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Orange variable adjustment - vent

I have a pay as you go Sim which I use when I'm away on holiday , I was a bit surprised to get a text from orange saying I only had 25p credit left . I logged into the account to find that orange had taken a 'variable adjustment' of 2.56 .
A quick Google showed me that basically they help themselves to your credit if the number has not been used for a while , how can this be :mad: I know its not much but they must be blooming raking in a fair bit with this practice and the stuff on Google was from people who have spare or emergency phones.
I have messaged them on Facebook and will be following this up just on principle.

Comments

  • pmduk
    pmduk Posts: 10,683 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    You might want to raise this on the mobiles board. They may have more experience with Orange.
  • pmduk
    pmduk Posts: 10,683 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Somebody gave the following explanation on Facebook:
    I went into an EE shop and they had no idea what the charge was about, but after some perseverance they phoned customer services and once my id and security was checked, the guy from customer services said he had reinstated my balance. apparently if phone goes unused for a while they take the balance to stop it being used by someone who may have pinched your phone. well that is what I was told anyway.
    I can make no comment on it's veracity one way or another.
  • nwc389
    nwc389 Posts: 497 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture
    I contacted them via facebook messaging and the credit was restored within a couple of hours which was good but I still think it is a hell of a cheek to just take it in the first place !!
  • bod1467
    bod1467 Posts: 15,214 Forumite
    apparently if phone goes unused for a while they take the balance to stop it being used by someone who may have pinched your phone

    So they stop someone stealing your credit ... by stealing your credit? :eek:
  • pmduk
    pmduk Posts: 10,683 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Looks like they 'take care of it' for you! And presumably hope people don't ask for it to be recredited to the account
  • usefulmale
    usefulmale Posts: 2,627 Forumite
    I went into an EE shop and they had no idea what the charge was about, but after some perseverance they phoned customer services and once my id and security was checked, the guy from customer services said he had reinstated my balance. apparently if phone goes unused for a while they take the balance to stop it being used by someone who may have pinched your phone. well that is what I was told anyway.

    That is the biggest load of twaddle ever. They steal something thats not being used to stop it being used :huh:
  • pmduk
    pmduk Posts: 10,683 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Well, it is EE...
  • nwc389
    nwc389 Posts: 497 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture
    If you think about all the old phones/sims with a couple of pounds of credit on lying about they are on a nice little earner , a lot of people will forget how much was on an old Sim and just assume that they had used the credit if they later find the phone in a drawer or cupboard .
    Its a downright cheek I think
  • paddyrg
    paddyrg Posts: 13,543 Forumite
    Maintaining dormant accounts is a real cost for phone companies, as you're not paying monthly it becomes harder to financially plan (this is why they give bonuses for regular top-ups). I guess putting the account into some kind of hibernation state must be more economical.
  • bod1467
    bod1467 Posts: 15,214 Forumite
    So why would the OP say he lost £2.56 and that the account still had 25p in it? If they were going to make it a financially null account why didn't they take out the full balance of £2.81?

    (I can guess why ... 25p is the cost to call customer services on an Orange PAYG account).
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