Hi folks,

Long tale of woe...but the summary is :

How binding is an Orange contract? after my last renewal I didn't sign
anything and the contract I bought (via a 3rd party) isn't the one
that Orange have actually given me - but I'm stuck.


A few months ago I had an old SPV on Orange Everyday 50 (which I've
been on for the 7/8 years I've been with Orange). I wanted to upgrade
to an M600 but Orange were perpetually out of stock online and in all
my local shops.

Eventually I noticed mobiles.co.uk had an M600 in stock and available
on one of the dolphin contracts. Result...phone I wanted and the
tariff I wanted to change to. (insert cautionary tales of buying from
shonky online phone shops - noted and not going to happen again)

After contacting mobiles.co.uk this was going to cost me tuppence to
do and I could just transfer my number etc over with no problems
(basically the usual orange upgrade path). This was on an 18 month
contract.

So I went ahead. Everything seemed to go ok, I got the phone and
phoned Orange to activate and confirmed with them that it was on the
dolphin plan and that my number was moving across etc. So far so good.

Until I got my first bill. I was still on my everyday 50 tariff....all
those 'free' texts I thought I'd been using with wild abandon over the
month actually cost me a ton of cash.

I phoned orange who told me that they couldn't change my tariff as :

- I can only do that when I start a new contract (I explained I had
just upgraded and thought this was a new contract...didn't really seem
to register).

- Orange couldn't change it as mobiles.co.uk initiated the contract
(?) and told me to speak to them

- Had a couple of back and forths with mobiles who said that instead
of dolphin Orange were giving me a £2 line rental discount every
month. After looking at my bill more closely, this was indeed the case
- although I was never informed nor agreed to it. They also suggested
that orange didn't offer the dolphin upgrade for everyday 50.

- Mobiles.co.uk promised to get it fixed but - surprise - never did
and I gave up chasing them.

I've put up with it for a few months but my monthly bills are now
double what they would be if I were on the dolphin plan as I'd
originally 'purchased' so I'm a bit tired.

I'm basically wondering where I stand with Orange?

I didn't sign a bit of paper for this new contract, the contract isn't
what I initially 'bought' and was changed without my consent, I had a
verbal confirmation from an Orange rep (no proof of course) that I was
going onto dolphin and I don't understand why Orange are refusing to
help as all contact I have is with orange, not mobiles.co.uk. I.e
bills and paperwork come from orange and I dd orange (which wasn't
touched - same one set up way back when I first joined them years
ago).

So..I either want to -

- hit orange with a stick and get them to switch me to dolphin for no
kindof fee or contract extension (if there was a moderate fee involved
I would also consider this but that's not the ideal solution)

- Bin them and go elsewhere (along with other things - I'm getting a
bit sick of them) without having to give them a penny for their one
sided non existant contract. I'll send them back their m600 if they
want but any chance of keeping it is a bonus.

I'm no legal or phone industry expert so...what are my chances /
options in this situation? At the moment I'm locked into a tariff I
don't want and didn't ask for that is costing me a ton of money for
another year.

I can already hear the violins

Thanks for any help...even if it's just to confirm how stupid I am.

Kev