are 1stopphoneshop running some sort of scam ?!

[Guest Croccy22]

Hey Sponge.

Your not the only one having this problem. Acording to ornage i have two phones. One which i sent back to onestopphoneshop last november.

Orange can't cancel the contract because they have not recieved the phone back in time. Have spoke to onestop and the last phone call i had they hung up on me after telling me there was nothing they could do.

I then phoned back and threatened legal action. The guy i spoke to told me the reason they were not doing anything was because, "they are waiting for the handset to go fraud" so they can send it back and still claim the commission on the handset. (Don't think he was meant to tell me this).

Have spoken to orange again since (They have been very helpfull). They are now launching an incident against onestop. And they have asked me to write a letter of complaint to the Orange correspondence Dept in Bristol. And they are going to sort the matter out directly with onestop.

I would be interested to keep in touch with you about what happens in your case.

Matt

[Guest shadamehr]

Croccy - on the contrary - all of US would be VERY interested to hear the outcome of YOUR case, and what Orange do with regards Onestop.

Please offer us a genuine promise that you will keep us updated here?

We'd LOVE to hear what happens.

Cheers mate!

[Guest sponge]

I got a phone call from a nice lady in Orange letting me know they have decided to close the account and suspend all monies owed. So the matter is closed, for me - not too sure about the shop though...

She did mention that The Onestopphoneshop hadn't responded to them regarding the matter and I think that was a factor in getting the issue resolved in my favour. That combined with the fact the SIM card hadn't been used since November (when I last used it).

Ironically, the day after the phone call I got another letter from Orange demanding immediate payment on the contract they were supposed to have closed. However, I think that is just a computer error - automatically sending out letters, threatening legal action and a visit from the baliffs.

I'm still going to keep an eye on this, in case it comes back and tries to bite me on the arse.

[Guest lowbug]

One for the search engines >>>

DO NOT BUY FROM ONESTOPPHONESHOP!

They simply suck :)

[Guest dan]

Sponge, do you have the name and extension of the nice lady from Orange.

I sent back my phone within 14 days but it turns out it was just outside this period because the connection was made earlier than I thought. Onestop confirmed it was be no problem though and refunded the cost of the phone. 5 months later the phone account is still active and I have been paying every month for it. Got a number of phones and don't want to have hassle with Orange.

Keep getting told it will be cancelled but it never happens.

I want my money back.

Dan

[Guest sponge]

Sorry, I didn't ask for it. (I recorded the date of the conversation, but nothing else.) I wish I had now because I just got a very disturbing call from a debt collection agency, on behalf of Orange! :-s

/me clears throat

Let me tell you a story...

At approximately 1245 this afternoon my telephone rang. My girlfriend picked it up. It was one of those calls where there is a delay of a few seconds before anyone speaks. This usually indicates a call centre and both of us tend to hang up before they have a chance to speak. But this time they got through. #-o A woman asked for me. Ruth asked who/where/why they are calling (as you do) and a very obnoxious woman would only give her name, nothing else. Enraged, Ruth handed me the phone. (OT: Ruth works in a customer service department herself and she is very good at her job, so when people call us and aren’t good at theirs, Ruth tells them! :) )

The woman identified herself as being from a debt collection agency (probably why she wouldn’t speak to Ruth, but no excuse for rudeness) and that they have been tasked to recover over £200 on behalf of Orange. I managed to interrupt her and told her the matter had been resolved on the 27th April, with Orange closing the account and my owing nothing. This obviously confused her, as she put me on hold and the next voice I heard was male and that of her manager. :shock:

Now he was even more obnoxious than the previous caller and was completely unwilling to listen to me. I tried to explain the situation, but he was insistent that I owed this money. He had the nerve to try and explain how phone contracts work and that I had to pay for the time I had the phone. Even after telling him I only had the phone a couple of days and used it twice, for no more than a few minutes, he still insisted that I owed over £200!

I was getting extremely annoyed and flustered by this point. My mind was racing, trying to think if things to say, whilst attempting to still remaining calm and polite. Then I thought, why bother? It’s not my problem! So I asked him to contact Orange if he didn’t believe me. The matter was out of my hands. At this point his attitude changed. He became downright abusive, saying he would not. So I hung up. I don’t need this s***, I thought.

So I now called Orange to get an explanation. At first the guy said I owed the money! :shock: But when I told him I had received a call on the 27th April telling me I didn’t, he seemed to change his stance. (He woke up and smelled the coffee.) Orange have closed the account and they have suspended all monies owing. But the system won’t catch up until my next bill date (17th May)! I asked what I was meant to do until then. After all, I have a debt collection agency on my back. He asked me to call collections. :evil:

By now I am very angry. I am looking for blood. I am also close to having a coronary my heart rate is that fast. I took a few deep breaths and called another department, Orange Collections…

To cut an already long story short, she confirmed (again) that the matter is resolved, but not ‘officially’ until the 17th May (my next bill). The debt collection agency was (apparently) told this a day or two ago, but they too it seems haven’t got a system that can react to changes quickly enough to prevent unnecessary aggravation to their customers/clients/me.

I wanted to complain about the abusive debt collection agency, but Orange are passing the buck on that one too. If I want to register a complaint, I need to make it direct to NCO Financial Services Ltd. Like I need that sort of stress?!

As with most situations like this, after the event you come up with a host of things you should have said/done at the time. I just hope you benefit from reading this as much as I have from writing it. My heart rate is now <120 :wink:

PS Dan, I would speak to trading standards. They are the only people I have spoken to since last November that were helpful and courteous. I would be tempted to cancel the direct debit to prevent losing more money. But this may have a negative effect. So I would ask TS for their advice. I was lucky in that I didn't have a dd set up for the account.

[Guest dan]

Hope your problem sorts itself out.

Can't cancel the direct debit because I have about 10 phones and have no problem paying for those.

Spoke to a nice lady at Orange this morning who said she would do something. Can but hope. Previously Orange have told me that this is a problem I have to sort out with the shop.

Dan

[Guest sponge]

Previously Orange have told me that this is a problem I have to sort out with the shop.

Dan

I think that is a standard 'passing the buck' response. I was told this the first few times I called Orange back in Nov/Dec 2003.

After they realised the matter wasn't getting resolved they took a few details and filed some sort of 'retailer report' and promised to investigate - nothing happened.

After a few more months they seemed to take positive action. But it's still taken them over 6 months.

I imagine when the matter is resolved, they should refund the money you have paid. But I would still call Trading Standards, and maybe your bank, and ask for advice on ways to prevent further payments being taken. The money should be in your pocket, not theirs. I am sure they won't pay you back with interest!