problem with Orange - help appreciated.

rstdave

Hi,

I've had an Orange pay monthly contract for 7 years now, always upgrading every year. Never had a problem with them until now. I lost my phone one morning on the way to work three weeks ago. I've always had Orange Care insurance even now you no longer get it free. Anyhow, intially I thought I'd left my phone at home, and as there was no-one there I couldn't check.
After getting home that night, I was gutted to find that indeed I had lost the phone that morning, possibly on the train. I called Orange and they blocked the phone, and began steps to get a replacement handset. To cut a long story short, it took well over a week before my replacment Nokia arrived, as the insurance company thought I was trying to pull a fast one!! I was even told they would replace it on this occasion, but in the future I may not have claims honoured?!?!?!?!
All this after 7 years of loyalty to the company, no claims ever. Anyway, I did get my replacement phone, but when I checked my bill online, I was shocked to find £120-worth of international calls on the bill, none of which I made. I guess someone must have found the phone and made them in the daytime before I realised the handset was missing. Orange refuse to remove these calls. from my bill.
My question is will I have to pay for them, even though I did not make them - or will I have to simply bite the bullet and put it down to experience?

P.S. I will NEVER buy mobile phone insurance again, it stressed me out and seems a waste of time.

Thanks,


Dave.

kaaloo

RSTDave

Im sorry but I dont know the answer to your question.

What I do know is that Orange customer services are incredibly crap.

They will take your money each month but the moment something goes wrong, they will make no efforts to help.

After 10 years of paying them £20 p.m and recommending all my family and friends they refused to help me when £20worth of spam texts appeared. They couldnt even be bothered to look at my account to tell me when the first text appeared - the girl actually said "Im not prepared to check"

I will be leaving for another network very very soon cos "Im not prepared to have the p!ss taken outta me!!"

rstdave

Yeah as soon as my replacement handset arrived, I gave my 1 month's notice, since my contract was due to expire on 20/10.

I will be 'officially disconnected' on 11/11.

kaaloo, did you pay the £20 for the spam texts ?

sarahlouise210

it states on the Orange website that you should report the phone missing within 8 hours of losing it and that all calls are to be paid for until the phone is reported as lost or stolen.....mmmm... it seems then that it is a no win situation as they barr the calls as soon as you notify them you have lost the phone so no more calls can be made after that! They might as well say if you lose your phone you pay for all calls made before its reported. Some of the other networks offer cover against unauthorised calls in their insurance.. but not orange! I wonder if it would have made a difference if you had notified them within 8 hours... it does not clarify this on their website ???

kaaloo

kaaloo, did you pay the £20 for the spam texts ?

Yeah - they have the upper hand - I pay by DD so they take it out of my bank. Even if I did stop the DD, they would start debt collection activities and I have a clean record which I want to keep that way - they win for now but in the long run, they will lose my custom and everyone else I know

malcolmord

Some mobile phone insurance companies will help you. This one does

http://insure4less.2U.co.uk

Its about £5.80 a month

King_David_2

If this was a credit card you would have reported it immediately.

So what is the difference with a mobile phone?

Unless the beloved terms and conditions say otherwise, you are liable.

Nice to see you blame Orange for your mistake.

Meridian2uk

When I thought I had lost my orange phone I phoned them immediately. They put a stop on everything and said if I found I had left the phone at home give them a ring and they would reactivate everything on my account. They also arranged to transfer any incoming calls to my daughters phone, they forgot to tell me I would have to pay for this. As it was the phone wasn't at home, it had been pinched whilst I was in church!!

rstdave

Thanks for all the replys people. I'm going to pay the bill and chalk this one down to experience.
In ten days I will be disconnected so they lose out in the long term. :P