Benni

I set the contract up around 4 months ago with the N97. £40 a month which includes the internet. The main reason I went for such an expensive contract was because I like the internet. That's the main purpose of the phone to be honest. I was on it most of today in college while everyone else watched a movie for Christmas.

Anyway, I've never been able to use Passionford, nor can I use any website to do with cars, the gym, sports, etc. It's all banned because of Orange Safeguard. Now when it first happened I found it amusing and phoned up to have it removed, and explained I was 23. They agreed and apologised and off it went. Not three days later it was back again. I phoned up again to be told that they didn't do it permanently last time, and will do this time. I said 'No worries', and put the phone down. All was well for about a week and then it went back to normal. At this point nothing I clicked from Google would work so I phoned back and was told that a lot of people get contracts for their Daughters, who are underage and this is the reason it keeps coming back on. I told them this was a joke, as I don't have kids. They explained I could be the child, which was a load of crap. They basically claimed I was a girl who got a contract off their parents.

I found this amusing, and they agreed to turn it off again. Not two weeks later and it was back on. Honestly, it's been like this for as long as I've had the phone. I've been in the store and they've agreed it's a joke, and admitted all the reasons they are giving me are either out of his head, or wrong because it's not the case. The last excuse was because I hadn't registered the phone, and I told him to try something else, as that's been used twice already.

I then spent hours, and I do mean hours on the phone pressing loads of buttons on my phone and giving him all kinds of different numbers, and then he assured me this was the big problem, and now he's fixed it. They knocked £5 off my bill and I was just happy it was fixed. Low and behold, not two weeks later and the Orangr Safeguard is back. So I am back in the shop and I said I didn't wish to speak with anyone on the phone, as I was sick of their crap and I would probably say something terrible and regret it. The man agreed to speak on my behalf, and in the end he agreed it wasn't acceptable and asked them whay they were playing at. They eventually told me the problem was the phones firewall, and that it wasn't a problem at there end. But, me and the man in the shop had already tried my sim in another phone and it wasn't working.

This is the part that has tipped me over the edge. He decided, as he couldn't fix it, to give him a list of the sites I wish to visit, so I relucantly gave him a few, and then he said came back and told me they were not verified or something, and would remain blocked. So, I am 23 years of age having to verify the site I am on is acceptable for under 18, when it's a car website, and I am told it's not. This has been going on for months now, and last week I told them I'd had enough, nothing they was doing was working, and I'm paying for something I can't use. They told me they would do some great thing at their end, at a cost to them, but it would sort it, but as I was so upset, they'd do it anyway. You could tell he was talking through his arse, and then he knocked another £5 off my next bill.

The phone worked for a about a week and tonight I was back to square one. I went the shop and we was having a heated debate on the phone, and I said I would seek advice on cancelling the contract as he told me my problem isn't sufficient in cancelling it.

So, here I am. What can I do? I've had this phone for months, and I've used it to browse my regular sites like this one about three times. If I have to, I'll cancell the direct debit, but only as a last resort as my credit rating is awesome and I don't wanna' fuck it up.

Benni.

**caz**

not too sure how you can go about cancelling the contract tbh without paying it up how long is the contract for?

i have had the same issue with the orange safeguard, just not as many times as you I also use my internet at home through on of there orange dongles...this also from time to time will revert back to saying that im under 18 all i have to do each time is phone up tell them it has come on again on a car forum site which is not over 18 rated and they turn it off again! takes the piss that it keeps resetting itself but luckily it doesn't happen that often for me! It does happen on my phone too, not just on the dongle so i can relate to you on that!

There customer service is appauling, nearly every month they have over charged me somewhere along the line, and when i had an issue with my dongle where i couldn't connect to the internet at all...after making me drive 11 miles to a mates house knowing they had a dongle and trying that to find that it worked, they then made me delete bits and pieces off of my laptop to "solve" it which didn't happen, they then suggested i go to the store, so 11 miles back and into the store i go, took my laptop with me and the store couldn't understand and they rang up the same people i had just spent 5 hours dealing with, who still didn't have a clue what they were doing. In the end the woman on the phone agreed to send me a replacement dongle by the next morning on "good will"....next bill comes in with £70 charge on it for the dongle replacement just one thing after another with them tbh!

hopefully you can find a way out of the contract and update us as to how! lol

good luck

x

Benni

I am 4 months into the contract. It's a good phone, and I would use it a lot if it worked. Yes, there customer service is the worst I've ever experienced. I've heard more manners from a man when being burgled. I couldn't believe at one point I was having to explain that I am not a female, and my Mother doesn't get me the phone in her name. For a start the phone is in a boys name, so it was obvious it was the first thing that came to his head. He said 'I will make sure it's me you deal with everyitme, as to make it as less stressful as possible. When I asked for his Brother Barry Chuckle instead, he was not amused. Then I said 'Wait a minute, Jeremy Beadle has just climbed from under the desk'. If it wasn't for the fact that I manage to humour them most of the time, I'd have cracked up I reckon. It's ridiculous!

Benni.

