Help... need advice regarding Orange and being mislead

[Guest terryjacobs]

Hi all,

I'm new here and after some important advice. It's a long story but please be patient.

I went to the Orange shop locally to get the Orange SPV e100 with 3months free open access and 1000 free messages on around september 6th if i recall correctly. Filled out all the contracts and then the woman phoned up to set me up and they said they're not doing free messages. So I said well I might as well get it off the internet. At this time, the woman had told me that "THE ORANGE OPEN ACCESS PACK WOULD COVER YOU FOR FREE INTERNET ACCESS ON THE SPVE100". (In similar words).

Ok so I went to sign up for the SPV E100 online at the orange shop. It would work out I would have to pay £129.99 for the phone but I was prepared to do this as I would get 12months free internet (Open Access) as I was under the impression from the woman in the shop that is what open access covered.

To my shock I am faced with my first bill of a £70. Including best part of £30 alone for GPRS. Phoning customer services was ok as they have taken it off my bill this month but say i'll have to pay in future. However this is not much help as I only signed up under the impression I had a years free net access. They have advised I caontact the correspondance dept which i'll send a letter to shortly.

Can anyone help me with options? I'm thinking i'll have to drop the contract to the lowest possible, pay them their stinking money and not use it and go elsewhere.

Do I have a leg to stand on since I was mislead by the woman in the shop?

Thanks for the advice

[Guest awarner [MVP]]

Unfortunately you have been misguided by poorly trained personel :)

The Access pack is for WAP over GPRS and not normal IE internet.

When this promotion first started it took me five or six calls to get the correct information from Orange.

You can try and get a refund or credit but you may not be successfull :(

[Guest terryjacobs]

Thanks for the help. I'm hoping i'll get some sort of response from the letter but I just don't know.

The best option to me looks like I should drop down to the cheapest tariff Orange have and sell the SPV. Then i'll just pay the monthly line rental till it expires in 11 months. Hardly ideal but the SPV will work out expensive otherwise.

Just out of interest - how much can I expect to sell an SPV e100, 1month old boxed, 256mb SD card, krussel case & car clip (all as new)?

I feel quite disappointed Orange have mislead me by being vague on their website.

[Guest awarner [MVP]]

I would try and sell them seperately, but I think that's a bit drastic :?

the phone will go for around £250 (untill the E200 is released)

The 256MB card will be around £40 and the case about £10

This is depending on condition etc.

[Guest terryjacobs]

Thanks,

Just the way i'm looking at it is if I sell the phone, I could afford to pay off the contract and get out of this mess.

I think it's atrocious that phone companies mislead people in this way.

[Guest chucky.egg]

Why do you want to pay off the contract? If you feel that strongly that you want shot of it, go out buy yourself a new phone/contract and stop paying Orange. Send them the SPV and SIM back.

You'll have a fight on your hands, and you should exhaust all other obvious avenues for a solution first (i.e. give them opportunities to put it right, and keep documentation of what's said by whom and when), but they miss-sold you a product that was a major factor in your decision.

You're not alone in suffering from this, so others here may be able to help.

Personally, I'd get them to waive the GPRS charge and keep the phone. Despite all the niggles, bugs and issues it is a handy device.

[Guest shaia]

I had a very similar problem. I was told I had 3 months of TOTALLY FREE GPRS internet access ( not WAP) and that this also included any emails I was downloading directly to the handset. I asked 2 customer service people and 1 guy in their fax/data department and they all confirmed that this was true. I then recieved a bill for £200. I got Orange to investigate my bill but I was told I'd been charged correctly. I'm now on PAYG.

[Guest terryjacobs]

I had a very similar problem. I was told I had 3 months of TOTALLY FREE GPRS internet access ( not WAP) and that this also included any emails I was downloading directly to the handset. I asked 2 customer service people and 1 guy in their fax/data department and they all confirmed that this was true. I then recieved a bill for £200. I got Orange to investigate my bill but I was told I'd been charged correctly. I'm now on PAYG.

Did you manage to get out of the contract in the end ok?

[Guest rikwebb]

Did you buy it on your credit card?

If you did, speak to the credit card company, and explain the problem. You where mis-sold the item, and as such the credit card company can help you.

Take a look at the 'sale of goods act 1979' and its amendments, its supposed to protect the consumer from issues like this.

Write to Orange, quoting the act above, and state that you where given the wrong information as part of the sales pitch. You may be suprised what your offered.

The moral of this is, 'Know your rights', and demand them, politely.

Good luck, and let us know how you get on.

Rik

[Guest rikwebb]

FYI

See attached

Consumer Advice.doc