Orange - anyone had problems cancelling contract

Hi,

Quick query if anyone else has had problems cancelling contracts with
Orange?

I had a contract phone and after the 12 months were up, I rang to
cancel it in September 2006. No problems - even got a PAC number in
case I wished to keep the number on transfer (didn't do this in the
end). Expected last bill in October - then one arrived in November.
Rang to say had cancelled and person said they would deal with it.
Bills came in December and January. When I queried this, I was told
as they had no record of the September call, that I hadn't cancelled
and I owed them. There was a record of the November call but no
details about it and the rep had not cancelled the account.

Chap at Orange said that a record is kept of any account details
accessed and that this had occurred in November but not September.

So - do Orange customer reps just answer the phone and not deal with
things and keep no record of your call? Has anything like this
happened to anyone else? I don't like being virtually called a liar
by Orange and threatened with debt collectors.

[The matter has been resolved now but leaves a bad taste]

On 2007-01-10 23:18:36 +0000, Nobody <No-one@nowhere.notime> said:

> Hi,
>
> Quick query if anyone else has had problems cancelling contracts with
> Orange?
>
> I had a contract phone and after the 12 months were up, I rang to
> cancel it in September 2006. No problems - even got a PAC number in
> case I wished to keep the number on transfer (didn't do this in the
> end).

This is where your problem lies. Getting a PAC is not the same as
cancelling your contract - your contract is only terminated when the
PAC is used. If your PAC is unused within the 30 day limit, your
contract continues as before, and if you wish to cancel, you must serve
either a 30 day notice period or get a new PAC.

Chris

"Nobody" <No-one@nowhere.notime> wrote in message
news:rfsaq29bkf0ln22c3jrnf6r305qf5ud22s@4ax.com...
> Hi,
>
> Quick query if anyone else has had problems cancelling contracts with
> Orange?
>
> I had a contract phone and after the 12 months were up, I rang to
> cancel it in September 2006. No problems - even got a PAC number in
> case I wished to keep the number on transfer (didn't do this in the
> end). Expected last bill in October - then one arrived in November.
> Rang to say had cancelled and person said they would deal with it.
> Bills came in December and January. When I queried this, I was told
> as they had no record of the September call, that I hadn't cancelled
> and I owed them. There was a record of the November call but no
> details about it and the rep had not cancelled the account.
>
> Chap at Orange said that a record is kept of any account details
> accessed and that this had occurred in November but not September.
>
> So - do Orange customer reps just answer the phone and not deal with
> things and keep no record of your call? Has anything like this
> happened to anyone else? I don't like being virtually called a liar
> by Orange and threatened with debt collectors.
>
> [The matter has been resolved now but leaves a bad taste]

Orange Customer Services are a shower of ****!!!

18 months ago my wife and I made a deal with them where we were both to get
half price line rental for the first 6 months. It was not credited for two
months in my case and I had to fight to get it honoured because I was told,
when I queried it, that Orange "did not do such deals" and only after
several calls did they generously re-imburse me the full amount out the
goodness of the supervisors' heart. They were so keen on keeping me in those
days that they said they'd upgrade me a month early. They did but a charge
of £75 appeared on my next bill for the priviledge. I had to fight once
again for this to be refunded. They did, but not into my bank account but
credited my Orange account instead. They took the £75 out of my bank
account. THEY wanted ME to stay remember!

Initially, my deal was a lot better than my wife's as she was just starting
her second contract with them but in the same phone call we negotiated an
almost identical deal except that she had to pay for an extra text bundle to
match mine. The extra bundle only ended up on my bill!

My wife, to get her first contract, had to pay in a bond of £150 for the
first year. She did, and got it re-imbursed - INTO HER ORANGE ACOUNT! They
had taken it from her bank account and it should have gone back there - but,
No, they wanted to sit on the capital and gain the interest a while longer
didn't they!

