Any Advice in a Desperate Situation

spokeswoman

I am in dispute with Orange over a bill for £5170.00 run up after my son's mobile went missing. I spoke to Ofcom initially and they advised me to seek arbitration through CISAS. CISAS declined to help as they do not deal with claims over £5.000. I have asked CAB, the Trading Standards people and the Ofcom Ombudsman for assistance - noone seems able to help me argue my case. I contacted Orange and they told me that CISAS is the only dispute resolution service that they deal with. They have made me an offer to reduce the charge to £2400, but even this seems unreasonable to me, not to say unaffordable, but this offer would not be available to me should I opt to resolve this issue in by independent means. I take this to mean if I take legal advice (which I cannot afford to do). What can I do now - let them take me to Court and pay off the amount at £5 per month.

I am also worried that this will blemish my spotless credit record!

All advice gratefully received.

mije1983

When did you report the phone missing? Are the charges from before you reported it to Orange?

spokeswoman

The phone went missing on 29/10/12. I finally reported it on 04/11/2012 by which time these calls had been made by whoever had it!

mije1983

spokeswoman wrote: »

The phone went missing on 29/10/12. I finally reported it on 04/11/2012 by which time these calls had been made by whoever had it!

In that case then it sounds like you are stuck with paying the bill. You didn't report it so are responsible for the calls made. They have offered to cut almost half the bill so I'm not sure how this is 'unreasonable'.

If you don't pay it then yes your credit rating will be trashed.

oopsadaisydoddle

I am afraid to say, I don't believe there is anything else you can do. You are liable for charges until it is reported lost/stolen.

I think them reducing it is your best bet, and arranging to pay it back. The only other way would be to fight it legally but there are no guarantees and of course, this would incur additional costs.

notanewuser

Why on earth did you wait a week to report the phone missing?!

spokeswoman

notanewuser wrote: »

Why on earth did you wait a week to report the phone missing?!

The phone was my son's - he is in University 50 miles away. He tried to report it but they would not deal with him as I am the account holder, and yes I know that legally I am liable for the bill but I cannot see how it is possible for a responsible company to allow my account to rack up a bill of this size when my normal spend with Orange is £60 - £70 per month for two phones. Isn't there something called a 'duty of care' that companies are supposed to adhere to?

notanewuser

spokeswoman wrote: »

The phone was my son's - he is in University 50 miles away. He tried to report it but they would not deal with him as I am the account holder, and yes I know that legally I am liable for the bill but I cannot see how it is possible for a responsible company to allow my account to rack up a bill of this size when my normal spend with Orange is £60 - £70 per month for two phones. Isn't there something called a 'duty of care' that companies are supposed to adhere to?

No.

This is covered by the T&Cs that you signed up to.

They had no way of knowing that it wasn't you making the calls.

mije1983

I thought this thread rang a bell with me. Then I remembered you posting about it a couple of months ago.

spokeswoman wrote: »

I then rang orange but couldn't give it the 15 minutes that Orange recommend that you hang on as I was unwell at the time.

If you had a credit card or similar stolen, would you have given up so easily?

spokeswoman wrote: »

A friend tried to get through on 150 but gave up after hanging on for 5 or 6 minutes

Why give up after 5 minutes when you already knew Orange had said about a 15 minute wait?

spokeswoman wrote: »

you have lost your phone so why is the the only way that you can report it by telephone? Why not have a dedicated email service?

E-mails are not 100% reliable and there wouldn't be much stopping people saying 'well I reported it stolen within 10 minutes using email, it must have got lost!'.

Also, making a telephone call leaves you safe in the knowledge you have reported it and somebody has noted that.


Unfortunately, by not reporting it stolen earlier you aren't left with much choice other than to pay up. It may be worth trying to sort out some sort of payment plan with Orange, so you don't have to pay a large lump sum.

It seems that you have exhausted most of your options already and this is the only one left.

Fishingtime

So when they would not deal with your son, Why did he not contact you and then you could have reported it as being lost/stolen

billa_champion

This still doesn’t explain a WEEK'S delay before reporting it. He should have been on the phone to you ASAP and you in turn to Orange. They've been more than reasonable to apply the discount you mention. There are many, many similar threads about this kind of situation and the bottom line is that you are liable for all costs until you report the phone missing/stolen. I know this is not what you want to hear but it’s the way it is. Orange cannot go round policing all their customer accounts to try and figure out what is and isn’t fraudulent use.