Cell Phones in Israel

[yochiek93]

Don't bother. Just cancel your cc and dispute the charges.

OK thanx

[yochiek93]

Thanks for responding.
I dealt with a heimishe agent, and I don't recall him giving me a contract. He may have asked me to sign something, but I don't remember for sure. I was new and naive following the advice of my good friend here and trusting this agent.

Sometimes we learn from our mistakes
Never trust anyone

[mr. ddfer]

Sometimes we learn from our mistakes
Never trust anyone

True enough. Wondering what I could have done to prevent this and if there is seriously nothing to be done at this point.

[Jkhein]

True enough. Wondering what I could have done to prevent this and if there is seriously nothing to be done at this point.

which network were you on?

[Hidden]

which network were you on?

Probably Orange
This is normal Orange business (or typical Israeli business)

[Emkay]

which network were you on?

He wrote orange

[Emkay]

 (or typical Israeli business)

I'm assuming that was meant to be derogatory, can you explain what the company did wrong here?

[Jkhein]

He wrote orange

he did not write that, just that he received a call from orange - which can mean he actually has hot mobile (orange is their parent company), that can explain his mistake here.

I’ve searched the forums, yet couldn’t find any thread addressing this specific issue, so I decided to post here.  Recently I moved to Israel and set up a cell phone plan with a frum agent that one of my Israeli friends recommended.  The agent informed me that since I did not have an Israeli passport, I’d have to give a 300 shekel deposit in order to start a plan and I would get it back at the end of the year. When I asked him how I would get the money back he said he was unsure, but I should get it back. Understandably I wasn’t too excited about the whole idea. He then offered to put my plan under this Israeli friend’s name (after getting his permission) and to bill our US cc every month. He offered us several long distance plans and we decided to take the unlimited package. He told us to dial 012 before dialing internationally. A few weeks ago I noticed a charge of close to a thousand dollars on my statement. The charge was made on Yom Tov and since I did not recognize the vendor, I figured it was fraud. I called the bank and they disputed the charge and closed that card. Today I received a call from an agent at Orange asking me for another card to charge as the old one was not working and they also wanted to know why I rejected the first charge. I told them I had a plan for a couple of shekalim a month and have no idea why they charged me so much. They explained that I’ve been making international calls without a plan and this is how much it cost. I argued that I had an international plan and that’s why I was calling abroad. They looked into it and told me that they had signed up the international plan with Hotnet and I was supposed to be dialing 017, instead I had been dialing 012 and my calls were going through Tikshoret. They had not set up the plan with Tikshoret and therefore they were being charged per minute for these calls and were passing the bill to me. I argued that I had been told I had a plan and to dial 012 and that if I did not have a plan why did they call me now after I’ve racked up a bill of a few thousand dollars. They were unable to help me.  I’m trying to figure out what to do next. As of now the original charge was disputed and they don’t have a valid card to charge the rest, but I’m afraid that by neglecting to pay up I will be creating problems for my Israeli friend. I don’t have any proof that the agent had told me to dial 017 and not 012. Any suggestions?

Something does not make sense here.
If you are on orange that you can call either direct 001 or via 012 and there should be no extra charges, as their default carrier is 012, if you would use any other like 013,014,017 etc, that's when you would get these crazy high charges

If you were with Hot mobile, then you would only use 017, if you used 012 the charges would be very high

[yochiek93]

he did not write that, just that he received a call from orange - which can mean he actually has hot mobile (orange is their parent company), that can explain his mistake here.Something does not make sense here.
If you are on orange that you can call either direct 001 or via 012 and there should be no extra charges, as their default carrier is 012, if you would use any other like 013,014,017 etc, that's when you would get these crazy high charges

If you were with Hot mobile, then you would only use 017, if you used 012 the charges would be very high

I had orange and was told to dial 017
No extra charges

[Jkhein]

I had orange and was told to dial 017
No extra charges

did someone sign you up to 017 calling service? where did you sign up for your service?
https://www.orange.co.il/selfservice/international/call-abroad/FAQ-callabroad

האם אפשר להצטרף לתוכנית בה ניתן לחייג למגוון מדינות בחו"ל במחיר מוזל ולאילו מדינות ניתן לחייג?
ניתן להצטרף למגוון תוכניות עם הטבת חיוג לחו"ל באמצעות 012 ל-42 מדינות. למידע נוסף ולהצטרפות, פנה לנציג שירות לקוחות במספר 054* או 1-800-054-054

שיחות ללא הגבלה ליעדים* נייחים וניידים: ארה"ב קנדה

ושיחות ללא הגבלה ליעדים* נייחים בלבד: אוסטרליה, אורוגוואי, איטליה, אירלנד, אנגליה, ארגנטינה, בלגיה, ברזיל, גרמניה, דנמרק, דרום אפריקה, הולנד,
הונג קונג, הונגריה, וונצואלה, טורקיה, טיוואן, יוון, יפן, לוקסמבורג, מאלטה, מקסיקו, נורבגיה, ניו זילנד, סינגפור,
ספרד, פולין, פורטוגל, פרו, צ'ילה, צ'כיה, צרפת, קוריאה, קפריסין, קרואטיה, רומניה, רוסיה, שוודיה ושוויץ.

