Orange, O2, Vodaphone and all the other mobile phone companies will generally make life as hard as possible for you when trying to resolve any problems you may have. Many of them have designed their business systems and procedures in a way that are not client friendly or even helpful to resolving issues that arise.
In trying to resolve problems you will often ( normally ) be confronted with:
- Being passed from department to department to department!
- Being cut off when being passed from department to department to department!
- Promises of call backs that rarely or never happen!
- Letters that are ignored and ” lost ” in the post or even lost internally!
- Claims that your letters have never been received!
- Claims that they’ve never received previous calls and complaints!
- Threats from solicitors and even debt collection agencies!
DON’T PANIC AND FOLLOW THESE BASIC RULES IN ALL YOUR DEALINGS WITH THESE COMPANIES.
- Log all calls you make ( time and date ) and get the person’s name you’re speaking to and even where they are ( what call centre ) in the country ( or possibly abroad ).
- If you make a couple of phone calls and seem to be getting nowhere, ask to escalate your issue to a manager.
- If you have to speak to a manager and can’t obtain a suitable resolution to your problem, ask them for the web address of, or to send you their complaints procedure documentation. Ask them where to complain to in writing ( if your complaint is with regards to a bill or amount of money, tell them clearly on the phone that you dispute the bill and are not prepared to make any payment until the matter is resolved to your satisfaction. Try and get a full postal address and not a PO BOX address if you can. At this point write and complain giving full details of your problems and your attempts to date to gain a resolution.
- Follow their complaints procedure if you can in an effort to resolve your problems.
- Send all letters recorded delivery or get a proof of posting to a PO BOX.
Many companies seem to have forgotten about consumer law and consumer rights and will often skip from an amount/bill in dispute straight to a threatening solicitors letter or even worse . . . . the dreaded ” debt collector “!
The important thing to remember is that you are protected in law in many ways when you take out a contract with a mobile phone company or buy a phone from them.
The contract you enter into when you purchase an airtime agreement with a mobile phone company often incorporates their own ” Code of Practice ” as well. These Codes of Practice as well as your contract will often detail the fact the the company has to act in a fair and reasonable way in ALL their dealings with you.
In my experience and as a part of normal business practice, these codes of practice and contracts are not adhered to and they breach/break their terms as part of most complaint procedures.
Orange have an entertaing Code of Practice ( http://www1.orange.co.uk/documents/regulatory_affairs/orange_code_of_practice_for_consumer_affairs.pdf ) where they claim:
- We will deliver quality, value and excellent service to you.
- We will deliver quality and value for money, and always endeavour to put customers first.
Those are the first 2 ” business principles ” that Orange pride themselves on . . . . . . not in my experience and the dozens of people who contact me through Action Orange every month!
So . . . . . . you’ve done it all right, you’ve logged your calls, spoken to managers, written letters of complaint ( sent recorded delivery of course ) and followed their complaints procedure and STILL not achieved a sensible resolution . . . what do you do?
* NOTE * - Following the complaints procedures can be a waste of time ( months of time! ) and you will often never be given the opportunity to go that route before they set the solicitors and bailiffs on you! If this is the case, then you can skip their own complaints procedure and go straight to the small claims court.
Court action in my experience is the ONLY way to deal with these companies when they breach/break their contracts with you!
If you are forced to take legal action or want to take legal action, I would always advise getting of the data that the company holds you ( basically all your account details including phone call logs, letters etc ). This can help you in putting together a good case against the mobile phone company when they show logged calls from you on their system.
This is actually called a SAR or Subject Access Request ( subject to Data Protection legislation and a maximum £10 fee to get all your data ). You can make the request yourself in writing, but often these companies have their own form they will send out to fill in anyway. Orange have an online form for initial contact at: http://www.orange.co.uk/communicate/13409.htm
Taking court action should be a last resort and carefully. You may well find this the only way to gain a resolution to your problems. The Small Claims Court system is relatively easy to use and you can even make your initial claim online ( https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome ). The following websites give a variety of information and help: