My Father runs a small family business and has been a customer of Orange (Consumer and Business) for 15 years. Mid way into an 18 month contract he was contacted by a currently unknown Orange reseller stating he was due a phone upgrade, presumably beacuse he was 12 months into 18 month contract. He accepted th eoffer and was given a new Samsung Smartphone and extended his contract for a further 12 months. I have seen no evidence of any contract documentation that has been signed to extend, but was processed by Orange. He has stated he was not offerred a data tarrif, and as a gentleman of 63 years in age and has never used a computer has no knowledge of the internet, data volumes, megabytes etc.
He used the phone extensively for data usage in the first 6 weeks of ownership including the pre-installed Youtube applications. Part of the novelty of using the internet for first time I guess has caused data volumes to be so high.
On the second billing month he noticed large charges for part of first month and part of second month since the phone upgrade. The charges were £3 per Mb and usage approximately 400 megabytes in this time period.
He has contacted Orange but they say they cannot do anything about the charges and say he was offered a data tarrif?
I have since taken up the issue with Orange on his behalf but they say they cannot do anything to refund or provide credit on the account because A) It was sold through a dealer B) The services have been consumed.
The charge of around £1000 seems grossly unfair given that for £5 per month, he would have been well within the allowed usage.
I would like some advice on appropriate course of action.
I have spoken to Orange Customer services, raised to Team Leader and also to the Section leader. I am currently awaiting a call back from Executive team but don't think this will get anywhere.
The charges seem grossly unfair and I feel he has beem missold, or certainly not understood. I cannot prove a data tarriff was not offered and can't see any documentation to suggest he has or hasn't.
Any advice would be welcome - I have considered rasing with MPs, Ofcom and Watchdog as the industry needs to change with regard to the way data is charged.
Regards,
Paul
He used the phone extensively for data usage in the first 6 weeks of ownership including the pre-installed Youtube applications. Part of the novelty of using the internet for first time I guess has caused data volumes to be so high.
On the second billing month he noticed large charges for part of first month and part of second month since the phone upgrade. The charges were £3 per Mb and usage approximately 400 megabytes in this time period.
He has contacted Orange but they say they cannot do anything about the charges and say he was offered a data tarrif?
I have since taken up the issue with Orange on his behalf but they say they cannot do anything to refund or provide credit on the account because A) It was sold through a dealer B) The services have been consumed.
The charge of around £1000 seems grossly unfair given that for £5 per month, he would have been well within the allowed usage.
I would like some advice on appropriate course of action.
I have spoken to Orange Customer services, raised to Team Leader and also to the Section leader. I am currently awaiting a call back from Executive team but don't think this will get anywhere.
The charges seem grossly unfair and I feel he has beem missold, or certainly not understood. I cannot prove a data tarriff was not offered and can't see any documentation to suggest he has or hasn't.
Any advice would be welcome - I have considered rasing with MPs, Ofcom and Watchdog as the industry needs to change with regard to the way data is charged.
Regards,
Paul