Any Advice in a Desperate Situation

wantmemoney

£5,000 in 5 days to Pakistan!

are these International Premium Rate Numbers(IPRN)?

have Orange previously received complaints about these numbers?

does Orange have a 'clawback' agreement with their Carrier when they have reason to believe the calls may be the result of fraud or Artificial Inflated Traffic(AIT)?

What is the billing period between Orange and their Carrier?

Would Orange have paid the Carrier if the customer had refused to pay this ridiculous amount?

Guys_Dad

I have every sympathy for your predicament, particularly as you were landed in it by your son.

I don't think any of the regulars on here can quite grasp why, when your son was informed that he could not be treated as the account holder, he took so long afterwards to contact you. Had he done so, then the debt would have been considerably smaller. It follows, therefore, that he has to take the blame for most of the debt as he could and should have prevented it escalating.


Is there any way he can prove to Orange that he tried to report the theft?

Whose phone did he use and have they got the call on their bill?

Can you ask Orange to check their recorded conversations at that time to listen to what their CS person actually said?

Did he call the lost and stolen department?


If you are not able to reach an agreement with Orange, then the outstanding amount will be recorded on your credit record and in this day and age, this could have far reaching consequences, as you already know.

Even arranging a settlement plan with Orange will show on the record, I am afraid.

Will they do court or just let a debt collector pursue you for the next 6 years? Probably the latter, from what I have read on these pages over the years.

I am truly sorry for your situation, but you really know where the blame lies.

d123

Orange will put a bar on a line for any caller that can answer some basic questions (phone number, phone type, customers name).

What they won't do though, is discuss the account, allow the person to order a replacement sim or discuss replacement of the handset.

The OPs son apparently tried to do the above in an Orange Shop, all he had to do was ring CS to get the line barred.

wantmemoney

@spokeswoman and others
it may be advisable for you or others who have this problem of huge Premium Rate Bills being run up on lost/stolen phones to also seek advice from other forums.

I'm not sure where organised criminal fraud is being committed that the Networks would want to publicly be seen to be chasing these bills.
http://money.aol.co.uk/2013/03/25/23-year-old-billed-21k-after-phone-is-stolen/

another example where a customer requested spend limit(like they have in Spain) to safeguard against accidental/unintentional spend would have protected the account holder........

lonestarfan

wantmemoney wrote: »

@spokeswoman and others
it may be advisable for you or others who have this problem of huge Premium Rate Bills being run up on lost/stolen phones to also seek advice from other forums.

I'm not sure where organised criminal fraud is being committed that the Networks would want to publicly be seen to be chasing these bills.
http://money.aol.co.uk/2013/03/25/23-year-old-billed-21k-after-phone-is-stolen/

another example where a customer requested spend limit(like they have in Spain) to safeguard against accidental/unintentional spend would have protected the account holder........

Very good article and useful info. Thanks for posting it. I do feel for the OP. All valid points made but still don't want them to have a huge bill caused by a fellow human who wants to steal whilst others work hard in legitimate jobs. Sad.

Curlytop_2

When my daughter went off to uni with her phone (my contract, my risk!) we contacted 3 and put her name on the account as well. Now she would be able to ring 3 if the phone got lost/stolen. When the contract runs out she will be getting the next one in her own name.

zagfles

Just shows how vital it is to have a PIN lock on both the phone and SIM if you have a contract phone. Not doing so is crackers, it's as bad or worse than writing your PIN on all your bank cards, a thief could probably run up a bigger bill on a stolen phone than they could withdraw from your bank account with a stolen card.

mattyprice4004

I can't see how this is in anyway their fault - a week?! Seriously?! I think we're being taken for a ride, surely anyone can't be that daft to leave it that long. That's beyond ridiculous.

If for example they wouldn't speak to him, why didn't he:
- Find they wouldn't speak to him
- Ring you from a phone box / friend's phone straight away
- You then report it stolen

That's 20 minutes tops, not a week. Sadly this is an expensive lesson, but hopefully a lesson learned nonetheless.

You'd honestly only try and pin this on them if you were a moron - a week is just a stupid amount of time to leave a stolen phone unbarred. It's completely obvious you didn't act in a reasonable amount of time. Just accept it, and try and reach a payment plan with them to pay it back over months / years.

If you don't pay it back or make an attempt to soon, your credit record won't be shiny for long.

Herongull

wantmemoney wrote: »

@spokeswoman and others
it may be advisable for you or others who have this problem of huge Premium Rate Bills being run up on lost/stolen phones to also seek advice from other forums.

I'm not sure where organised criminal fraud is being committed that the Networks would want to publicly be seen to be chasing these bills.
http://money.aol.co.uk/2013/03/25/23-year-old-billed-21k-after-phone-is-stolen/

another example where a customer requested spend limit(like they have in Spain) to safeguard against accidental/unintentional spend would have protected the account holder........

The situation in this link relates to someone who reported the stolen phone ASAP.

This thread relates to a phone where the son waited a week before ensuring the phone was blocked.

No mobile phone company would reward this level of extreme negligence by letting them off the bill.

You are incredibly lucky that they are offering to reduce it by 50% and would be wise to snap up this offer before they change their minds and insist you pay the full amount.

Guys_Dad

mattyprice4004 wrote: »

I can't see how this is in anyway their fault - a week?! Seriously?! I think we're being taken for a ride, surely anyone can't be that daft to leave it that long. That's beyond ridiculous.

If for example they wouldn't speak to him, why didn't he:
- Find they wouldn't speak to him
- Ring you from a phone box / friend's phone straight away
- You then report it stolen

That's 20 minutes tops, not a week. Sadly this is an expensive lesson, but hopefully a lesson learned nonetheless.

You'd honestly only try and pin this on them if you were a moron - a week is just a stupid amount of time to leave a stolen phone unbarred. It's completely obvious you didn't act in a reasonable amount of time. Just accept it, and try and reach a payment plan with them to pay it back over months / years.

If you don't pay it back or make an attempt to soon, your credit record won't be shiny for long.

Nothing you are saying is incorrect. Neither, however, is it adding to what has already been said, except that it has a more unpleasant tone which really isn't going to help the OP who, by now, must have got the message.

Trying to get a way out and wondering if Orange has done nothing wrong doesn't make the OP a moron. Certainly her son is at fault, but if the post is accurate, then the Orange shop has not acted responsibly either.

Don't see any need to kick someone when they are down and you see they have been kicked already.