EE/Orange unwanted Contract

Kristeva_2

Hi all

Just wondering if anyone else has had any experience with this issue. I've had an Orange PAYG mobile phone for years which gets sparse use. Earlier in the year a man contacted me on my orange phone claiming to be from Orange wanting to advise me about upgrading my contract. I was busy, he rabbited on and I told him I didn't want to upgrade but send me some literature in the post. A month or 2 later I got a SIMM card in the post and what seemed to be a new monthly contract, detailing payments, etc. I contacted my brother who's more mobile savy than me and he reckoned they were just trying it on and that I should keep the paperwork/SIMM card but ignore it and don't try and contact them. After all I haven't signed anything or agreed to anything.

Now 3 months on I get a payment demand from Orange in the post for what seems to be 3 or 4 months unpaid bills. They're threatening to disconnect me (from what?) and saying if I don't start paying this will affect my credit rating.

I must admit this is now worrying me. I guess I'm going to have to contact them now. Any advice appreciated.

Thanks. Paul

grumbler

You seem to grossly overestimate your brother.
You should have contacted Orange ASAP.
Also, your credit rating is likely to be affected already by the late (missed) payments reported.

macman

If the OP hasn't activated the new SIM, can that possibly be used as a defence that the new contract has never commenced?

grumbler

This can be used as a defence, but not as a proof.
Sims are normally pre-activated. Otherwise it would be far to easy to postpone indefinitely the start of legitimate contracts.

Kristeva_2

Thanks for the comments.

But surely they have no proof of contract - I didn't agree to this. They affectively just sent me the SIMM in the post. Where's the contract?

Buzby

You can argue you agreed to nothing, and the seller say you did! You need to explain this to EE - clearly the mail you received wasn't junk, so needed your attention. Before chasing EE, check your credit file as you may need EE to remove bad info.

Silk

Kristeva wrote: »

Thanks for the comments.

But surely they have no proof of contract - I didn't agree to this. They affectively just sent me the SIMM in the post. Where's the contract?

It was in the envelope with the sim as you pointed out in your first post.
Because you didn't contest it when you accepted delivery they will have had no reason to suspect it wasn't valid.

Kristeva_2

Thanks Buzby. I'm going to write to them explaining the situation. You are right, the original wasn't junk and should probably have been dealt with. Surely the onus is on them, or any vendor, to provide proof of contract?

How do I check my credit file?

Thanks.

Kristeva_2

Silk wrote: »

It was in the envelope with the sim as you pointed out in your first post.
Because you didn't contest it when you accepted delivery they will have had no reason to suspect it wasn't valid.

But I neither agreed to it, requested it or signed for it - they just sent it to me!

Silk

Kristeva wrote: »

But I neither agreed to it, requested it or signed for it - they just sent it to me!

That may be so, however they did send you one and you didn't contest it at the time.
Because of that it may have resulted in your credit rating being trashed for the next 6 years and will be even more complicated if there is a third party seller involved.
Your going to have to put a lot more effort into the situation now I'm afraid.

grumbler

Kristeva wrote: »

But I neither agreed to it, requested it or signed for it - they just sent it to me!

Fine, keep ignoring them then.
Not all contracts have to be signed. The fact that you have not agreed to anything doesn't stop them from trashing your credit files and setting debt collectors on you.