Virgin Mobile USA review: deceptive business practices! 42

Dear Sir or Madam, for 4days in a row now, I have been trying to get "cute puppy on Pumpkin" and have been getting ERROR--network gremlins-try again later for 4 DAYS. It's a really cute wallpaper for Thanksgiving and I want to be able to access it! also, I've tried: whales, wolves, turkeys,(you should have seasonal wallpapers available--ie: Santa Claus, Turkeys, fireworksetc.) would it kill you to expand your graphics to nice things instead of SEXY THONG! that is vulgar and unnecessary from a woman's point of view. Anyway, if you can clear the network gremlins and let me have "cute puppy on pumpkin" for FREE since I have been trying for 4 days now, that would be great.

I don't know anything about their cell phone service, but their broadband2go Wireless internet service is awful. After purchasing two wireless adapters ($40.00each) and a Virgin Mobile MiFi device ($149.00) to enable up to 5 electronic hookups, and ordering an Unlimited service in December for $40.00 a month...no contract. It worked perfectly for all of December and all of January. In January, we were advised that beginning Feb. 15th we would be limited to 5GB per month. No problem there. We were using just a little over 1GB in a month. Then suddenly on Feb 23, we began having big time problems. Our equipment indicated that we were hooked into the internet, but we could not open any websites, mail, etc. For 4 weeks, I spent hours with customer support with them trying to fix the problem They kept me trying for as long as 2 hours a session with no results. I finally took the MIFI device back to Radio Shack and they told me it was defective and gave my a new one. I called customer service to activate the new MIFI, and my computer recognized it, but it didn't work any differently than the old one. So I assumed the problem was with Virgin. I told them that I had to have internet access, and since they could not help me, I was not going to use them any longer. I asked them for a refund for February to March, and they said they could not give me a refund, they could only put the $40 back on my account for a free month of service. I tried to explain that it would be another month of no internet service since they could not fix my problem but they wouldn't budge. So beware. The price for wireless is great, but if you can't use it...not so great.

They took my deposit but couldn't make the date device work. I spent six hours in store trying to get it to work. Now they want to take three months to give me my deposit back. Avoid avoid avoid avoid!

I had the same thing happen. I signed up for the unlimited $40 a month plan in November. Service worked great through February. I do use a little more than 5GB a month. So while I still have my grand-fathered "unlimited" internet, but when I hit 5GB it slows down to worse than dial up. Plus I have the same problem as above where often times I can't get it to stay connected at all. I'll spend all day just rebooting and reconnecting and crying and wanting to throw it out the window. I certainly wouldn't have spent $150 on a Mifi if I had known I was only going to have 3 months of good service, not to mention true unlimited internet.

Rudy Normally no problems, except two times my service has been shut off thru no fault of my own. You were given an auto charge for Top up and you curtailed my servie when I needed it most.(traveling) All I got was a I'm sorry. It might help if you provided something for your mistake . I have the cell phone service for travel and emergency situations and you denied me that option. I would like to see or hear your reason for your actions. You have my e-mail address. Please respond. Thank you.

Hello my name is Betty Wallace and a situation has happened with my account and I am being punished for something I had no control over. Someone added money on to my account with out my permission. It was said that it was used on several other accounts and they have cut off my service. I have been on the phones for the past two weeks trying to get my service restored. I received a email from a rep from virgin and advised me to by a TOP card in which i did and email the pin numb to her to get my account back on and now they are saying I have to keep waiting and I was not apart of the actions that happened on this account. Now if you look at my payment history you can see I always paid my account with a pre paid debit card and I thought when it said I had a balance on the account of 150 that they gave us a bonus on account I am new to this and I am not use to having a phone. I am not happy I paid money for the card she told me to get and put 20.00 on the card and now I cant use it. I need this taken care of if someon can get back to me and let me know something about the account

I recently purchased my phone at Best Buy in Auburn, Maine. I paid $ 100.00 for the UTstarcom a month ago, I lost my charger. When I returned to Best Buy to get another one, I was told that the phone was discontinued that it would be $30.00 for the charger and a $ 10.00 shipping fee to order on line.

I have been on the phone for half an hour to register my time card and Mobile Phone contract.
All went well, I thought, but find my phone will not accept calls, only voice mail. Since I only use the phone for emergency phone calls, I would like to know how to change the programming to make calls and accept calls without going through an automated voice messaging.

