Have been away for a while but I can't find any other posts on this topic so have started a new one.   Orange are, apparently, compelling contract customers to have itemised billing at a cost of £1.70 per month.   My son is FURIOUS about this as he renewed his contract only in July instore and specifically signed the box opting out of itemised billing, this contract was countersigned by the store manager.   Is anyone else aware of this?   Has anyone else done anything aboout it eg successfully challenged it?   If so, how?   I am assuming, cynically, that Orange have decided to do this to make up the shortfall caused by them being forced into a U-turn over other proposed price rises (this is is another thread).  Any help/advice would be gratefully received.  Thanks.

Is this £1.70 charge for Orange to send him a hardcopy through the post only?

Bills can be downloaded from Orange's website. Does this charge apply to them? If it doesn't, could he live with downloading them?

Yes, it is for the hard copy but that is what he wants and what we would always advise him to have.  He does not want the itemised bill, just the basic paper bill he has had for the last four years that he has had the contract with Orange.  He feels that they are in breach of contract in that he opted out of the itemised billing as he is content with the basic billing.  He has had ENORMOUS problems with Orange over the years - two major complaints to them in 2008 alone which were only resolved due to help from other forum members with contact details.   Their incompetence is breathtaking.  His computer is not the most reliable and, basically, none of us trusts internet billing on its own.   Why is he still with Orange, I hear you ask?   In our village, it is the ONLY mobile signal that we can receive at the house at all (& a lot of the time it fails, you can even lose signal between dialling & lifting the phone to your ear!!)  His anger is because he signed a contract in July & now that is being overridden without him being given any other option (in spite of the fact that Orange says this is "in response to customer demand").   As I said, I wonder if this is just a means of recouping the sums they expected to get from price rises which were abandoned.   I just wondered what other Orange customers were doing.  Again, any help/advice would be appreciated.  Thanks.

Are you saying that anyone who agreed to basic billing will now be switched to full itemised billing at their cost?

Or are you saying that pay monthly customers who opted to have no paper billing (basic or itemised) will now be opted in and charged?


I would feel inclined to write to drop an e-mail to the executive office.

Yes, as in your first sentence, those who opted not to have itemised billing are now being switched to it at their cost without any choice, (unless they agree to paperless billing, when they will still get that on an itemised basis even if they don't want or need it).

We will be contacting Orange and I was wondering about Trading Standards as Orange are breaching the contract.   As I said, I just wondered if any other Orange customers had any experience of this.

Just for your information I have an o2 'pay up front' contract and they charge me 99 pence plus VAT for an itemised bill every month.

Thanks for that Sherbert but did you agree to that when you signed the contract?   The point is that our son specifically did not but signed the opt out which was countersigned by the store manager.

Yes I did Barbara. I had the choice of wanting it or not. Mind you this was something like ten or so years ago and I decided at the time I did, it has remained the same price since then.

I agree with you, your son's case is not right. Call their bluff and pull out of the contract, they don't usually like losing customers. If they say he can't because he is breaking his contract, tell them they are breaking theirs. Good luck :)

There's a clause in the contract that says something like "if the provider changes the terms and conditions during the life of the contract in such a way that the terms are more onerous, or are to the detriment of the customer, then the customer can give 28 days notice to leave".

So, phone 'em up, quote the relevant stuff at 'em, and get a PAC number if you want to take your number to another network, or just give 'em the required 28 days notice if you just want the whole thing cancelled and don't require the same number on a different deal.

This seems like a back-door way of introducing a charge for paper billing, which is becoming the norm in the telecoms business. It sounds as though those who are already paying for itemised bills will be charged nothing extra, although the option for a summary only bill has been removed.

My tip would be to call Orange Customer services, taking the "I'm thinking of leaving Orange" option for a chat. The staff on that service are usually fairly clued-up on the ins and outs of issues, including the concessions available to retain customers. Unless there is a serious intention to leave, I would go for a write-off of the itemised billing fee for as long as I could get away with - ideally the remaining duration of the contract.

If writing to say that you find electronic billing unsuitable, for goodness sake don't do this by email. That would immediately weaken or destroy the argument. If only communication on paper is acceptable to you, then you need to demonstrate this.

I personally feel that only those with no reasonable access to the Internet have a gripe against a reasonable fee for paper billing, but sadly they are those least willing and able to make their voices heard as we push forward with "Digital Britain". I am sure that this change offers grounds for cancellation of the contract, indeed it was the threat (and reality) of mass defections that caused Orange to cancel the recently announced price rises for contract customers.


As for my situation with Orange, I am totally confused. I find that I am paying £1.28 per month for an itemised bill. It is so long since I joined and saw any paperwork that I have not got a clue what I have signed up for. (Does anybody understand any mobile tariff? - I have found a list of the eight different types of bill that Orange offers, but no table of charges.) I sometimes check the calls online, and dutifully file away the unread paper copies out of habit. I will have a chat with them later to see if I am paying for something I do not want. If I discover anything worthwhile I will post again.

Hi Barbra

I too have just received my orange bill informing me that in future I will be charged for an itemized bill.
I have just called orange, and told them that I want to continue to receive a bill summary for no charge as per my original contract.
They agreed to this with no problem, so I will continue to receive a bill summary, at no cost, for the remainder of my contract which ends in April next year.
I hope this helps.      

Hi there, yes, my son did phone Orange (delayed as he had had tonsilitis & couldn't speak).  The woman did agree to waive the charge having consulted her manager but did say "when you sign the contract you agree Orange can change the terms & conditions" which is a very wide-sweeping statement, I had thought, like many others, this would only apply to minor things eg statement date, not actual charges which are significant or something where you had specifically signed an opt-out such as the statement charge.  When I get time, I do intend to speak to Trading Standards (or Consumer Direct as I believe it is now called) to see what level of changes are considered acceptable in law otherwise Orange could double the monthly payment & it be considered OK which I am sure is not the case.