I don't trust dealing with them over the phone. You can never prove any
deals they make with you and will often deny things. I have just left them
this week when the last straw was when they would not give me the same deal
(after 8 years with them), as my daughter had and who was just starting her
second contract. She was given unlimited texts plus 850 minutes X network
anytime for £35 whilst the woman I spoke to wouldn't budge from 600 mins and
500 texts for the same cost. Even when I told her about my daughter, she
said that loyalty counted for nothing.

I've got my PAC code, and have just received a phone from O2.

On Thu, 11 Jan 2007 03:08:27 GMT, Chris Boyd
<chrisbboyd@NOSPAMgmail.com> wrote:

>This is where your problem lies. Getting a PAC is not the same as
>cancelling your contract - your contract is only terminated when the
>PAC is used. If your PAC is unused within the 30 day limit, your
>contract continues as before, and if you wish to cancel, you must serve
>either a 30 day notice period or get a new PAC.

Then I would expect that to have been properly explained as I
specifically asked to cancel the account. Furthermore, how is there
no record of this on the account, since (presumably) that PAC must be
cross-referenced to the account. Sounds like a sneaky con job to me.

Regards.

In message <pi0dq25sstk9sp8pi2e58l17vh3hlap6b3@4ax.com>, Nobody
<No-one@nowhere.notime> writes
>
>Then I would expect that to have been properly explained as I
>specifically asked to cancel the account.

As I understand it if you cancel then you give notice and that is it,
your account will terminate at the end of the notice period which is
normally 30 days. But if you ask for a PAC it is available to be used
for 30 days if you don't use it during that time the account continues
because in effect you have changed your mind.
--
Paul Harris

On Thu, 11 Jan 2007 19:12:08 +0000, Paul Harris <nospam@127.0.0.1>
wrote:

>As I understand it if you cancel then you give notice and that is it,
>your account will terminate at the end of the notice period which is
>normally 30 days. But if you ask for a PAC it is available to be used
>for 30 days if you don't use it during that time the account continues
>because in effect you have changed your mind.

But no way was it explained that a PAC option prevents the termination
of your account. AFAIAC, termination and number transferral are two
different things. The way it was held out to me was that I had 30
days to take the number with me, after which time that option
disappeared - not that failure to exercise the option cancelled the
termination. Orange have a 30 notice period for termination, if
someone takes a PAC but does not use it until the end of 30 days, does
this mean Orange get another 30 days before termination, i.e. if you
take a PAC it can let Orange get up to 60 days before termination
takes effect?

>
> I've got my PAC code, and have just received a phone from O2.
>

Frying pan.......fire.

Nobody wrote:

> On Thu, 11 Jan 2007 19:12:08 +0000, Paul Harris <nospam@127.0.0.1>
> wrote:
>
> >As I understand it if you cancel then you give notice and that is it,
> >your account will terminate at the end of the notice period which is
> >normally 30 days. But if you ask for a PAC it is available to be used
> >for 30 days if you don't use it during that time the account continues
> >because in effect you have changed your mind.
>
> But no way was it explained that a PAC option prevents the termination
> of your account. AFAIAC, termination and number transferral are two
> different things. The way it was held out to me was that I had 30
> days to take the number with me, after which time that option
> disappeared - not that failure to exercise the option cancelled the
> termination. Orange have a 30 notice period for termination, if
> someone takes a PAC but does not use it until the end of 30 days, does
> this mean Orange get another 30 days before termination, i.e. if you
> take a PAC it can let Orange get up to 60 days before termination
> takes effect?

I PAC'd out of Orange recently -- they insisted on giving me the PAC
code via the post (rather than over the phone) and the documentation
issued detailed the terms -- i.e. if you don't use the PAC, the account
won't be canceled. Did you receive such a letter?

"Charlie Mitchell" <jm2@charleem.co.uk> wrote in message
news:caCdnS1C-oz0MzvYnZ2dnUVZ8qXinZ2d@pipex.net...
>> I've got my PAC code, and have just received a phone from O2.
>>
>
> Frying pan.......fire.

Ive used O and O2 for a few years. Both are 'good' when nothing goes wrong.
I find o2 much better these days. The calibre of person you get to at O
fluctuates so greatly, that I wont be using them again.