Orange Data Charge - Please Help!?!

drajling · 4 October 2011 at 8:23PM

I have just checked my bank statement to find that orange have taken £1154.00 from my account, causing no end of trouble (rent plus other bills have not been paid etc). When I rang them to see why apparently I have used more than my 500mb allowance of internet data. According to orange I have used an additional 366mb of data and for this have been charged £900 and something pounds, add on the VAT and it's £1154.00. The very nice woman on the phone explained that she would cancel my direct debit, that I should go to my bank and claim the money back but that they will be asking me to pay the money in 'manageable' instalments. Is it just me or is this really wrong? I have not received any documentation which states how much the additional usage will cost. I received an A4 piece of paper with a contract summary on it, this has the call and message charges but no information about browsing. I have not received any messages to say that I have reached my usage limit. As if I would use that amount if I knew how much I was paying for it.
So what do I do next? I cannot afford to pay this money (even in instalments) and not only do I have this ridiculous bill but I will have bank charges for unpaid standing orders and direct debits.
Some advice please?

ridethelightning · 4 October 2011 at 8:32PM

drajling wrote: »

Some advice please?

Search here for orange data charges and read through the other 10s of threads from people in the same situation. These threads have been comming up a few times a day!

It is a ridiculous charge for data, but it is also upto the user to understand the costs of using the phone and monitor their usage.

Im afraid you are unlikely to get out of paying it, orange may reduce the bill as a good-will gesture but that is probably the best you can hope for.

Guys_Dad · 4 October 2011 at 8:36PM

You do, however, have a right to see when and how much the data used was. You need a proper itemised bill.

In the absence of that, raise a dispute with Orange.

Have you been roaming abroad? You need to give us more information. For example, there is an EU cap on data charges but that doesn't apply abroad. Do you have an Iphone?

More details = better advice.

drajling · 4 October 2011 at 9:04PM

It's an iPhone 3GS. No I haven't been abroad. I have looked at an itemised bill but it only gives message and call information. The huge charge for data usage just gives the MG used and the cost for this amount, but no dates for when it was used etc.

I am not sure how a customer can understand the costs of using their mobile internet if the costs or information or how to check usage were never sent to them on their written contract. Literally all the information I received was a little booklet which says "...we are giving you a data allowance of between 500MB and 1GB, depending on your plan. This should be just the right amount for daily browsing and downloading." I even explained to the phone operative when taking out the contract that I did not use mobile internet currently, that with the iPhone i intend to do so but did not understand the MB/GB and asked if 500MB is enough for general browsing (Facebook, emails etc)?, they said yes.

I have just e-mailed a complaint to Orange.

Guys_Dad · 4 October 2011 at 9:19PM

For most people, 500Mb is sufficient and, of course, there is wi-fi at home and elsewhere which is free. But if you don't take the trouble to learn about your handset, then the result is what you are now facing.

Iphones are notorious for eating data and there are apps that you can download to monitor your use.

You have little legal cause for complaint, but play the moral card and see what you can achieve. But be prepared to pay a significant sum.

Sorry not to be of more help.

simax · 4 October 2011 at 9:20PM

Sounds like you've been charged the default rate of £3/MB which is the "default rate". All contracts now have a cost cap of either £1.50 or £1 a day once the allowance is used up, so this means the relevant product is missing from your account.

I'd ask for a recalculation. The most you should have paid is probably £20 more, but without seeing the bill I cannot be accurate.

Oh, and also ask them to apply the "Daily Data Cap" product in CSS.

Hammyman · 4 October 2011 at 9:30PM

drajling wrote: »

I am not sure how a customer can understand the costs of using their mobile internet if the costs or information or how to check usage were never sent to them on their written contract.

Check online. It isn't like Orange hide the prices....

drajling · 4 October 2011 at 11:56PM

I got a text and agreed to the £1 a day cap this year whilst with Orange but with my last phone before I renewed, didn't realise/understand/know that I would have to ask again for this to be put on my account. At the time I did not use mobile internet so did not think about what it actually meant.

I thought I was being 'wronged' but after reading people's feedback sounds like I have been stupid.

NFH · 5 October 2011 at 8:32AM

My data usage is usually around 200MB to 400MB per month, but one month my Orange bill showed that I had used 916MB when my iPhone had recorded that I had used only 404.5MB (370MB downloaded and 34.5MB uploaded). Orange's customer service system showed that I had downloaded large quantities of data during short daytime periods on two days in the billing month, which if true would have severely drained my battery, but it hadn't done so because I didn't use the data. Also there's no way that my iPhone could have physically downloaded the alleged high quantity of data in the short periods stated. The difference between your case and my case is that I was just within the 1GB fair usage allowance so there was no cost or other implication. Nevertheless I asked Orange to investigate several times and made sure that copious notes were made on my account in case the same thing should happen in future more excessively or when I'm roaming, but they failed to investigate. I'm sure Orange know all about these data billing errors but won't admit it.

latecomer · 5 October 2011 at 8:43AM

drajling wrote: »

I got a text and agreed to the £1 a day cap this year whilst with Orange but with my last phone before I renewed, didn't realise/understand/know

If you had it with Orange previously you could argue that they didn't inform you that it was no longer the case and hence it should be a maximum of an additional £30.

Worth a try

gjchester · 5 October 2011 at 11:22AM

NFH wrote: »

Orange's customer service system showed that I had downloaded large quantities of data during short daytime periods on two days in the billing month, which if true would have severely drained my battery, but it hadn't done so because I didn't use the data. Also there's no way that my iPhone could have physically downloaded the alleged high quantity of data in the short periods stated.

Tethering possbily could and the Iphone would have been taking power from the PC.

Orange Data Charge - Please Help!?!

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