Orange Direct Debit Charges suddenly added!

Hkem

My girlfriend has an issue with Orange that I'm trying to fix. She's been getting her monthly bills, taking them into our local Orange shop, and paying them with her Visa Electron. There was no mention of a Non-Direct Debit charge on any bills she's had since June 07 when she started the contract, until January of this year. I have the February bill in front of me which suddenly has a Non-Direct Debit Charge: 10 Feb - 09 Mar for £2.98 (plus VAT). Now, I'm aware that companies charge a NDD charge on contract payments fairly often but a) she's never had one, despite always paying in-store and b) surely this charge should not be forward dated. How can they include a charge for March before the March bill is due?

Is it possible to argue that as they have not charged her before, it is wrong for them to suddenly start doing it? Has anyone else recently started receiving them where they hadn't before and if so, have they taken it to Orange?

custardy

afaik orange have charged for non DD for yonks

reehsetin

^yep they have charged for it for AT LEAST 2 and a half years, up untill about a year and a half ago the NDD charges were refunded when you paid in store but like i said that stopped a while ago, if you really werent charged it for so long just be happy you got away with it for that long

cd02

firstly the charge would be in the future as you pay line rental etc a month in advance (unelss i'm wrong)..

and yes i had the same, no charge for over a year and then it appeared out of no where.. i just called them, said i wasn't happy as i'd never paid it before and wasn't informed they were going to start charging me, they checked my account and confirmed i was telling the truth and removed the charge.. never paid it since and still don't

princess73

I've spoken to orange about this too, i have 3 phones on my account(mine,partners and daughters) and they charge £2.98 per phone yet the bill is one whole payment, I asked them if i could pay individually for each phone and they said no. They charge for each phone but you have to pay the bill as a whole bill.