Cancelling 18 month contract with orange

[lillboy]

Hi All
I signed up for an 18 month contract with orange as part of an upgrade so i could get broadband. BIG MISTAKE
After waiting 5 weeks to get broadband and being told they are not in a position to provide the service and could not give a date in which it would be availible. i also endured several days on hold being passed from one incompetant call centre advisor to another. i was actually on hold for 5 Hours 22minutes in one phone call.

anyway to cut a long story short i was told by one advisor(lol) that i could only get out of the contract by writing to their correspondance department. I sent the letter recorded delivery on the 13Th December but have not had no reply yet.
Another advisor told me that i would never be able get get out of the contract unless i paid 15mounths of the outstanding contract £525.00 and if i cancelled my DD they would pass my dept onto a dept collection agency and also put default notices with the credit referance agencies.

I Have seen in the bank forums that there is clauses about unfair contracts and also notes about passing details onto third parties when the account is in dispute. would this rules apply to mobile phone companies. if so has anyone any ideas of what i can put in the next letter.
i will post a copy of my first letter on the furum later.
i am prepared to take this all the way because i have never dealt with such a poor regard for custmer service than this.

[lillboy]

THIS WAS MY FIRST LETTER

"
Cancellation of Contract


I have recently entered into an eighteen month contract with you as part of an upgrade and to receive broadband service from you. I would like to give notice that I will be terminating this contract on the basis that you are not in a position to provide all the services promised as part of the upgrade.
Please take time to read notes on my file to better understand the problems and reasons for you not fulfilling your obligations under the contract.
I have it confirmed by one of your customer care representatives (Anne Ext.60404) on the 5/12/06 that you accept that you are not full filling your obligations and that your company accepts that the Mobile phone & Broadband contract can be terminated and that on receipt of this letter my contract for Mobile phone and Broadband service would terminate.
I was then put through to retentions to arrange termination of the contract only to be persuaded to wait until Friday 8th December to actually cancel the contract as he (Craig Ext 2461) was confident that this issue would be resolved and I would have a date in which broadband service would be provided.
I agreed to wait until Friday as requested unfortunately you are still not in a position to provide the broadband service as previously mentioned and cannot give an estimated date in the service could be provided.
Therefore I find it necessary to cancel my contract with immediate effect. I will return to my local Orange retailer all the equipment provided to me as part of the upgrade and also the live box equipment, alternatively you could send packaging and I will return items to you direct? I had to pay a fee for the upgrade therefore I would be request this fee be reimbursed.
I went through the process of cancelling my broadband service and my Mac code was being supplied within 48hours this was Friday 8th December. However today 12th December I rang to find out when I would receive my Mac code only to find out that your disconnections team had not processed the cancellation request and no Mac code was applied for.
(Anne Ext.60404) stated that the mobile service would be terminated on receipt of this letter so therefore please send my PAC code for the number XXXXXXXXX
Please deal with this with a matter of urgency as the time frame in which I have being trying to resolve this matter is escalating. I feel that I have been more than patient and cooperative in trying to resolve the issues. "


Still no Reply from them but i did not really expect one.

[buzby]

They're a big firm, and this is a heck of a time of year to turn round correspondence. They'll be aware of you not being able to have broadband, and unlike cashback offers, your BB service was to be taken in tandem with the mobile - if you cannot take advantage of one, you should not be bound to take the other. You've done the right thing by writing, so your dispute is noted, just bide your time and see what happens.

[lillboy]

Thanks buzby for your reply. and happy new year

I Appreciate that the postal service is slow this time of the year. The letter was signed for on the 13th DEC.
From my recent experiances with their customer services dept i very much doubt that i will recieve any reponse from orange during 2007. I am not going to Stop any payments with out giving them prior warning. But i think that once the bank actually writes to them to advise of DD cancellation they would start to take note.
Whilst i was eagerly awaiting to set up the livebrick i joined another furum to get advice on the setting up the broadband i will post a copy of the post i put on the other furum, I think this minght outlne the frustration i went through trying to sort this out.

[lillboy]

Here is a copy of my other post.
Just trying to vent some frustration.

