Orange scamming me on contract bill - HELP!!!

MiresiaVertetaMiresiaVerteta Posts: 1,242
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I have just recieved a bill from Orange for £127. The phone bills are average, but I've had about eight items called Payforit at £4.50 a time. I've NOT used any premium services, and went over my mobile broadband dongle by about 100 mb.

I'm 18 months into this contract, and have been with this operator for six years. I am totally sickened, and I am not in a financial position to afford the bill.

Is there anyway to dispute the charge or get out of the contract a bit early?

Comments

  • RoushRoush Posts: 4,366
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    What did Orange's customer services say when you called them to query what the Payforit charges are for?
  • John_PatrickJohn_Patrick Posts: 924
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    http://www.payforituk.com/

    Payforit is the UK mobile micropayment scheme, created and supported by all of the UK mobile network operators (MNOs), enabling consumers to use their mobile phone account or prepaid balance to transact securely and safely when purchasing content and services on the internet.

    The Payforit scheme has been continuously developed by the UK MNOs to provide a consistent and transparent standard for paying by mobile so that consumers can buy with confidence when they are making one-off payments, making charitable donations or setting up subscription services via their mobile device or via the web.

    Have you been downloading paid for apps or in app purchases in a game?

    If not, do you let your kids use the phone?

    When I buy something from google play, I get the choice of payment methods, google account or payforit via my mobile bill.
  • Everything GoesEverything Goes Posts: 12,972
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    http://www.payforituk.com/

    Payforit is the UK mobile micropayment scheme, created and supported by all of the UK mobile network operators (MNOs), enabling consumers to use their mobile phone account or prepaid balance to transact securely and safely when purchasing content and services on the internet.

    The Payforit scheme has been continuously developed by the UK MNOs to provide a consistent and transparent standard for paying by mobile so that consumers can buy with confidence when they are making one-off payments, making charitable donations or setting up subscription services via their mobile device or via the web.

    Have you been downloading paid for apps or in app purchases in a game?

    If not, do you let your kids use the phone?

    When I buy something from google play, I get the choice of payment methods, google account or payforit via my mobile bill.

    A good idea is to make sure the phone is secured with a password that no one will be able to guess.
  • MiresiaVertetaMiresiaVerteta Posts: 1,242
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    No apps have been downloaded at all. There was a few weird texts on the dongle connection manager but I thought it was silly competitons so I ignored them. I have not called Orange either.

    I am on benefit now as I had lost my job and feel this is obscene charges. Orange has gone downhill since the EE merger and my confidence with them has gone.
  • DarthFaderDarthFader Posts: 3,880
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    I had spam on Whatsapp which if I had clicked on it entered my phone to a phone subscription based comp. could be that.
  • legends wear 7legends wear 7 Posts: 2,102
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    so you suffer from bill shock and rather than phone the network and ask for assistance, you come onto an internet forum and ask the advise of strangers who cannot access your account to help.
  • jon41jon41 Posts: 1,427
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    You need to contact Orange ASAP, state that you dispute the account balance - this then means you state what's wrong, they look into it and get back to you.

    Also ask them to put the premium rate block on the account.
  • John_PatrickJohn_Patrick Posts: 924
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    jon41 wrote: »
    You need to contact Orange ASAP, state that you dispute the account balance - this then means you state what's wrong, they look into it and get back to you.

    Also ask them to put the premium rate block on the account.

    ^ This.

    It will also be pointless ranting at them when you call. Ask the CS rep for 'help' and your more likely to get that help and resolution.

    A few months ago, I was raging at my daughters phone bill of £128. Once I had calmed down I called Voda and asked them to look at the bill and tell me where the charges had come from (exactly... numbers, texts etc).

    They went away and said that my daughter had been making lots of very short calls, all of which had eaten into her 300 free minutes (a 3 second call equates to 1min billed) and then gone over her minutes. BUT, their billing system had messed up and somehow (she didnt say how) and they knocked off £108. I didnt rant at them and was polite. The CS girl couldnt be more helpful. As a gesture of goodwill, they also added 25 MMS a month to the account for free. Happy days :-)
  • The Lord LucanThe Lord Lucan Posts: 5,054
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    So you are querying only the £38 on your bill. This thread is a bit extreme for that, seeing as you've not even tried to resolve it. Ask Orange to take a look into it but rarely are these things the networks fault.

    As for the 100mb over, you will get hammered for going over so I'd advise keeping an eye on your usage a bit more.
  • MiresiaVertetaMiresiaVerteta Posts: 1,242
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    Rang Orange, might as well spoke in Bhasa Indonesia to them! claim it is my fault saying I used Ebay which is a load of bull as I have not bought anything off there since May 2012.

    The allowance, they kept cocking it up giving me 250mb one month, 500 the next, so its partly mine and theirs. I need to ring Payforit, but they didnt give me the number. not helpful.

    Seriously considering switching, since EE came along it has got worse.
  • Thine WonkThine Wonk Posts: 17,190
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    Rang Orange, might as well spoke in Bhasa Indonesia to them! claim it is my fault saying I used Ebay which is a load of bull as I have not bought anything off there since May 2012.

    The allowance, they kept cocking it up giving me 250mb one month, 500 the next, so its partly mine and theirs. I need to ring Payforit, but they didnt give me the number. not helpful.

    Seriously considering switching, since EE came along it has got worse.

    http://www.payforituk.com/pages/contact.html

    Customer enquires (for instance regarding charges appearing on mobile phone bills) should be directed to the Customer Services department of the relevant mobile operator.

