Orange cancellation warning

BarryW

Having signed up for Orange Broadband (I was switching my mobile and broadband from O2)I began to get nervous that they could ever provide a decent service, the stories on the internet re throttling and customer service, the comms I experienced were appalling.

They never confirmed the signup and the only way I found out was from my existing supplier and when I contacted Orange to confirm if that was the case. It was only then that they provided me with the "My account details" - with the a different password from the one I had requested. Getting through to them was a nightmare.

I had had enough and decided to cancel 2 days before the proposed switch over in the morning. I had two emails from Orange confirming the cancellation of the contract that day.

However, they must have been keen on having me as a customer as they went ahead with the switch over anyway. So I found on Friday that I was neither with O2 or Orange. I am now not likely to have any service for up to 10 days. The many many calls I have had with Orange since are to no avail, the best they can do is try and get the line clear next week so my new supplier, PlusNet, can take over. The calls have ranged from "its your fault", "you cancelled to late" (not according to their contract), mis-leading and conflicting information. "Sorry" would have been nice - but it seems beyond them. Frankly if they tell me Monday follows Sunday I would double check.

So when I calm down there is going to be a strongly worded "Dear Sirs" letter and some one is going to pay for this farce. Is what they have done legal?

So the warning is, even if you decide not to go with Orange - beware you will go and be left high and dry.

On the plus side both the other parties involved, O2 and PlusNet have been excellent and understanding. Orange could learn something about customer service from them.

(there that feels better - from my daughters broadband)

macman

Why on earth would you switch from 02 (one of the best) to one of the worst rated ISP's?

BarryW

I have and O2 phone contract for my daughter which gives a discounted broadband. The phone contract is at end and because the company I works for uses Orange for it's business phones I get 20% off most tariffs. That's a pretty big carrot.

O2 could just about match the broadband deal but could not get near the phone deal. The broadband deal from Orange was very attractive
working out at £18pm with calles with 6 months free broadband.

The old adage applies if it sounds too good to be true it probably is.

Having smelt a rat though and played 100% by the rules by getting out before activation, I don't expect to end up with no internet connection because of Orange's incompetence.

Incidentally, this gave me the opportunity to go through the contract and if these are typical of other providers it is not onerous at all for the provider - they can really get away with basically providing nothing and there is nothing that you can do about it while in contract. The contract begins before you know what service you are getting - extraordinary.

macman

Speed is never guaranteed in a broadband contract. As long as you get what is laughably still defined as 'broadband' by the regulator (128kbps), then that is contractually sufficient.
That benchmark was set years ago of course,

chanz4

I bet the delay was with openreach and their job still going ahead at the exchange, by cancelling a few days before you termed orange contract so would not be obliged to continue really cant see anyone to blame.

BarryW

From the Orange Contract:

" You may cancel this Agreement without having to pay the Cancellation Charge by calling Customer Support at any time up to, and including, 10 days after the Start Date. Any cancellation after this time,and before the end of the Minimum Term, will incur the Cancellation Charge"

An email from Orange:

"As per the email sent to you today by my colleague ****, your account was cancelled on 14 November 2012, before going live."

And still they went ahead. My agreement was with Orange it is up to them to manage who they sub-contract the work to.

Pressleyno1

I too am having an issue...

Since me and my GF moved into our flat over 2 years ago we have been with virgin, we started looking at bills etc and decided that we should look elsewhere for cheaper broadband. Since my GF is with Orange for her mobile phone, we decided to take the discounted rate for Orange BB. So on the 3rd October we signed up over the phone and got the confirmation email etc.

The problems started with Orange when they arranged for our phone line to be 'upgraded'. My GF stayed in all day waiting for the engineer to arrive on arranged date and they never appeared. We had to re-arrange this for another date, the guy came and we can now use this landline.

Orange have taken their time to deliver the router, and at time of writing - 18th Nov- the router is sitting in the local royal mail sorting office. They tried to deliver to our flat on the 15th, a total of 43 days after signing up.

Now for the real problem. Since my GF is about to finish uni she can no longer afford to stay in the flat any longer so is moving home to her parents until she can find a job. Once she has a job we will move back in with each other. This could be up to 6 months. I will be moving in with one of my mates. Both her parents and my mate are tied into their own broadband packages.

We have made a handful of calls on the land line, have yet to receive the router, and NEED to cancel the account. When we called Orange they said we'd have to pay £100 cancellation fee. I see this as disgraceful, we haven't even had the chance to use their service yet they want £100 to cancel.

Can anyone help?!

macman

I can't see that you have any grounds to cancel without penalty-your wish to do so has nothing to do with the service issues (a missed appointment and a router a few days late?), but with the fact that you are now moving out of the property.
The router is rarely supplied until a couple of days before the line is connected, and 43 days (presumably for a new line provision if you were previously on VM cable) is perfectly normal for BT OR.
This may not be the answer you want, but that's the situation. You don't seem to grasp the concept of a minimum term contract of 12 months.

BarryW

Well that's me back on-line now with PlusNet. That was 13 days without Broadband down to the incompetence of EE/Orange. Still awaiting the switch over of the phone.

A letter of complaint outlining the whole sorry saga has been with Orange for over a week now, but I suspect their complaints department is quite busy.

sniggings

have to say my EE broadband order when smoothly, just hope I don't need to ring their customer services as they don't sound the best.