"OBSCA"

[Guest thenderson]

Hi all

I saw this topic being mentioned briefly in another thread and wanted to ask if anyone knows anything more about it.

I manage a company mobile fleet of around 50 phones with Orange and I have just been told about these new rules by my account manager. He has sent me an OBSCA through which just looks like a dozen pages of T's & C's. I did speak with him about it, but felt that I came out none the wiser at the end of the conversation. The worrying thing was when I asked him if he was losing customers over it and he said yes he'd lost about 10% of his customers. That's when the alarm bells started ringing!

Are any of you learned folks able to offer me a summary of what this all effectively means to me as a customer?

Many TIA

Toby

[Guest AzH]

I work for Orange. I probably know your account manager and will have spoken to him several times. What do you want to know?

[Guest thenderson]

I work for Orange. I probably know your account manager and will have spoken to him several times. What do you want to know?

I just really want to know what the changes will mean in terms of day to day dealings. What does all the small print really mean in layman's terms. There must be some fairly significant changes to cause my account manager to lose 10% of his customers!

TIA

[Guest AzH]

I can't comment on the accuracy of his estimations, but I will admit that we are going through a difficult time with the OBSCA process. I have to write these documents daily and they are not the easiest of things to have to complete.

There are only two main differences between the new OBSCA and the old DSA (Direct Sales Agreement). They are:

1) If you wished to disconnect your account Orange's investment would be protected.

To expand, we subsidise the equipment that you are sent for free. I am sure you aware of the cost associated with equipment. For example, the Nokia 6230i has a list price of ?175. Prior to the OBSCA a customer could leave and keep the equipment causing Orange to make a loss on the investment. Now, we're able to recoup the investment if an account terminates early. In addition, customer's are prevented from being able to simply change theit tariffs down to the lowest line rental before they disconnect.

This, I feel, is not unfair. Consider the scenario where Orange have supplied ?10,000 worth of equipment or credits based on a customer signing a deal where they will pay ?1,000 a month. As a businessman, put yourself in Orange's position. You wish to make good on your investment. If the customer could simply change their payment options to something like ?100 a month, Orange will have made a great loss on the initial outlay.

Please note that this only applies to the minimum term of the agreement. After the minimum term expires, a customer is free to do as they please.

2) Your future purchases are protected.

This is simple economics and makes perfect sense to me. If Orange supply a customer with ?10,000 worth of equipment/credits on a 100 handset subscription, the customer is entitled to ?10,000 / 100 = ?100 per future connection.

The OBSCA is, I admit, an overly complicated document, but under the small print it is simply designed to protect the interests of both customer and Orange.

Hope that helps.

[Guest thenderson]

Thanks, AzH. That is very helpful.

Cheers

Toby