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Virgin Mobile USA review: scam 21

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Author of the review
6:24 am EDT
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I am a long time customer of Virgin Mobile. We had five phones and accounts with them. They have lost my business now, and I'm going to a competitor.

Virgin Mobile is complicit in a scam to steal money from their customers, along with a company called "Mobile Messenger". What has been happening is, we get charges on our accounts: sometimes two within a single day for $9.99 each, with no reference phone number, no reference SMS number, just a blank entry in the account and a charge. These charges are not authorized by us the customer, they're not welcome by us the customer, and we did not in any way solicit these charges through any action on our part.

When we contacted Virgin Mobile these false charges had been applied to more than one of our phone numbers and accounts through Virgin Mobile. The operator I talked to was in India, and she said that they do not issue credits and that the charges were "third party charges" and there was nothing Virgin Mobile could do. She was quickly able to tell me however, that the company responsible was "Mobile Messenger" ( mobile messenger [protected] ). It's interesting that Virgin Mobile had Mobile Messenger's number handy. Come on people, Virgin Mobile is MAKING MONEY off of these scam charges, otherwise they wouldn't be collecting the fees on behalf of the fraudulent companies like Mobile Messenger.

I called the 800 number provided by the Virgin Mobile rep, who assured me I could get my money back by "talking to one of their advisors". Well, the 800 number is a recording that lets you "opt out" of future theft of your money by the company, but there is no operator, advisor, and no refund.

These "auto-charges" are nothing but theft plain and simple. Cell phone companies like Virgin Mobile working in collusion with Mobile Messenger are stealing money from customers because no one who has the power is doing anything about it to bring consequences either criminal or civil against them. We must join together as consumers to fight back against this kind of behavior by immoral corporations.

If you're a Virgin Mobile customer and you've been scammed this way, and Virgin Mobile is not refunding the money that was taken from your account(s), LEAVE THEM IMMEDIATELY. By principle it's better to have no cell phone at all, than a service that steals from you.

If you'd like to fight back, send hate mail to Mobile Messenger in Australia:

Eugeni Zhenya Tsvetnenko
19 Hawkins St Mt Pleasant 6153
Australia
[protected]
melissa.[protected]@mobilemessenger.com
david.[protected]@mobilemessenger.com.au

or Mobile Messenger in Santa Monica, California:
Michael Pajaczkowski
2700 Colorado Ave #450, Santa Monica, CA 90404
mobilemessenger.com

Also, WRITE letters of complaint to Virgin Mobile, or whoever your cell phone provider is. Complaining via telephone calls will never help, because corporations like Virgin Mobile can deny complaints were made when there is no paper trail to verify the issue.

Report Virgin Mobile and/or Mobile Messenger to the Federal Bureau of Investigation Internet Crimes Unit at http://www.ic3.gov/

In the interim, protect yourself against this conspiracy of petty theft by blocking SMS numbers whenever and wherever you can in your mobile systems. Here is a list I have compiled of SMS numbers you should NEVER allow to contact you if you want to protect yourself from fraudulent charges of $9.99 every day without your approval:

25000, 63232, 21000, 21277, 77888, 73000, 75557, 89623, 87572, 71888, 33999, 44674, 76036, 98651, 76284, 79171, 66047,
64651, 39999, 25516, 58560, 20795

Good luck

Update by Timber
Jul 14, 2008 6:40 am EDT

CONTENT CORRECTION:

Mobile Messenger Technology Pty, Ltd. CEO: Steve Taylor
Domain Name... mobilemessenger.com
Creation Date... 1999-10-07
Registration Date... 2006-03-22
Expiry Date... 2011-10-07
Organisation Name... Mobile Messenger Technology Pty Ltd
Organisation Address. Level 1 225 Miller St
Organisation Address.
Organisation Address. North Sydney
Organisation Address. 2060
Organisation Address. NSW
Organisation Address. AUSTRALIA

The Santa Monica, CA address is reported as possibly invalid.

