Cancelling Orange Contract After 12 Months

[Guest studiosonic]

Quick query - hope someone can help.

I've decided to get a Treo 600 (boo hiss etc..), I've had an SPV for about 18 months now - 12 month contract ended in December. I wanted to upgrade, but I've been quoted £99. Sod that! I've found the Treo on a website for free, if i take the same call plan I'm on at the moment (in fact one that's slightly cheaper as I don't use all my free mins in a month anyway). I know I'll lose my number, but I can quite happily live with that.

So - my orange bill came through about a week ago saying they'd be taking the money out of my account on 9th June. It said on the bill I was paying for service charge up until 16th June, and then about 70p extra for text messages over my inclusive limit for the last billing period. So, if i cancel my account, what happens exactly? Would i have to wait until my next bill before it's cancelled even though I've already paid up to 16th June - do they need a month's notice?

The reason I'm concerned is that I want to know the best time to take out the new contract. Really want to get my hands on the Treo, but also don't want to pay 2 bills at the same time. Even if I could stop my old contract on the 16th June and my new account started around then, would I be charged for the 1st month's line rental as soon as I got the new phone....just don't want to have to pay 2 months of bills in one!! Money is tight!!!!...hence me trying to get the Treo for free! :)

[Guest Skunkchild]

In my experience, as soon as you let Orange know you are serious about cancelling your contract they will give you an upgrade for free.

If I were you I'd ask to be put through to the cancellation dept. and make it clear that the only reason you are leaving is because they won't give you the free upgrade.

Robert might just well be your mother's brother ! :wink:

[Guest studiosonic]

I was thinking that, but would they really give me a 99 pound phone for free? Has anyone got this big a discount?....presumably i shouldn't say that if you don't give me the upgrade, i'll just rejoin Orange and get it free - they're not exactly losing me as a customer if I'd be coming back to them!!! So should i just say i'm off to another company?

And if i do phone up to cancel and they don't give me the phone i want, how does the whole notice period/billing thing work? As I said I'm being billed on the 9th June, for my rental period of 15th May to 16th June. When would I actually have my contract cancelled?? :?: :?: Is there any chance of it being cancelled on 16th and then them billing me for any extra mins/texts i used this month (which is zero anyway) or would i have to wait until the following month?....i know, i know....speaking to Orange is the best option but i can't until tonight, and i want to know where i stand and other people's experiences before i do!

[Guest chucky.egg]

If you disconnect in the middle of a billing period you'll get charged for the proportoin of the month that you were connected.

I think you HAVE to give a months notice even if you are outside of your 12 month minimum contract period (check that, I'm not certain) in which case if you haven't already arranged the disconnection the soonest you'll be disconnected is 4th July.

[Guest Lingerhosen]

To echo a previous comment, Orange will ABSOLUTELY upgrade you for free!! Unless you are a VERY low spender they DO NOT want to lose your business! Speak to the aforementioned disconnections department, ask for a PAC code (which would allow you to take you number with you) and they will just offer it to you. You can also get a vastly better deal by mentioning the 3 network calling plans, because they don't price match as such, but will cut you a deal that improves on what a new customer would be eligible for! You don't need to haggle in the slightest to get whatever phone you want! I was loking to upgrade my SPV to the E200 after twelve months and the orange website said it was £250 (!), but it was free with one simple call when I said I was leaving to get a cheap internet deal. Let's face it, they have to pay the internet company a fee for singing you up anyway, and they would rather cut the middleman out. Orange is happy with a retained money spender, you get your phone so you're happy, plus you don't have to faff about siging contracts and notifying everyone of a new number etc... Win/win. Mine was delivered two days later, SIM in and business as usual! And like I mentioned, with a bit more work, you can get a better deal on the inclusive minutes and texts than you realise, you may have to haggle a bit but at the end of the day, they don't know that you don't really want a 3 phone because you're a smartphone fan, for them it's all just about the cheddar baby.

[Guest studiosonic]

Cheers Lingerhosen! Wish me luck!! I'll call them tonight and get rady for some haggling. Fingers crossed!

[Guest Skunkchild]

Just for some extra info, when I upgraded from SPV to E200 they wanted a £100 fee. I quoted a couple of websites that offered it for free (onstopphoneshop and ?) on a new orange contract and the disconnections guy appreciated the absurdity of it and said 'well would it change your mind if I match that price ?'

:) of course it did ! no number change and upgrade for free.

BTW even when you request your PAC code this does not force you to end the contract.

There's a big long thread somewhere about how many of us were quoted even up to £250 to upgrade to the E200 but still managed to wangle it for nowt !

[Guest mavisdavis]

:lol: I gave them a call last November 11mths into contract and inquired about an upgrade to the E200 and got quoted £150 and return my old phone (spv) as a part chop.

So I mentioned that various website offered it for free aswell. I told them I wanted to lower my £25pr mth tarrif to £15 and pay off my account then requested my PAC code.

She put me through to retensions and a nice lady offered me the phone for free :) Bonus

So I thought I'd push the boat out and argued about the Fantastic square deal I would miss out on 2000 free txt 10 pic messages pr month for 6 mths and 3mb free for a month.

Low and behold I got em :wink: Double Bonus!

Just be cheeky but polite and hope for a woman you can have a littl flirt with :roll:

[Guest studiosonic]

Damn you!!! :evil:

Retensions department is now closed.....i was all syched up for it too!!

9AM tomorrow it is then!! :wink:

[Guest mavisdavis]

Just be nice and polite have a laugh with them and just kep aking if there is anybody higher that has the power to over right the decision if they say no to a freebe.

If you dont mind me askin what tarrif are you. it's guarnteed to be free on a £25 tarrif. I know , I've converted 6 people at work on to it direct from orange aswell with no fuss 8)

And remeber you can lower your tarrif after 3-4 months :wink:

[Guest studiosonic]

I'm on hold with them now....i'm on the talktime 200 tariff with the text 120 add on....

[Guest studiosonic]

...woohoo!!! Got it free!! On a 7 day trial, and then i might haggle a bit with the old tariff!!

[Guest blewer]

Well done :)

It's all worth the effort

[Guest mavisdavis]

:lol:/ :lol:/ :D/ YEAH :(/ :lol:/

:) Well done :lol:

Did my advice help :?:

[Guest studiosonic]

To be honest I didn't get a chance to use it - but i was all ready too turn on the charm etc.. I said that i was thinking of cancelling my contract. The girl asked why - i said because the price for an upgrade was too high. She asked what phone i was interested in - she then said she try to find the best price for me....put me on hold and then a few secs later she said i could have it for free - easy!! But why didn't they just do that in the 1st place!!! :roll:

So, 7 day trial. I'll see what i think of it, and if i like it, it'll be time to turn on the charm to haggle the best contract!!! :wink:

Cheers for all the replies guys! Much appreciated! :)