I thought I had cancelled my Orange contract?

[coconuts]

The minimum term of 18th months expired on my Orange mobile phone contract in March. Since then I have discovered that Orange have continued invoicing me, even though the phone has not been used.

 

Frustratingly, in February I received several calls from "Orange" offering a new contract/upgrades etc. each time I informed them that I wanted the contract to end.

 

Speaking to Orange today, they say that they did not correspond with me in Feb; and that I should contact the carphone warehouse who I took the contract with as it was probably them who contacted me.

 

Carphone warehouse claim not to have contacted me, and as my phone came through their sister company mobiles.co.uk, I should speak to them.

 

Mobiles.co.uk have referred me back to Orange as the contract is with them and they also state they did not contact me.

 

Now either my information was sold to a third party who contacted me in February claiming to be Orange, or one of the parties involved is not telling the truth.

 

The only way I think I can find out is by requesting any information held and recorded calls to be provided to me under the data-protection act - however this is going to be long winded and still cost me money - does anybody else have any other helpful ideas???

[dx100uk]

refuse to pay

 

make them prove you gave perm to renew it.

 

dx

[MaxxPower]

Did you follow Orange's own cancellation process? Contracts do not 'expire' at the end of 18 months, your minimum term has just ended. Unless you specifically request a cancellation, using the providers own cancellation process, they keep the contract going and will keep charging you.

 

If you didn't follow Orange's cancellation process (usually providers request a written request of cancellation) then you didn't actually cancel, and therefore they aren't in the wrong to keep charging.

[coconuts]

Yes - If I did not receive the phone-calls from someone on behalf of Orange leading up to the event where I informed them that the contract would end, I would have not assumed that everything was OK and would have done something.

 

I think maybe the key is finding out who called me as I am sure that their calls are 'recorded for training purposes'

 

You would also think that telco's should write to you to inform you that the contract is going to expire and that you need to confirm yes or no. This is the same with many other services such as domain name and email registration companies.

 

The outstanding balance is £80 and it is a hard choice whether to pay them the money for a quick ending as it is not going to break the bank; or fight on principle.

 

Interesting information from OfCom A1.95 - It would likely be unfair where the supplier had not sent a clear an unambiguous reminder notice at reasonable time before the renewal term is to take effect: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/telecoms/ioi/addcharges.pdf

Edited April 6, 2010 by coconuts
new information

[locutus]

Just to throw an extra spanner in the works, if you are very late in paying they flag it on your credit file, where it sits for 6 years making you pay more on any borrowings and making it harder to get any credit (even a mortgage!).

[jacktheband]

Pay what you owe them to resolve the issue. As Locutus says, you're credit file will be fried otherwise.

 

As for being sent a reminder letter before any renewal term, i think that is a red herring in this scenario as no renewal has taken effect. If it had, you'd find yourself at at the start of a new 18 month minimum term.

 

You could issue a "Subject Access Request" under the DPA to all companies you think might have contacted you asking you to upgrade to try to find out which company actually did contact you (i think the cost is ten pound each to do this). This might give peace of mind, but essentially if it was not Orange themselves that contacted you, you are no closer to having your debt written off. And if you originally got the contract from mobiles.co.uk then chances are that you were called by them (or a sales associate/ subsiduary).

 

In conclusion, the likelyhood is that Orange were unaware that you wanted to disconnect your contract and have charged you accordingly and fairly, with the sensible route being to pay up and chalk it down to experience.

[locutus]

Yes, some telecoms suppliers have taken to "automatically rolling over into a new minimum term" (including BT if you took their evening and weekend package for the price of the weekend package deal!!) and that is what your link is refering to.

 

If you pay, you could write a letter explaining that you had cancelled and request a refund, but IMO your credit file is worth more that Orange is demanding.

[sequenci]

All mobile networks revert you on to a monthly rolling arrangement once the initial contarct term has come to an end. Your airtime agreement should have stipulated how you would go about canceling the contract. It's usually a month's notice, either in writing or via a telephone call. No mobile contract simply ends after the initial contract duration - imagine how many disgruntled people there would be if that was the case!

[coconuts]

All - thank you for the good information, I received another reminder from them today which riled me as I was owed a call back.

 

I have decided to try and go for a common sense 50/50 approach by letter as a first stage.

Orange2.rtf