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21 comments
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laurainarkansas
Oppelo, US
Jul 26, 2009 3:11 pm EDT

They will sell you a phone knowing that not all areas are covered and they will take your credit card info for monthly billing and when you try to cancel your account, their customer service reps are trained to say that they can not give refunds on deactivated accounts. It took me several days to actually get to a customer service supervior who now states their computer system is down and updating and that it will take a WEEK to resolve and issue my refund. This has been going on every time I call. This is a big scam. To sell you a phone that doesnt offer a very good coverage area and then get your debit card so they can keep charging you without offering a refund AT ALL! I bought the phone at a best buy store and they have no clue what this company is doing to the innocent buyers. Best Buy will take the phone back, but has nothing to do with you getting a credit on your debit card for the monthly plan. DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THIS COMPANY!

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Escosian Torres
bufffalo, US
Feb 20, 2011 11:54 pm EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

When virgin mobile launched it's 40 dollar unlimited broadband to go plan it was unlimited g/bites now they are restricting it to 5/Gigabytes per month. I feel that they lured me and other individuals to buy there product and scammed them of thinking they had unlimited g/bites this is unfair and will be making a formal complaint to the FCC asap!

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Escosian Torres
, US
Mar 17, 2011 11:25 am EDT

When virgin mobile launched it’s 40 dollar unlimited broadband to go plan it was unlimited g/bites now they are restricting it to 5/Gigabytes per month. I feel that they lured me and other individuals to buy there product and scammed them of thinking they had unlimited g/bites this is unfair and will be making a formal complaint to the FCC asap!

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jc155
, US
Dec 15, 2010 7:49 pm EST

I just want to add to the list of complaints here about Virgin Mobile. Stay away from this cell phone company. I set up a cell phone acct. with them for my 90 year old mother who only has the phone for emergency purposes and never uses the phone. I set up the account with the bill every 90 days plan because it was the cheapest and my mother would never need any more than that. It turns out that fifteen months ago Virgin Mobile just arbitrarily upgraded her calling plan to a monthly billing plan. My mother was not alert to what was happening with the automatic charges to her credit card and only brought it to my attention about a month ago.

Virgin Mobile continues to falsely claim that my mother requested the upgrade but they refuse to provide any proof and they refuse to refund the money they stole from my mother. ... As well, when I have repeatedly requested that they provide me with the name and business address of the president of the company they refuse to do so.

In addition I might add that the two times that I contacted their customer service by phone to address this problem, I was given a "trouble shooting" number and told that I would be receiving a call back within the next 3 business days. I waited 4 days each time and never received a call back on either request and had to call them again myself to find out that they were refusing to refund the money they stole.

As someone else in this list of comments has addressed. The information that virgin mobile shows on their web site for my mother account was/is completely wrong. When I asked any of their customer service agents for an explanation they had no explanation for it.

Apart from reporting this to the Better Business Bureau, I am canceling our business with Virgin Mobile. I am sorry to have to say that it is a very shady and unprofessional operation it would seem. Stay away from this company!

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Chad053
Woden, AU
Nov 10, 2010 11:53 pm EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Virgin is the worst service provider I've used so far. I have just received my bill and this is what I call as “legally stealing” people. On the 24th October, some guy from virgin call me to convince me that ‘easy cap 29’ is better than my then ‘your cap 30’, telling me that everything is basically the same, except that I would have to pay $29 instead of $30 and that I would have $190 worth of credit instead of $150. Everything sounded wonderful, therefore I asked him to make the changes. Then to finish up, the guy from Virgin told me to turn off my mobile for 5 minutes and the easy cap 29 should be activated, that I would then have $190 worth of credit as of that very time. Therefore, as I always do, I check my account on the Virgin website to make sure that everything actually changed. It was mentioned that I am now on the easy cap 29, and I could even see by Mobile Internet data usage increased to 100mb (which I normally never use). Therefore, everything seems like I had $190 worth of credit to use. Therefore, I made couple of calls which took my total usage to $161. Not above $190, but $161! To my surprise, when I received my bill this week, I have exceeded not the $29 cap, but surprisingly the $29.62 cap by about $15. I don't know why they have an online website to check the current usage when it’s not accurate at all! Where’s the point for me to look at this page when it doesn’t reflect my real account. Then of course, I give a call to Virgin to waste some more time on the phone as usual, the operator will then tell me that this amount is ‘Prorated’. This is not my problem, because I was told I could use $190 as from the very beginning that the change was done, but apparently not, it’s probably a scam trick that virgin is doing to his customers, making people from India call us, sell the new packages and steal us legally with the ‘Prorated’ word. I now hate Virgin with all my heart, and I wait impatiently when my contract ends next year to run away as far and fast as possible. My biggest problem in all that is not primarily the extra $15 that Virgin's stealing from me, because $15 will not make me any poorer but I hate the fact that ‘Virgin’ take us for fools and steal our money in such a way that we can’t do anything about it. The irony in this entire situation? The reason why the Indian guy called me to change my package, was for a request I made through the Virgin website to find out how much time was left on my contract to upgrade to the Samsung Galaxy S which is currently at $49, and even though I don’t use that much credit every month, I would have taken the phone only because I like it and that it’s cheaper at Virgin than with any other providers. But turns out, taking cheaper phones at Virgin ends up becoming more expensive than anywhere else throughout the 2 years contract. It is not good what they're doing to us, don’t ever expect me to recommend Virgin Mobile or any other Virgin thing to anyone else, they are the worst service I’ve ever used, stealing money legally. A company that trick us into wanting to change for the new exciting package which was supposed to be better, cheaper and flexible, when in fact, it’s just a scam to steal a little bit more money from us.

