Virgin Mobile has been billing my account for $21.36 for over 5 months, I finally noticed the activity due to overdraft fees, I have been in contact with their customer service but it is impossible to do much. The reps simply add some sort of complaint /Fraud case and don't even give you a way to fallow it up. When you call back they have to file a new one as they do not have any information on the matter.

Absolutely terrible customer service - actually insultingly horrendous. Here's why:

1) After purchasing a mobile phone today and trying to activate that phone from the phone - customer service kept me on hold for the longest time and then kept disconnecting me. 2) Having been now forced to call from land line - as the free minutes (for setting up the phone) were now used up, Virgin Mobile again hung up repeated after numerous calls trying to activate the phone. 3) After going online and following the instructions - and paying another $20 for minutes - Virgin Mobile wil now activate the phone online but ignores the request to transfer a number - requiring me to call them directly again. 4) More attempts to speak to a live operate rather than the nuisance of the annoying 'Simone' operater who insists that all callers listen to a) unsolicited advertising, b) her bad/rude/inappropriate/unamusing dialect, c) any pre-recorded message she wants you listen to - regardless of your response. 5) Simone, the supposedly 'intelligent' automated phone system is extremely annoying and pretends to understand your questions - when in fact she doesn't respond appropriately to anything other than what your answer is expected to be. 6) After finally getting through to a live operator (trick is to hit 0# and yell abusively at Simone) a live operator researched the problem and told me I needed to call back in 4 hours - but refused to provide a direct number or simply call me back! 7) I do call back in 4 hours as requested and repeat the same process - taking nearly another hour, with repeated disconnects. When finally reaching a live person (process cannot be done automatically despite Simone's insistance) - I receive assistance and the Virgin Mobile staff finally starts the transfer process - but now tells me I have to wait up to 5 days to transfer a number - and then - get this - call back again after the transfer is complete and repeat the same process. I am also told that both my old and new number will now be 'inoperative' during that 5 days! So now I'm without any cell phone. 8) When I complain about having to speak to Simone again (they refuse to call a customer back, and won't give out any direct phone numbers) - I am told to 'Just Relax!' by the staff. At this point I am well past 'relaxing and again share my discust on this outragous treatment with a manager - who promises to share my sentiments with other managers if given the opportunity. Virgin Mobile - you have no business in the communications business!

Account was "hacked" and another account was set up in my name using, secret codes, and credit information. Monthly fees were deducted from my bank account that I cannot recover unless I can find out who did this . after two months I have the phone number of the account but they are only using voice mail and texting so I cannot find out who is using the account therefore Virgin will not help anymore. Virgin insists that It must be someone I know instead of finding out who in their company is accessing and/or selling peoples information. Obviously, this is not a random problem based on the complaints on your web site.

Last month I set my daughter up with an unlimited texting plan thru VM. Two days prior to the new month starting, my daughter checked her balance, which was $19 and change. I 'topped up' another $10. The day the plan rolled over, VM started charging her for each text. By the time we caught it, she had gone thru a significant amount of her balance. She called to get the problem fixed and after going thru their joke of a menu system was finally told by someone that doesn't speak English as a first language to take the battery out of her phone, call VM back and then hang up. When this didn't work, I called. Went thru the same stupid menu system and finally talked to a guy that said the phone had to be reprogrammed, but she would have to call from the phone itself. So then SHE called back and was told that she had run through her account balance and would have to top off another $20! She was also told that she had to CALL to tell them she wanted to continue with her unlimited texting plan each month. HUH????

At this point I was beyond pissed and called again. Once again spoke to someone (from where? freaking India???) and was told that my daughter's balance was way below the amount needed. I kept trying to explain that yes, I was sure it was, because THEY HAD BEEN CHARGING THE ACCOUNT INCORRECTLY FOR TWO DAYS. But her English wasn't good enough, or maybe the 'I just don't give a crap' mentality had kicked in, I don't know.

So, yes, I am cancelling the account, and I would caution anyone who is considering using this service to rethink that decision. They have all these little hidden fees that they charge (including checking your balance), and if you ever plan to call one of their 'experts', plan on camping out on the phone for a significant period of time because they make it almost impossible to get thru to a live person. I am currently filing a complaint with my Attorney General.

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 18002357105 ). 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
0 9364 6646
[email protected]
[email protected]

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