To want a refund from Orange?

[LouiseAderyn]

Orange have just agreed to cancel my mobile phone contract because the mast in my area is damaged and signal has been sporadic for quite a while.

The thing is, when I took out the contract they told me signal was good in my area, and really it was average. When they started having additional problems with the mast Orange didn't contact customers and offer to reduce bills or terminate contracts early - they continued taking money for a service they couldn't properly provide.

I had to chase them and argue to get my contract cancelled and had to find out for myself what the issues were wrt coverage. Orange volunteered no info.

Their view is that they have released me from my contract early and in the small print it says they don't have to provide coverage in my home area. I think that they should refund some of my charges on the grounds that they were providing very sporadic coverage and it was unfair to continue charging full whack for that. They were dishonest about coverage levels in the first place and once the mast was down, they knowingly took money when they couldnt provude the service.

I have now changed providers and when I took out a new contract I heard that Orange have lied to me regarding how long they've had coverage probkems for. They claim it was since August, but I have heard it is more like January!

Aibu to think Orange should refund as well as allow customers to cancel their contract early, if affected by this

No and it is worth a try but they are very cagey. My DH never uses his phone and barely texts. His monthly bill is around £6 but for two months it shot up to £60. We contact Orange to try and find out why (he always has data roaming and 3G off) and they said it was calls not internet usage. We disagreed and asked to see a proper breakdown of the bill. They said we would have to log on on but not on the passwords would work. They kept providing new ones none of which would work. We then asked for a statement to be sent in the mail and asked again and again and again as it never arrived. We then finally got online only to find that no break down of the bill was available. Gave up at that point. It returned back to £6 the following month.

I am going to give trading standards a ring. It doesn't seem right to me that a company can take money knowing that they cannot provide the full service for which the customer signed up.

And lying about how long the problem has been going on for adds insult to injury

Did you ever get your money back?

How long did you take the contract out? I took out a new contract with orange about 2 months ago after searching on their coverage area and supposedly having excellent coverage at my home address. There was often no network coverage at all. When I rang them I was told that there was an issue with the masts and it would be fine within a week. They even knocked £5 off my monthly tariff.

A week later, it was no better. When I went back to the phone shop to try and cancel the contract, the manager rang orange who admitted there was poor to moderate signal in the area and there was no plans to alter this! They agreed to cancel the contract.
I was so angry they had lied!

I have since received a cheque from them. Its for about £25. So they've basically charged me for the week I had no signal. I think I managed one call. The signal was so bad that orange had to ring me back on the landline!

I think you're right and they are cheeky tossers to charge for no coverage. But I was so relieved to get out of the contract that I haven't fought it.

I took out the contract in July 2012 and so it was due to end in June/July 2014.

Signal hasn't ever been great. It was my first smartphone and I thought maybe there was an issue with the handset or something. It was only in a random conversation with a friend that I found out about the mast being down and that there were no plans to replace it. The phone operatives at Orange said nothing about it!

I have been paying them £28 for really sporadic coverage. I have been able to use my phone sometimes but not necessarily when I needed to make calls and have missed calls about collecting my dc from school and other important things.

I despise them. They are beyond useless.

By chance I wanted to apply for credit I checked my credit score.

Fools had been saying I missed 5 payments on my account! I pay every month by DD. When I called the 'helpline' they couldn't find any evidence of any missed payments.

So, there, bold as brass sit the missed payments on my report, soiling it, and making it much lower than it should be.

I been emailing their credit department, back and forth it goes. At the last up-date they have managed to let Equafax know...and my file should be clean by next month? We shall see.

I agree that Orange are crap - I remember XH switching to them and then switching back to O2 due to utter shite customer service.

However, I imagine they would argue that they are providing a phone you can use around the country, not specifically at your home address. You've probably done well to get them to release you from the contract, presumably without penalty.

There was an article on watchdog the other week regarding orange coverage

Dad has had fraud on his orange account. Admitted by them. Was out of contract so ended up cancelling phone all together and getting new number. They are still billing him and still owe him over £100.

Useless.

That's their argument soup.

But I only took out the contract after they specifically stated that coverage in my home area was good.

They have only cancelled my contract becsuse the mast is down and they apparently are never going to fix it.

I honestly don't know how they can get away with charging for months for a service they couldn't consistently provide!

I will try and search out the watchdog programme.

Louise check out the forums on money saving expert. The argument they have used with you, that the signal at your house is irrelevant, is the opposite of what they have told other people. One case in particular springs to mind where someone had a mobile specifically chosen for the reception at their holiday home. Orange then deactivated the nearest mast and told the customer that if it had been their main residence they would have cancelled the contract, but because it was a holiday home they refused.

I'll try to find a link for later when I'm on the computer.

thank you

Just a quick update. Came home tiday to find my old handset, which I had had to return to Orange in order to get my contract cancelled, had been returned to me.

It came with a slightly snotty letter stating how the handset 'remains my responsibility we have had to return it to you'. The gist of this according to their customer services is that because the contract was cancelled due to their failure to provide service, the handset is mine to keep.

I am very happy with this - it is an unlocked phone so I can pass it on to one of my dc with an 02 sim card in. I am viewing it as getting back the equivalent of 3 months service charge

That's a pretty good result then :)

Not least because I now no longer have to spend ages arguing with them on the phone