    .. say Payforit.

    You need to be more firm with Orange and ask to speak to a manager. The network should be able to deal with this for you.

    What exactly are they saying the payforit transactions are for? What information did they give you.

    If you can't get it resolved then the regulator is http://www.phonepayplus.org.uk/ 0800 500 212 for payforit at the moment. They will be able to receive and act on a complaint and force the operator to refund if necessary.
  • Everything GoesEverything Goes Posts: 12,972
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    Rang Orange, might as well spoke in Bhasa Indonesia to them! claim it is my fault saying I used Ebay which is a load of bull as I have not bought anything off there since May 2012.

    The allowance, they kept cocking it up giving me 250mb one month, 500 the next, so its partly mine and theirs. I need to ring Payforit, but they didnt give me the number. not helpful.

    Seriously considering switching, since EE came along it has got worse.

    Have a look at your eBay account to find out what the purchases were....
  • MiresiaVertetaMiresiaVerteta Posts: 1,242
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    Have a look at your eBay account to find out what the purchases were....

    I've doubled checked every text message sent in the dongle's message centre/connection manager. There is one for playnet.mobi saying £4.50 a week. No-one has ordered any games or apps, or anything off Ebay. This was installed the day the dongle was activiated.

    Likely, Orange have scammed me.

    Also, I read that if you're 18/19 months in, you can walk away from the contract. Is this true?
  • Thine WonkThine Wonk Posts: 17,190
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    I've doubled checked every text message sent in the dongle's message centre/connection manager. There is one for playnet.mobi saying £4.50 a week. No-one has ordered any games or apps, or anything off Ebay. This was installed the day the dongle was activiated.

    Likely, Orange have scammed me.

    Also, I read that if you're 18/19 months in, you can walk away from the contract. Is this true?

    Orange have not scammed you.

    Something has happened, whether it's malware on your computer or whatever. I recommend my advice above.

    Do you see the messages in the outbox of your connection manager? or only acknowledgement messages. It is possible that there is some fraud going on with somebody in the supply chain / shop you bought it from where they have signed it up prior to selling it, did you buy the dongle or sim from Ebay? if so that could very well be the case as somebody is getting that £4.50 per week.

    Where did you get the sim card from? I'm confused as you say you've been in contract for 18 months, but then you say you were subscribed on the day you activated the dongle.
  • MiresiaVertetaMiresiaVerteta Posts: 1,242
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    Thine Wonk wrote: »
    Orange have not scammed you.

    Something has happened, whether it's malware on your computer or whatever. I recommend my advice above.

    Do you see the messages in the outbox of your connection manager? or only acknowledgement messages. It is possible that there is some fraud going on with somebody in the supply chain / shop you bought it from where they have signed it up prior to selling it, did you buy the dongle or sim from Ebay? if so that could very well be the case as somebody is getting that £4.50.

    Where did you get the sim card from? I'm confused as you say you've been in contract for 18 months, but then you say you were subscribed on the day you activated the dongle.

    The dongle was part of an offer for £10 which was activiated and came from an order placed over the phone at Orange.

    I will do a malware scan.
  • Thine WonkThine Wonk Posts: 17,190
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    Try Malwarebytes, it's free.

    Was the message in the sent box of the dongle? if so then that's proof something was sent from the machine, whether it was by another member of the family, malware or whatever.

    If you've only got a response but nothing showing as sent then I'd continue to pursue it with Orange first, say you want to make a complaint to the complaints team, then after 7 days if no joy go to phonepayplus as I posted earlier as Ofcom has designated them the regulator for Payforit transactions.
  • MiresiaVertetaMiresiaVerteta Posts: 1,242
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    I have the program in question, and I have no suspcious files or viruses at all. The message was in the inbox as congratulations you have signed up to playnet blah blah blah.....

    Thanks for the advice Thine Work. The bastards are not getting away with it that easy.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 13,367
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    So the message in your inbox says you've signed up for a premium service costing £4.50 a week. It sounds like at some point, you've signed up for it, even mistakenly.

    I don't really see what this has got to do with Orange. They're not trying to scam you.
  • Thine WonkThine Wonk Posts: 17,190
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    That doesn't mean the OP sent a message though, it's possible there's some scam going on somehow. There is a similar thread of MoneySavingExpert from somebody else who said they didn't subscribe.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 13,367
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    Thine Wonk wrote: »
    That doesn't mean the OP sent a message though, it's possible there's some scam going on somehow. There is a similar thread of MoneySavingExpert from somebody else who said they didn't subscribe.

    Possibly, yeah. But it's not Orange trying to run a scam.
  • MiresiaVertetaMiresiaVerteta Posts: 1,242
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    Has anyone got linkage to that thread?
  • Thine WonkThine Wonk Posts: 17,190
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    Has anyone got linkage to that thread?

    http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=3388114
    http://community.giffgaff.com/t5/Help-Ask-the-community-got-stuck/Payforit-KKOMobile-quot-text-STOP-to-quot-scam/td-p/6163550
    http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/investigations/2012/06/mystery-bills-from-mydoo.html

    Seems this has been going on for a long time. A lot of it is caused by in app fees that people don't realise or rogue applications on smartphones.

    The OP however was using a mobile broadband dongle, meaning it's unlikely they would have paid for purchases in this way.

    I think it's got to be Orange complaints first, then phonepayplus. If you get nowhere then complain to the CEOs office.

    If you didn't request the service you will get your money back
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