Mobile phone customers who can't get reception could sue after landmark case

chris

In a court ruling the customer was awarded £500 after he took the company to court following poor phone service.

Tom Prescott, 32, took Orange to court after they refused to cancel his 18 month contract, even though he could get a signal neither at his Richmond home or in his office.

The reception was so poor that he often could not make or receive calls.

Mr Prescott argued that having been sold an 18-month contract by the mobile phone operators there ought to be a reasonable expectation of service.

He won his case at Brentford county court and was awarded £500.

"As soon as I realised I could not get a signal, I tried to cancel it. But the phone networks ... would not let me off the contract," he said.

The biochemist who represented himself in court said: "I would ring them up and it would take 15 minutes to get through and then my phone would cut off and I would have to ring them again but at the back of the queue".

"Dealing with Orange was awful. I hope people who have the same problem now realise they can do something about it," he said.

A spokesman from Orange said the company provides high quality coverage to 99 per cent of the UK population and continues to invest in its network.

" As with all mobile operators, it is worth noting that continuous network coverage cannot be guaranteed and network coverage can be affected by factors outside of our control.

"The award granted to Dr Prescott was due to exceptional circumstances. We are disappointed with the outcome as our records show that Dr Prescott had good use of his phone. "The Brentford County Court judgement in no way sets a precedent as claims made in the small claims court are decided on a case-by-case basis. Dr Prescott's case does not change our liability for any future claims of this nature."

The mobile phone industry body, the GSM Association, this week called for Europe's regulators and governments to set aside a quarter of the radio spectrum released by the switch to digital television for extending mobile broadband services into rural and remote areas, at Mobile World Congress.

The organisation said the dividend should be used to bring broadband to remote areas.



Source:telegraph

rolfw

LOL, doesn't sound like Orange feel it's a landmark case.

Their customer service appears to follow the popular model of customers can't cancel if they can't get hold of us.

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pedro2000uk

That industry got away with 1000s & 1000s of cases like that- most are hidden by the networks like incoming and less profitable calls disappearing in favour of more profitable calls and network rivalry, while they’ve made £billions and many individuals and companies lost £100,000s.

That whole system wants a shake up.