Surcharge for phone replacement ?

[Guest jayfive]

Just been told by one of oranges so called phone trainers that if i lost my spv and wanted a replacement i would have to pay a surcharge even though i am paying my 5 quid a month insurance. So ne1 know if this is true ?

Cheers

[Guest pisquee]

if you loose it, and then go back and found it is gone, then report it as stolen at police station, get ref number and call orange to say it has been stolen.

[Guest amo]

Jayfive: there are now excess fees for people who claim on insurance. This is common with most insurance policies however, Orange decided not to follow that path. However due to the ever increasing number of customers claiming on their Care fraudulently it has become a nescessary measure. After all, why should we pay because you "lost" your phone or decided to stand on it. Remember - if the phone develops a fault because of no fault of your own (manufacturers fault), it isnt classes as a Care replacement and therefore no excess payment is due.

(p.s. your phone trainer bitching isn't appropriate here, you were told correct information and they have done their job. ;))

[Guest markd66]

Hmmm - don't recall being notified by O of a change to the Care T&C's? Does this only apply to new Care agreements? Amo?

Cheers, Mark.

[Guest mcwarre]

Amo,

Give us a wave. Amo, Amo give us a wave. You student bitch (nicee) you

[Guest goinnuts]

you should have been notified through a leaflet in the post. the £15 is admin and delivery charge. after delivery isnt free. on a plus note if your phone that is delivered is faulty they replace it for free. and its still cheaper than everyone else.

[Guest Rob_Quads]

After all, why should we pay because you "lost" your phone or decided to stand on it.

I was always let yo believe that was one of the points of orange care that it covered accidental damage.

[Guest blackhorse]

you should have been notified through a leaflet in the post. the £15 is admin and delivery charge. after delivery isnt free.

To be fair i have seen nothing in the post as a Orange customer, but do know about the admin charge as i work for Orange.

Main reason for the charge is the instant replacement 24 courier costs Orange about £8 and the admin processing it, taking details ect. is another 30 mins work. (£3-4) labour.

Orange dont get this back, as the insurance company just pay for the handset.

Its just to try recoup some costs, and to stop people making fraudulent claims.

[Guest mcwarre]

I don't see how they can do this legally without informing people first.

e.g. Give me £5 a month and I will insure your phone.

10 secs later I change the terms oh btw there is a £500 excess. They can't do it. Simple.

I have to change my SPV (bloody again 7 times now) next week and I can assure you that I won't pay any excess as I have not been notified of any changes to the terms and conditions. Will let you know.

[Guest mcwarre]

Main reason for the charge is the instant replacement 24 courier costs Orange about £8

What if I don't want 24hr replacement can I use Royal Mail 2nd class and pay less :?: :?: :roll: :roll:

and the admin processing it, taking details ect. is another 30 mins work. (£3-4) labour.

And :?:

So are they gonna start charging for customer service like PAYG :?:

[Guest blackhorse]

I have to change my SPV (bloody again 7 times now) next week and I can assure you that I won't pay any excess as I have not been notified of any changes to the terms and conditions. Will let you know.

Excess charge not been introduced until October, and with the lateness to notifying people i reckon they may knock it back until November.

You have to remember Watchdog collared Orange once already (the 5 texts a day reduced to 3 at one point but Orange were told to stick to what they said)they will make sure this one is good. Or it happen again

[Guest amo]

 

markd66 Posted: 

Hmmm - don't recall being notified by O of a change to the Care T&C's? Does this only apply to new Care agreements? Amo? 

There should be literature being posted to all customers. This is not just for new customer but its existing subscribers too. Remember to look carefully in your monthly bills as it is often outlined somewhere in there.

mcwarre Posted: Give us a wave. Amo, Amo give us a wave. You student bitch (nicee) you

/me waves :roll:

I was always let yo believe that was one of the points of orange care that it covered accidental damage.

It still does, its just that excessive costs need to be covered somehow.

Davo Posted: Main reason for the charge is the instant replacement 24 courier costs Orange about £8 and the admin processing it, taking details ect. is another 30 mins work. (£3-4) labour. 

Orange dont get this back, as the insurance company just pay for the handset. 

Its just to try recoup some costs, and to stop people making fraudulent claims. 

Spot on :wink:

mcwarre Posted: 

I don't see how they can do this legally without informing people first. 

e.g. Give me £5 a month and I will insure your phone. 

10 secs later I change the terms oh btw there is a £500 excess. They can't do it. Simple. 

