Orange overcharging £633 for calls on unlimited calls contract

bigal831

I rang Orange C/S yesterday to ask why they're trying to charge me £633 instead of £36. It appears that my contract was set up last summer with a limit of 300mins per month; it should have been unlimited. Luckily, i have the original shop paperwork to show it should be unlimited, and the brochure picked up in the shop that day that shows the same. I'll have to sort this out, but somewhat bizarrely the lady at Orange C/S said "this often happens", and that Orange "no longer offer the contract as it was too expensive". If anyone else has a tariff called "iphone Extra 36" taken out in summer 2012, and think they should be getting unlimited calls, let me know.

Accidents happen, but if accidents are "deliberately" made and the money is not refunded, i think that may be fraud? Bizarrely, i have to send Orange a copy of the contract that they must have as well!

silvercar

I phoned Orange to move from 600 minutes and 500GB data to 300 minutes and 1GB data and they offered me unlimited calls and 1 GB data for £36. This was last month.

bigal831

I've heard nothing from Orange, despite numerous calls and numerous emails.

They have £400 in overpayments and have not been advised how they intend refunding it. I intend to get it.

Bizarrely, Orange have a complaints policy (I think they're [obliged to by OFCOM.) The complaint policy has a "contact us" section and email address which when used, comes back with an automatic reply saying please don't use this email!]

I have just given them until 11am tomorrow to communicate with me. They won't of course respond. Thereafter i will write to;
1. Orange (of course) and;
2. OFCOM tomorrow...........
Making a false statement with a view to obtaining a benefit is sometimes a mistake but can be a fraud. "Luckily", the potentially DELIBERATE fraud that Orange's inactions are now helping to prove mean that i can take this a step further more easily than many other victims of their corporate disregard for such frauds. I bought the phone from an Orange shop in Hertfordshire and Orange's head office is in Hertfordshire, just down thee road from Hertfordshire Police headquarters.
3. (I'll give them another a few days) either;
- Hertfordshire Police and Herfordshire Trading Standards, or
- small claims (with a contribution towards the hassle) and Hertfordshire Trading Standards

Finally, I would like to say "hello" to all the members of Orange's marketing team who will be reading this post. Companies of Orange's reputation always check out post such as this, so i know you'll read this. If you could pop down to customer services and help answer the phones, you might stop posts like this appearing.

If anyone has any experience of reporting Orange to Herts Trading Stds or the Police, let me know:- it may not be appropriate for me to post what happens after i do it.

billsavings

bigal831 wrote: »

somewhat bizarrely the lady at Orange C/S said "this often happens", and that Orange "no longer offer the contract as it was too expensive". If anyone else has a tariff called "iphone Extra 36"

But they still offer the tariff.

iPhone 36 Extra,24 months, £36.00-unlimited mins, unlimited texts 1GB internet

http://shop.orange.co.uk/mobile-phones/plans/planList.jsp?bbPlanId=&updateBasket=&notbbPlanId=sku3640032&pagefrom=&id=sku3640032

robbies_gal

definitely still offer it as that tariff above is wot my sister is on

JDC14

Phoned Orange before with this issue (a few years ago with different tariff).

Basically, I got unlimited off-peak texts, for £2 a month more than unlimited texts anytime! And got charged for the 'peak' texts.

Nice Scottish bloke from Orange CS said salesmen do it, to bag larger commission short-term, and hope it's not noticed by customer while it can be clawed back.

gjchester

bigal831 wrote: »

I have just given them until 11am tomorrow to communicate with me. They won't of course respond. Thereafter i will write to;
1. Orange (of course) and;
2. OFCOM tomorrow...........
3. (I'll give them another a few days) either;
- Hertfordshire Police and Herfordshire Trading Standards, or
- small claims (with a contribution towards the hassle) and Hertfordshire Trading Standards

First how much usage and what are we talking. You've mentioned £633 and £400 in overpayments.

Any number that's not a landline or mobile is usually chargeable, (even 0800 Freephone numbers) and unlimited does not mean unlimited it means there is a limit as defined in the fair use policy usually 3000 or 5000 minutes .

Unlimited not really being unlimited is another issue...

I'd suggest you need to give them a reasonable time frame to answer, you can demand an answer by the following day but that's not acting reasonably. Big companies cannot turn around a request that quickly.

You can contact your bank and explain the issue they may be able to reverse the payment under the DD guarantee scheme.

While you can do what you intend you will not get very far doing it that way, OfCom will reject your claim until you have been through all of Oranges complaint procedures.

I'm not sure what the police or trading standard could do, the issue is a contract is set up wrongly, you have commented that this is a deliberate move on Oranges part, but can you prove that it is rather than a mistake?

I'd suggest you put it all in writing, calmly and in chronological order, just state the facts and don't say it's deliberate fraud unless you are sure it is and post it by a traceable method to the address on your bill. Not the head office, not the address you found on the web but the address on your bill. Calls ands emails while potentially binding are difficult to document should you wish to take this further.

If you can't resolve it with Orange then you go to Ofcom but you can't go there until you've been through Oranges process.

Naf

Did you buy it in an Orange shop?

grumbler

gjchester wrote: »

...unlimited does not mean unlimited it means there is a limit as defined in the fair use policy usually 3000 or 5000 minutes .

Any link/proof?
If it's really the case, then they have done their best to hide the FUP on their website and to avoid mentioning it in the T&C.

lindsloo

This is really worrying, I was transferred to this plan in December. I phoned them up to see how I could lower my bill and for being a loyal customer I was transferred to this tariff.

gjchester

grumbler wrote: »

Any link/proof?
If it's really the case, then they have done their best to hide the FUP on their website and to avoid mentioning it in the T&C.

Their current plan details documents all mention fair use terms apply and they quote 3000 minutes, however some of the older ones say 5000 minutes. Not sure which applied when the OP took the contract out.

The issue of unlimited not being unlimited in the networks eyes has been done to death and I didn't see any point re-hashing it here.