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mechee
lorain, US
Mar 10, 2010 10:39 am EST

What you just said is happening to me right now!and Im Pissed

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popo1234
Kissimmee, US
Nov 29, 2009 8:39 pm EST

I just threw away my virgin phone what a scam i paid my bill early online. When paying the bill the website lets me choose the plan so i chose the 49.99 unlimited once i check out im thinking ok i guess it will charge the taxes automatically, well it charged taxes but because I forgot to add virgins surcharges which the website does not tell you how much they are ($3 and some cents) i got bumped to a 20cent/ minute plan and for 10 days of usage they charged $50! horrible service for not paying $3 they wanna charge me $50 will never do business with these loosers again its a set up. I work for a major cell company that happens to sell virgin i will not sell their product any longer and will do everything in my power to make sure my employees do not sell them either.

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PAUL VIZKID
Bronx, US
Oct 18, 2009 4:39 pm EDT

VIRGIN MOBILE BIG TIME SCAMMER, DISCONNECTED MY PHONE ON 7/19/09 AND STILL BILLING ME, SCAM 10/18/09

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PAUL VIZKID
Bronx, US
Oct 18, 2009 4:34 pm EDT

VIRGIN MOBILE ARE JUST PLAIN SCAMMER, YES THEY GOT ME TO.

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mrfinger
Pittsburgh, US
Sep 06, 2009 6:03 pm EDT

Whatever happened to consumer protection? I keep getting text msgs for Play To Win and have money disappear from my account ...They are nothing more than corporate rapists...caveat emptor...they need to be held accountable for their crap!

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mrfinger
Pittsburgh, US
Sep 06, 2009 5:55 pm EDT

richard branson is ###!

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Sandra
Culver City, US
Apr 08, 2009 8:21 pm EDT

We at Mobile Messenger would like to assist you with your concern or complaint. If you need assistance in regards to being unsubscribed or other related issues, please do not hesitate to contact us. Please call [protected] Monday to Friday 0600 – 1800 US Pacific Time or email escalationsus@sms-helpdesk.com

Sandra
Mobile Messenger

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Steve Hay
Frederick, US
Feb 03, 2009 7:46 am EST

Lets band together and bring these ### to their knees. They may be the Big Tree, but we are the small axe !

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Steve Hay
Frederick, US
Feb 03, 2009 7:43 am EST

I'd like to add, after reading ALL the above messages, that I too was originally scammed by Facebook, which Mobile Messenger uses for their "iq banner link" as "Kellyandpeanut" put it. For a more complete explanation of my grievances and situation go to classactionconnect.com. If you can't find the Mobile Messenger Lawsuit page, do a google search with no parenthises, simply: mobile messenger vigin mobile

It is the first result. Power to the People!
Get Up Stand Up, Stand Up for Your Rights. Get Up Stand Up, Don't give Up the Fight...Mighty God is a Living Man

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Steve Hay
Frederick, US
Feb 03, 2009 4:11 am EST

