Unauthorised charges on Orange mobile phone bill?

Hi, hope someone here can offer some advice.

I took out a 12 month contract with Orange in July and today receieved my
first itemised bill.

There were four charges itemised as "multimedia services recd", each on
consecutive Thursdays, each from a five digit number beginning with 84 and
each for £1.28 (excl VAT).

I have no idea what these charges represent so I telephoned Orange. The guy
I spoke to was totally un-cooperative and basically said that I must have
downloaded some ringtones or logos and I either paid the charges or I risked
getting cut off and a bad credit rating.

When I told him I wanted Orange to bar any other such crap from hitting my
account he said Orange couldn't do that. When I told him I wanted the
disputed charges placed in abeyance until we'd got to the bottom of this
matter he again said that wasn't an option.

In other words, totally uninterested.

At which point he abruptly hung up.

I assume there's some sort of scam going on but what, realistically, are my
options? I'm more than happy to kill the direct debit instruction Orange
hold on my bank account and send them a cheque for the full bill minus the
disputed charges but I suspect that won't work.

Orange's attitude seems to be that they're the ones billing me but it's my
responsibility to chase up anything I don't agree with?

Genuine, feasible responses only please.

> Hi, hope someone here can offer some advice.
>
> I took out a 12 month contract with Orange in July and today receieved my
> first itemised bill.
>
> There were four charges itemised as "multimedia services recd", each on
> consecutive Thursdays, each from a five digit number beginning with 84 and
> each for £1.28 (excl VAT).
>
> I have no idea what these charges represent so I telephoned Orange. The
guy
> I spoke to was totally un-cooperative and basically said that I must have
> downloaded some ringtones or logos and I either paid the charges or I
risked
> getting cut off and a bad credit rating.
>
> When I told him I wanted Orange to bar any other such crap from hitting my
> account he said Orange couldn't do that. When I told him I wanted the
> disputed charges placed in abeyance until we'd got to the bottom of this
> matter he again said that wasn't an option.
>
> In other words, totally uninterested.
>
> At which point he abruptly hung up.
>
> I assume there's some sort of scam going on but what, realistically, are
my
> options? I'm more than happy to kill the direct debit instruction Orange
> hold on my bank account and send them a cheque for the full bill minus the
> disputed charges but I suspect that won't work.
>
> Orange's attitude seems to be that they're the ones billing me but it's my
> responsibility to chase up anything I don't agree with?
>
> Genuine, feasible responses only please.
>

The Direct Debit Guarantee means that if you dispute a variable amount which
is to be taken from your account, write immediately to your bank and they
will refund you first, and ask questions later. Copy Orange and tell them
this is what you're doing.

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Gemma King <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> Hi, hope someone here can offer some advice.
>
> I took out a 12 month contract with Orange in July and today
> receieved my first itemised bill.
>
> There were four charges itemised as "multimedia services recd", each
> on consecutive Thursdays, each from a five digit number beginning
> with 84 and each for £1.28 (excl VAT).
>
> I have no idea what these charges represent so I telephoned Orange.
> The guy I spoke to was totally un-cooperative and basically said that
> I must have downloaded some ringtones or logos and I either paid the
> charges or I risked getting cut off and a bad credit rating.
>
> When I told him I wanted Orange to bar any other such crap from
> hitting my account he said Orange couldn't do that. When I told him
> I wanted the disputed charges placed in abeyance until we'd got to
> the bottom of this matter he again said that wasn't an option.
>
> In other words, totally uninterested.
>
> At which point he abruptly hung up.
>
> I assume there's some sort of scam going on but what, realistically,
> are my options? I'm more than happy to kill the direct debit
> instruction Orange hold on my bank account and send them a cheque for
> the full bill minus the disputed charges but I suspect that won't
> work.
>
> Orange's attitude seems to be that they're the ones billing me but
> it's my responsibility to chase up anything I don't agree with?
>
> Genuine, feasible responses only please.


I can't see what this has got to do with Broadband - shouldn't you be
sending it to uk.telecom.mobile?
--
Cheers,
Tim
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On Wed, 18 Aug 2004 21:56:59 UTC, "Gemma King" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

> There were four charges itemised as "multimedia services recd", each on
> consecutive Thursdays, each from a five digit number beginning with 84 and
> each for £1.28 (excl VAT).

They'll be premium text messages (incoming). Check your text messages on
your phone. Then tell us what they were. The number might help, too.

> I assume there's some sort of scam going on but what, realistically, are my
> options?

Find out what they were and then argue the toss again. Ask to talk to a
supervisor. But find out what they were, first.

It may be that you asked for some information via text message and
didn't read the small print. Perhaps, anyway.


--
Bob Eager
begin a new life...dump Windows!

In message <LgQUc.2760$(E-Mail Removed)>, Gemma King
<(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>Hi, hope someone here can offer some advice.
>
>I took out a 12 month contract with Orange in July and today receieved my
>first itemised bill.
>
>There were four charges itemised as "multimedia services recd", each on
>consecutive Thursdays, each from a five digit number beginning with 84 and
>each for £1.28 (excl VAT).
I've had this appear on one of my 'phones. Call them back and ask them
to find out when the service was requested. If there's no requesting
message from your 'phone then there's every chance they will cancel
them.
>

--
Clint Sharp

See my reply in uk.legal

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Please add "[newsgroup]" in the subject of any personal replies via email
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"Gemma King" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:LgQUc.2760$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi, hope someone here can offer some advice.
>
> I took out a 12 month contract with Orange in July and today receieved my
> first itemised bill.
>
> There were four charges itemised as "multimedia services recd", each on
> consecutive Thursdays, each from a five digit number beginning with 84 and
> each for £1.28 (excl VAT).

Big Brother voting? Their numbers are 5 digits and start with 84. Whats the
full number as itemised on your bill?

In article <4123d1dd$0$89497$(E-Mail Removed)>,
(E-Mail Removed)lid (Trent SC) wrote:

> The Direct Debit Guarantee means that if you dispute a variable
> amount which is to be taken from your account, write immediately to
> your bank and they will refund you first, and ask questions later.

Not true - this is only where the amount drawn is not as notified...

--
Paul Cummins - Always a NetHead
Wasting Bandwidth since 1981

https://www.flextel.ltd.uk/cgi-bin/s...h?page=A119302

> > The Direct Debit Guarantee means that if you dispute a variable
> > amount which is to be taken from your account, write immediately to
> > your bank and they will refund you first, and ask questions later.
>
> Not true - this is only where the amount drawn is not as notified...
>
No. To quote from www.directdebit.co.uk:
"If an error is made by the organisation or your bank or building society,
you are guaranteed a full and immediate refund from your branch of the
amount paid."

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Trent SC <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>>> The Direct Debit Guarantee means that if you dispute a variable
>>> amount which is to be taken from your account, write immediately to
>>> your bank and they will refund you first, and ask questions later.
>>
>> Not true - this is only where the amount drawn is not as notified...
>>
> No. To quote from www.directdebit.co.uk:
> "If an error is made by the organisation or your bank or building
> society, you are guaranteed a full and immediate refund from your
> branch of the amount paid."

It's not always easy, though, to convince your bank that an error *has* been
made - they don't just take your word for it!

--
Cheers,
Tim
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