Simply Fone - now a Premium number!!!

andy88_2

Make sure to tell Ofcom

seaniboy

andy88 wrote:

So you are saying that your disputes with 5 other companies and 2 public bodies that have involved somewhere between 15 and 20 bodies are all relevant to this case? Just because you appear to argue about everything does not mean you are right.

Simply-Fone have announced that you will be charged in accordance with your providers tariffs.

Orange appear to have changed the tariff charge for these calls. They have been quoted here to have said that the numbers are used as a calling card service or personal number call-forwarding service.

Ofcom's records have the series as for mobile service. The company that these were originally for, Dolphin, is not trading as far as I am aware, and the holders of these numbers are Inquam.

Previous discussion of access to these numbers has recorded that Vodafone and 3 charge. 3's response was quoted, that they thought the usage was questionable.

You appear to be a semi-professional litigant. I cannot understand how somebody in dispute about social security payments can afford a phone bill of £300 per month.

if you buy a company all ongoing commitments/transactions are yours to follow through, so regardless whom owns/leases/uses the 07744 number as access to its network its a mobile prefix as stipulated on prefix release by the regulator

5 companies ? 15/20 bodies? i didnt say that??/

im telling people to approach ofcom, if the ruling from there is not to there satisfaction contact your mp about ofcom (as I am in the middle of doing) read a few of the mobile forums alot of people are unhappy about Ofcom ruling in the networks favour even when its hypocritical of the thier own policies, as many public bodies do to protect themselves not in the interest of clients/customers



You appear to be a semi-professional litigan, I cannot understand how somebody in dispute about social security payments can afford a phone bill of £300 per month

I educate myself about my rights and stand up for them
there is no need to class some one by there income or employment status, and if I quit work tommorrow I could in fact afford £300 for a bill every month (through my DLA which I had to fight for, for my mobility) If I were as stupid enough to spend it on mobile contract

seaniboy

andy88 wrote:

Make sure to tell Ofcom

you made an assumtion, i explained for a short period I was unable to work, and your reply quoted above
arent we showing how immature we are?
I made my experience clear for other orange users that are unhappy and you seem to have nothing better to do than be over-opinionated about my experience with the networks and ofcom dealing with them with regards to complaining about this issue for other orange consumers

any reason you are trying to discredit what i have said about orange or ofcom?
certainly makes one wonder

tomek_2

Hmmmm,

I wonder if Martin has any news about it. Last I heard he said on http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1105983163,80958,

12/04/05
Orange Customers. Beware. There is currently some dispute over whether Orange include these calls within inclusive minutes packages. I’m corresponding with Simply-Fone about this, so will let you know when I do.

So any news, Martin???

andy88_2

seaniboy wrote:

5 companies ? 15/20 bodies? i didnt say that??/

im telling people to approach ofcom, if the ruling from there is not to there satisfaction contact your mp about ofcom (as I am in the middle of doing) read a few of the mobile forums alot of people are unhappy about Ofcom ruling in the networks favour even when its hypocritical of the thier own policies, as many public bodies do to protect themselves not in the interest of clients/customers

I am sorry to hear of your personal circumstances, but I do not see that a dispute with social security and your local council, involving MP, local councillor, and so on has relevance here. Nor AOL, ISPA, CISAS. Nor a T-mobile handset. Nor an O2 contract in 1999. Nor O2's Paidupfrontforlife tariff which was discussed on MSE with no input from you. Nor applying for a parliamentary review of Ofcom's alleged pro-company bias before this case has even been initiated. (14, but there are others)

Maybe you believe that contacting your MP about Ofcom before talking to Orange to ask about their change of policy is the correct route; it does seem an odd approach to resolving this.

any reason you are trying to discredit what i have said about orange or ofcom?
certainly makes one wonder

I suggest that you stop trying to see secret motives behind everything people say to you. I stated the facts as described by Simply-Fone and Orange. As a result you now accuse me of bias.

Tomek, Simply-Fone's responses have been quoted on another thread. But here is their response to me which looks standard. Martin probably has similar together with a bit more info behind the scenes.

Simply-fone provides the service which is available from all mobile networks, however the charging policy for these calls is a matter for the network operator, the service provider and the caller.
The network operators have the discretion to set the policy for charging for any calls and these policies vary by network operator, service provider and sometimes by tariff plan.
In addition the network operators vary their charging policies from time to time. It is neither possible nor appropriate for Simply-fone to advise callers on the charging policy of the mobile operators.

I phoned Orange again and said that Ofcom and others define this a number for mobile service, that the BT website lists its tariff for these calls. She says Orange insist that it is defined as a high-rate personal service.

I asked her to call such a number (not a S-F one). She told me that an announcement says this is a premium rate number. I insisted that this announcement is from Orange not the party at the other end, and said I would call from BT to check while she waited. S-F's number connects directly and you hear their welcome. The other number does not connect at all from BT. So BT appear to have issues about the use of these as well.

andy88_2

LSmith4285 wrote:

Seaniboy

Orange do not have to allow its users to use calling card services.

Orange would only be forced into allowing calling card services if they were a monopoly such as BT.

Stop spouting crap.

Seaniboy, in case I was being unfair, I have carefully re-read your longest post above.

I still fail to understand the recommendations about contacting the ISPA, which I am guessing to stand for Internet Service Providers Association. Or indeed, the relevance of your other victories over tyrannical bureaucracy.

As a result, I agree with LSmith's diagnosis about your verbosity

littlemisscheap

Orange have effectively changed the terms of your contract as they please - Seaniboy is right I believe they have no case for changing the contract midway - It may well be a calling card service but the number is classed as a mobile and current rules class mobile numbers as inclusive minutes.

I think mobile operators are arguing their case with ofcom but trying it on until this is cleared up.

I would complain and I'm not even an orange customer, I'm with O2!

andy88_2

Ofcom confirm what LSmith said; that mobile companies are not obliged to allow access to these call-through services or charge a standard rate for them. I asked if this would apply even to an 0207 number; it is possible.

As they never have been, it will be difficult to support an argument that this is a contract change.

However, there is no obligation on the customer to discuss the charging or function of these or other numbers in advance of using new ones.

minim55

Sun wrote:

I got billed by orange for using this number (calls from 11/04) !!!

I called customer service and they promised me that this will be adjusted in my next bill.

I just called Orange after downloading my bill. I got charged for calls from 07/04/2005 to 12/04/2005 using 07744974333(when I first got the message that the number was premium rate!) They are refusing to refund me even though the cost of using the number was changed without any notification. They say that the number is an override number and that they are entitled to charge for it outside of x network minutes. They started to charge when they detected it as an override number. Can someone please advise me how to argue my case as I don't believe they should be changing call charges mid billing period like this without notifying us in advance. Many thanks
Sarah
Now that I remember - what is really infuriating is that I asked Orange how they were able to treat customers differently, ie. some are getting refunded and I am not. How can they treat me differently and what can I do?

digp

: ignore ........................