Orange Stolen phone £1000 bill / ** RESOLVED AMICABLY **

[Unhappychappy55]

Hello, I'm a new user and new to forums in general. I would really appreciate some opinions from everyone on a large bill from orange.

 

After several phone calls I was finally told to email the executive.office @ ee.co.uk

 

I have since sent the message to executive.office @ orange.co.uk as there was no response but all I get back is their template email. I will copy my message below as it details the situation.

 

Thanks.

 

--------

 

Dear Sir or Madam.

 

I very much hope that you are able to help me.

 

On May 4th I went on a two day trip to Barcelona and whilst there my phone was stolen. At my earliest opportunity (and easily within 24 hours) I had to use a stranger's phone to call my mother back in the UK to block the phone on my behalf.

 

When I returned back home I called Orange myself to make sure that the block had been implemented without any problems and I asked if any calls had been made before the phone was blocked. I was told that there was a call made and the cost was 14 pence only. I requested a replacement SIM which arrived soon after. This call was made on May 6th at 9.47pm.

 

On the 29th I was in my local EE shop to look at a replacement handset and by chance alone was told that my monthly bill was more than £1068, there had been no other notifications of this. I was advised by the staff in the EE shop to cancel my direct debit until this issue was resolved.

 

On the 29th at 17.05 I called Orange and spoke to an operator named Trilok. I explained the situation and was told that as some of the calls seemed to occur after the phone was blocked, the billing team would be contacted to recalculate the amount. I told him that all of the calls made on May 5th were fraudulent and I was then told that 'all the calls made on the 5th would be waived'. I confirmed this with him several times. I was told that the billing team would contact me within 48 hours.

 

On the 31st at 13.37 I called again as I had not heard anything. I informed Orange that my direct debit had been cancelled on the advice of your staff.

 

On June 3rd I received two voicemail messages from Orange billing team. Unfortunately I was working in court that day so was unable to take either call.

 

However, at approximately 5.40pm on the 3rd I called back. I spoke to an operator called 'Bryan' who confirmed that all the fraudulent calls were removed from my account and that my bill should be no more than normal, as my bill had always been under £20. I re-confirmed this with him several times and was told that would be the case. With that assurance I agreed to set up a new direct debit for July and told him that as my previous direct debit was cancelled there may be a month where I hadn't paid. I asked if this would cause any kind of problem and was told it wouldn't as it should be rectified in the next payment. I also asked if there could be a £50 cap placed on my account but was told this wasn't possible. After the call ended I received a text from him at 6.06pm asking me to fill in a survey on his performance should one arrive (it didn't).

 

I was under the belief that all matters were resolved until I then had a text on the 8th demanding payment as there was no direct debit. I assumed that it would be an automated message as my June direct debit had been cancelled. I phoned all the same. I had a lengthy conversation with Mags Douglas who told me that there was no record of the recalculation of fraudulent calls as discussed on my 29/05 conversation with Trilok and she also informed me that the 03/06 conversation with Bryan didn't even appear on her system.

 

On the 11th (after several failed attempts to get on touch with Orange) I finally spoke to someone who confirmed that all calls are recorded and can be traced. It was also obvious to him that the fraudulent calls on May 4th were not made by me. He also confirmed that there was no record of the conversation I had with Orange on June 3rd.

 

I would like to formally request a copy of the phone conversations that took place on May 6th, May 29th, as well as the 'missing' call that took place on May 3rd. I would also like to formally request a copy of the phone conversation that took place when I moved over from 'pay as you go' to 'contract' detailing my terms and conditions.

 

I am a long standing customer and have always been very happy with Orange and the service you provide. I have recommended Orange to all friends and family. I have recommended Orange to my mother's company, which now has a business account with you which includes all her employees. On a personal note, I discovered this news after returning home from my wedding on May 25th and as I'm sure you can imagine it came as a very unwelcome surprise, our honeymoon plans are now on hold until this issue is resolved.

 

Kind regards

[Unhappychappy55]

p.s This email was sent in mid June and so far no one has been in touch. Thanks

[citizenB]

You might need to send a Subject Access Request to them. This will cost you £10.00 and they have 40 calendar days to comply. Whilst the request is for all data held, you could specifically request the call log from that period in question.

 

I would also suggest an Official Complaint to their Head office. If you get no joy from that, then I think you are going to have to make a complaint to the regulator.

[Unhappychappy55]

Thanks for the reply. Yes I think it might come to that, I was hoping that orange would simply check their own records and deal with it without that hassle (as some good companies do) but so far they have not even responded to my emails. I have tried orange helpers on twitter today to see if they will confirm receipt of my messages.

 

Although this is the only time something of mine has been lost/stolen, I do understand that I have a duty of care for my phone. But, to be twice told the matter is resolved and then a week later to be told it's back on again isn't acceptable.

 

I will keep people posted

 

thanks

[citizenB]

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?396171-Barcelona-Stolen-Phones-Fraudulent-Bills-Networks-waive-charges-after-Press-interst(26-Viewing)-nbsp

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2298750/Recruitment-worker-23-left-21-000-phone-thief-uses-stolen-mobile-premium-rate-spending-spree.html

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/consumertips/household-bills/10146634/My-1000-Vodafone-bill-for-a-lost-mobile.html

 

 

You might be interested in the article in the links above.

[Unhappychappy55]

Thanks, those made very interesting reading. I have read the one about the young lady with the £21000 bill before, it seems Barcelona comes up a lot!

 

Orange helpers turned out to be anything but... A short message saying your bill is correct and we can't give you any recordings of the phone calls as these are for our training purposes only.

 

I have now written to their head office and am awaiting a response.

 

I'm not sure how a company can say one thing several times and then change their mind, pretending the previous conversations didn't happen.

[citizenB]

Even if those calls are for training purposes, I think they are required to provide them in respect of an SAR.

[Unhappychappy55]

I would just like to keep anyone reading this updated.

 

The issue with orange is now resolved without the need for a SAR. After several un-responded emails to the executive office, I was finally contacted by a very pleasant and helpful woman who dealt with my case (copying in several senior managers and the CEO seemed to get the ball rolling, she even said that herself).

 

I won't go into too much detail but we came to an agreement where the vast majority of the bill was wiped out, they even offered me a replacement handset. I was all but ready to leave orange after this situation but the way this matter has been resolved has changed my mind.

 

If anyone else has a similar problem then my advice is to keep escalating the call/letter/email. You'll eventually reach someone in a position to help, don't stop at the call center/orange helpers as they turned out to be a waste of time in my case.

 

Thanks

[citizenB]

Thanks for updating unhappychappy.. I will amend your thread title to reflect the resolution.

[Lance Uppercut]

Hi,

 

Any chance you could give some more details on contacts etc. ?

 

My phone was stolen on 9th July, in 6.5 hours a £4356.11 was run up. This equates to over 320 hours worth of calls.

 

Orange said that "I would not have to pay" (Sasmita, 15th July) several times and everyone I have spoken to have been incredulous. It was sent for "re-calculation" but this was "denied" two weeks later.

 

I'm wondering which addresses you have written to as Orange have said this to me,

 

"I'm afraid we don't have a complaints department upon which you can write to. As a telecommunications company, we deal will all complaints over the phone and they are logged on your account so we can escalate through the relevant channel".

 

Now, they do list an address for complaints on their website so I'm not sure why I'm being lied to again.

 

Any help much appreciated, by PM if necessary.