Please join me in my class action lawsuit against Mobile Messenger and Virgin Mobile. Email me at suemobilemessenger@yahoo.com and we will get some money out of these criminals. Mobile Messenger already settled for the same thing, but continue their illegal behavior. See the website of KramberEdelsen, LLC for the above case. We need to start a new lawsuit for people hurt and abused by them after Aug. 2008.
Steve

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ANDREW
windsor , CA
Jan 29, 2009 3:52 pm EST

YEA, THIS COMPANY IS A SOMETHING I CAN'T LOGIN INTO MY ACCOUNT, THEY TOLD ME TO DISABLE COOKIES AND FIREWALL ETC. YEA RIGHT WHAT ELSE ?, THEY CHARGE US WITH SOME STRANGE SERVICES SO THE BILL IS ALMOST DOUBLE WHAT SHOULD BE, LAST MONTH THEY CHARGED US OVER $260.00 FOR TEXTING WHICH IS UNLIMITYED IN OURS CONTRACT, IT TOOK OVER A MONTH TO CLEAR THIS UP AFTER TALKING EVERY DAY WITH DIFFERENT PERSON AND EXPLAINING OVER AND OVER THE SAME SYTUATION.IN MY OPINION THIS COMPANY IS PLAYING WITH CUSTOMERS BY TRYING TO SCAM MONEY AS MUCH AS THEY CAN.IT WAS BIG MISTAKE THAT WE AGREED TO THIS CONTRACT FOR 3 Y. I'M PLANING TO CONTACT THE OWNER SER?BRONSON AND ASK IF HE KNOWS ANYTHINK ABOUT HIS COMPANY SCAMS. ANDREW-CANADA

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Frank
lindenhurst, ny, US
Jan 25, 2009 8:46 pm EST

AMEN to that!
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that!
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that!
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that!
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that!
!

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Frank
lindenhurst, ny, US
Jan 25, 2009 6:56 pm EST

ditto for me - To whom it may concern, Today in late afternoon NY time, I contacted Virgin Mobile (for the gazillionth time this month alone, ) to try to troubleshoot various problem issues that I have had with my latest 2 phones (i have 4 accounts), purchased in December 08, and your web site. There is something very wrong when both phones which were hardly used get voice and text messages from people we don't know, several times. Within a day or so of activating my phones, i got so many text and voice messages, that I ran out of minutes. I have already wasted close to $100.00 in top ups because of this. I got nothing but grief on the phone, especially from one Alexandra Nice? (Employee #:646416), who told me she was not the supervisor of Jay Martinez (a really nice guy whom I dealt with first), and when I challenged this, she then said she was indeed his supervisor. What is she trying to hide from me and other people. When I did a search on her, all I found was a porn star under that name. Is it your Alexandra Nice? Maybe you should do a little investigating of your own. What is Virgin trying to hide? What is going on? I have been a valued, good customer since 2000, and this is how I get treated? I plan on taking this up with the attorney general if this situation is not resolved ASAP. My young children can now not use their phones in case of God forbid an emergency. Do you want to have that on your shoulders? I think not, sir/madam. I don't think that Virgin Mobile can afford the negative publicity, I don't care how rich you are. We now have a president who actually cares about the little guy.

A very irate, soon to be former long time customer.

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mermaid girl
Sydney, AU
Jan 24, 2009 12:30 am EST

it sounds like this is all mobile messanger does is cause customers problems. I googled them and i was unable to find a positive comment from customers of mobile messanger or the customer service VP Michael Pajaczkowski. He needs to fix things for the customers who pay his salary or get a job he can do as it seems capable of doing.

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KELLYANDPEANUT
,
Oct 02, 2008 6:59 pm EDT

FACEBOOK uses them for iq banner link. I have been a member less than a month and have been spammed. Probably will delet eemy account

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Roberta
,
Sep 22, 2008 6:22 pm EDT

The exact same thing just happened to me. All of a sudden the credit that I added to my account yesterday was not there, and when I called Virgin Mobile to find out what happened, they said I had subscribed to Mobile Messenger, which I never heard of, and gave me the phone number I would have to call to complain about it. Funny thing is that when you call there's no advisor or anyone you can talk to, just this stupid recording telling me to dial my phone number if I wanna cancel my services. That's the only option, by the way, cause aparently that's the only reason why people call this company.
I really wanted to know how they can charge me for something without my approval and don't even try to help me! Unbelievable!

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