Orange Contract

[neveranycash]

hi, i'm after a bit of advice for my son.
He was contacted by Orange to ask if he would like a contract with them as he was on pay as you go he agreed. As it was the first case of credit he'd ever had (being only 1 he had to pay a £150 deposit with a promise that after 12 months this would be paid back to him.
After a year he renewed his contract with orange and upgraded his phone with more mins and more text on his new tarif.
Six months into his contract he was contacted by someone from orange telling him he was eligible for a free upgrade of his phone.Nothing was mentioned about a new contract or change of tarif.
Six months after this he thought his contract would be ending so contacted Orange in order to confirm this. Was surprised to be told his contract was due to end Jan 08 as they said he agreed to a new 18 month contract when he accepted the phone upgrade.
He has since had a new contract with T mobile and hasn't used his orange phone since Feb 07. But he has still been getting threatening letters from orange asking for money. He has wrote to them to tell them that the account was in dispute and he had written to Ofcom.
He has now had a letter from orange to say they are forwarding his account to a debt collection agency.
Has anyone any advice please????

PS sorry to be a bit long winded..... the saga goes on....

[path_finder]

You say that he was contacted by ''someone from Orange'', it is more than likley he was contacted by a dealer.
If he accepted the upgraded handset only six months into his new contract he would probably have also had to pay an upgrade fee, although you don't mention this.
Even if the account is in dispute, he was informed that his contract was not due to end until Jan 08 so he should have continued to pay the bills. Orange are within their rights to ask for this money until the dispute is settled.
Has he contacted customer services about this? Did they tell him it was a dealer who had done the upgrade?

[neveranycash]

When he accepted the upgrade he was told he was eligible for a free upgrade, nothing was mentioned about his contract being renewed.
He was only told of this when he rang up thinking he was giving them the required months notice of termination, it was only then that he was told that when he upgraded his phone he accepted a new 18 month contract. This is a complete lie, as no word of new contract was ever mentioned. And the person said they was calling from Orange.

[path_finder]

Like I said, it is doubtfull that Orange contacted your son, it would have been a 3rd party dealer. If he rings customer services they will be able to tell him who arranged the upgrade.

Surley he did not expect to be just given a free upgrade without a new contract? Non of the mobile operators would do that.

I would strongly suggest that he pays the outstanding amount before it ends up with a DCA.

[neveranycash]

Well being a naive 'first time contracter' Yes he did believe he was getting a free upgrade, He believed exactly what they told him. , How can someone from just any company ring someone up and say they are from Orange??? Surely this is illegal???
He paid a couple of the bills even tho he had'nt used the phone, as he thought that maybe Orange was a bit slow in getting his contract cancelled. He even asked for a recording of his saying yes to a new contract but Orange said they don't record their calls.

[bed32]

Did he get any written notification at the time that the contract period would be 18 months?

Best route is complaint with Orange, then CISAS (the orange ADR scheme).

May also be worth an S.A.R. to Orange to see if it gives you any more information.

[neveranycash]

He's had absolutely nothing in writing about a new contract, it has been seamless, all that happened as far as he is concerned is, he got a phone upgrade, his tariff didn't change or his monthly payment!!

When he wrote to Orange to complain about not being told he was entering into a new contract he got a letter back from them saying their correspondence department is currently experiencing delays which is affecting their speed of response to him, and to be assured they are working to resolve the situation.

They still sent out the threatening letters, even after acknowledging his complaint.

[path_finder]

They would still send out the letters, all you have had is a letter saying they have recieved your complaint, not that they are doing aything about it yet. They are working to resolve the backlog. If he wants this resolved quickly then he must call customer services before this ends up with a DCA.
As I have already said this would noy have been a call from Orange but a 3rd party dealer. They are alowed to say that they are calling on behalf of Orange and he may have mistaken that for ''from''. There may not be a recording of the call as not all calls are recorded.

[bed32]

I'm guessing path_finder has never had to deal with Orange customer "services" my own experience is that they are totally appalling at responding to anything - they even ignored my "Letter Before Action" so they will be receiving the papers from the court very shortly.

You need to make a written complaint and then wait for their response before taking it to CISAS.

Should anyone else contact you write once saying that you don't acknowledge the debt and that it is in dispute and then ignore them until Orange CS have responded

Has he actually terminated his account or is he just not paying the regular bills?

[jmuggali]

My wife fell for this too, at no point whatsoever did they say the contract would be renewed, they offer was supposedly as she was a loyal Orange customer and she was entitled to a free upgrade, she took this on its face value as she has been loyal to Orange for the last 6 years plus the person on the phone also said they were from Orange, I can confirm this as I’m only 3 months in to my contract and I got the same call from “Orange” yet I’m totally un-loyal and go to which ever network offer the best phone or gift, it is very unfair and very misleading and becoming increasingly annoying, some of the companies do tell you they are a 3rd party acting for Orange but many don’t.

[path_finder]

The process that CISAS use can take up to three months and they will not be able to get involved with the billing dispute only the provision of the handset and new contract.

Bed32 I have PM'd you with regards to your previous post.

[neveranycash]

Update- He has rang The Customer Services to make a complaint about sending his details to a DCA. The Girl on the phone was very helpfull and advised him if he paid the amount outstanding £64.00 that Orange would send him a termination letter, and he would not have to pay for the rest of the nine months left on the contract. Will keep you posted as to whether this letter arrives!! He paid the £64.00 as he thought it was better then having to pay £288. (9 months at £32)