Orange have changed my number

messi2504

Hi, orange have changed my number without my approval or consultation. I pay them bloody £46 a month it must be a few days now as my phones been awfully quiet. I can't log in to my account i simply can't do anything.

This is a unique situation surely they owe me for messing my number up.

I was already considering leaving but this might be the final nail in the coffin.

gjchester

messi2504 wrote: »

Hi, orange have changed my number without my approval or consultation. I pay them bloody £46 a month it must be a few days now as my phones been awfully quiet. I can't log in to my account i simply can't do anything.

This is a unique situation surely they owe me for messing my number up.

I was already considering leaving but this might be the final nail in the coffin.

The number belongs to Orange not you. Have you contacted Orange to ask why they have done this?

If your on a business contract with consequential loss insurance your covered. If your on a personal contract you have problems claiming for any loss of business expenses.

NFH

gjchester wrote: »

If your on a business contract with consequential loss insurance your covered. If your on a personal contract you have problems claiming for any loss of business expenses.

Where do you get this drivel from? Orange have failed to carry out the service with reasonable care and skill in breach of Section 13 of the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982. Therefore the OP has grounds to claim for consequential losses (business or personal) from Orange.

Gjchester, please could you stop posting misleading and incorrect information in these forums. You have done so on many occasions, and your bad advice could have a financial impact on those asking questions, if they follow your advice.

Techhead_2

NFH wrote: »

Where do you get this drivel from? Orange have failed to carry out the service with reasonable care and skill in breach of Section 13 of the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982. Therefore the OP has grounds to claim for consequential losses (business or personal) from Orange.

Gjchester, please could you stop posting misleading and incorrect information in these forums. You have done so on many occasions, and your bad advice could have a financial impact on those asking questions, if they follow your advice.

I think you may be mistaken. If you check, you'll find personal contracts specifically mention that a number may have to 'be changed.

As we have so little information from the OP, then at the moment it's not clear whether the OP would be successfull in a claim for consequential loss.

On some business contracts the situation would be clearer as there is a defined service level.

NFH

Techhead wrote: »

I think you may be mistaken. If you check, you'll find personal contracts specifically mention that a number may have to 'be changed.

This would apply only for a blanket change in prefixes, for example as happened in the late 1990s. If a network used such a clause to excuse itself from mistakenly changing someone's number (particularly without even informing the customer), then the clause would fall foul of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 and the customer would be entitled to claim damages or consequential losses.

messi2504

The contract is personal but regardless i pay £46 a month for it and have had the same number for over 3 years. I had no warning or as much as a phone call but they changed my number and when i rang to speak with them they had no idea why this has happened and i have to call them again tomorrow to see why this has happened.

I am pretty sure i they are in breach of something this is ridiculous and annoying.

Earthworm

Techhead wrote: »

I think you may be mistaken. If you check, you'll find personal contracts specifically mention that a number may have to 'be changed.

As we have so little information from the OP, then at the moment it's not clear whether the OP would be successfull in a claim for consequential loss.

On some business contracts the situation would be clearer as there is a defined service level.

NFH is saying that there are times a number "has" to be changed and in this case the user of the number has no claim to the number on a personal account. If this is the case then Orange will need to provide an explanation as to why they had no other choice.

What potentially seems to have happened is accidental. If accidental then these terms would not apply as the user has been given no reason they could not keep the number. If a mistake then it would be fixed or at the very least acknowledgement of the loss the user has faced at the expense of the networks negligence.

Rikmano

Hi Messi2504,

I had a very similar issue, but this was at least 5 years ago, and I can not tell you if it's the same procedure. Personally I went direct to a Vodafone store, I gave them the full story that my number had been changed from my account and it happened out of the blue, without any notice etc. Luckily I noticed when my parents were trying to get hold of me but they couldn't, instead they sent me an email to say we have been trying to call you, but your phone isn't picking up. I decided I should make a call, but it was coming up as a different number to the one I had. I was baffled at first!?! How could this happen!?!?!

To cut the story short I went to a Vodafone store explained to them what has happened. They gave Vodafone HQ's a phone call, and within a day or two I received a letter in the post saying, we apologise for the inconvenience caused, they explained that the (my) number had been de-activated and could have potentially be taken by somebody else if someone had bought a Vodafone SIM. Basically the system accidentally de-activated my SIM number and replaced it with a new SIM number, which if found early can be restored back to the original SIM number. In my case as I found it out early I was given back my number with a free £5 credit.

But as I mentioned earlier this procedure may have changed. I don't know the legality but personally go to your local EE Orange/T-Mobile store and they should help you out and I'm sure you will get your original SIM number back, make sure you go to a store ASAP!

With regards to other comments, once you have bought a SIM card/number it's 100% yours to keep and technically networks can de-activate SIM numbers if they have not been used over a period of time, but after recently talking to a EE store rep, they generally never de-activate these days only if you request PAC codes, then that specific number is forced to go back into the system. Technically speaking that's all I know, and have found out.

I hope this helps Messi2504, to ease your concerns, because I have been there myself and you really feel lost!?!?! and frustrated.

Rikmano

Silk

messi2504 wrote: »

Hi, orange have changed my number without my approval or consultation. I pay them bloody £46 a month it must be a few days now as my phones been awfully quiet. I can't log in to my account i simply can't do anything.

When you say "it must be a few days as the phone has been quiet" have you not checked with them or asked the person whose phone it is whether they've had anything to do with it ?

What happens when you ring the number ?

thatsean

My money is on a screw up here - specifically in a porting team. Only takes a mistyped SIM number..

No doubt it will take a while to sort out, so if you can I'd get yourself into a store with a huge coffee, and try and get them to do the work grumbling at customer service for you.

As others have pointed out, whilst you don't own the number, and your airtime contract does essentially say "we do what we want", changing one number does seem rather odd these days.

You'll have to be persistent with this one!

gjchester

NFH wrote: »

Where do you get this drivel from? Orange have failed to carry out the service with reasonable care and skill in breach of Section 13 of the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982. Therefore the OP has grounds to claim for consequential losses (business or personal) from Orange.

Please read my posts fully before you reply. I started the post with IF, because the OP has given us very little to go on, just they lost their number and want compensation.

Why has the OP lost the number is the starting point, as ThatSean said it's likely to be a mistake, but the OP has not said if they have contacted Orange at all.

What I said was it will be difficult to claim for business loss (such as changing signs and stationary) if you are on a personal contract.

NFH wrote: »

Gjchester, please could you stop posting misleading and incorrect information in these forums. You have done so on many occasions, and your bad advice could have a financial impact on those asking questions, if they follow your advice.

The same applies to you. You often post the SOGAS act but as I've said before I'm not aware of any case where this argument has been used successfully in court in a case of mobile phone contracts.

Judges are not dumb or out of touch despite how the media may sometimes show them. Suggesting legal action and raising claims without doing basic checks, such as contacting orange, will not get a judge on side in a case.