Please help!

Marg Gordey

Look people,
you will find complaints on the internet about every product ever made! And, you have to wonder, how many of those are placed by competing companies? If you feel Virginmobile isn't worth it, then by all means, go and pay 33 cents per minute for Tracphone! Or, realize that any product will have an occasional lemon, and the occasional upset customer.

I LOVE my Virginmobile phone! It is the cheapest to use among ALL the pre-paid phones--I checked. And, I encourage all consumers to check. Why would you pay 33 cents per minute? Shame on Tracphone. I have a plan where I pay 3 and 1/2 cents per minute (the 24.95 plan). Yes, it can be time consuming to get a live rep on the phone, but once I have, they've been very helpful. I highly recommend this phone to anyone.

The only problem I have is poor reception on my phone! ! Do you have any idea what to do? Larry

I am furious with this unprofessional cell phone company! I would leave enough money in my account from time to time to cover the next month's monthly charge, however, instead of using that cash, they would go into my credit card acct. and charge it! Sooooooooo I had a balance of like $53 laying in my cash balance, money that I could've used to buy necessities of life - duh- like gas, food, etc.

To top it ALL off, I am on disability (not complaining) but money IS tight! I am getting ready to leave the country to live in Mexico with some friends. It is MUCH cheaper to live there AND Virgin Mobile Phone is unavailable there. The Mexican people should consider themselves extremely fortunate for that!

Closing my account & adios to the WORST CELL PHONE CO. in the world!

ps the story in the 1st paragraph was only the TIP OF THE ICEBERG, I could write a book.

well i just recently topped up 50 on my cell then i went and took out 20 for text messaging, and after that i checked my balance and it said 20$. where did my other 10 go? i called up virgin mobile and gave them my story and the first person said that it was because my phone was deactivated for a period of time but it had never taken 10 out of my account before and i have had it without money for a couple months before! but anyway she told me to text help to a certain number and it would refund my money. i did and all i got back was a stupid text message advertising celebrity gossip and finding your crush and stuff. i was furious because i still didnt get my money! so i called again and the next girl said oh im sorry about the miscommunication, your money cant be refunded by us because your money was taken out by a different organization. call this number... for customer service. i did and it was some jamster place( where you buy music and downloads from) i told them my story and they checked my number and said i had never had any connections with them before and that i never made any transactions with them. after that i called virgin mobile again and the next guy said that it was because a text message i had gotten (i had gotten another stupid advertisment to "find your love crush" earlier) and that every time that number sent me a message it would take 10 out of my account and it would only stop if i sent stop in all caps to a certain number. so i did! and the next day i got ANOTHER text from that same number about some stupid advertisment again and i was scared that it deducted another ten dollars so i checked and it DIDNT! what the heck! and i thought i wouldnt get any more texts from them! so i called AGAIN and got a supervisor on the phone and he didnt do ANYTHING and i STILL HAVENT GOTTEN MY MONEY REFUNDED EVEN THOUGH I DIDNT PURCHASE ANYTHING OR MAKE ANY TRANSACTIONS! I HAVE BEEN ROBBED AND VIRGINMOBILE REFUSED TO REFUND THE MONEY THAT WAS ENTRUSTED IN THEIR HANDS AND WAS STOLEN AWAY WITHOUT MY CONTROL! WE ARE TAKING THIS PROBLEM TO THE FCC AND I AM CHANGING MY SERVICE ASAP

how do i reset my vkey my ex changed it

you sent me, by mail, a $10 top up and I just bought a $20 top up card and registered it, now my phone now has a balance of $27.33, what happened to my $2.67, I haven't made or received any calls, where did my money go? I'd really like an answer!

18 cents a minute ?, way too much. thanks for the 10 bucks, should have been 100+. I bought $20.00 top up card, but you do not seem to want let me.use it? tried to use it @ virginmobileusa.com, wouldn't work, will try again! DISAPPOINTED!?

virgin mobile, my i dont remember when i purchased it, all of
sudden the cell screen turnrd black & started making a buzzing
sound, on the screen it says to turn off push stop, i've tried everything but it is not working at all, went to 7-11 where i purchased it & they sat call [protected] & i din'nt hear a place to complain... please help me my cell is very important to me...thank you BOBBY NEAL HOME PHONE BELOW

[protected]

I now know how these people that have virginmobile phones that they can't use feel cause I'm now one of them. If I treated my customers that way I'd be out of business, I'm not sure how they get away with it.

