bigjohn wrote on Oct 26^th, 2012 at 4:57am:


Hang on a moment - obviously you cannot consider charging a penalty for early termination of a contract that had no charge, as the penalty can only be in lieu of future committed payments that are withdrawn. The only penalty would have been zero anyway - an offer not to charge nothing is hardly worthy of note.

The key point is that the home broadband service was effectively inclusive with the charge for the mobile contract, as it was totally conditional on that contract, no matter how it was presented in technical terms. The addition of a charge must surely be regarded as being of material detriment to those with Orange mobile contracts, who should therefore be able to terminate them early without incurring a penalty fee.

Ofcom is planning to consult shortly on the possibility of changing its regulations covering early termination charges. This is a case where the existing regulations need to be applied.

Thanks for posting about this bigjohn. Please do keep us up-to-speed on any developments with this one.

Daily Mail ( This Is Money) report that Orange are backtracking.But only if you complain.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-2225654/Orange-backtracks-free-...

Orange have made a partial u-turn on this subject.

"The concession, which comes after an angry revolt, means customers will fork out the same they'd have paid had the axe not fallen — but only for a limited time, and only if they contact Orange."

See: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/phones/2012/11/orange-makes-partial-u-turn...