Orange will charge £1.50 for IB from July 1st

[mob453]

From July 1st Orange will charge £1.50 for all pay monthly itemised billing, does not matter if you are a new or old customer, you will be charged.

To cancel the itemised billing, just text the word BILL to 2018, or call Orange Customer Services on 150 from your phone within the next 10 days.

Orange covered this in a change in their terms and conditions last year, putting a clause in enabling them to alter prices/services that are not a 'core service' (IE Calling/Texting).

and I've found this

i rang them and argued about the terms and conditions and was told that i could cancel and need to send in writing 14 days before by billing date to cancel this ref 4.3.1 in the terms and conditions! who hoo!

[mob453]

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to inform you of the cancellation of my contract with immediate effect due to the increased charge of the itemised billing of £1.50. I have spoken to a manager in disconnections last night (8/6/06) and I was told to put it in writing to yourselves. I am fully within my rights to do this in conjunction with your terms and conditions. I have quoted these on the telephone and also I am quoting them below.

4 YOUR RIGHTS TO TERMINATE THIS CONTRACT
4.1 terminating your Contract after the Minimum Term
You may terminate your Contract to expire at anytime after the Minimum Term by giving us at least one month's notice. You are free to restore your Contract throughout this notice period, should you change your mind.
4.2 terminating your Contract during the Minimum Term
You may terminate your Contract before the Minimum Term has expired if you pay us: 4.2.1 all Charges that are due, plus
4.2.2 a lump sum equivalent to the total of all the monthly or other periodic Charges still remaining on your initial Minimum Term agreement (except in the circumstances set out in Conditions 4.3 and 15.1). You'll be entitled to a rebate of 5% of that total if you terminate your Contract up to and including the first day of the last month of the Minimum Term.

4.3 terminating your Contract because Orange has changed its terms
You may also terminate your Contract if we vary its terms, resulting in an excessive increase in the Charges or changes that alter your rights under this Contract to your detriment. In such cases you would need to give us at least 14 days written notice prior to your Billing Date (and within one month of us telling you about the changes). However this option does not apply if: 4.3.1 we have increased the Charges by an amount equal to or less than the percentage increase in the All Items Index of Retail Prices published by the Central Statistical Office in the Monthly Digest of Statistics in any 12 month period; or 4.3.2 the variations we have made have been imposed on us as a direct result of new legislation, statutory instrument, government regulation or licence; or
4.3.3 the variation relates solely to an Orange Additional Service, in which case you may cancel that Orange Additional Service in accordance with Condition 15.1.

This leads on to

15.1 we reserve the right to make changes to your Contract
When you Register you are asked to choose a Service Plan and to indicate which Orange Additional Services you require. You may switch to a higher Service Plan at any time. You may switch to a lower Service Plan as often as you like after 6 months following your Connection to the Network, unless otherwise stated. In the event you do switch Service Plan and add to or cancel Orange Additional Services you must give us not less than 10 days notice before your Billing Date (subject to the terms of any promotional offers you have accepted). We do, however, reserve the right to vary the terms of this Contract from time to time and to make changes to your Service Plan. We acknowledge that if we do increase the Charges, withdraw Orange Additional Services or introduce new mandatory Charges - or if your contractual rights are affected to your detriment - you may terminate your Contract in accordance with Condition 4.3. If you do not give notice within one month of our notifying you of any change(s), you will be taken to have accepted the change(s).

In regards to the increased charge of £1.50 for the itemised billing then if I was to accept this there would be an increase on my bill over the retail price index which at the moment is 2.6%. Therefore in reference to your terms and conditions I am fully within my rights to cancel this contract with immediate effect with no cancellation charges. If there are any problems you can contact me on my mobile number.

Yours Faithfully

here you go, here's a ready made draft letter to cancel.

how many people have just got a n80?

[Ben]

If Orange honour the cancellation then this loophole will be a fantastic find for a good number of Orange customers, especially N80 buyers as you say.

I can't believe they want £1.50 for itemised billing They're going backwards!

[timothythetim]

Oh man this is interesting. I've just got an N80 from them. I would love to move back to vodafone.
I am, however, waiting for on 100 quid being credited to my account for an old phone I traded in. How long do I have to cancel?
Also, d'you think they would unlock it? Or is that asking a bit much

[Ben]

" In such cases you would need to give us at least 14 days written notice prior to your Billing Date (and within one month of us telling you about the changes)." should answer one of your questions. If you haven't been advised by Orange yet, as I haven't, then I guess the timer hasn't started ticking.

You'd most likely need to purchase an Unlock code from Orange before they notify you.