I had no problem with my first five years, then I ordered a new phone because a battery cost more than the phone. The rep. told me I could get the new phone charged to my Auto-TOPUP credit card and proceeded to send it to the wrong address! I tracked it the day it was delivered to the wrong place and contacted Virgin immediately. The rep. couldn't help me and said I would have to wait for the LOST and STOLEN DEPT. to verify that the phone was not received. He couldn't give me any timeline.

A week later I called again and that rep. said she couldn't find any info regarding my lost phone.She actually did something, though! She said I could get a new phone and pay for it with my substantial
air time. Great! So I get my new phone and transfer my info to it. Meanwhile, I call them after three weeks and they still haven't credited my credit card for the lost phone! I was promised by another rep. that it would be taken care of in five days. Guess what happened?

After over one month of trying to get this simple purchase settled, THEY SUSPENDED MY ACCOUNT!

Now I have no service, my minutes ($150 worth) are being held hostage and as usual no one can help me! Virgin screwed up and couldn't resolve a simple rectifiable problem.I am still in Virgin hell with no resolution and it just keeps getting worse everytime I call them. How can this company stay in business if they can't solve a simple problem(that they caused in the first place!)?

Sir Richard better stop in to see how his co. is doing before it's too late!

It really seems like no one there knows what is going on!

I have had my Virgin phone for over a year, and am on a monthly plan. I have in one instance gone over on my anytime minutes and was charged. Then last month I see this charge on my bank statement. I check into it and it is apparently a charge for going over on my minutes, yet I did not go over. When I emailed them about this, they put a credit on my account with them, but refuse to refund the money to my bank account. Also the "credit" was not for the full amount.
It drives me crazy that these companies steal from us. Think about it, $1 per month even for 3 million customers adds up to some pretty high profits.

I DON'T APPRECIATE ANYBODY TEXING ME THREATINING MESSEGES, AND CURSING ME OUT. I WANT MY CELLPHONE NUMBER CHANGED.

I have been a happy customer for four years and on my second phone. My wife has been a customer for six months on her first phone. I have not encountered any problems at all with their customer service. I have found their reps to be on par with mutual fund customer service reps and they are the best.

The screen on my phone went dead during the first year and I had no problem getting a replacement. It was refurbished, but it worked.

They are also very helpful with activating new phones. Everytime I have called them, I found the reps to be courteous and helpful.

First, every customer needs to be familar with all the details of this service, how to top up and how to avoid losing their top up dollars. It is somewhat tricky and if you fall asleep, you will lose. This is not a sign up and forget land line type service. You need to stay attentive and top up properly.

Second, if your phone dies and you are under warranty- demand a replacement. If its out of warranty, you are out of luck. Go buy one of their less expensive phones on Ebay or Target and have your number and time transferred.

Third, for those of you who are litigious. Read the fine print. You probably agreed to arbitration. Good luck with that. Arbitration is stacked in favor of deep pocket corporations. Little guy usually loses.

Lastly, the beauty of Virgin is that you can usually leave anytime you want. Most of the time, you are locked into any set time frame.

In my opinion, what really sucks is the traditional cell phone contracts. You sign over your entire life and you may not be sure that the phone works where you need to use it.

I am actually impressed with Virgin Mobile. I initially bought a Slim Phone from Radio Shack for $19 then got my number and bought a $20 card. I lost my phone and replaced it with one I bought from Wal-Mart for $19 again! I now use the monthly $35 plan and never worry about getting a big bill. My phone is basic, but I get excellent reception, works everywhere. I don't need a fancy phone, just one that works - and my Virgin mobile has given me less problems that my experience with Verizon, Cingular and Sprint.

I've got to disagree with the people who are complaining. First of all, to have a phone that either doesn't work or you can't retreive voice mail from is an issue of course, but to keep that phone for two years? Clearly your fault for hanging on, not theirs.

Second - Hello, it's prepay, so your money is already spent for the service that you are going to use, not something that you already have used. If you don't want to be their customer anymore, don't pay to top up. They probably use your payments for their provider so you can use their service.

