Orange contract problem

xb8browney · 20 Aug 2007 at 20:03

Got a bit of a problem,

Fiancée got a orange contract on the 29/06/07 (18months 500mins, unlimited texts and a Pink Samsung U600).

Now she doesn’t want it anymore/cant afford it but the only option is to pay £490 or sign the contract over to someone else but no one else wants one :S

Is there anything she can do?

It also comes with that deal were on the 6th, 12th, and 18th month you get £60 so that's £180 and if the phone sold on the bay that’s £120 so £300 (another £190) let to pay to cancel!

Are there any other options?

Does the £490 have to be paid in one lump sum?

p.s Phone was bought from the the CW and she didnt take out the insurance that allows her to cancel the contract for free

garyh · 20 Aug 2007 at 20:30

xb8browney said:
Is there anything she can do?

Other than not pay the bills? No.

When you sign up to a contract, you do exactly that, sign up for a minimum agreed period in which she must keep the phone.

stoofa · 21 Aug 2007 at 02:40

A contract is a contract - it scares me just how many people think they are signing nothing legally binding when they take on a phone.

To cancel the contract there and then Orange will want the money as a lump sum.
As there is cashback to be had you may just as well keep the contract going.
You won't be any worse off, but you can use your free minutes & texts and as long as you remember to send off your receipts - some money to be had back too.

Farore · 21 Aug 2007 at 23:18

Hey there.

Well, yes, unfortunatly you signed an 18 month contract and there really is no easy way out. The reason they gives these phones for free is because the recover the cost from the line rental. And the line rental is a holy barrier to cross for these phone companies.

Unfortunatly, not paying the phone bill is a bad way to go. You can be adamant that you dont want to pay the bill any more but all that will happen is that it will mount up - and it will adversly affect your fiance's credit rating and may even damage the rating of the people she is financialy linked to. Not even Welcome Finance will touch you!! Not to mention the debt collectors this generates.

My advice to you would be to request a quotation for the cesation fee. Find out how much it is exactly and see if you can reduce this tacticaly. Unfortunatly, the way things are now it may be even thougher to play the system. Previously, people used to buy expencive phones and soon as they could, drop it to the lowest tarrif. However, the companies have cottoned on to this and now some of them only let you drop the tarrif one month at a time after half the contract period has passed.

Drop the line rental to the lowest possible tarrif and pay off the remainder of the contract.

Or....you *could* say you lost the phone, and that you dont want to buy another one to use. The company, in some circumstances, can drop the line rental to the lowest tarrif before half the contract has passed. This will effectivly reduce the total amount you will have to pay to buy yourself out of the contract. But you didnt hear that from me. And its not something thats set in stone, that they will carry out this every time someone looses thier phone and decides its too expencive to replace.

Unfortunatly, in my opinion you were screwed over my CPW. Paying any amount of line rental (other than perhaps £7.50 a month or less) is far too much. The U600 can be bought for less than £150. :\
http://shop.carphonewarehouse.com/pay-as-you-go/samsung/u600-pink/

I would never shop with Carphone Warehouse as I feel they are a total rip off.
Also, thier TalkTalk products are utter s**te. Please avoid them like the plague!! Just search for 'TalkTalk reviews' on Google. I wont share my person experience as even talking about it makes my head want to explode.

Regards,

Farore

xb8browney · 21 Aug 2007 at 23:48

Thanks for your reply I think I will try this one

They dont log that I have already phoned up about canceling do they :S

Farore said:
Or....you *could* say you lost the phone, and that you dont want to buy another one to use. The company, in some circumstances, can drop the line rental to the lowest tarrif before half the contract has passed. This will effectivly reduce the total amount you will have to pay to buy yourself out of the contract. But you didnt hear that from me. And its not something thats set in stone, that they will carry out this every time someone looses thier phone and decides its too expencive to replace.

Farore · 22 Aug 2007 at 08:15

Hey

Email me your number and I'll check the systems for you. I dont think they would if you mentioned it on the off. Depends how lazy the advisor on the other end was!! a lot of advisors dont do thier job properly and dont add account notes.

Thanks

Farore

Dolph · 22 Aug 2007 at 10:03

Farore said:
Hey

Email me your number and I'll check the systems for you. I dont think they would if you mentioned it on the off. Depends how lazy the advisor on the other end was!! a lot of advisors dont do thier job properly and dont add account notes.

Thanks

Farore

You need to be incredibly careful making offers like that...

Farore · 24 Aug 2007 at 22:20

Dolph said:
You need to be incredibly careful making offers like that...

You are actually alowed to obtain all account notes held about you on the systems through the Data Protection Act.

You can write in and ask for all the info about you/your account to be send to you.

I can not go into anyones account without their permission. Even on the phones, you have to obtain their permission to go into their account if you are going to view/make changes to it. As long as the account holder consents, its perfectly ok.

Tho I can see why one would be conservative about making such offers!

Raptor · 24 Aug 2007 at 22:52

Farore said:
You are actually alowed to obtain all account notes held about you on the systems through the Data Protection Act. You can write in and ask for all the info about you/your account to be send to you.

I can not go into anyones account without their permission. Even on the phones, you have to obtain their permission to go into their account if you are going to view/make changes to it. As long as the account holder consents, its perfectly ok. Tho I can see why one would be conservative about making such offers!

What Dolph said.

Dolph · 25 Aug 2007 at 22:57

Farore said:
You are actually alowed to obtain all account notes held about you on the systems through the Data Protection Act. You can write in and ask for all the info about you/your account to be send to you.

I can not go into anyones account without their permission. Even on the phones, you have to obtain their permission to go into their account if you are going to view/make changes to it. As long as the account holder consents, its perfectly ok. Tho I can see why one would be conservative about making such offers!

Customer consent has to come through formal channels, emails sent via a forum certainly do not count.

If you work for Orange, do not put your job at risk making such offers, be sensible and check.