How to contact Orange to unlock a secondhand phone?

A question about : How to contact Orange to unlock a secondhand phone?

Hi, hope someone can help me with this as I've been going round in circles all day. My friend upgraded her phone and very kindly gave me her old Samsung Galaxy S3. I'm with Virgin so I requested a new sim card which arrived this morning. When I put the sim card and tried to make a call the message I got was 'not registered on network'; I am assuming that this is because the phone is locked. Rang Virgin who advised me to contact Orange. I tried the free unlock suggested on GiffGaff but the code doesn't work; I just get the same message. So eventually I decided I would have to bite the bullet and pay Orange to unlock it for me...
I tried to call them on the customer services number which I found on their website but their automated contact system won't let me in without the phone number (the old number for that phone doesn't work). Can't find an email address either.
Any ideas?

Best answers:

• It's unlikely that Orange would work with you on unlocking the phone, as you've never had a relationship with them as a customer with this handset.
  Take a look here...https://giffgaff.com/unlock/samsung-galaxy-s3-phone
  There are various unlocking sites and prices etc. if you want someone to provide the code for you. There is a free method, which is also linked to on this page. I used this method myself a while ago, and it worked without any problems. You don't have to be very technical to do it, it's quite easy.
• goto https://ee.co.uk/help/getting-started...r-phone#orange but you have to be an Orange customer to unlock the phone
• Why not ask your friend to contact Orange and get it unlocked for you?
• My friend is no longer an Orange customer, she left when her contract ended and she got her iphone. I don't want to be an Orange customer, grumbler, I'm happy with my cheap Virgin contract!
  I looked at the unlocking sites mentioned on giffgaff but whilst they quote(for example) Ј12.99 for the service, when you get onto their own websites the price jumps to Ј35 +.
• Take it to one of those little shops that do unlocking Ј10 max and it will be up and running.
• A 3rd party unlock via ebay will be your cheapest and quickest solution.