Orange bullying for extortionate phone bill!

[Redletter]

Can anyone please advise?

My girlfriend took out a second phone contract for her son who is 15 for £20 extra a month.

She has always payed her bills on time which are usually around £40.

 

Her phone bill arrived and her son's phone had clocked up around £400 worth of RINGTONE TEXTS AT £8.51 each!!! YES thats 8 pounds 51 PER TEXT!!

It turns out he lent his mate the phone thinking he was only using some of his free texts but this guy was really taking the Mickey!

 

Despite her excellent payment record and the fact this is a one off, ORANGE refuse to accept that both her son and his mate who are BOTH under 18 DID NOT HAVE THE BILLPAYERS PERMISSION TO USE THESE PREMIUM RATE SERVICES.

 

They are insisting she may only spread the bill over 2 payments and that her phone will be cut off until it is paid!

 

Are there any laws regarding the use of these services or limits to what thay can charge?

We had to text STOP to each of them as they continued to send the £8.51 texts 3 at a time on a regular basis!

 

IS THERE ANY PROTECTION FROM THIS AND CAN THEY MAKE HER PAY ON THEIR TERMS???

Please help!

[citizenB]

Just nudging your thread for you.

[MARTIN3030]

Will move your thread into telecoms forum

[dx100uk]

sadly just like 1000's of kid up and down the country.

i would try contacting the customer service dept of the services used to run the bills up.

dispite media pub, they can be quite quite understanding if you explain it was done without the users consent by a 'mate'

 

then write to orange and state the useage charges from these people are in dispute through unauthorised access.

 

they should hold off.

dx

[OrangePrimate]

although i understand the shocker this bill must have been when it landed on the door step, it wasnt unauthorised access!

the son had use of the phone, the son gave it to a friend to use. it was used and unfortunately a very expensive use!

 

why would any network or service provider not expect the bill to be paid for the services used? your thread title says bullying? are they just not sending a bill and asking it to be paid (as would any service provider) and remember the network is only collecting the charge for the 3rd party company supplying the songs/video and retaining a small amount as the 'delivery' agent.

 

for the amount of money these services cost it sounds like it was full song tracks or video clips bought and downloaded on to the phone. have you thought of asking the lad who took the mickey to cover the costs, or his parents?

 

consider if you lent your car to someone and they had an avoidable accident but they not insured, who is liable and going to pay for the damage to the car? the driver who drove like an idiot or you for lending the car in the first place! your local garage certainly wont fix it for free!

 

best way for success here is to get the details of the 3rd party company and chase them for the costs using the fact that it is someone under 18 (they will then question why an under 18yr old is using a contract/billed account and not payg) and then use any refund they may give you to put towards the phone bill. only problem is that they will more than likely quote the t&c's and the bit that comes up on the phone when ordering these services, that confirms the charge and that it clearly says 'have bill payers permission' and have to select YES!! just giving you a heads up on what barriers you will come across as have had to deal with these things too many times before!

[lawbunny]

When you gave your son the phone to use you were in fact authorising him to use anything on the phone. You cannot honestly expect Orange to know that you only intended your son to use the phone for his allowance and nothing else - they are not mindreaders.

[Redletter]

although i understand the shocker this bill must have been when it landed on the door step, it wasnt unauthorised access!

the son had use of the phone, the son gave it to a friend to use. it was used and unfortunately a very expensive use!

 

why would any network or service provider not expect the bill to be paid for the services used? your thread title says bullying? are they just not sending a bill and asking it to be paid (as would any service provider) and remember the network is only collecting the charge for the 3rd party company supplying the songs/video and retaining a small amount as the 'delivery' agent.

 

for the amount of money these services cost it sounds like it was full song tracks or video clips bought and downloaded on to the phone. have you thought of asking the lad who took the mickey to cover the costs, or his parents?

 

consider if you lent your car to someone and they had an avoidable accident but they not insured, who is liable and going to pay for the damage to the car? the driver who drove like an idiot or you for lending the car in the first place! your local garage certainly wont fix it for free!

 

best way for success here is to get the details of the 3rd party company and chase them for the costs using the fact that it is someone under 18 (they will then question why an under 18yr old is using a contract/billed account and not payg) and then use any refund they may give you to put towards the phone bill. only problem is that they will more than likely quote the t&c's and the bit that comes up on the phone when ordering these services, that confirms the charge and that it clearly says 'have bill payers permission' and have to select YES!! just giving you a heads up on what barriers you will come across as have had to deal with these things too many times before!

 

 

 

Yeah thanks I can see that Orange wouldn't have known the facts of the matter.

The problem is they do now but they are not being very helpful or understanding and are pressuring us to pay it within two months which is very unreasonable in the circumstances. Also we have just found out there is a further 250 quids worth between the last billing date and the date we texted STOP to the service provider.

 

ALL of the numbers are those belonging to a company called Mx Telecom based in London.

Tried to phone them today but their offices are closed until Monday.

 

In the meantime we have managed to scrape together the first £250 but Orange are still threatening to cut off the services despite our best efforts to reach an agreement.

 

Btw is your name on here anything to do with Orange or is that just coincidence???

[buzby]

Being 'helpful and understanding; is one thing - but you seem to think that this will somehow translate in them reducing or wiping the bill? That's not an issue for them.

 

Your son shouldn't have been so trusting, but as the contract holder, it is up to you to get the amount run up paid for by the person who got the services charged. As he's under age, speak to his parents and they might come to some form of accommodation. Expecting the network to do so is unrealistic.