*רשימת היעדים עשויה להתעדכן מעת לעת.
יתכן וישנם מנויים הנהנים מההטבה ליעדים שונים מאלה מפורטים מעלה. עיקרי תנאי ההטבה (התנאים המלאים מפורטים בתנאי התכנית).

הטבת דקות שיחה ליעדים נייחים נבחרים בחו"ל ללא הגבלה באמצעות המפעיל הבינלאומי 012 סמייל, בכפוף לשימוש סביר והוגן (בארה”ב וקנדה גם לניידים).

על מנת ליהנות מההטבה עליך לבצע את החיוג ליעדים הכלולים בהטבה באמצעות קידומת החיוג הבין לאומית 012 של המפעיל הבינלאומי 012 סמייל טלקום בע"מ ("012") או אם בחרת להיות מנוי משויך של 012 תוכל לבצע את החיוג באמצעות קידומת החיוג 00.

ההטבה הינה ליעדים נייחים בלבד כמפורט מעלה. לידיעתך רשימת המדינות עשויה להתעדכן מעת לעת בהודעה שתימסר מראש. ההטבה אינה כוללת יעדים סלולריים, יעדי פרימיום ו/או יעדים בתעריף מיוחד. אם תבצע שיחות ליעדים שאינם כלולים בהטבה תחויב בהתאם לתעריפי לקוח מזדמן הנהוגים ב-012 באותה עת או אם אתה מנוי לתכנית תעריפים של 012 תחויב בהתאם לתכנית זאת.

שירות החיוג לחו"ל הניתן במסגרת ההטבה הינו שירות של 012, ועל כן יכולתך לממש את ההטבה מותנית בכך שאין מניעה לכך מצידה של 012, לפי שיקול דעתה הבלעדי, ככל שתהיה מניעה כאמור לא תהיה לך כל טענה, תביעה ו/או דרישה כלפי פרטנר בעניין זה. השירות הינו בכפוף לתנאי ההתקשרות הכלליים המפורסמים כאן.

שירות החיוג לחו”ל מסופק על ידי 012 ולא על ידי פרטנר. פרטנר לא תישא בכל אחריות שהיא, מפורשת או משתמעת בקשר עם השירות.

דרך מי אני מחייג לחו''ל כאשר אני מחייג ''00''
כאשר מחייגים למספר טלפון בחו''ל באמצעות חיוג הספרות ''00'' השיחה מתבצעת באמצעות המפעיל הבינלאומי אליו משוייך מספר הטלפון באמצעותו מבצעים את החיוג. במידה והנך מבקש לבצע את השיחה באמצעות מפעיל בינלאומי אחר, יש לחייג את ספרות הקידומת של המפעיל הבינלאומי דרכו מבקשים לבצע את השיחה.

[yochiek93]

I don't know the exact details but it was through my yeshiva

[DanH]

Very similar thing happened to my brother.  Nothing to do about it.  On the one hand, its not your fault, on the other hand, its not Orange's fault either.

[Emkay]

Very similar thing happened to my brother.  Nothing to do about it.  On the one hand, its not your fault, on the other hand, its not Orange's fault either.

There is only one other party involved, the cc company. Must be their fault by by power of deduction, should be disputed

[yochiek93]

There is only one other party involved, the cc company. Must be their fault by by power of deduction, should be disputed

and thats a question for the ethics thread

[B.D.Da'ehu]

Doea anyone know a number for golan that i can call from america to cancel my plan? I only found a *number and a 900 number

[DanH]

011-972-58-555-5858

[B.D.Da'ehu]

011-972-58-555-5858

Thanks

[Kabrams1618]

Just switched to the golan 99 sh plan.  I am still unclear about sms to and from the us.  Can i send an sms from israel to a us number for free.  Can a person in the states send an sms to my golan us international number for free to them and for me?

[yitrap]

Just switched to the golan 99 sh plan.  I am still unclear about sms to and from the us.  Can i send an sms from israel to a us number for free.  Can a person in the states send an sms to my golan us international number for free to them and for me?

No it's around 20 agorot per text iirc
Your virtual number cannot receive text messages they would have to text your Israeli number which is free for you and cost vary for them depending on their plan

[Emkay]

Just switched to the golan 99 sh plan.  I am still unclear about sms to and from the us.  Can i send an sms from israel to a us number for free.  Can a person in the states send an sms to my golan us international number for free to them and for me?

You can download the Google voice app and have texting like that