Orange charge for ghost phones

Flyingmag

I bought phones from Phones 4 U on the Orange network.
I asked Orange to transfer my old numbers from O2 on to my new Phones.
To do this the original number on the new phones has to be cancelled, you can’t receive two numbers on one phone.
Orange transferred one number and cancelled the number on the new phone but not the other phone.
Orange have cost me more than £1000, have admitted liability but will not carry the complaint any further forward, and will not reimburse me.
My wife and I had two phones on the O2 network, 07xxxxxxxxx8 and 07xxxxxxxx9
In 2010 I went to Phones 4 U to buy two new phones. I transferred our old O2 numbers to Orange.
They gave us our old numbers (07xxxxxxxx8 and 07xxxxxxxx9) and cancelled the two numbers that originally came with the phones. One of them was 07528 xxx133. Our phones have worked perfectly ever since then. Until today when I questioned the billing. I received a letter in the post telling me that the 07528 xxx133 number bill was going up to £38.48 per month.
That phone number has never been used, the old O2 numbers were transferred to the new phones within an hour or so of buying the phones. I queried this over 3 hours with Remy, a manager, Panika and Christina - Phillipines operators, who apologised, Christina said she had referred this to the billing department and they were currently sorting this out. It appears that when the old number was transferred to the phone with the new number, Orange only cancelled one of the new numbers, she offered me 6 months money back, since I have paid in over £1000. I declined. I want all of my money back. Remy then told me on a later phone call that some of the problem was my fault and I should have looked after my money better, but she still offered me 6 months money back. Again I declined and they escalated this to Sophie, who appears to be UK based, who now denies that Orange have made a mistake, but does say that she is not authorised to give me back such a large amount of money. She told me that Nicky, a gentleman, would be in contact with me today (12th March) to discuss this further.
These phone calls took place between 1815 and 2215GMT, 11 March 2013, after 4 hours on the phone, with several different operators, I was told by Sophie that no-one else would be available to talk to me after 22:00.(10pm). She assured me that Nicky would call after 9am the following morning.
12th March.
No-one called me from Orange, at the end of my working day I called 150 and was put on hold again until one of the Phillipine operators got around to me. I think the chap called himself Sam, he told me he knew nothing about my issue with the billing and would put me in touch with his manager. His manager identified himself to me as Sam’s manager, he said that the 38133 line had now been cancelled and there was nothing else he could do, he said it was my fault that I had kept on paying for a line, and these are his words, “That could not be used to make a call”. I admit that I got very agitated at this and disagreed vehemently. Orange have been billing me for a phone that does not exist for 30 months at £36.00 per month.
The manager then put me on silent hold for over 10 minutes, before cutting me off.
13th March
Still no contact from Orange, I’m not going to ring again as I will have to explain everything again, I have already spent over 5 hours on the phone to Orange and my dispute has still not been resolved. It feels as if Orange are saying to me, “You don’t matter, we know we were wrong but we don’t care. We will make you ring up over and over again until you get frustrated and stop ringing”

14th March
Rang Orange 150 this morning, did not get an answer after 15 minutes on hold.
Orange have still not contacted me.
Orange have no intention of helping me, I have a heart condition and my wife is disabled. This trouble is just what we don’t need.

Herongull

Simples!

Follow the dispute procedure (going to the ombudsman if necessary) and get your money back.

Mobile companies rarely let customers off large debts, so why should you have to. Don't reward incompetence and rubbish CS.

How to proceed?

see: http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/action/how-to-complain-to-the-ombudsman-about-a-mobile-phone-provider/

PS You are doing the right thing by keeping records of phone calls etc. Keep doing this. You will need records to suppose your claim.

oopsadaisydoddle

Is this 133 'Ghost' number on the same bill as the other 2?

Buzby

Where does the £1000 cost come in to it?

Are your old (Orange) phone numbers used to bill you? Or the numbers that were transferred, retiring the original SIM numbers.

Your bills should show your ported O2 numbers and be charged accordingly.

Pantera_Fan

I had somthing sort of similar when I took out an Orange contract via Phones 4 U 2 years ago. A second contract was set up in error where the phone number was 1 digit different. My number was transferred to the 'ghost' contract and I was being billed for both.

Orange blamed Phones 4 U and vice versa. Over 15 hours of phones calls explaining the same thing again again and various emails. Always promised that someone was call me back in 3-5 days and it would all be resolved. After 5 months Phones 4 U fininally agreed it was their error and refunded the charges and provided a cheque for a months contract as a goodwill payment.

It sounds like Orange may be the issue here for you. I found the best way to contact them was online via their account chat service (cant remember the exact name). Explain briefly the issue and they will then ask to call you. It will be someone based in the UK and you will not have to wait in a call queue.

Good luck getting it all resolved.