice of any variation, and a right for the consumer to cancel before being affected by it, without penalty or otherwise being worse off for having entered the contract.
10.4 A term which merely says that variations will only be 'reasonable' or will only be made 'reasonably', is unlikely to be any fairer than one which contains no such qualification, unless there can be little doubt in a reasonable consumer's mind as to what sort of variation, broadly speaking, such wording allows, and in what circumstances.
Orange defend this point by saying the two contracts are not linked despite the Free Broadband T&C’s stating
6. If you are on an Eligible Tariff the Offer will be applied to your account for the period you remain on an Eligible Tariff.
I think it is reasonable to say one contract was linked to the other.
Does it therefore follow that the varying of the contract by Orange, allows us the a right for the consumer to cancel the mobile contract before being affected by it, without penalty?
So where do we go from here folks?