Thanks for your response.

If what you aresaying is correct, then that may well be the true explanation for it. I too contacted Mastercard as I felt Orange were breaching the MC T's and C's.Currently I have written to the MD of Orange/TMobile to get their explanation of why the card is being refused online and telephonically.They have assigned an 'executive' to my issue and once I have an explanation from them I will post here.

Tuxedo also have been asked as to why it is their card is being refused but they are even more a waste of space than Orange at replying and investigating!

And you are correct that the situation I and others find ourselves in with Orange now, should never have happened. Let us hope that they resolve it very soon for all our sakes.

I suspect that Orange have stopped accepting your Tuxedo MasterCard because as of July this year they launched their own "Orange contactless cash card", basically they have launched their own prepaid card. This makes every other prepaid card the "competition" in the eyes of Orange, they will make more money from fees etc if they keep it in the family and refuse to accept other types of prepaid mastercard.

What I am not sure about is how they have managed to get away with this, if you display the MasterCard acceptance mark, then it means you must accept all mastercard payment products, regardless.

I found this out the hard way, purchased a prepaid mastercard for my 13 year old son, delighted to find a safe way for my son to spend his pocket money and learn to top up his phone himself. He is on Orange and I found out pretty soon that we were unable to top us using prepaid mastercard (MeCard). So I spent a long time on the phone to both parties before finding out that MasterCard are in talks with Orange to try and straighten this out. They should never have let this happen in the first place in my opinion!

Thanks for your response. It is an issue because:

1. I do not have a Bank Account and I do not want one

2. Why should another pre-paid debit card a) be any different to the one I have and b) if it is different then why?

3. Of course I can cancel my contract, but then I have to pay a +-£300 cancellation fee as they deem it does not break their T's and C's

4. Options are not endless based on the above limitations, some of which are self inflicted, but those are my limitations.

why is this an issue?

Whats wrong with a bank account and direct debit?

get a different pre-paid card card.

cancel your contract

Options are endless

Since July, Orange have refused to accept payments from my Tuxedo Mastercard either online or over the phone. This was the first time they have refused this as I had been paying my bills this way for the previus 18 months. When I teklephoned Orange about it it seems that their Fraud Department have made that decision to not accept Tuxedo Pre-Paid cards. However, subsequent to that, I am able to pay the bill quite happily in an Orange shop using the exact same card and it has transpired that I can pay it using a Travel Wallet card (which is the same as a pre-paid debit card). All I can get so far from Orange is the Fraud answer and as for Tuxedo all they want to do is to hold their hands up and say it is nothing to do with them.

I use my pre-paid card a lot and I have NEVER been refused. What is going on with Orange? Why do they view a pre-aid debit card as a fraud issue?

If anyone can throw any light on the matter I would appreciate it as I certainly feel they are also breaking the T's and C's with Mastercard whereby Orange are obliged to accept a card issued by them. Also NOWHERE on their web site or telephone bills does it state that Pre-Paid Debit cards are not a valid form of payment.

I look forward to any response.

Thanks.