Advice re Orange coverage and contract

Trickyann

Son bought Nokia Lumia 920 from P4U in Dec 12 on Orange 2yr deal as sister and I are on T mob (now EE the same as Orange) and get calls and texts and site said, and still says " good" for calls and texts for our postcode. Right from day one he has been unable to make or receive calls or texts at home or often in the town, not just indoors. Has tried P4U and Orange C/ Service to no avail - both say not down to them. The latest is that he has been told he can't get signal as his phone has a poorer antenna than our Samsung S2&3s and as part of the merger to EE a mast/s in our area was removed leaving us inbetween the remaining masts. (This was prior to his contract starting). Their best offer is 1 month free line rental and a suggestion he sell his phone on ebay and buy a samsung if ours work okay! Any suggestions if he should be able to be released from this contract as they are providing no service and who to go to, P4U or Orange? Any thoughts welcome

Buzby

No. In a word.

If you read the terms, you'll see they do not guarantee coverage everywhere, and as the network works fine elsewhere, they are not obliged to do anything.

He's learned quite a bit from his experience - as for his problem, if it is only at home he has the issue, set up a divert to the home phone to he misses no inbound calls. He can then enjoy his choice of handset until it is time to wave 2 fingers and go elsewhere!

Trickyann

Thanks Buzby,

Unfortunately he cant make or receive calls or texts anywhere in our local area, in the house or otherwise. As this is where he gave his address for the contract would there be no grounds for non provision of service? I do fully understand what you say about T&C caveat, but how far can they stretch that excuse?

Guys_Dad

Can he receive calls anywhere else? Have you had the handset checked out? Have you had the sim checked out or replaced.

Trickyann

Hi Guys Dad,

He is at Uni in Lincoln and sometimes can make / receive calls & texts there, but not all the time. (I realise it may just be black spots) He has not had the handset checked to my knowledge but he has been into the P4U shop where he purchased numerous times to complain so they may have done, likewise with the sim. I was going to try his sim in my phone but his is a micro sim and mine and my daughters is standard size. He can't make calls or send texts anywhere in our town, or home address. Orange say it is because we fall outside the orange and t mobile mast areas after the downsize in the merger in Nov 12.

Guys_Dad

I would go with him into a P4U shop - maybe a different one or preferably an EE shop - and get them to test it out there, after ascertaining that they are getting a good signal in the shop.

If the bars on the handset are less than the cs guys are getting, you have a duff handset or sim. See if one of them is willing to try hissim in another Nokia handset or one of theirs in his handset. With it not working in Lincoln as well, that is a bit suspicious

Now, when it comes to the mast being removed, where did you get the info that there was good signal strength in your home? Who produced the map or whatever that said it was good? Because we are coming down to misleading selling here if generally there is now a poor Orange signal in your area as a result of a mast being removed.

That is something that you need to take up with senior people at EE by email, once you have established that it is not the handset and sim. You will get nowhere with P4U this side of a court, I am afraid, but EE just might be more helpful.

One last thing - is the handset set to choose either Orange or T-Mobile, whichever is the best? Check settings. Of course, this may have changed since EE took over, but check nevertheless.

Trickyann

Many thanks for that. I will check with him re the handset and sim and go with him to the shop so I can check they are not fobbing him off. Before he bought his phone he was on orange with a blackberry phone and could get signal at home and as I said I and my daughter are on T mobile (now EE) and get signal (granted of late not wonderful). The orange website postcode checker gives us a "good" for calls and texts this was the case when he took out the contract and is still the case today as I have looked. The info about the masts being removed in Nov came from Orange itself, (not sure if it was C/S or tech support, but they basically said when T Mob and Orange merged to EE they got rid of superfluous masts and we now come between and old orange and t mobile one but neither reaches us properly hence son having no signal, when he asked why my daughter and I could get signal they told him it was that his phone antenna was not as good as our samsung ones and suggested he sell his phone on ebay and get a samsung! His phone is set to EE as you had to send a text to them to check it had moved from orange or t mobile and his reply was that he is set to EE, so I guess should pick up whichever is the stronger signal from either?