Orange contract prices increase by 4.34%
Bad news for the New Year: Orange have recently announced that they are putting their prices up 4.34% from 8 January 2012. Now while 4.34% may not seem like much, if you are on a standard £30 monthly contract that’s already an extra £15.60 a year which definitely makes a difference.
These price increases come shortly after they increased their PAYG rates by up to 50%. Other greedy companies raising their prices this year have included ASDA Mobile, Giffgaff and Vodafone.
Cheekily, even if you have a fixed charge contractual agreement with Orange they are forcing the price increase on you and claiming you can’t get out of the remaining contract. They claim that their small print has allowed them to raise the price to any amount below the Retail Prices Index inflation figure without resulting in a break of contract. As the inflation rate according to the Retail Prices Index is 5.4%, they are marginally below. So even if you only signed up a couple of months ago, you along with millions of their other customers, are subject to this price increase.
We find these increases pretty abhorrent, especially as customers are already under financial pressure from rising energy, food and transport bills in these hard times. If you think that Orange are acting like Scrooge by making these charges around Christmas, you can definitely complain about it and possibly get out of your contract. Ofcom have recommended that customers challenge these price hikes directly with Orange. If that doesn’t get you anywhere, contact Ofcom directly and also make a complaint to the Communications and Internet Services Adjudication Scheme.
Please also let us know how you get on if you’re with Orange and are trying to fight these charges.
