Orange/ee withdrawing my free monthly tariff and replacing with paid tariff

pmduk

The networks learned from one2one's mistake very quickly. I can't recall another UK major network having to buy customers out of contracts since, they all had suitable contractual clauses.

nickwar

There was no term to the contract, and as stated, it was an up front payment, in return for nil monthly payment. I can as the post above states , go to PAYG, but I would still be out of pocket, having to top up, and not on a contract. Obviously this would only be a small amount, as outgoing usage is minimal, it is the principle that annoys me. I was asking views, to see if anyone else had experienced the same issue. It is interesting to see the various points of view.

esuhl

pmduk wrote: »

Most mobile contracts have a get-out clause allowing networks to terminate contracts should they prove uneconomic. Check for this. Even if not, there'll be a point at which either side can give notice to the other. No contract is for life.

pmduk wrote: »

The networks learned from one2one's mistake very quickly. I can't recall another UK major network having to buy customers out of contracts since, they all had suitable contractual clauses.

I still have a BTCellnet PUFFL (Pay-Up-Front-For-Life) contract, which has no monthly subscription that I got in the early 2000s.

d123

nickwar wrote: »

There was no term to the contract, and as stated, it was an up front payment, in return for nil monthly payment. I can as the post above states , go to PAYG, but I would still be out of pocket, having to top up, and not on a contract. Obviously this would only be a small amount, as outgoing usage is minimal, it is the principle that annoys me. I was asking views, to see if anyone else had experienced the same issue. It is interesting to see the various points of view.

I didn't pay an upfront payment for my OVP Virgin sim, so I'm not sure why you would have.

mobilejunkie

nickwar wrote: »

There was no term to the contract, and as stated, it was an up front payment, in return for nil monthly payment. I can as the post above states , go to PAYG, but I would still be out of pocket, having to top up, and not on a contract. Obviously this would only be a small amount, as outgoing usage is minimal, it is the principle that annoys me. I was asking views, to see if anyone else had experienced the same issue. It is interesting to see the various points of view.

How do you know if you never read it?? There is always a termination clause.

boatman

They can put the op on a zero cost contract with no roaming, if the op doesn't need outgoing calls, they can block outgoing calls/messages. There is no reason why they can't but obviously they are not interested in doing it because they want money. Yes, the op has had a good run, but if it was sold as a lifetime contract then that's what it is. You can buy lifetime National Trust membership, why should this be different?
Pension companies take a punt of how long someone will live, sometimes they get lucky, sometimes they dip out, its all a business risk.

pmduk

The OP needs to take it up with Orange. if only they still existed. It's no use asking the OP how it was sold, he can't be bothered reading his contract.

d123

boatman wrote: »

They can put the op on a zero cost contract with no roaming, if the op doesn't need outgoing calls, they can block outgoing calls/messages. There is no reason why they can't but obviously they are not interested in doing it because they want money. Yes, the op has had a good run, but if it was sold as a lifetime contract

Where does "lifetime contract" come from? I can't remember it ever being sold as such either when I signed up for it myself or when I was selling it.

If there's ever been such a claim made by Orange I'd be interested in more details.

Jon_01

I worked for Orange for almost 10 years and I can't remember (although I could be wrong) that OVP was ever sold as a business contract? It was always a domestic offer.

nickwar

To answer few points raised. Although I did not read all the detail of the contract 20 odd years ago, I have a good memory how I decided on the contract. I also had a discussion with Orange business support around 5 years ago. I will perhaps dig out the contract and copy it on here. Orange still exist, as I have another business contract with them, but of course it is administered by EE, and this is the reason they are withdrawing all the contracts now. This was sold as a business contract (which I am on) not a domestic, I do know the difference !. The up front payment, was actually just a bit more expensive handset cost, which offset the low tariff.