Orange mobile phone scam!

Before you consider joining Orange, read this...

Want to be tied into a 2 year contract with an inferior phone, with demands from debt collection agencies, no response from Customer Services and aggressive phone calls from their collections department? If so, join Orange!!!

Here is the story so far...
November 2005:
(i) Repeated calls on my mobile phone (whilst I was at work) from ‘Orange’. “As I had been a loyal customer for 10 years and my contract was coming up for renewal in the next couple of months, I qualified for a free handset to retain my custom”. Alarm bells rang and I asked what the catch was. They said none. I said I wasn’t interested.
(ii) More calls followed that followed a similar theme.
(iii) I contacted Orange customer services who said that it wasn’t them who’d made the call. I asked them to make a note on my file as I was concerned. However, an email from Orange customer services contradicts their statement that it wasn’t Orange who made these calls.

December 2005:
(i) Another call from ‘Orange’ to say that my free handset was ready. Again I said I wasn’t interested and asked what the catch was. They said absolutely none; it was a free gift. At no time did they discuss contracts. At this time I used a Sony Ericsson P910i (worth £390 SIM free); a very high spec PDA phone and was thinking of upgrading it to a P990 when they were released.
(ii) A parcel arrived with a Sony Ericsson K300i (worth £65 SIM free). The box had no contract in it. There wasn’t an address. I assumed that this was the ‘free gift’ from Orange. At this time I was commuting 150 miles per day to and from work. I discovered one morning that same week that my P910i was not working and called Orange from the land line. They told me to swap the SIM from the K300i box into my P910i so that service could continue. I was also told at this time that my contract had been set for 2 years. I stated that I was very angry and that I would be contacting them again to resolve this.
(iii) I phoned Orange again who told me that I needed to resolve this issue with a third party company: The Mobile Phone Company, Unit 2, Burton Road Business Centre, Marton, Blackpool, FY4 4NW. Orange stated that this was nothing to do with them and that I had to resolve it myself with ‘The Mobile Phone Company’. They said that they’d file a complaint against the Mobile Phone Company. (I have never seen this). I wrote to both Orange and The Mobile Phone Company and attempted to speak with both on the phone. It took a long time! Once I’d been able to contact The Mobile Phone Company, they told me that they were only acting on behalf of Orange and that I would need to resolve the issue with them. This felt like I was being ping-ponged from one company to another. The Mobile Phone Company also told me that the person who had spoken to me on the phone (as in November (i) above) had been ‘let go’.
(iv) I also emailed Orange. I tried every communication method to hand. No joy.
(v) I tried to phone Orange again, 31/12/05, stating that I wished to leave Orange as I was unhappy that my contract had been changed without my knowledge. I was left waiting for 5 minutes while they went to find my file. They put me through to someone else, and I was left waiting for another 10 minutes. I explained my complaint again, I made it very clear that I had not been consulted over this 2 year contract and that I wanted it sorted. I was told that they couldn’t do anything and that I’d need to sort it with The Mobile Phone Company. I asked to speak to a supervisor, to be told, rather rudely, that there were none available.

Between December 2005 and September 2006, we moved house and I have been holding down a very demanding new job.

September 2006:
(i) I wrote to Orange 7/9/06 to state that I wanted to terminate my contract due to a breakdown of goodwill. I again stated the case, from the beginning. I stated that I did not want to be tied into a contract that I had not wittingly entered into and would not pay for this. I did say that I’d pay for the remainder of the calls that I had made. I posted this and emailed it. I had an email response to say that they could not look at this and I had to post the letter to another address in ‘Peterlee’. I did so from work and had no response.
(ii) I cancelled my direct debit.

