Does this mean I can get out of my contract... for free?

Hannahh182

My Samsung Galaxy S3 got stolen after taking out a contract with Phones4u through Orange in October - the same day in fact, so obviously I rang up and reported it stolen to the police and Orange and therefore had them send me a new sim. As I couldn't get out of the £30 a month contract, I had no choice but to buy a new handset and downgrade to a S2. I got the sim (which was a new number as I was told on the phone that as my old phone had been blocked and therefore I had to have a new number).
Today I got a letter through about the price hikes (yet again!) and saw that it said that meant I would be paying £31.99 for my original number and £31.99 for my new one!
After this, we looked at the bank statements and saw that it went from £40 one month to £90 the next. Then over £60 the month after!
So we rang up Orange and said about the over charges (as we were worrying that they hadn't blocked the other phone properly). He then argued with us that we had taken out a new contract and when we reported the phone as stolen, we didn't specify that we wanted to cancel the contract and draw out another. Even though we tried to explain that we never took out this second contract and were told over the phone that the old number's contract would just be transferred to a new number, he insisted. Why we would want to take out a £30 a month contract for 24 months just for texts, calls and data is beyond me.
Anyway, he told us in the end that it was the man who I reported the phone stolen to in October who's problem it was, otherwise I could go to a Phones4u to see what they would say.
Basically, after another 2 hours, a great customer service rep in Phones4u sorted Orange out and they admitted that because the contract hadn't gone through properly yet at Orange, the man on the phone had actually taken out another contract for a new line instead of transferring it without asking our permission.

Where the £90 a month came from we were never told, but he did say that we'd get the £130 we were overcharged knocked off our next few months contract.

Anyway, what I was thinking is that surely this is theft/fraud/breaching t&c? Could mean I could in fact get out of my contract? I've seen people ring up saying they got out of the contract when they've had basic price increases before.

It would be great if I could, because it still feels a bit of a shot in the foot to be having to pay £30 a month for a contract that is really worth about £10 - really I'm paying £20 a month for the thief to have a freebie phone.

grumbler

If it really was all Orange's fault, you can get back all the money they overcharged you. That's it.

oopsadaisydoddle

I have to say this story doesn't add up. If you report your phone stolen and they send a new SIM (which they did as per your post) then it is that new SIM that has your existing number on it.

Your problem has been that you wanted a new phone. As it was a new contract, you wouldn't have been elgible for an upgrade so the only option would be to buy another phone outright or take another new contract.

The people who process your reporting of a lost/stolen phone have nothing to do with the sales team who then would have processed your new phone connection. They may have advised you that the only way to get another phone was to take out a new connection because that is true (unless you were prepared to pay £100's up front to get a new phone).

A new connection does not cancel the old one and if it was sent directly from Orange then they would send you paperwork outlining the new agreement.

I used to work for them but that is not why I'm backing them up - it is because i have seen many a time (when I worked in the insurance dept as it was then) a customer who has lost their phone and taking out a new contract because they can't afford to pay upfront for a new phone and they don't think of the consequences.

oopsadaisydoddle

And i agree, if there was an Orange error that caused you to be overcharged then then yes, that should be refunded and reimbursed any charges you may have incurred because of it. It is not a reason to get out of the contracts unfortunately.

macman

It appears that you took out a second contract to get a subsidised handset. This does not magically cancel your existing contract. What you needed to do was request a replacement SIM and buy a SIM-free handset (at full price). Your airtime contract continues regardless whether the handset is stolen, broken or whatever.

Hannahh182

Ah sorry, I was quite tired when I posted this so I didn't really explain what happened in the end. (This might be why my story doesn't add up, but I'm unsure why I'd lie on a forum )

As I said above, I did not take out another contract (God knows why I'd do that!). I did request a replacement SIM and bought a SIM-free Galaxy S2 off Amazon.

When I rang and reported my phone stolen, it was only 12 hours or so after I'd taken out the contract (in a Phones4u store). It then takes up to 72 hours for Orange to process the said contract. As the person I spoke to on the phone to block the sim and get a replacement one sorted out didn't know this, it came up on his screen that he was unavailable to send me a SIM with the same number as it was blocked, so the number would change but the I would still have to pay £30 a month. Fair enough, I knew that the price of the contract would stay the same.