In Oranges terms and conditions they do state that changes to products and services offered can be changed at anytime. However, it also states that if the changes made have a cost implication on the customer - i.e. means the customers costs are higher, they can leave that service irrespective of the contracts involved. So for example if line rental increases, it means the customer pays more so they can leave the contract early, the same with care - it might mean that the customer has to pay more so they have the right to cancel the service.

mcwarre Posted: 

Davo wrote: 

Main reason for the charge is the instant replacement 24 courier costs Orange about £8 

What if I don't want 24hr replacement can I use Royal Mail 2nd class and pay less     

This is not an option, however certain deliveries are made by royal mail, such as chargers and batterys so this might be something you can use to your advantage if you wanted to argue the case.

Davo wrote: 

and the admin processing it, taking details ect. is another 30 mins work. (£3-4) labour. 

And 

So are they gonna start charging for customer service like PAYG   

They will not, the point of the matter is this: Customer services are there for our benefit, to help us when we need it - be it with tariff queries, handset help, changes to accounts or whatever. Why should the general public have to wait in ques on hold because many operators are having to deal with insurance claims taking up to an hour a time (especially if the claim is fraudulent). The charges are to try to stop people from claiming when they dont need to which means that OCS resources arent tied up unnescessarily.

[Guest mcwarre]

Fairysnuff,

Reducing fraud is good for everyone I suppose - I thought that fraud reduction would reduce our costs not increase them!

[Guest stuartd]

I like this.

Basically as Orange are getting fleeced by people making fraudulent claims they've decided to pass the charge onto EVERYONE that uses their handset insurance. Because of the few the many shall be punished, because of some people ripping off the insurance the innocent will have to pay.

What a way to run anything. :roll: And yes I am aware that other insurance deals have excesses, and I feel the same about that as well.

As I heard in a film it should be called "in case shi*" instead of insurance.

[Guest blackhorse]

So for example if line rental increases, it means the customer pays more so they can leave the contract early, the same with care - it might mean that the customer has to pay more so they have the right to cancel the service.

before you getyour cancelation letters written, and new phone planned. This refers to Care ONLY. You have a 12 month agreement with Care. If your not happy with the new admin charge, you may be able to come out of your agreement with care.

This will be dealt with on a case by case basis.

Note. This is not an excess, as some as you are taking it, as i stated earlier its to cover O. costs of getting you a new phone.

[Guest chucky.egg]

Dont get me started on Care!

(1) I took out Care on my e100 about a week ago and none of this was mentioned.

(2) I run 3 contracts, but change phones often - selling the old ones on. My girlfriend uses a Nokia that Orange wont cover (it was SIM free) but they wont cancel the Care on her old phone (which we dont have anymore). So I end up paying for Care when they wont replace her current handset!

There are alternatives to Care, so if you change phones often you might be better off going to another insurer

[Guest blackhorse]

There are alternatives to Care, so if you change phones often you might be better off going to another insurer

Show me one insurer that charge £5 a month or less that compares to Oranges.

Yes there are some that that insurance is cheaper, some even £2 and £3! BUT!! Instant replacement?? Loss?? Most Insurers will state to have lost the mobile you have to had it taken by force, had a secure building/car broken into.

They will laugh at you if you say you dropped it in the lake whilst fishing! Say sorry dropped whilst boarding, and now its in 100 pieces. No third degree, just a "grab as much of together as u can and a replacement is on its way"

Other cheaper companies (ahem.. phones4u / cpwh) will not give instant replacement for damage they will want to inspect, pull it apart first! (may get a crappy £20 phone as courtesy if ur lucky!!) It gets sent away for 4 weeks you then get it back, still faulty, still not fixed it go's away again they say yup its bust ok, and THEN this is after 6-8 weeks send a note to your insurers saying yup give him a refurbed one.

Do any compare? and what about excess? most insurers charge more than a £15 admin charge!!

One point i will give is that they should maybe look at a no claims bonus for customers. This way it will entice people not to claim when they dont need to. ALOT of people abuse the system think had the phone for 11 months better get a replacement as this one had a good 11 months wear and tear!!

[Guest Coucou]

[One point i will give is that they should maybe look at a no claims bonus for customers. This way it will entice people not to claim when they dont need to.

But they used to reduce the monthly fee every claim free year, I was looking forward to my reduction when the notice came through. That obviously didn't work. Or they wouldn't have changed it. As for their costs, don't forget we're paying £60/year. If people are abusing the system with fraudulent claims then clearly they should pay extra, maybe if someone makes over 2 claims/year (not warranty claims) then they should start getting charged extra. That should deter fraudsters. I would assume off-setting of costs against premium was one of the very first things Care decided on when setting the premiums, so therefore I would have expected it to be inclusive.

[Guest blackhorse]

There are 2 care systems in place at the moment, old (Care) and new (Care Refresh).

If you took Care out BEFORE 29th August 2003, the original agreement will be upheld no admin charges will be imposed for claims made in the year.

Anybody that asked for care after this date should of been notified on the spot of the new procedure.

£15 admin charge commences on 6th October 2003 and will be charged to your bill.

Hope this clears a few things up.