October 2006:
(i) I received a letter from Orange! 10/10/06 It was a demand letter. This contained threats of poor credit rating. I felt amused that Orange are quick to contact me when I cancel my direct debit!
(ii) I received a telephone call (at work) on my mobile from Orange Collections Department. Again I explained my predicament. The woman I was talking to stated that she did not believe me. She said, “Come on Mrs. Smith, don’t be stupid, you don’t get anything for nothing these days…” I felt that she hadn’t listened to the whole account and was very patronising. As I run a £2M annual budget and manage 70 staff in a college, I believe I am fairly bright! This woman stated that they hadn’t received the 7/9/06 letter, and it wasn’t on the file.
(iii) I received another letter from Orange, in response to my letter of 7/9/06 (contradicting the above, they had received the letter, there seems to be no joined up thinking at Orange). There was nothing of substance in this letter, only that they had tried to call and could I call them back.
(iv) I wrote again to Orange on 21/10/06. (I now write to all the addresses that I have and send recorded delivery to make sure, as well as emailing!) I again state my case, and attach my earlier correspondence. I tell them that I do not want to correspond, unless it is in writing now. I give them a table showing the communication from me to date, state how unhappy I am and state the following, AGAIN:

I did not want and did not agree to a two year contract with Orange
I did not want a much inferior phone
I no longer want to spend £1,500 per year with Orange and have moved my custom to a better service provider
I do not appreciate poor standards of customer care (infuriating phone menus, waiting on average, 10 minutes to speak with a human being, rude service employees, lack of action)
I do not appreciate your debt collectors’ intimidation tactics, particularly as they have not been furnished with the full facts about this case through Orange’s incredibly poor systems, processes and communication standards

(v) I copy Shropshire trading standards into all of the above communications.

November 2006:
(i) 9/9/06. Orange write again to demand, at this stage, £129. However, this letter includes the sentence, “If you are still within your 12 month contract period, you are also liable for contract charges…” Odd, I thought I was on a non agreed 24 month contract with an inferior phone now!!! Again, threats of poor credit rating.
(ii) 23/11/06. Orange write. This time asking for £190. They write that they haven’t received the letter of 7/9/06. (This contradicts the notes in October (iii) and the email response that I got). They write about my ‘upgrade’ and state that I am tied into a contract until November 2007! This will mean I will be liable for £900! They stated that I would have had an option to return the phone within 7 days to the Mobile Phone Company. (This was not an option on the box and there was no information to suggest that I had a contract!) They state that the phone call from the debt collections department couldn’t have been from Orange (!!!). There is no mention in this letter of the many occasions that I have tried to contact Orange to sort this. They ask that I call their debt collections department. They threaten me with an external debt collection agency. At this point, I have visions of bailiffs turning up at my door! I am genuinely feeling intimidated! All for a Christmas cracker ‘free gift’ phone that I didn’t ask for!
(iii) 27/11/06. I write to Orange again to just about every address I can find for Orange. I respond to each paragraph from Orange’s letter of 23/11/06. I make it very, very clear that this is an unfair contract and their behaviour towards me is unfair. I summarise with the following:
I would now like to respectfully ask that you:
· Read ALL my documents in detail and give me a proper response
· Stop harassing me and my family with threats of external debt collectors and insinuations that I have lied
· Send me a copy of the aforementioned contract. It will be the first time that I have seen it
· Send me unequivocal proof of my supposed acceptance of a contract, either as a telephone recording or in writing.
· Send me the copy of the complaint that you stated you would make regarding The Mobile Phone Company (this was through an Orange Customer Services call)
· Arrange for collection of the telephone concerned. It was sent to me as a ‘free gift’ and has served me no purpose, other than much personal stress. It certainly has not maintained my loyalty!
· Consider my flawless customer loyalty to Orange over many years, before this incident, which you failed to resolve.
I copy in Trading Standards. I send all these recorded delivery and all of them have been received and signed for on dates between: 4/12/06 and 5/12/06.
I have not yet received any response to this letter!

December 2006:
(i) Trading standards write to Orange stating that they want Orange to consider my correspondence.
(ii) I receive a demand from orange (17/12/06) this time for £253 and it is growing. In 3 month’s time, this will be nearly £500! I have not used the service since September 2006.

I will keep you all posted!