The Weekly Gripe

Gripes the News
The Soapbox
Gripes in the pipes
*

How to cancel Orange mobile sms top up alerts

31 comments  Add a comment

Orange pay as you go, well it's great until you're right the middle of a phone call and you get a text message to let you know that you have sixty seconds of credit remaining.  The text message somehow ends the call, even though you've still got credit left.  Unfortunately you don't get to finish your conversation and you then don't have enough credit to phone the person back.  That sixty seconds has just been wasted - thanks Orange!

This has happened to me before and I'm fed with being cut off mid conversation.  Of course I then decided to ring customer service to complain, but ended up stuck in their endless automated menu system instead.  You get to top up your credit, report you're phone stolen etc., but that's about it.  Where are all the customer service people?

Can't they just put something on the menu that allows you to speak to a real person, because at the end of the day that's all I wanted to do.  I don't want to sit here pressing numbers and waiting to hear more options.  I'm sure I'm not the only one that gets fed up being stuck in a loop, transferred from one set of options to the next.  You know how it goes... press 1 if you want this and press 2 to continue, or option 3 to go and join another endless queue.  Arrggh!

I'm guessing that this is just a way to cut costs in the area of customer service.  Why should it cost you to phone customer service? It never used to cost anything to ring them in the past.

Orange mobile phone, how to stop the annoying top up text messages By the way, the reason my credit was low to begin with was because I got conned into ringing an 0870 number to chase a missed parcel delivery.  I'm fed up with being ripped off left right and centre, first by this premium rate number and finally by Orange when I had managed to track down a geographical number and was in the process of speaking to someone.  I'm actually getting fed up with the costs of mobile calls as well, almost to the point of chucking the thing away and using phone boxes.  There again, it costs a minimum of 40p to make a call there as well so maybe not!  I'll probably end up putting a tenner on and using it for emergencies only from now on.

As it happens, I finally managed to track down a free number you can call from any landline.  You can call orange customer service on 0800 079 1050 if you want to talk to a real person.  I called them to vent my spleen because I was so fed up with that text message that interrupted my call.

Okay, so how do I stop receiving texts from Orange when my credit is low?  The nice customer service advisor I spoke to let me into a secret.  If you reply to the message with the following: "STOP ALL" as a message, you wont get any more of these annoying texts.  It's an automated service so no need to speak to anyone!

By: George


Leave a comment

First Prev 1/3 Next Last

Chess

Chess

I managed to opt out of "BRIGHT STUFF" (200000#'s) spam by texting "STOP ALL" to 200200 and then replying to their message with a "STOP" to 200000.

I then also tried the same with 450 for general Orange marketing, i.e., I sent "STOP ALL" to 450, and once again had to send "STOP" to 450 to complete the opt out.

Good luck.
08/03/12 Chess
-2
tubeofglue

tubeofglue

Will O2 please realise that I have cancelled my contract and do not want anything further to do with Telefonica's great nusiance? I had a one year contract, sim only, that was ideal for my previous area. Having moved, I found the O2 signal was very poor to none at all. So when twelve months were up I cancelled, informing them at the time that I wanted no junk calls, texts or emails. I changed the number to my new sim and thought the matter over. Six months have passed and despite me trying to Unsubscribe the email address, phone their truly useless Customer services and sending STOP on about 50 texts, they still send junk, including letters to my old address that get forwaded on my family. Nothing seems to stop them. I have visited O2 shops several times too, all in vain. Has anyone else had the same problem?
01/08/11 tubeofglue
-2
dai-lowcostmobiles

dai-lowcostmobiles

to Peter Tietjen, if orange has automatically put the number you call your wife on as a MAGIC NUMBER, because you call it often then this will cost you 20p per call. This is 20p per call, between 1-SEC and 1-HOUR, if you go over 1-hour they charge you additional costs. This is of course only cost effective if your talking to each other for a length of time, if your only calling for a minute or less then you need to make sure she has not been added to your MAGIC NUMBERS. They did this to me, and I kept getting peoples answer machine, costing me 20p per im sorry but the number your calling is unavailable!!!!!!
14/04/11 dai-lowcostmobiles
-12
Carole

Carole

Thanks! I've now stopped this intrusive nonsense by using your method.
24/03/11 Carole
-3
aisha

aisha

please, does anyone know how similar irritating and nauseating top-up alerts can be stopped on the lebara network?
17/03/11 aisha
-5
mumsy

mumsy

brilliant thankyou I was getting sick of the messages I even get them at 4am in the mornings!!!!!
09/03/11 mumsy
-9
Matt

Matt

Thanks for the info - very useful! Should say that I tried with Stop All and got a text saying they didn't recognise the command. to be clear, follow two steps:

- Write "STOP" as your text
- Send it to "450"

You'll get a reply confirming promo texts have stopped (Cheers to Dave for the confirmation on wording and number to send the text to)
14/02/11 Matt
2
Dave

Dave

Thanks George for the info on stopping Orange texts.
02/02/11 Dave
-5
Mal

Mal

This site was very helpful and I was able to stop the promotional text messages from Orange that were very annoying. Great site, thanks for the help.
22/01/11 Mal
-9
Dave

Dave

Create a message - (To 450).
Enter stop as message.
Press send.
You'll get a message back saying that all promotional messages have now been stopped.
Job done.
14/01/11 Dave
-4
Possumtops

Possumtops

Perfect - my sentiments exactly. I sent 'stop all' and it worked. Good stuff.
08/01/11 Possumtops
2
Peter Tietjen

Peter Tietjen

I am a Pay As You Go customer making three or four 10-second calls a month so a Tenner (£10) used to last me ages as I only speak to my wife. My calls are and always have been very short as I was under the impression I was still being charged PER SECOND. However, when topping up recently I was told something about a bird or something (I have no idea what the lady was talking about) and I was also informed that now, every call I make is charged at 20 pence. This means that I now get a maximum of 50 calls for my tenner providing I keep an eye on my watch and don't exceed one minute per call. I am not at all happy with what I consider to be an horrendous increase in cost and shall be looking for another supplier from now on. If I can't find what I require I shall do without a mobile in the future. Nothing's THAT important.
01/11/10 Peter Tietjen
-4
Sarah

Sarah

They keep coming up as an "Invalid Number" when I try to reply. I'd love to get rid of their texts as they seem to have a habit of sending spam messages at 7:30 Saturday or Sunday morning or 11:30 at night.
25/09/10 Sarah
2
val ashfield

val ashfield

how can I stop text messages from orange telling me my trail period for orange messenger has come to an end I never asked or used it WHY should I have to register on orangeworld for a service that I do not want
29/08/10 val ashfield
-16
id1brok

id1brok

I don't use a mobile with a pay as you go facility - and I don't use orange for my private mobile. So I may be suggesting something that is already done; but why not add a 'pay as you go meter' which will tell you how much credit you have left. When you top up, the meter fills and empties gradually as you use it in a similar way to the battery meter. Because you would have a visual check, the phrase "Got to go my meter's running out' could be a brilliant way to end those compulsory duty calls to Aunt Mabel.
All mobile phones are enjoying a sellers' market indulgent mums and dads are buying their spoiled offspring the latest do-dah all whistling all dancing technical ear busters. "Well he/she needs it it case some pervert kidnaps him/her" so now we have three inch long surrogate parents!! Some of this money Messrs Orange, Vodaphone, O2 and the like are making could contribute to the rocket science of a credit meter!
21/08/10 id1brok
-5

First Prev 1/3 Next Last

FEATURES

Gripes the News
Gripes in the pipes
The Soapbox
spinner