My tales of woe have only started recently, but finding this forum has at least given me the comfort that other people are going through similar problems to myself.
For many years I have been a freeserve/wanadoo/orange customer without much drama (I just lazily let the contract go on with a 1mb connection, then onto 8 meg), as well as a Orange mobile user.........No complaints so far.
This all changed recently when I called up customer services (lol) about an upgrade to my mobile as my contract would be finishing shortly.
I then learnt, by accident, that on the 10th Nov 2008 I had been placed on a home package which included an 18 month contract for my mobile, my landline and my broadband
Naturally I was slightly perplexed by this situation as I had never agreed, signed, requested, conversed or had any remote knowledge of any such contract.
The only thing I could think off was that a Customer Service Representative rang me around this time to ask how I was getting on with my broadband?
"Fine I replied, no problems at all."
"Oh thats good", says he,"so you are happy with the service and have no complaints?"
"No none at all thankyou very much, goodbye and have a nice day", says I.
So.......my bank statement turns up in January showing a debit of £10.51, I ring up services and find its for the cost of my calls from my landline as under the terms of my contract I need to pay this. It is then, after much digging, I realise what has happened and basically the s... hits the fan.
After doing the rounds of the call centres (I can't believe the actually employ these imbeciles), I manage to get through to escalations.....
At last I thought someone with a modicum of intelligence may be able to shed some light on what has happened.............so I find out i am indeed on an 18 month contract which started in November 08 and they cannot tell me how this has happened (surprise, surprise)
After backtracking rather quickly the girl on the line agreed to waive the contract completely, leave my mobile as it was, unhook my landline and give me 8 meg bb for £5 a month with NO contract.
Result or so I thought until I received my BT bill for the previous quarter at the end of Jan which showed I was still with BT all along and paying the full charges for my landline calls.
This was followed on 10th Feb with another bill for £15 worth of landline calls from Orange.................
In the meantime I noticed my speed on the 8meg unlimited package was a bit slow, so did a speed test for a few days which showed a D/l of approx 400kb..lol
So sitting back and thinking this through I realised what they had done:
I had been illegally placed on an 18 month contract by a representative of Orange.
They commenced stealing a DD for the call charges on this illegal contract, in the meantime leaving the original BT contract running.
When I found out about this they still carried on stealing money from my account.
They have now capped my download speed on my 8 meg line at 400kbs.
(blaming all the usual.....your line will only support that speed etc)
Moral of the story:
If anyone ever rings you up from Orange about anything at all, tell them to go away and fornicate as forcefully as you can.
Be aware that at any time Orange will try to extract contracts and monies by any means possible........including illegally.
Even after they are aware that you have found out about their illegal operations they will still steal from you as long as you have a DD set up with them.
If you kick up any sort of a stink after finding out about their illegal conduct you will then be capped on your speed, regardless of what speed you are on.
The only saving grace from all this is that they sheepishly waived the illegal contract, and I am free to find an ISP who act honestly and provide an acceptable level of customer support.
Glad to hear that in the end they admitted they were wrong by releasing you.
They do indeed rob millions of people by taking their money without providing etc.
I can thoroughly recommend o2 (now Sky) as a fantastic ISP and have had them for over a year now.
Fast, reliable service with free ENGLISH SPEAKING customer support representatives who do actually care and follow things through until sorted.
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