Third, speaking as a member of the legal profession, you couldn't possibly sue Virgin Mobile for your "I voluntarily give them money for my phone not working, but they won't give it back" theory. And as for people who claim that they can't access billing info - another crock - you can access that online, including your calling history AND photos, if your phone takes them and you upload them.

I've had a VM phone for over 3 years - no problems. I've even switched back and forth to try several of their phones, and then back to my old one with no hassle. So get over your whiny issue, and just switch to a provider that will lock you into a 2-year contract. See if you get any money back from THEM.

I,too,have had alot of headaches with virgin mobile,mainly texting issues. I have been put on hold for 25 minutes,tying up a landline,and then they disconnected me,and customer service voice prompts are a pain at times.I eventually just shut off my texting service,so as not to have to deal with the frustration.After that being done,it really hasn't been too gasket-blowing.

I am having a problem getting my vkey code. My old phone do not work. I want to keep my old phone number. This is my second night trying to activation my new phone and keep the same number. I bought my frist phone in 2006. I lost my vkey code. So what do I do now.

It is Christmas day and my two sons have no cell phones that were purchased name brand virgin mobile. First I was on the phone with a representive for almost an hour while my kids sit awaiting paitently then she says that it will take two days to activate because of the companies system was done. I want my kids compensated for this terrible sad thing on Christmas day. The phones were the main thing on there list and you all took that away from my two boys. I spoke with a supervisor and he told me the same thing and I asked to be compensated and he mentioned something about a good will pass what ever that is! Why would you schedule a maintanence check on Christmas day knowing that it will be a very busy day with people such as myself trying to get phones activated for gifts for my kids. Come on who does that! I am disappointed in virgin mobile all the commercials appear to be great that is why I decided to go with virgin mobile. I sure on this day there are alot more people like me this morning trying to get there phones on for there kids too. I wonder how that makes you all feel or do you all have any feelings at all. Here is my home phone number if anyone decides that they may want to apoligize [protected]. Oh by the way Merry Christmas!

Mrs. Miller

I had a phone that didn't work right and had to buy another one. They changed my plan on me and didn't explain the little details to me from the beginning. They were supposed to credit my account for 13 games, 5 ring tones, 3 wallpapers, and 1 screen revolver. I was credited 10 dollars! What a joke! I am looking for a new provider. Any suggestions welcome.

VirginMobile do not treat the customers with respect, you get a quote for one price with somebody and the next minute you are ask were did you get that from, it too them four days to transfer my service from one phone to another, and when I decided to do it myself they keep telling me on the net that my nunber on the new phone is not correct forcing me to call the 1.888.322.1122 number n and even though I was promised that I had done everything right all that was left was get connected to their network I was sent a text message in 22 seconds that my account is being charged $10.

Virgin mobile has the worst customer service I have ever seen.You wait for an hour the automated voice can't get your info stright.I have to yell in the phone to get it out and they still say."I didn't get that say it again and again...

i have a oyster and out of the blue my screen went black so what am i supposed to do ?

I sat through 15 min while activating my virgin mobile phone(each one-I have 4 total). Each time the person helping me went over the terms and conditions along with overage fees and when my month ended. I still am on the 34.99 plan. Any time I have a question they handle it in detail. I would have the same complaints as each one of you if I did not BOTHER to listen to the rep telling me the conditions of a plan. Quit blaming them for YOUR STUPIDITY. Its your own fault!

