i am so frustrated

Mrs

hi everyone, i am sorry if this is in the wrong place,

in april i got an 18 month contract with orange. as soon as i got the phone home i saw that my reception completly died. it turns out in our area (in the country) reception is not covered by orange. i had to go to the end of my garden/yard to make or recive a call, in the house i would pick the phone up to see i had lots of missed calls.
i called orange and told them i could not use the phone, they told me i had signed the contract and could not cancel it now. anyway, i called again last night because i am getting tired of paying £35 per month for a phone i can only use if i travel 11 miles into town, after waiting an hour on the phone i was simply told that using the phone inside a building (eg my house) was not covered by the terms and conditions and they can do nothing.
i am now left with a n95 (that i waited 8 months to buy) that i cannot use.
is there anything i could do at all? i have 12 months left on the contract.

Oryx

Imo this is more suited to consumer issues or mobile phone forums. Actual legal advice cant be given here.

A couple of things I would try:

Plead to their sense of fairness and goodwill to cancel the contract.

Ask for a cancellation fee to opt out, if they do such a thing. (usually the price of the phone is heavily subsidised because you are taking a contract)

Go through the t&cs with a fine tooth comb to make sure they are right.

Unblock the phone for use on another network, so even if you have to pay out the last of the contract, the phone is of use to you.

hullaballoo

KtK wrote: »

Imo this is more suited to consumer issues or mobile phone forums. Actual legal advice cant be given here.

Agreed. Moved.

Doctor DooM

I am afraid you may be in trouble.

I do not know much about the laws in NI but down here there is a cooling off period. 6 months is way beyond it.

Your best bet may be to try and get them to terminate the contract with an amount lower than the rest of the contracts worth. Ask to speak to a team lead on it.

blackbelt

Or alternatively you can sabotage their business if they don't agree to rectify the situation by standing outside the shop with a placard.:D

Check for loopholes or small print in your contract.I'm afraid if there is no reference to coverage,you are screwed.Luckily it worked out for us.This happened to me and my gf on hols in Spain where they tried to charge us 10euro an hour for vacating the room 2 hours late but this was not specified or stated in the contract that we signed and after much arguing at reception,we got our full deposit back.

The term is called "transparency".The contract you signed must have reference to the coverage for you to get your money back or contract terminated.Their issue is bigger though.If you can't make calls or text,your bill will be quite low which will upset Top Management.

I suggest that if the retail shop does not come to a compromise,you should write a letter of complaint to head office.This would be your last resort.

ejmaztec

Might find something on Ofcom to help.

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consumeradvice/

Oryx

3 PROVISION OF SERVICES
3.1 what we aim to provide in the UK
We will take all reasonable steps to make the Services available to you at all times. The Services are only available within the range of the base stations that make up our Network. We cannot guarantee a continuous fault free service. Please note that: 3.1.1 the quality and availability of Services may sometimes be affected by factors outside our control - such as local physical obstructions, atmospheric conditions, other causes of radio interference, features or functionality of your Device, the number of people trying to use the network at the same time, and faults in other telecommunication networks to which the Network is connected.
3.1.2 the quality of our Services may not be at its best inside buildings or below ground
3.3 Any coverage maps are our best estimate but not a guarantee of service coverage which may vary from place to place.

Thats from the Orange website. It seems pretty watertight to me. They also say you can cancel your contract if:

You may terminate your Contract before the Minimum Term has expired if you pay us: 4.2.1 all Charges that are due, plus
4.2.2 a lump sum equivalent to the total of all the monthly or other periodic Charges still remaining on your initial Minimum Term agreement (except in the circumstances set out in Conditions 4.3 and 15.1). You'll be entitled to a rebate of 5% of that total if you terminate your Contract up to and including the first day of the last month of the Minimum Term.

Really, it seems that appealing to their kind nature is your only option. Theyve got themselves covered.

redrasta

I work for a 3rd party phone company, which will remain nameless, so I kno the ins and outs of it all. Unfortunately you waited too long to take any action. You should always go back as soon as you find somethin wrong. All networks have a "cooling down period" where you can cancel your contract, but thats only two weeks, after that your tied in.
My best advice is to just get your phone unlocked and sell it! Its worth €719 sim free on the Irish market. Sell it, Buy your way out of your contract(Drop to the lowest price plan first, it will cost you less), Get with another network, Get a free phone. AND STOP BUYING NOKIA!!! All the N-series phones are defective and have poor battery life. I see it all my working life. Get a sony ericsson. For battery life, robustness and all round usability they are the best.

Sam Vimes

all the N series are faulty? Wtf are you talking about? I also worked in a third party phone company until very recently and i can tell you that's a load of crap. I have had two N series phones and i now have an e series. All of them have been in perfect working order. I have of course seen faulty N series phones the same as any other model but i've seen a lot more dodgy k800s. The only one that came back slightly more than normal was the N73. Now if you'd said a 6111 or kg800 you'd have had a point

they do have a low battery life though. I'll give you that one

Musha

Complain Complain Complain to their Customer service Phone atleast once a week and ask them if they are going to do anything with the coverage, if you log enough calls and speak to supervisors they may just relent and free you from the contract. I know where is has happened with other networks.