Help! Phone stolen - £780 later

sharonfrancis

will try and keep this short....
Was on night out THOUGHT I misplaced phone at my sisters - my battery was nearly dead so wasnt too worried about it... woke up next day and my kids were ill - didnt have any means to contact anyone so stayed at home nursing children. The day after I went to my sisters and my phone was not there...... Rang orange / ee to say I had misplaced my phone - no insurance what could I do? they inform me that someone had run up a £780 phone bill calling Dubai several times- one phone call was £150........ :eek:

now I have been with orange nearly 13 years - wrote a pleading letter to them appealing to their better nature asking them to waiver the calls made fraudulently... I have been loyal customer, paid bills on time, never make international calls, blah blah blah..... they have come back and said I am liable for calls as it is written in terms and conditions. It is in their t&c's - but come on was expecting a bit of bly....They have asked me to call them when my bill is out which is Monday and see what options are available - which I guess ultimately means they are going to be put me on a payment programme.
They even wished me a Merry Christmas when signing off letter - well as a single mum to 2 young boys I will NOT be having a merry flipping Christmas.....

I know I messed up by not reporting it immediately but come on I really want them to give me a break..... any advice on how to handle Monday's call.....??
I realise if I dont get anywhere with them I will have to pay them as I do not want to ruin my very good credit rating,,,,, but it just sucks..... another question - will being put on a payment plan ruin my credit rating???? would it better to pay in full

btw - I remember calling Orange over a year ago when it was simply Orange as my phone bill was £150 which is extremely high for me - I called and complained and asked why my bill was so much.... transpires I was going over minutes and they charge an extortinate rate BUT as a goodwill gesture they halfed my bill.....

Oh gone are the times when things were all about the Customer and loyalty!!

mobilejunkie

Orange is a very different beast nowadays. I would think that a payment plan might affect your credit status; they told me a year ago (in writing - THREE times!) that a missed payment (due to their error) wouldn't show up and I recently found it showing as a late payment. Needless to say a few phone calls later and a formal email complaint have all been ignored so it's off to CISAS once the 8 weeks are up (took them there 3 months ago for something else and won in full - they conceded immediately once it went to CISAS, having ignored the formal complaint - and hours of phone calls - beforehand).

Whenever I get a new contract (currently managed to get back up to 8) I immediatley purt a lock on the phone (unless selling it as I generally do nowadays) AND the sim card. That way if the phone/sim get stolen they won't allow anyone else to use them and run up any bills. Always amazes me when people don't do that - and I suspect hardly anyone does.

I'm afraid it's far harder to avoid paying once the horse has bolted - and dealing with Orange is about as effective nowadays as dealing with Vodafone.

macman

Why didn't you have either a SIM lock or PIN lock on the phone?
Having a phone without either of these basic precautions is like carrying your credit card around with your PIN number stuck to it with a post-it note-except that the credit is potentially unlimited. You are 'lucky' it was only £780-it could well have been thousands.
If you've tried the 'loyal customer' approach and nothing was offered then there is no more you can do than negotiate a extended payback schedule; any discount or extension is entirely at their discretion, as the full amount is due on your next billing cycle.
They're not disputing that the calls were fraudulent, but until the phone is reported as out of your keeping then you remain 100% liable for those calls.

Herongull

Do yourself and your wallet a favour, cancel the contract as soon as the minimum term is up and go PAYG.

Uncapped contracts are for millionaires who don't paying £thousands if the phone is lost or stolen. People who care about their finances go PAYG.

And it could so easily have been £thousands in 24 hours

gjchester

Herongull wrote: »

Uncapped contracts are for millionaires who don't paying £thousands if the phone is lost or stolen. People who care about their finances go PAYG.

Not always it can work out better on contract than PAYG, however as MJ has said people need to think security, you wound not leave you pin in with your cash card, so why don't people think to protect their phone?

powerful_Rogue

Herongull wrote: »

Uncapped contracts are for millionaires who don't paying £thousands if the phone is lost or stolen. People who care about their finances go PAYG.

What a load of old bull! Let me guess, those very same people make do with a Nokia 3210 still as well.

Herongull

Actually I have a Huawei Y300 - great phone does everything I need and cost £60 to buy outright.

I pay £0 per month on Ovivo PAYG for 200 minutes, 300 texts and 500mb.

By avoiding over-priced phones that would make me a magnet for thieves and muggers, and high risk contracts, I get to enjoy my phone, avoid risk of bill shock, and have money to spend on other things...

NFH

You are liable only for the loss to Orange, i.e. the cost price of the calls to Dubai, incurred by your negligence. You are not liable for the full retail price of these calls which probably has a mark-up of several hundred percent. It's the same if you damage goods in a shop; you are liable only for the cost price of replacing the goods, not the full retail price.

im-lost

Herongull wrote: »

Actually I have a Huawei Y300 - great phone does everything I need and cost £60 to buy outright.

I pay £0 per month on Ovivo PAYG for 200 minutes, 300 texts and 500mb.

By avoiding over-priced phones that would make me a magnet for thieves and muggers, and high risk contracts, I get to enjoy my phone, avoid risk of bill shock, and have money to spend on other things...

I've had high end phones for years and haven't once been mugged or robbed, I've never once run up a huge bill, havent had 'bill shock' I also have a £500 handset, that holds its value well, the cost over the 24 months to me is £240 and includes 500 minutes, unlimited texts and unlimited Internet, of which I use about 150gb a month as my sole broadband connection, when the contract comes to an end in 10 days I'll sell phone that will cover the cost of my usage for the last 2 years, and give me enough to buy a moto G handset, and i will be in profit by about £60 from the cashback I got at the start of the contact.

So not only am I in profit, will have a brand amazing new upto date handset, I have paid absolutely nothing to be in this position, where as you have bought a phone that will be worthless if you come to sell on, you've paid out money for your 'free' usage sim, so in reality you're paying about £3 a month for your frugal mobile, I've paid nothing, and I also have my 'broadband' and landline included in that.

Hmmmm, I'm glad you've open my eyes to my wasteful ways and can see how these big bad contracts are shafting me left right and centre

grumbler

im-lost wrote: »

...I have paid absolutely nothing to be in this position,..

Absolutely nothing for what exactly?

forgotmyname

I have a S4 on contract. Under £30 a month for unlimited minutes, texts, and 1GB internet and free WIFI. On Vodafones bill it tells you what it would have cost if paying for the calls and texts. £130 last month and £170 the month before.

I consider under £30 a bargain when the phone costs in excess of £500.