Rick

got an iPhone on Orange, and can access anything

zetec-Sam

iTrader: (2)

Fucking orange mate. Them an T-mobile are fucking shit. I got a vodafone, didn't even know it was blocked for under-18's (I didnt use the internet much in the first few days) and randomly got a phone call from some woman who went 'I see you're over 18, want me to remove the parental controls from your phone?' Obviously I said yes. Try and get in contact with whichever body controls phone contract rights or whatever? (I don't know who its is though, sorry)

Benni

Good advice, Slamz. Never thought of that, cheers.

Benni.

Big-Dan

iTrader: (2)

Did you take the contract out at phones4u by any chance?

When I went to the Orange shop they told me they don't directly supply the N97 as it doesn't react well to Oranges software.

If your serious about cancelling your contract why not try and get hold of trading standards, I'm sure there in some breach of contract through lack of a agreed quality of service.

Big-Dan.

BM08

What aload of bollocks, i would cancel it on the terms your not getting what you pay for, and its not like your on a cheapy contract either, they should be bending over backwards to keep your custom.
Fuck them off if you can, your not getting the full use of that phone.

RichieST

iTrader: (2)

That is shit benni, you are quite right in saying that if you are paying for service you are not receiving then you have your right to complain about it!! Go in the shop, take your flask of coffee and some butties, tell them your not leaving til its sorted, and you'll be there all night if necessary!

Benni

I've done a similair thing at the bank when I got a charge and I sat there 'til well gone closing time. They eventually agreed to give me the charge back when the computers are back on in the morning. However, this time I bought it from Carphone Warehouse, and the lads in their are on my side. If it wasn't for my amazing credit rating I've built up, I'd have axed the direct debit months ago no problem. But I need to do it the legit' way for my own sake.

Benni.

RichieST

iTrader: (2)

In that case, ring orange, tell them your not hanging up until its sorted, even if you've got your phone to your ear all night

Rick Astley

You have to raise a formal complaint and follow the companies complaint procedure prior to complaining/raising a complaint to Ofcom.

Benni

Thank's Rick. I'll never give this up.

Benni.

Oranoco

Sale of goods act 1984 "Goods must be for for the purpose for which they are sold" The goods are not fit for purpose. I have had a very similar row with T-Mobile and they back pedalled like mad

BM08

Shocking

It's Czech Mate

Just stop looking at porn when the safeguard is off

Benni

I use my Sky Wi-Fi in the bath for that... LOL! Good reply Oranoco!

RSTurboSI

iTrader: (1)

Depends all down to your contract conditions. best way is to really get some legal advice. as i don't think there is many on here with legal experience. Good luck Benni

st3v3

Benni, i had simila problem but with signal loss, i complained month in and month out, in the end i decided to tell them that THEY have caused breach of contract by not providing ME with a service i'd payed for, tell them when you conplain next , that you want it esculated to the next level and you want someone to phone you back within 1 day with an answer to your problem, ie a result, not an exuse.

When you finaly get pissed off with them talking shite tell them you want to terminate the contract because of the said breach on thier behalf, so its thier fault not yours, if you stop paying them, they win, so keep paying them till you get an agreement that youre happy with.

It worked for me i got out of an 18 month contract after 11 months.

They bulshitted me all over the shop mate, in the end i got out of the contract with the phone also.

Be persistant mate you will win.

Oranoco

This sounds like the problem I have with my current T-Mobile phones. Perfect reception and 3G up until I'm on it then the signal just fucks off

Pardeep

I'm moving over to 02 next month. T-mobile fucked me off alot this year the fooking cunts

st3v3

Orange told me my local mast was not working and that they would fix it, a month later it was sposed to be fixed but wasnt, then they told me coverage was good in my area but would send some fella out to check outside my house, which was an epic fail lol,eventually they gave up and terminated my contract admitting there was a problem at thier end.

Complain, complain and fooking complain, make them understand they are not perfect and do have problems and its not your fault for being misled by some poxy prety coverage map that they put up in the shop or on the net to say your signal will be great, when its crap.

mk3matt

hm, well it would seem you have been sold an item that isnt working how it should? check ur rights etc etc.


i work for a company that works hard to take NO returns, however, the persistant people always get one, so keep going mate, get a refund, whatever, threaten to go to SAB, publisixed there customer services, take takes, basicly, become a cunt and you'll get wot u want!

mk3matt

o, and im with o2, been spot bollock great for years and years

Benni

I received a text not five minutes ago while relaxing in the bath which told me my phone was now allowed full internet access to restricted sites. Gambling, dating and adult conent. But, not a minute later I received a second one telling me it had been restricted again. So I'm confident whatever he's done this time has completely fucking failed.

I'm glad you got yours sorted, Steve. Coverage is OK for me, so no problem there, thankfully. I would have geniuenly got a basic phone from netto for a tenner if I couldn't use the internet. I think if this goes back, I'll sack off all these flash phones and get an old basic Nokia or something.

You wouldn't mind as much if they admitted it was a fault, instead of claiming something was done correctly, or this wasn't ticked, or the phone wasn't registered, or we thought you was a 15 year old girl. LOL.

Benni.

