Someone from 'Customer Relations' called me yesterday but I could not answer and you cant phone back. I went through retentions and billing again today explaining the above and they say the charges still stand. Really makes my blood boil after the 500mb free us on £35 p/m that has just been announced.

If the correspondence Dept sas the charges stand then I am leaving Orange!

The attitude towards customers is appaling. Already been over 2 weeks since I contacted 'correspondance' by letter recorded delivery (and faxed) and nothing back.

Thanks for the advice Andrew.

I was never at any point given any notice of a change in the package of services that I was being offered. All I had was a verbal conversation 18 months back and again when I upgraded and I asked about it to be told that it would have to be renegotiated at some point. I was never told as far as I can remember a date when the package would end. Further on my bills there was never any length of time published with the listing of the package.

I will wait for a response from the Correspondance Department (or 14 days or so) but if it is not positive (i.e. they refund nearly all the charges).

I will, after further explanation of my appalling treatment, relay to them:

Terminating your Contract because Orange has changed its terms
4.3 You may also terminate your Contract if we vary its terms, resulting in an excessive increase in the Charges or changes that alter your rights under this Contract to your detriment. In such cases you would need to give us at least 14 days written notice prior to your Billing Date (and within one month of us telling you about the changes). However this option does not apply if:
4.3.1 we have increased the Charges by an amount equal to or less than the percentage increase in the All Items Index of Retail Prices published by the Central Statistical Office in the Monthly Digest of Statistics in any 12 month period; or
4.3.2 the variations we have made have been imposed on us as a direct result of new legislation, statutory instrument, government regulation or licence; or
4.3.4 the variation relates solely to an Orange Additional Service, in which case you may cancel that Orange Additional Service in accordance with Condition 15.1.

1. Where a third party content provider is identified as providing the Content, You may be contracting directly with that content provider and You will be subject to additional terms and conditions as notified to You by the content provider. For the avoidance of doubt You will remain bound by these Terms and Conditions to the extent they are applicable.

As grounds to ending my contract. I would then pay them all costs up to the point (14 days after the letter) of my termination except those that resulted from their change in service provision. If they decided to press it further I will go through their complaints department, billing integrity OFFCOM, the related third party ombudsman scheme and if need be the courts. I will explain the vagueness of the verbal agreement, the lack of written details and the complete absence of any notification of a change to my service provission. I will then go on to explain that I was paying £8 a month for 1000mb of anytme UK data and without notification I was put on to a service which charged more than 500x the cost of the original service. This is like paying £10 for your electricty a month on a special offer and suddenly without any warning (apart from in the orginal conversation) getting a bill for over £5000 for the same service. I would like to see Orange justify that in a Court of Law.

I have been with Orange for nearly 2 years. At one point I managed to get the 1000mb a month unlimited browsing for £8 a month. I had no written confirmation of a time limited ever although when I last upgraded I think I was told it would have to be renegotiated at some point. Well on my May (12th) Bill it was still listed under summary when I got the bill for June it was £654.49 with £600 for data (200mb @ £3 a mb). Obviously on this bill it was gone from the summary. After speaking to 2 people in billing they told me I had to pay it as A) I was given a verbal agreement and under allocation it was not listed on my May bill and was taken off after May 14th.

Well obviously this is crazy! Firstly I believe it was never explicitly explained to me that the bundle would end at a certain point, secondly there was no written time limit (i.e. in brackets on the bill) contract ever and thirdly this is an insane amount to charge.

I am in the process of writing a fax/letter to the correspondance dept and I will be scrutinising my May bill. There attitude is appalling and obviously I will have to fight this all the way as at worse on my part it is an oversight on a verbal agreement made 18months ago. I was given no warning or offer to change.

Further if anyone knows but I have heard that the £3 a mb data is only for a certain amount and then it goes down to £1.50 per mb. If this is true that are even overcharging on this extorniate amount.