I've had my phone for about 4 years now and it's been great. I actually have no top-up card stories because I've never used them. I use my credit card over the phone and that way I can get exactly what I want. They add a dollar for sales tax now (they didn't always) and I know I could go to Wal-Mart or something a get cards a bit cheaper, but I like knowing that they do all the work when I use my credit card and I can see my money added while I'm still on the phone.
I've had the same phone for 4 years too. It was a hundred dollar phone when it came out and it's been worth the initial investment. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles of new phones, but it's reliable, and the only thing I've had to buy was a replacement battery because my original one broke (my fault) two years ago.
I will say I don't talk on the phone daily a lot, it's usually for texts or calls when I'm away from home or work. I can understand why it could get troublesome or expensive for those who can't get a contract cell phone. I do think the new "Sugar Mama" deal is pretty cool, it gives free mintues for watching commercials and doing short surveys. I will say to carefully check for the best prepaid cell service because they do vary greatly. I buy tracfones for people I know going through financial troubles because they're dirt cheap and good emergency phones. I've heard a lot of horror stories about Tracfone, but the trick with them seems to be buying the right phone. The phones I buy for people have no roaming, but other models still charge for it.
I'm sure those of you who have problems getting your service cut off have experienced what almost all companies do, try to make it as hard as possible to end their money-making relationship. Whenever I decide I don't want the phone I just put it in a drawer and let the top-up date pass, until the next time I need one. I just download a bunch of ringtones or talk on it a lot to get my money out of it.
I know this hasn't been helpful but I really have appreciated having a phone without any of the headache or cost of a contract phone I would rarely use anyway.

I have had a Virgin Mobile phone now for almost a year and have not had any concerns whatsoever. When I called Customer Service to activate my phone they were very cordial and helpful. The coverage and quality of the signal has been phenomenal, even cross-country!

If you want to see a prepaid cell phone company with customer service problems, look into Tracfone!

I bought my sister a Virgin Mobile Party Animal cell phone exactly 4 yrs ago. Her daughter lost that one and she closed the account with no problem. She bought another one 3 and half yrs ago, still has it and has had no problems. I bought an Oyster cell the first of May 07 for myself, so far so good. My niece liked it better than her Party Animal, so I ordered an Oyster online (free) for her. So far, no problems with any of the VM cell phones. Good luck to all.

I have been with this company for roughly two years now, and for almost the whole time, I've had problems with my phone. But I've invested a lot of money into my phone, and don't want to have that be a waste. My caller ID and voicemail do not work, and have not worked since the second month I had the phone, and they company is not trying very hard to fix this for me.

They will not refund my money, they do not sound please with the idea of giving me a new number/account. They didn't even sound pleased with replacing my old broken phone.

I'm VERY dissatisfied with this company, and plan to switch services providers as soon as I can. I urge everyone else to do the same, in hopes that Virgin Mobile will see how horrible their service really is.

I suggest that you do what I am going to do. I am going to the Better Business Bureau and file a complaint on this company. I am also going to find a lawyer I can afford and file suit. I know that a lot of you have a bigger loss than I but these people are getting rich off of consumers like us.

I used to have a Virgin Mobile phone, Until my parents signed me up on their contract. I had my phone for two years, I never once had problems with money/transactions, whenever things went wrong, they refunded my account. And also, it says on the back of the Top-Up card that ONCE YOU ADD THE MONEY TO YOU ACCOUNT, IT CANNOT BE REFUNDED. I must admit though, when I first got my phone, costumer service was MUCH easier than it was when I got rid of it. It became hard and frustrating to get a hold of one.

Also, if you're going for a PLAN with Virgin Mobile, that was a stupid move, with Cellular One, you can get UNLIMITED calls to anyone, anytime in your state, free long distance, mobile to mobile, nights and weekends, the whole works. Research your options before acting upon them.

I disagree, Virgin Mobile has done a great job in offering wonderful plans. They also have helped out those like myself who just don't qualify for contract phones. I have been with them for almost 3 years and love it. To those that have had problems read first before you enter into anything, maybe it just wasn't for you.

I disagree with what has been said. I have had a Virgin Mobile phone for almost a year and I have not had one single problem when it comes to money. By the way, once you have put your top up card # in u can't just get the money back. Also with the Stash idea, its your fault that you didn't claim your points before the thing ended.

I've had too many problems with Virgin Mobile--starting with the Stash Card. At first I thought it was a good idea to have and did sign up for and use it. I thought it was great that every time I made a purchase that I could get points that I could redeem for additional minutes for my phone. Thinking that this would be an on-going thing I get a letter in the mail stating that Virgin Mobile will be ending the Stash Card--problem--I still have points on there that I would like to redeem for minutes. So when I called to inquire, no one could tell me why the program was ending or had no solution to how to redeem the points I have left on the card. So finally after going through "an act of congress" I was told by a manager that the Stash Card was just a market test product and that they could not do anything to help me redeem the points I left on the card for additional minutes.

Waste of time is all I can say. Anyone else having this problem?