Physio

Don't get me started on phone companies

I was with Orange for a good 14 years but after they said they couldn't do me a good enough deal this time around I decided to take the plunge & move to T mobile as they offered me 1000 mins any network anytime, 500 text messages, unlimited Internet & unlimited any number calls everyday between 7pm to midnight for £25pm - cracking deal I thought.....

I've been with them for 2 weeks & I've had a fair amount of trouble!
The first handset they sent me out (Sony Ericsson W995) had a fault with it as the earpiece volume wouldn't turn up so they sent me out an exchange - fair enough .........

Then the exchange phone arrived & the fucking thing kept freezing whilst I was using it!
On the phone to them again & they agreed to exchange the handset for another one so I had the Nokia N86 8MP, that turned up today ........ There's a fucking problem with the screen so I phoned them up again & after being on the phone to them for around 30 minutes they said they would send me an exchange out on Friday!

The cheeky operator said "This will be the last time we can exchange a phone for you" I said "well stop sending me knackered handsets & then you wont need to exchange them"

And to think, I've signed up to a fucking 24 month contract with these coonts - oh lordy

Isaac.Hunt

In addition to the Sale of Goods Act 1984, I would also be citing The Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 and also the Supply of Goods to Consumer Regulations 2002.

The solution to the problem is simple: Stop communicating with them by telephone or in person and write to them. Send a letter by signed for post stating that it is a "letter before action". Explain the problem and timeframe it needs to be rectified in. Futhermore, citing the above mentioned acts and regulations state that if the problem isn't permenantly rectified or the contract terminated, you'll be instigating a claim via the small claims court.

cjwood555

^^^ What he said.

N.B. you are well entitled to withold partial payment on the grounds of non-performance. You should write to them explaining that this is what is happening. You should also declare 'I AM PLACING THIS ACCOUNT IN DISPUTE UNTIL THIS IS RESOLVED' - that will stop them from registering defaults/enforcing what they perceive to be a debt until the dispute is resolved.

If you took them to court you would be entitled to claim for damages for the internet-portion of your bill for the entirety of the contract to date; the cost of the calls you made to them regarding the problem; travel+parking into town; your time and for distress.

Chris

5t1g

Benni stop fucking about in store and phoning them up and put them something along the lines of the below in writing, sent recorded / signed for service.

To whom it may concern,

I feel it may be necessary to canel this agreement because teh service being provided is not fit for purpose. The problem i have is internet browsing via the Orange network. All the sites i need to view are blocked by Orange Safe Guard. I am over 18, the contract is in my name and for my own use. I have contacted your customer service via phone and also in store to try and resolve this issue yet i am still unable to browse the internet using the Orange Network.

I feel i have gone way above what any customer should do in order to get what i have paid for hence I am writing to you to ascertain if what i am expecting is unreasonable?

If it isn't, can you please contact me and tell me what i need to do in order to browse the internet using the orange network because, despite paying XX each month, i am unable to do so. As mentioned above i have called into you branch XXXXXXXXX serveral times and also contacted you customer service by phone to no avail and have now reached a stage were i feel if Orange are unable to provide the service sold to me i will have no option but to terminate our agreement and seek service elsewhere.

5t1g

If still nothing happens and you want to be really shitty and have paid by direct debit you can claim all the payments back. Just called you bank up and say you wanna claim all the Direct Debits back for orange under the Direct Debit gaurentee. Should take 24/48 hrs, you should see some action then!!!

Be advised though they are still well within their right to charge you for the phone service, assuming it has been provided.

Benni

Some more fantastic advice. I'll make a note of those letters and make one letter and have it posted as soon as. Thank's again, I knew PF would know the answer!


Benni.

Rcjm88

Fucking Orange are a set of wankers!

I've had numerous problems with our internet connection with them. You speak to some one in technical that knows fuck all. They tell you blatant lies, they kept telling me the problem has been fixed when i was on the phone to them telling them it wasn't! I persistantly argued with them until i got to speak to some one in customer service and told them we're not getting what we paid for. I asked him if he would pay for a service he wasn't getting, the obvious answer was no! So i demanded that they cancelled the contract they gave me some bullshit telling me we have to give them a chance first to fix the problem to which i replied i've given you 3month's worth of chances to sort the problem, he couldn't really argue any more and agree'd we could cancel the contract! So if i was you i'd phone them up give them hell and don't put the phone down until they agree to cancel! Eventually they'll give in!

Good luck!

Dirty Harry

iTrader: (12)

I have also been having problems with orange for the past 7 months,got a HTC touch 3G in fact got 2 on my business tarrif,the phones are shocking I had 4 replacements fianlly gave me a new HTC hero it came saturday on sunday I had another delivered due to faults and wednesday another thats 3 phones in as many days,
once my contract is up iam gone ive been with orange about 15 years

DanW@FastFord

iTrader: (1)

Isn't that a problem with HTC rather than Orange themselves though? Granted they should sort you out quickly, but I've not heard a good word about HTCs.

Dirty Harry

iTrader: (12)

both are a problem mate,Oranage service is shocking of late,dropped calls,number not available,jumping in and out of service,its a joke,you would have thought with all the modrn tech we have phones calls would be easy

5t1g

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