Update
Just contacted Guinnes book of records to see if i can get entry into the listings for being on Hold for the longest period.
Started Phone Call at Friday 5:11pm and finally got answered 9:28Pm in this time i repaired my sisters heating boiler, prepared and ate my Evening meal and took kids & dog for a walk. and popped in for a pint. I also may need to point out that i had to leave my phone on charge where ever it was posssible.
however when i finally got to speak to someone they said they would look into my problem and would have a definate answer for me by 7:00Pm on Monday and would ring me to discuss my options and when i would be able to connect to the internet.
i was highly delighted to recieve a phone call on saturday to ask how i was finding my new internet service and was i happy with the service i recieved whilst setting up my livebox. once i got up off the floor i tried to explain that i still had not got any internet service and that i was expecting a call on monday to give an extimated date of connection. this caller was some what shocked to explained he could not comment and that i would have to wait untill i revcieved my call on monday.
i am glad to say that monday came and i was fortunate enough to enjoy my evening meel without any interuptions from double glazing salesman or people explaining i had won a kitchen or even anyone from orange to say i would possibly be recieving high speed internet service for a fee of £5.00 a month on top of my £35.00 a month 18 month mobile phone contract.
i really can not wait to get my connection so that actually post some questions on this forum relating to the actual set up of the livebrick.
please be patient i will ask someone a question soon i hope.

[buzby]

Originally Posted by lillboy

Thanks buzby for your reply. and happy new year

Ditto. Actually, the DD cancellation is not as gentlemanly as you might think. I'm not aware of the banks giving prior warning to a DD originator that the mandate has been cancelled. They simply wait for the attepted debit, and cite cancellation as the reason for non-payment. This also explainst why some folk end up with a 'bounced/refused' DDM charge. The first they'll know of it is when their cash claim is refused.

This might not be a problem for you, but it is one to watch!

[lilal]

good luck with orange c,s ,what a bunch of idiots ,we had a similiar problem ,sorted now thankfully .marvellous thing that 150 on an orange phone with speaker phone means that they can keep ya on hold for as long as they like ,must eat into their profits it bit tho

[lillboy]

Whilst waiting on hold that occasion i actually dailed using my land line (free phone to start with then transfers you to national rate) the call was answered in 3 minutes. i asked them to ring me back but of course they have special phones can only ring you back when it suits them.
i have been (WAS) an orange customer for 6 years and every problem i have had has related to their stupid call centre policies.
it has always been the same until you are near the end of your contract period.

[buzby]

Originally Posted by lilal

.marvellous thing that 150 on an orange phone with speaker phone means that they can keep ya on hold for as long as they like ,must eat into their profits it bit tho

Not really, It is their network, so the cost of a call to 150 (for them) would be infinitesimal. However, PAYG custo DO pay to call CS, ad their number is 450, and is chargeable.

[buzby]

Originally Posted by lillboy

Whilst waiting on hold that occasion i actually dailed using my land line (free phone to start with then transfers you to national rate) .

Actually, it doesn't. You are charged the same rate for the duration of the call and it is based on the code you dial first. Orange's recorded announcements stating 'x' charge will apply is misleading and wrong.

[lillboy]

Another example of good customer service from orange.

why if using the landline pohne can they anwser it in three minutes but using the mobile you can be on hold for over 4 hours dailing at the same time.
they are not interested in dealing with issues or problems once your tied into there contract which they want you to believe cannot be cancelled.

I would point out that i did speak to some very helpfull people at orange during the problem with broadband. it is not the person that is at fault but the policies and scripts they read from.

[buzby]

As I understand it, if you call by Landline, the call is answered in their Bristol call centre, using your mobile invariably means you connect to one of 3 centres in the North-East of England, that might explain the difference.

[lillboy]

No Reply Yet
Time to compose my next letter.

[lillboy]

Hi all Finally got my contract cancelled due to orange being able to honour the braodabnd offer. i got this done over the phone after speaking to anne again and asking her to chase up my letter. she then cancelled my contract immediately. i asked where i should return the phone to and my live brick. she said that they have no provisions for taking hardware back and that i could keep them. however i have had nothing in writing yet to confirm that my contract is cancelled. but the sim is now disabled and i cannot keep my number. this is a small price to pay.
I would suggest to anyone with conpaints about the company should always get the name and extension from everybody you speak to even if your just being transfered. make a note discribing how helpfull they have been, if you get someone who has been unusually helpfull ask to speak to themeach time you ring if you get a response saying that there not in then ask for the shift rotta.
i am now going to contact orange which a subject access request to ensure that they do not decide later i need to buy out of the contract.
I was a customer for 6 years and have never dealt with a company that has so much disregard for customer satifaction. I will never have any form of dealings with this company again.

Thanks Lillboy.

[lillboy]

Buzby
i would like to confirm that First Direct do notify the company if you cancell a direct debit i cancelled my to NTL because my contract was over and i still got a letter asking me to reinstate the direct debit from NTL. so i rang them to ask why, they stated it was a standard letter because my bank had notified them i had cancelled the DD.

[Layla_ck]

Hi Lillboy,
We are with Orange and had SO many problems chasing them re this free broadband offer, made worse by the fact that we were previously Wanadoo customers, thankfully it has now been resolved, after letters to their top top bosses and harassing their correspondance and broadband depts, I cannot believe however how inept they have been and we were very close to cancelling our contracts!
They should not offer services they know they have no provision to