Cancelling a contract

[AlexisInfectious®]

Afternoon chimp fans.

Now, I’ve come to the end of my hugely massive patience with Orange and I’m going to cancel my contract with them.

In the past they have given my number to some third party who sent me a phone without my wanting it, who then cut off my SIM card and swore blind that I agreed to the phone and that I couldn’t return it as it had been over 7 days. No one had called me and the post office never left a calling card so I had no idea a phone was waiting for me.

All this fell on deaf ears.

However, I was told that after a few months I could change my tariff and phone. I waited, patiently, only to be told that I wasn’t allowed as it was too early. Eventually they allowed me to change my tariff but only to one that cost more but refused me a new phone saying I had to wait till April of this year.

April came, I was told I had to wait till June. June is here and I’ve gone online and it says I can’t upgrade until after the 25th July when I am in my final 3 months of my contract.

As you can imagine, I am PEED!!!

Now, I’ve been with Orange for years, can I call them up and cancel or will I have to buy out the rest of this contract?

I’ve heard horror stories about people trying to cancel with Orange. Stories about people ending up with bad credit as Orange agreed to cancel, but continued billing them and customers refusing to pay. Stories on how Orange make it as difficult as possible for you to keep your number and to move it to a different network.

Has anyone had any of these problems?

 

[MreBrightside1]

Normally you should be able to buy out of the contract which could be anything from £30 or £50+.

I used to be with Orange and after my contract ended I switched to a cheaper mobile company and now only pay £8.00 a month line rental and all calls to mobiles and land lines and texts only cost me 8p.

 

[GJRP]

I used to work for Orange until very recently. You do have to buyout of a contract if you are in one, and upgrading for free is in the last 3 months, unless you have good payment history.

You may have a hard time ahead if you wish to cancel early.

Is this regarding the 3rd party phone or just upgrading?

I may know a few tricks

 

[JoeorShellJ]

I suspect they're much the same sort of problems people everywhere have with phone service providers. In the US it's a well known fact that phone bills (both mobile and land lines) are purposely designed to be as complicated as possible. This makes complete sense for the telco's.... the reason being is that after about 15 minutes of trying to figure out all the loopy billing going on... the vast majority of people will throw up their hands and just pay the bill.

I do believe the telco's in the US were taken to court over this several times. I'll see if I can dig up a case of it.

At any rate... tel service providers are big on charges and little on service in case you haven't figured it out already. Generally... they've got very cleverly worded contracts written with much fine print on the back (that most don't bother to read) and usually they have you by the balls. Dubious business practices are normal business for them.

Sorry to hear that Chimpers... but after all... chimps shouldn't be allowed on the phone anyhow.

 

[SheilaW]

Well, I was on a great online contract with Orange and then I had the problem with a third party who said they were from Orange but weren't. Orange said they couldn't do anything about it as it was down to the third party who weren't backing down.

Anyway, essentially I am paying over the odds for a crappy contract with a crappy phone. They seem to care more about their new customers (who now get billions of free weekend text etc.) than their old ones.

I've seen out the initial contract, surely I can cancel at any time no??

 

[redshift04]

If you are officially out of contract yeah you can cancel any time. If not then buyout applies.

As for the third party...if you did not agree to the phone or it was given to you on unfair terms you can gove Orange, "retailer feedback." One customer did it because all the phone lines to one retailer were fake so they couldnt ring them to return the phone! If you give them feedback then Orange will chase them up! Im sure I got one of them closed down :S

 

[Goran]

I'm pretty sure I'm out of the initial contract as I've been with Orange almost 3 years and I only initially signed up to an 18 month one before they dumped me on some crappy one with a seriously bad Nokia phone.

I'll give them a call tonight and ask them what is what and then bad mouth them through the proper channels.

Thanks guys.

 

[SophieM]

One tactic I've heard but have been unable to confirm is that you are well within your right to demand to be changed to a cheaper tariff and cancel from there instead of having to do so from the one you're on. Not sure how true that is, but if it is, try demanding to be switched to a PAYG sim instead of a contract one. That way there's a fairly easy way out

 

[Helpt]

I'll give that a shot man. Failing that, I can tell them I am moving out of the country and no longer need Orange.

 

[mek&haze]

Pay As You Go!!!

 

[sno078]

Yeah, there are no exit fees from a PAYG contract

Essentially you stick with it long enough to get a PAC number, then scram.

 

[leoislovex3]

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!

Thanks to this third party that pretended to be orange I am somehow on an 18 month contract that doesn't end until October. To buy out the contract will cost me £98.50!!!

I'm almost certain the guy made that number up as it doesn't even tally with my monthy fee anyway...

I told him I was sick of new customers getting all these fantastic deals hoping to get one of them but, I'm not eligible until the end of next month when they can look at my tariff and my monthly spend and hopefully sort something out.

Not eligible?? I'e been with them almost 4 years (including a pay as you period). :woow:

I'm ready to kick someone in the nuts!!!

 

[kandi8366]

complain complain complain... threaten to cancel the direct debit if its not sorted in 1 week. Offer NO payment for buy outs. You want it changed, and you wont accept no for an answer.

Worked for me with pipex...

 

[lozzielaws]

Man, my mobile phone got raped by Orange when I was in the UK. My phone is on an Australian service but I set it to roaming. I got SMSed hourly by Orange with their freakin' spam. It followed me all the way from London to Dublin...grrr.

 

[va757]

Must remember to travel with thow down mobile when I come visit over the pond

 

[blindexistence]

get an unlocked phone and buy a pay as you go sim from Tesco or an Asian grocer, and use skype from an internet cafe if you need to phone home.

 

[AlisonG]

When I was in America Land the last couple of weeks, I made several calls from my mobile phone about 3 of them someone actually picked up and I wasn't on for more than a minute, being wary of the prices.

My bill came through and I've been charged £26!!! Stupid roaming charges!!!

Heck, I'd cancel my direct debit right now and be done with it but I don't need the bad credit rating as I'm after a house within the next few months. GRRR!!!