Orange Mistake on Contract

alex250385

I have recently lost my phone but unfortunately I am having some real issues getting a replacement!
I rang the Orange Customer service, explain what had happened and they told me I had cancelled my insurance so could not get a replacement from orange care.

I immediately told them this was not the case, I had done no such thing and as I had the contract in front of me, it was clearly stated I was continuing with the orange care. After much conversation the guy on the phone said that this must have been a mistake on their end and that I could have a replacement phone at no charge and it would be with me by 1pm on Thursday! I took down his name and extention number and thought that would be the end of it!

Thursday 1pm came and went so I rang the O.C.S. and asked where my phone was, they told me that it wasn't due for delivery until Friday 1pm! I thought I must have made a mistake so thought one more day wouldn't hurt. As you can imagine that 1pm friday came and went and still no sign of a phone! I rang again and they said that I wasn't getting a replacement as I didn't have the Orange Care! I explained that I had already spoken to someone regarding this and that I thought the matter had been resolved. The new guy said "no" that I had been advised twice that I could not have a new phone and that I would have to pay £240 for a new phone! This was not the case, I had been told no such thing.

I explained that I had a copy of my contract and it was clear I had asked for orange care. After about 20 mins of nearly arguing with the man on the phone (trying to explain that I had been through this with the first guy and was told he would fix this problem and send a new phone with no charge), he finally says that we can always check to see if the phone call was recorded and we could determine if what I said was true. I agreed straight away and he seemed to be a little surprised (guess he thought I was lying). He promised to call me back once he had found the information.

I quickly recieved a call back from him to tell me that they didn't have the conversation recorded but had spoken to the first gentleman I had spoken with and things started to become more clear! He then asked me to fax him a copy of my contract and he would try and resolve the issue and call me back Monday. I have since been to my local EE store and got them to fax a copy! They can pay for that as it is their mistake!

Before I let him go I asked if he could discover when the orange care was cancelled, it happened to be 3 days after I bought the contract by phone. I asked could he find out where the call had come from, was it my mobile or elsewhere? Turns out it came from the store! So either someone at the store has messed up, which after visiting today they deny and blame the orange contract processing centre, which is just as likely. I asked him what would happen about my phone once this was resolved and was told I would either have to pay all my orange care that I haven't been charged for (but did ask for) which is about £96 or pay £240 for a new phone!

I plan on doing non of these! I am so annoyed that I have been given such a run around from orange for the last 4 days and the mistake is theirs anyway!

Do I have a leg to stand on and should I just keep arguing until they send me a phone without charging me a fortune!?

Any advise would be appreciated!

Cheers guys!

keith1950

If they are willing to send you a replacement phone for the price of the £96 that you owe them you should pay up.

grumbler

alex250385 wrote: »

...I had the contract in front of me, it was clearly stated I was continuing with the orange care. ..

I asked him what would happen about my phone once this was resolved and was told I would either have to pay all my orange care that I haven't been charged for (but did ask for) which is about £96...

What does the contract actually say about the costs of the airtime and Orange Care? How much were you paying?

Tony5101

If you'll owe Orange £96 surely that means you've not been paying for OC for quite some time?
Don't you check your bills?
I don't see how you can complain about having to bring the payments up to date, if they agree to replace the phone!

Amba_Gambla

I think you're going to have to pay up at some point. If you're insistent that you had Orange care, but weren't paying for it, then you'll at least need to pay the missing installments if you want a free phone....

Mickyk

You will have to pay the Orange care up to date, as well as the excess on top for the replacement, most likely in the region of £25-50.

Although normally if over 3 months has passed and you have not checked your bills to verify the issue then, most cases result in a flat no.

So I would count yourself lucky they have offered this option.

alex250385

Thank for the feedback guys!

I can understand that I do owe them the £96 pounds in back dated insurance. But I had chosen to have the orange care because it would be taken out over the course of the contract in very small amounts. I am unfortunately not in a position to be able to spend that amount in one go without it causing problems else where e.g. cost of travel for work, bills, the usual.

If the had told me in call number one that I would be charged £96 I wouldn't be happy but would more likely accept it. But instead I was told it was their mistake I would have a new phone at no charge and the orange care to be put back on. It took 4 phone calls to discover that this wasn't happening.

This is not the first problem I have had with this contract, they have already made a mistake with my data plan. They failed to add the plan I requested to the contract. So all in all they have screwed up this contract from the word go.

I have to be honest I never have scrutinised my bills to make sure everything is in order. If I get to the end of the month and I'm not overdrawn, I consider everything under control. I will be doing in future.

I still feel I haven't actually done anything wrong! All these mistakes are of their own doing and I am without my phone because of it.

grumbler

Stop dreaming and get back to the reality.
If you want to enforce the insurance contract you have to fulfill your contractual obligations (i.e. to pay) too.
Otherwise forget about the insurance contract and buy yourself a replacement phone for a tenner. As simple as that.

And if you cannot afford paying £96 then it's time to start scrutinising your bills at last. You do need some savings for emergencies.

chanz4

if you dont pay your car they void it, jsut like phones

Herongull

It sounds as if your main problem is managing your finances each month so that you have something left over for savings.

There is great advice on the forums here on saving money often relatively painlessly rather than wearing a hair shirt and giving up the nice things in life.

Decide if the phone is really worth at least £96 and if so, pay for the insurance by credit card. Then sell it on ebay and clear the £96 credit card debt and use any remaining cash from the sale to buy a cheaper phone. There are great budget smartphones to be had for much less than £50. You don't need insurance on cheap phones.

When your contract expires do not even think about another contract phone. Instead go for a PAYG virtual network with free monthly bundles or else if you are a heavy user consider a cheap sim only deal with cashback - some of these work out at less than £4 per month.

Then look at other areas in your life where pain-free savings can be made. For example are you paying too much for gas and electricity? Switch to a cheaper provider.

etc etc etc.

Jimx26

If you are so conscious about money didn't alarm bells ring when your monthly bills were less than expected? Or did you just choose to ignore it?