After countless problems with my virgin contract, I now apparently have a sim card that is faulty. My phone repeatedly tells me to insert sim card or put my pin in (depending on the phone Im using). When I inquired at the Virgin store what could be the problem, they advised me that I would need to purchase a new sim card when that happens. This appears to be a common problem. I am very unimpressed that a sim card can not even last 18 months and now it becomes my cost to replace this!

To summarise my painful history at Virgin, from the moment I joined Virgin, it took about a month after countless phone calls and problems to port my no after being told it would take a few hours!

Then on more than one occasion I have been unable to make or receive phone calls or sms's for more than a day. I won't even go into the details of my voice messages not coming through (which I have now decided to have a message saying don't leave a message, as its so unreliable), calls not coming through, even when I have supposedly full signal on my phone, sms's not sending and calls continually getting dropped, to mention but a few of my problems.

To top this off I get no response from customer service!

Each and every month, when trying to buy more minutes and messages, I am having difficulties with Virgin Mobile's website: it will not acknowledge payment, or will not allow me to do one thing or another. I also have been overcharged. If you call them by phone, you have to deal with stupid, endless menus, loud music, poor connection. I can endure this once in a while but I have come to dread the monthly deadline when I have to deal yet again with that horrible company. I would have quit long ago but I bought this phone which cannot be used with another company. By all means, stay away from Virgin Mobile.

I am pasting in a part of the complaint letter I sent to
Virgin Mobile,
10 Independence Blvd.
Warren,  NJ 07059
United States
Phone: 908-607-4000
Attention CEO Robert Johnson

LET'S FLOOD THIS GUY WITH LETTERS!!!

I purchased three Virgin Mobile devices and accounts about 12/1/2010. I have had far too much trouble with all three accounts since the day they were purchased. I assumed that in time things would work themselves out, but this has not happened. I sit here tonight, Sunday, February 06, 2011, chewing my knuckles, because I am at this moment having trouble with TWO of these accounts.

The 5995 phone became unworkable, and I have received a replacement phone. I attempted to swap it earlier this evening, but was not allowed to do so. I received a message that there was a ‘problem, ’ and I should call customer service, which is closed until 4AM Monday. I had done nothing more than enter the new serial number—correctly, twice—and pressed next. What did I do wrong?

A bit later in the evening my browser displayed the top-up screen, but when I tried to top-up I was told there was a problem with my credit card, and I should call customer service, which, of course, is not available for about another 36 hours. I called the credit card company at once, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with my account. What did I do wrong? Tomorrow I will go out and look for a top-up card, but they are hard to find where I live.

The 5996 phone has been a problem from the day I bought it! It wouldn’t activate. It took several days; many phone calls, and finally three trips to Best Buy to get it activated. They have a secret phone number, it seems, but it still took them about an hour. This phone continues to be an aggravation; It WILL NOT top-up by credit card. I have to buy a top-up card each month.

Your customer service reps, when I reach them, are often uninformed and unhelpful. I solve this problem by hanging up and calling back. If I say I'm having trouble with an accent, I often find myself listening to another laanguage. Real good service!

November 2009 - I called Virgin Mobile customer service to cancel my contract which i've already had for 2 years (it was a 2 year contract & thereafter you may upgrade) as i have had endless problems with the network and wasn't getting the help i required from the staff of Virgin mobile. When i called in November they told me that it would be cancelled within 2 working days, i waited and nothing happend. I called again in December and they told me the same thing and nothing happend, called January again and it was eventually cancelled and i was put onto prepaid. In February 2010 they deducted my contract installment and i called cust service, they told me to hold (i was on hold for nearly 30 minutes) and i put the phone down, this happens each time i call then i must hold for up to 30 minutes. I then sent an e-mail to the customer service mailbox, up to today i still haven't received a response or a call back. This morning i checked my account, only to find that they are still deducting money from my account, i have had it with Virgin mobile, they are the worst COMPANY that ever existed, whoever is running it is nothing but money hungry!!!

In mid Feb 2010 I was advised by a Virgin Mobile 'champ' to let them know 3 days to a week before the end of March to migrate my contract to prepaid on 1 April. Their policy on migration reads:

3.11 Migration. You may migrate from credit to prepay account or the other way around. ...If you want to migrate from one credit account to another or from a credit to prepay account, you can only do this once every 30 days.

As I had not migrated in the previous 30 days and in accordance with the advice I'd received, I gave my notice on 26 March to move to prepaid on 1 April. But the Retentions department then told me that the wording actually means you must give 30 days notice. It does not.

Since then I've repeatedly demanded to be migrated with immediate effect and that they reword their 'Terms and Conditions' to remove any ambiguity.

Their repeated stock response is that it is 'procedures and protocols' and that I must submit the paperwork according to their interpretation of their policy. What they INTEND the terms and conditions to mean, is irrelevant. They must stick to the actual meaning and cancel my contract NOW.