Horrendous Orange mobile bill - Any advice

simax

Since the end of the Summer, Orange have capped Rest of World data spend to £49, the same as the EU. As soon as the cap is hit, a text is sent to the customer informing them of this, and if they wish to have the cap removed they have to text back "YES". This then removes the data cap (same as in the EU).

Sounds like he may have got the text and opted out? (He would also have got a text with the costs when he landed and after every 2MB of use)

Because of the new data caps in place, Orange no longer retrospectivley apply data bundles, unless it can be proved that the user never got the text messages. However it looks like he did to opt out....

J_B

Guys_Dad wrote: »

One point, though. If he had been in the Greek part of Turkey and had run up his charges on a Greek Cypriot network, then he would have had his data roaming capped at £44 as the EU limit would have applied.

<pedant mode>
You mean the Greek speaking 'Republic of Cyprus'

thatsean

Orange do offer payment plans, normally over 3 months. Phone will be on incoming only during that time.

Problem is it's been paid, only way would be to claim a DD indemnity to push the debt back to Orange, and then see if they will do a payment plan, not sure if they will go for it though, given that the bill was paid and you reclaimed it.

This wouldn't really be the proper thing to do, firstly as it's an abuse of the indemnity scheme - but it could be an option.

Herongull

Was he in the Greek-speaking part of Cyprus (but picked up a signal from Turkey or from the Turkish speaking part) or in the Turkish speaking part?

The whole of Cyprus is in the EU, but only the Greek-speaking part is subject to EU legislation.

If he was in the Greek-speaking part, can he argue that he should be subject to the EU cap (even if his phone picked up a signal from outside the EU)?

Exactly what information was by text from whatever signal he picked up on data prices?

Guys_Dad

J_B wrote: »

<pedant mode>
You mean the Greek speaking 'Republic of Cyprus'

Absolutely correct. Not many Greek parts of Turkey !

J_B

Herongull wrote: »

The whole of Cyprus is in the EU, but only the Greek-speaking part is subject to EU legislation.

<pedant mode> (again, sorry)

You are incorrect

The southern (Greek speaking) Republic of Cyprus is a country in it's own right and is a member of the EU

The northern (Turkish speaking) is part of Turkey and is allegedly occupied mainly by Turkish soldiers - some say this is one of the reasons that Turkey is NOT in the EU.

dealer_wins

newty428 wrote: »

I have had to terminate his phone contract now, he will be getting £10 per month PAYG for emergencies only.
I honestly have no idea about mobile phones, roaming etc. I make calls and text from my phone only.
Its been a real harsh lesson to learn, especially my son whose account I have just cleared out and whose Christmas list has been ripped up. It really was an innocent mistake on both our parts.

Get an Ovivo SIM for him. A £10 one off fee gets you 100 mins 100 texts and 200mb internet each month free.

That will save you £120 a year!!

Ady87

newty428 wrote: »

Not looking for sympathy, but any advice would be good.
I took a 2 year contract out with Orange in September 2010 for my now 12 year old son. His bills are usually around £25.00 per month. Checked my bank ac yesterday and I was over £500 o/d. When I checked what had happened I saw that Orange had taken out almost £475.00. When I called them they said that he had used 53 kilobytes (?) in Turkey. He had been to Cyprus with his friends family for 10 days. They said that Turkcell charge £8 per kilobyte. I asked if they could see that a bill was usually around £25 p/m would there not be an alert if it went over a certain amount? He said over £500.
I am devastated, as is my son. The guy said that he was really unlucky as he hadn't actually accessed the internet all that much, it was just the expense of it all. I asked if I could pay the money back over a few months. Christmas is round the corner, mortgage to pay etc, its wiped out my salary. They weren't willing to help. I've tried to send an email to Orange customer services but it came back that they are not receiving emails, to call.
Is there anything I can do about this??
Thank you

What phone was he using?

They are saying he used 53mbs in the 10 days. They should be able to see a daily break down. If it was just data roaming and he didn't actively access the internet then sometimes they wipe the charges as a gesture of good will.

If they see that for 8 of the days he used 1mb where his phone just accessed the internet passively and one day with 45mb where he checked Facebook etc then your probably up a creek without a paddle.

Herongull

J_B wrote: »

<pedant mode> (again, sorry)

You are incorrect

The southern (Greek speaking) Republic of Cyprus is a country in it's own right and is a member of the EU

The northern (Turkish speaking) is part of Turkey and is allegedly occupied mainly by Turkish soldiers - some say this is one of the reasons that Turkey is NOT in the EU.

What nonsense! Don't you know anything?

I thought everyone knew that The Republic of Cyprus (legally) corresponds to the whole island and that the whole of Cyprus joined the EU in 2004.

Only Turkey recognises the North of Cyprus as being a separate entity. Are you Turkish then? Are you trying to make some sort of political point here?

Of it is true that part of the Republic of Cyprus is subject to illegal foreign occupation by Turkish soldiers, and for this reason the North is temporarily exempt from EU legislation.

The Turkish occupation of part of one of the EU member states continues to strain relationships between the EU and Turkey

This is the legal position as recognised by the EU.

Of course Turkey views it differently, but we live in the UK which is part of the EU.

Herongull

dealer_wins wrote: »

Get an Ovivo SIM for him. A £10 one off fee gets you 100 mins 100 texts and 200mb internet each month free.

That will save you £120 a year!!

Unfortunately you have to be over 18 to get the Ovivo deal.

But you are right about Ovivo (for over 18s) - why pay for something you can get for free? Both my phones are now with Ovivo - no more topups!