[timothythetim]

Oh, well. I have just purchased an unlock code from orange for my N80. Cost me 20 quid.
Tomorrow I am gonna phone up the orange porting people (they are shut on sundays) and see if they will cancel my number transfer request (I have just come from vodafone and they took an age to tell the my PAC so I was only able to give it to orange on Friday). Anyone ever cancelled a number porting request?
Then I cancel the orange contract (well, that's the plan), keep my old vodafone 30 contract going and I have an unlocked N80.

OK for all you people out there livid at the fact that Orange just decide to increase the Itemised Billing charge from £0 to £1.50 mid way your 12 /18 month contract, this is how to make sure they do not get away with it.

Below is exactly how to do this (tested and works).

Tested on this case: mid 12 month contract, with 300 to 600 minute usage.

How to go about it:

1) Write in requesting that they cancel your contact in accordance with Clause 15.1 and 4.3 of my contract as they are increasing charges for Itemised Billing from £0 to £1.50. The contact can be downloaded from the main page of the orange web site at the very bottom where it says "terms and conditions" Request that they contact you with your PUK code so you can take your number with you and that due to the fact that they are causing this that no charges and penalties should be incurred by you.

2) They will write back saying one of the following: a) That itemised billing (charge or free) is not part of the contract. b) They are not increasing the charge as you do not have to have the Itemised Bill as you can opt out or download it free from the account area of the orange web site. They may also say that if you want to cancel you have to buy yourself out of the contract.

3) You then write to them opening an "Official Complaint" (important that you say this) informing them that you do not agree with their assessment of the situation and that you require them to cancel the contract and if they do not accept to do this you require them to send you a letter saying that the complaint has come to "deadlock" or "lockout", otherwise known as a Deadlock / Lockout letter. You inform them that you will be contacting CISAS (COMMUNICATIONS & INTERNET SERVICES ADJUDICATION SCHEME, they can be contacted on 02074217432).

4) At this point someone from orange WILL have already contacted you. They will offer to refund the itemised bill for the rest of the contact and if you request it they will cancel your contact.


FAQ

COMMUNICATIONS & INTERNET SERVICES ADJUDICATION SCHEME (CISAS):
These people take complaints that can not be resolved and decide who is right. Orange does NOT want it to get to them and will settle with you before then. Only contact CISAS if they have given you a lockout / deadlock letter and have not offered you anything.

Address to write to orange on:
Correspondence Department
PO Box 10
Pachway
Bristol
BS32 4BQ


Official Complaint:
It is important to rase an "Official Complaint" and get a Echo number to track it with.


TIPS and TRICKS

Orange will never accept fault or that they are in breach of contract.
Be firm but polite at all times.
Do NOT at any point show any doubt that you are correct and they are wrong.
Do not ask for unreasonable things. In this situation waving the Itemised Billing charge till the end of the contact is fair and termination of the contract is fair.

[dgilbert2]

I've been with Orange for the last 4 years on O2 OVP but just left.

As they wanted 99p for itemised billing I never bothered.

I ALWAYS got my calls listed though on the Online 'PDF' bill which you could easily print off, but they never appeared on the paper bill.

My last bill confirmed that the above situation would remain.

[maxspank]

It's a shame I opted for online billing instead of receiving bills through the post, I'd love to cancel my contract with Orange and run into T-Mobile's open arms.

Strange, i still havent been informed in anyway from orange about this charging.

My last bill was 15th June, would have thought they would announce it on that, but all i have heard is what has been mentioned on this site

Stuart

[crowfield99]

Originally Posted by stuartturrell

Strange, i still havent been informed in anyway from orange about this charging.

My last bill was 15th June, would have thought they would announce it on that, but all i have heard is what has been mentioned on this site

Stuart

Me either, it was the very same with Text Delivery Reports. I did know about it by reading online etc. But I didn't know till I got my bill and they charged me 1p a go!

Even just a text to inform me would have been nice, or a letter if Orange even wanted to add that to me bill?

[Ben]

I was notified some time ago now, and opted out of IB by text.

Originally Posted by crowfield99

Me either, it was the very same with Text Delivery Reports. I did know about it by reading online etc. But I didn't know till I got my bill and they charged me 1p a go!

Even just a text to inform me would have been nice, or a letter if Orange even wanted to add that to me bill?

I still haven't been charged for those either.

Seems silly, but i do have them activated and i do use them as some networks can be a bit funny in not delivering text's, so i like to actually know they have been received.

I do like orange, but if i were to start being charged for these services (itemised billing and reports), i would may well be inclined to moved to 3. (not a fan on o2, voda 2g/3g is non-existant is my area and t-mobile is similar).

[crowfield99]

I had my contract with Orange since December 05 on the Online Plans 300 Mins/500 Texts and they started to charge me.

At the time I bought the Moto C975 on PAYG With the Christmas Offer - then because I liked the 3G Coverage Orange has in this area decided I would take the number and move onto Contract. Maybe thats why im being charged? I dunno....

So far think it was £1.90 in SMS Delivery Reports on my last bill!