I DIDN'T WANT A NEW PHONE! I got a second hand one off of Amazon cause I couldn't afford to get out a whole other contract. All I did was ask for this replacement SIM, and then I get a letter through yesterday

The Sales team did not process anything as I didn't buy anything else, I just carried on the same contract that was on the stolen phone. However, as I said before, because the man on the phone didn't understand that the contract hadn't been properly processed yet, he duplicated the contract onto this second sim.

Why I was paying £40 one month, £90 the next and so on is still a mystery.

I am getting refunded the £130 they owe me after the Phones4u girl managed to get the prove needed (from previous recorded phone calls) to prove I asked them for a replacement, not a new contract.

So Orange have admitted that they processed the whole thing wrong, it was a friend who informed me about that by breaching their contract it meant I could cancel it through this:

"4.3 You may also terminate your Contract if we vary its terms, resulting in an excessive increase in the Charges or changes that alter your rights under this Contract to your detriment. In such cases you would need to give us at least 14 days written notice prior to your Billing Date (and within one month of us telling you about the changes)."

Herongull

AFAIK in this situation you should only get the money back as they have admitted they have made a mistake and will refund you.

On the other hand if they misrepresent the charges on a contract - they say it will cost £x and then they insist on charging you £y, you may be able to get out of the contract.

See:
http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/action/how-to-complain-if-youve-been-misled-by-your-mobile-provider/

oopsadaisydoddle

Hannahh182 wrote: »

Ah sorry, I was quite tired when I posted this so I didn't really explain what happened in the end. (This might be why my story doesn't add up, but I'm unsure why I'd lie on a forum )

As I said above, I did not take out another contract (God knows why I'd do that!). I did request a replacement SIM and bought a SIM-free Galaxy S2 off Amazon.

When I rang and reported my phone stolen, it was only 12 hours or so after I'd taken out the contract (in a Phones4u store). It then takes up to 72 hours for Orange to process the said contract. As the person I spoke to on the phone to block the sim and get a replacement one sorted out didn't know this, it came up on his screen that he was unavailable to send me a SIM with the same number as it was blocked, so the number would change but the I would still have to pay £30 a month. Fair enough, I knew that the price of the contract would stay the same.

I DIDN'T WANT A NEW PHONE! I got a second hand one off of Amazon cause I couldn't afford to get out a whole other contract. All I did was ask for this replacement SIM, and then I get a letter through yesterday

The Sales team did not process anything as I didn't buy anything else, I just carried on the same contract that was on the stolen phone. However, as I said before, because the man on the phone didn't understand that the contract hadn't been properly processed yet, he duplicated the contract onto this second sim.

Why I was paying £40 one month, £90 the next and so on is still a mystery.

I am getting refunded the £130 they owe me after the Phones4u girl managed to get the prove needed (from previous recorded phone calls) to prove I asked them for a replacement, not a new contract.

So Orange have admitted that they processed the whole thing wrong, it was a friend who informed me about that by breaching their contract it meant I could cancel it through this:

"4.3 You may also terminate your Contract if we vary its terms, resulting in an excessive increase in the Charges or changes that alter your rights under this Contract to your detriment. In such cases you would need to give us at least 14 days written notice prior to your Billing Date (and within one month of us telling you about the changes)."

That makes more sense. To simplify,(I think) due to the delay between setting up your original contract and it actually activating and appearing on Orange's systems, there has been a duplicate contract set up as well.

This means you have been billed for 2 contracts and not one. The mistake has been realised and you have been (or are going to be) refunded for the amounts you have been overcharged.

The answer to your question is no, this is not a reason to get out of your contract free. As long as the original one is now set up as it should be and the second is removed, then that's all you can ask for.

It is not a breach of contract - it seems like an admin error and from what you say, it has been sorted.

Apologies if I offended - as I say, I saw many a people take second contracts without a thought for the consequences when they lost their original phone. It is also not uncommon for people posting on here not to give the full details when telling a story.