I hate Orange...

I have had my mobile contract with Orange for coming up on 4 years. Up until the last 6 months, I had always thought they were really good and that’s why I stayed with them… I don’t think that anymore!

I had always taken my contracts out through phones4u, my current contract though was taken out through Orange after they called me. the woman called when I was out shopping, and I told her that I couldn’t really talk but she told me that if I didn’t take out the contract right then that I wouldn’t get one as good, as it was a special offer (was it heck!). so I stupidly agreed, I am so not good under pressure! She told me what was included and told me the price… she didn’t say that the price didn’t include VAT though, which when i have got contracts through phones4u the price they told me is the price I paid as VAT was included. So I am not happy about that, also when I got my deal I told my bf so he called up to see what he could get. His deal is way much better than mine, he gets double the minutes and pays half what I do

Anyway, for the past 2 months my bf had my laptop as he had to study. So, I was using my mobile to go on the internet. The woman, when she called to sell me the contract, told me what internet I had free but I don’t understand about megabytes and all that, which I told her. Coz I don’t understand all that, I didn’t know if the megabytes I was getting was a lot or not, so she told me it was roughly 18,000 internet pages. Great, I thought as that is an amount I would never go through on my mobile. So I was happily using my mobile to go on the internet (dogsey mainly), and then yesterday I checked my bank balance and I had a lot less than I expected. It turned out Orange have charged me £30 for using the internet!

I don’t get a paper bill, so I had to go online and check my bill. I called Orange and spoke to a horrible, rude man and got nowhere. He said, that some websites use more megabytes or whatever, than others and that forums use loads because they are ‘live’. How am I supposed to know that?? I just assumed any web page counted as one page, and 18,000 pages is something I got absolutely nowhere near! I asked him why I wasn’t told that, and he was like ‘oh, well we cant go through every single site and tell you what it charges’… I know that! but they could still say ‘oh, btw if you go on sites such as forums, social networking sites etc then they will charge more than sites that are not live’. But no, all I was told was that I had 18,000 pages for the internet.

He also told me that the last 2 months I have also had charges! Which I just never noticed, I am really bad at checking my bank comings and goings (I know, I really should start) and because I didn’t have the laptop I couldn’t check my online bill. So, I am not at all happy with Orange and I will never be taking out a contract with them again. i don’t think its fair, that they can tell you you will get 18,000 pages and then suddenly you only have 18,000 pages if you are on certain sites! if i knew that, i would never have used the internet on my mobile!

Im going to call them back, and speak to as many people as I can because in all I have had over £60 in charges (which is a lot of money for me!). I will also be changing my contract to the least amount I can, and then getting a contract with O2 and just wait till the orange one finishes. its a great way to treat customers, especially when they are ones who have stuck with them for 4 years!

Sorry for the length, i needed a rant!

Be careful with 02. Ive been with them for years, only one you can get good reception with where i live. I allowed myself to be talked into a "sim only" contrAct. All was hubky dory for a while & then i got an elevated bill. Rang & was told id gone online (check emails) & it was 70p a day to do that, mightnt seem much but over several days it mounts up. I didnt want to add anything else to my tariff so watched it
carefully. My bill averaged £25 minth. When my dad died was using mobile bit more when i got a bill for £91. I was totally go smacked. When i phoned i was curtly told id gone over my allowance - by 90 minutes at standard rates. I told them there & then to cancel it & went back to PAYG. At least i know where i am.

Sorry to hear this LB - these sales people really know how to put on the hard sell.

one thing to remember for future is that you do have a certain period after signing a contract to stop it, so if you're ever in the position again when you are pressured like this, have a good luck when you get home and if you don't like it, cancel it.

Have a look at the Ofcom website - http://ask.ofcom.org.uk/

they might be able to give you help/advice about complaining about the mis-selling by Orange and possibly helping you to cancel the contract and/or get some money back.

i think its ridiculous what they charge, and it really does add up. it annoys me so much, coz if i had known that it would cost more for certain sites then i would never have gone on them. my mum has a contract with O2, and she gets unlimited texts, unlimited internet and 400 minutes for £15 a month, and she got a really good mobile with it too. so i was hoping to get something similar, although minutes doesnt matter to me coz im not a fan of talking on the phone

thanks for the link, my dad had told me to try and find that link he said i should call Orange up again, and that if they wont do anything about it, say that i will take it further coz they mis-sold me that contract. i found a page through that link about what to do if a contract is mis-sold and it says to raise it with the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) scheme.

Absolutely. If possible, find an email address and email them - I always think its best to put things in writing because (1) it gives you plenty of time to set out exactly what your complaints are without forgetting anything and (2) you have a record of your complaint and any response from them.

If you do have to phone, write down what you want to say beforehand to make sure you cover all the points. And then get the name and job title of the person you speak to - really you need to be speaking to someone senior in customer services.

Good luck.