I suppose Barbara, they cover themselves in repy #8 posted by catj

Brymboman wrote on Sep 22^nd, 2009 at 1:23pm:

I too have just received my orange bill informing me that in future I will be charged for an itemized bill. I have just called orange, and told them that I want to continue to receive a bill summary for no charge as per my original contract. They agreed to this with no problem, so I will continue to receive a bill summary, at no cost, for the remainder of my contract which ends in April next year.

IIRC, when Orange stopped allowing free calls to freephone numbers on pay monthly tariffs, people reported ringing up and being given them for free for the remainder of their contract.

So, it seems, Orange try it on, then waive the charges for those who do complain, but profit unreasonably from the vast majority who accept the increased charges because they think they have no choice?  Legal but hardly moral!

Noting the cases of Bryboman and Barbara, it appears that the right to cancel a contract has to be threatened before a reasonable approach is ultimately taken. In the earlier example of extensive tariff changes, the right had to be invoked by many before an unreasonable variation was withdrawn. These are examples of consumerism at its worst.

Trading Standards and Consumer Focus are quite different bodies. The latter is the new name for the reconstituted National Consumer Council, which exists to protect consumers and operates an advice service called Consumer Direct. This can go no further than advising consumers on how to exercise their rights under civil law. The former is (or rather, are) operations within local authorities which aim to ensure a level playing field for traders, and hold enforcement powers in respect of breaches of regulation. (Perhaps someone with a better knowledge of legal matters will need to correct this.)

(P.S. I see that my first point echoes the comment added by Barbara.)

My understanding (certainly with Essex County Council) is that it no longer deals with its own trading standards issues, these are redirected to another body, Consumer Direct (DTI) which uses a nice(!) 0845 number 0845 404 0505 as a national contact number (hardly a lot of use if you hope to speak to someone with local knowledge of a rogue business!). Thanks to this website, there are a number of geographical alternatives listed for that number, I have used the Stevenage one (01438 737460) which covers the whole of the East of England in the past (including I think regarding Orange on another occasion)but have not found them particularly helpful or willing to commit themselves as to what is or is not acceptable practice by businesses.  It would be interesting to know if all county councils have taken this undesirable path or if Essex is one of a few.

A little further research causes me to correct my previous statement.

Consumer Direct is not run by Consumer Focus, but by the Office of Fair Trading, a non-ministerial government department (separate from the DTI, now the DBIS).

To avoid every local authority having its own consumer advice call centre, enquiries are generally initially referred to Consumer Direct. Where necessary a case reported to Consumer Direct will be referred to the appropriate Trading Standards department.

I understand that calls to the national 08454 04 05 06 (or perhaps 03004 04 05 06, or something similar as it should be) are directed to the appropriate local centre according to the location of the caller. This is one example of where a non-geographic number may be properly used. It is unfortunate that it has been spoiled by using a revenue sharing number, so that callers, rather than taxpayers, pay for this useful facility.

For cases such as this, which is essentially about a free legal advice service concerning the terms of a contract, it could be argued that a reasonable contribution towards the costs of the advanced telephony used to support the service may be requested from callers. That may be a contentious point, and there is no excuse for Consumer Direct not presenting itself properly on that basis.

"Please check the rate with your phone service provider." is not adequate. "This is a revenue sharing number, proceeds from the cost of phone calls are only used to subsidise the cost of providing the telephone service" should be added.

SilentCallsVictim wrote on Sep 23^rd, 2009 at 5:02pm:

"Please check the rate with your phone service provider." is not adequate. "This is a revenue sharing number, proceeds from the cost of phone calls are only used to subsidise the cost of providing the telephone service" should be added.

This is a very good suggestion, and perhaps a direction that the campaign should push in.

Whilst exact call charges and levels of premiums that support revenue sharing are impossible to quantify in general terms, the principle described in your text is present on all of these numbers.

It's all about making it clearer so we all know what it is we are getting into when we need to call one of these numbers. Your statement is the sort of thing that should be present where revenue sharing numbers are promoted.

Barbara wrote on Sep 23^rd, 2009 at 2:40pm:

My understanding (certainly with Essex County Council) is that it no longer deals with its own trading standards issues, these are redirected to another body, Consumer Direct (DTI) which uses a nice(!) 0845 number 0845 404 0505 as a national contact number (hardly a lot of use if you hope to speak to someone with local knowledge of a rogue business!). Thanks to this website, there are a number of geographical alternatives listed for that number, I have used the Stevenage one (01438 737460) which covers the whole of the East of England in the past (including I think regarding Orange on another occasion)but have not found them particularly helpful or willing to commit themselves as to what is or is not acceptable practice by businesses.  It would be interesting to know if all county councils have taken this undesirable path or if Essex is one of a few.

Here are the rest of the geo numbers :-

"Consumer Direct is designed to operate from our 0845 number, so we cannot guarantee connectivity, but under many circumstances these landline numbers will work correctly.

East of England: 01438 737460
East Midlands: 01522 563000
London: 020 8799 9200
North-East: 01642 495600
North-West: 01229 842203   020 31035167
Scotland: 01851822401
South East: 01622 626520
South West: 01209 720333
Wales (English language): 02920 367800
Wales (Welsh language): 02920 367801
West Midlands: 02476 786610
Yorkshire and the Humber: 0113 201 3670

Consumers who call Consumer Direct from a mobile phone are handled personally. We will offer to text a landline number to consumers who call us from a mobile phone, and who live in an area that is served by Consumer Direct, because calls from mobile phones to 0845 numbers can be much more expensive."