Orange Care

csmager · 6 Apr 2006 at 21:22

Possibly one for Dolph...

As far as I can see, Orange Care costs £5/month (£60 per year). If you get your phone nicked, you claim. Orange charge a £15 admin fee for claiming.

If you *don't* have Orange Care and get your phone nicked, Orange offer Emergency Care for £30, and you have to pay Orange Care of £5/month for the next 12 months.

So, is it just me, or does not having Orange Care seem like the better deal? I only ask because I had my phone nicked and was charged £30. But I can't see the advantages of keeping it after my compulsory 12 months run out. It's not like having my phone nicked is a common occurence!

james.miller · 6 Apr 2006 at 21:24

csmager said:
Possibly one for Dolph...

As far as I can see, Orange Care costs £5/month (£60 per year). If you get your phone nicked, you claim. Orange charge a £15 admin fee for claiming.

If you *don't* have Orange Care and get your phone nicked, Orange offer Emergency Care for £30, and you have to pay Orange Care of £5/month for the next 12 months.

So, is it just me, or does not having Orange Care seem like the better deal? I only ask because I had my phone nicked and was charged £30. But I can't see the advantages of keeping it after my compulsory 12 months run out. It's not like having my phone nicked is a common occurence!

£30 is only for a non-smartphone that's been knicked. If you got a smartphone its £100 mate, as i found out when my 6630 got knicked.

csmager · 6 Apr 2006 at 21:24

james.miller said:
£30 is only for a non-smartphone that's been knicked. If you got a smartphone its £100 mate, as i found out when my 6630 got knicked.

Does the C500 not count? That's what I had nicked, and as far as I was aware, that's a smartphone.

james.miller · 6 Apr 2006 at 21:26

i dont know, but im back to my old c500 because i 'm not paying £100 for a 6630 contract replacement when the damn phone is £109.99 on PAYG :rolleyes:

csmager · 6 Apr 2006 at 21:28

james.miller said:
i dont know, but im back to my old c500 because i 'm not paying £100 for a 6630 contract replacement when the damn phone is £109.99 on PAYG

Fair enough!

I'm torn between two of the new Orange tarriffs... that's why I'm posing this question.

Panther £45 is 400mins/100texts. But I have to pay £5 insurance.
Panther £55 is 600mins/100texts. But the £5 insurance is included free.

I don't think I really need the extra 200mins, but it's actually only going to work out as a £5 difference per month. Unless I cancelled Orange Care when my 12 months are up.

Tomsk · 7 Apr 2006 at 06:25

james.miller said:
i dont know, but im back to my old c500 because i 'm not paying £100 for a 6630 contract replacement when the damn phone is £109.99 on PAYG

If you've taken out Orange care, and then made a claim, I think the admin fee is capped at £15. Orange care also covers accidental damge to the phone.
I think you pay more if you don't have Orange care to start with. They're effectively charging you for the cost of the replacement phone.

Dolph · 7 Apr 2006 at 08:56

csmager said:
Possibly one for Dolph...

As far as I can see, Orange Care costs £5/month (£60 per year). If you get your phone nicked, you claim. Orange charge a £15 admin fee for claiming.

If you *don't* have Orange Care and get your phone nicked, Orange offer Emergency Care for £30, and you have to pay Orange Care of £5/month for the next 12 months.

Unless, as has already been pointed out, you have a phone classified by the insurers as a smartphone (which is more down to cost than functionality now). All 3g handsets come under this, as do all of the PDA phones. Then it's £100 one off and £5 a month.

It's also worth noting that the care covers you against damage and faults (with replacement rather than repair) as well. Financially there is a clear break even point for number of claims vs emergency care.

So, is it just me, or does not having Orange Care seem like the better deal? I only ask because I had my phone nicked and was charged £30. But I can't see the advantages of keeping it after my compulsory 12 months run out. It's not like having my phone nicked is a common occurence!

From your later post, I'd seriously recommend going for the Panther £55 rather than £45, it just works out a much better deal, and you're better having too many minutes rather than not enough at the end of the day.

csmager · 7 Apr 2006 at 09:59

Dolph said:
From your later post, I'd seriously recommend going for the Panther £55 rather than £45, it just works out a much better deal, and you're better having too many minutes rather than not enough at the end of the day.

Cheers. I'm also interested in the Magic Number thing - am I right in thinking that I can't sign up to a new 18 month contract (including the Magic Number) until I'm in the last three months of the current contract?

Dolph · 7 Apr 2006 at 22:15

Yep, you're right.

Tomsk · 7 Apr 2006 at 23:18

I've been looking around the Orange website and specifically the price guides.

For Pay monthly contracts, from http://www.orange.co.uk/service_plans/downloads/pm_price_guides.pdf

Orange Care
Worldwide cover for your phone for 12 months against loss, theft, damage and breakdown. Any claim accepted will be subject to a £15 administration fee. Replacement is within 24 hours of claim being accepted. (Terms, conditions and exclusions apply)
£5 per month inclusive of insurance premium tax

It doesn't mention smartphones or the £100 charge they incur.

For PAYG, from http://www.orange.co.uk/service_plans/downloads/payg_services_costs.pdf

Orange Care
Worldwide cover for your phone for 12 months against loss, theft, damage and reakdown. Terms, conditions and exclusions apply
£50 per year, including Vat and Insurance Premium Tax (IPT)

No charges mentioned at all.

Also found this for PAYG phones

Phone unlocking charge
If you want to use your phone on an alternative network you can have your phone unlocked
To unlock your phone costs a one-off fee of 20p

csmager · 8 Apr 2006 at 10:46

The £100/£30 charge is for Emergency Care. There's only a £15 charge if you already have Orange Care, as you point out.

Doug · 9 Apr 2006 at 02:44

That's the reason I haven't bothered with Care, this time round.

I had Care on my P800 for nearly two years without claiming, but had to use it a few times when I upgraded to a K700. Overall the cost didn't really cover the benefit.

I came back to Orange in August, for the W800, and didn't bother with Care. If anything happens, I can get emergency cover. I've no plans to leave Orange when my term is up, as I've never had any complaints, and will most likely be waiting for the W950 to arrive on upgrade.