Virgin Mobile Overcharging - Help Needed

mrsr

frandy wrote: »

I have a similar problem.

In March, having looked at their website, I signed up for Virgin 30 + Unlimited Web Access tariff. Unfortunately Virgin seem to have a whole new dictionary definition for the term 'Unlimited', what they really mean is 1GB monthly fair usage.

I discovered this yesterday when I received a message to tell me my services had been stopped and to call customer services. When I did so they informed me I had exceeded the 1GB allowance and I owe them £240 for the exceeded data use. They are unable to tell me when I exceeded or give me any breakdown of the charges for a week leaving me without a mobile phone.

I was amazed on two counts;

1) I was under the impression I had Unlimited data.
2) I was given no warning prior to exceeding the 1GB usage.

I have since looked at their website and, unlike all of Virgin's competitors, can find no clear warning about fair usage on the tariff details. I did however, after almost an hour of searching, eventually find it hidden away in their terms and conditions.

I also checked my previous bill to view my monthly allowances and could only find minutes and texts, no mention of data/internet. A further call to Virgin revealed that the data allowance gets added after the bill is produced, so effectively will never be shown on paper....How the hell does that work!!!!

I fail to understand why a company is allowed to use the term 'Unlimited' when in fact it isn't, without making it absolutely clear. All other service providers make it very clear on their tariff summary that they have a fair use policy and they all notify you if you are nearing that limit.

I have been completely screwed over!!!!!!:mad::mad::mad:

Data is always shown on the bill.could be it will show on the next, may have been because of your billing date .

I dont know why companies use the word unlimited there is always a FUP on them nothing is ever unlim .On your account on the web it will show you have 3000 texts FUP and 1G data

varnish

I also have been affected by Virgin mobile's "unlimited" claim. My phone was doing something last Thursday and ran up a £254 data bill.

I submitted a letter of complaint on Sunday and they responded with this today:

Thanks for your email to Virgin Media about the data charges you've incurred on your mobile. We're sorry to hear that you've incurred a large balance due to these charges.

We'd like to advise that to adhere to regulations set out by Ofcom we must apply a fair usage policy on all of our unlimited tariffs. As the fair usage policy exceeds a majority of our customers usage we're able to advertise as unlimited.

We do stated in our terms and conditions that a fair usage policy applies to our data, a copy of these were provided with your joining pack. We also state the charges once the limit has been exceeded on our tariff pages.

With regards to the credit limit set to your account, we do advise not to use this for budgeting processes as the amount you owe is not capped or limited and you will still be liable if you exceed the credit limit we set.

Just so you know if there is an active connection, ie a phone call or downloading data, your mobile number will not suspend when the credit limit is reach, only once the connection has ended will your mobile number suspend.

We'd like to confirm that our colleague has advised you correctly, we're unable to see what sites have been accessed and what data has been downloaded to your phone.

If you want to reactivate your SIM card once it's been suspended due to breaching the credit limit you do need to make a payment to reduce the balance

People need to check the out of bundle data charges when signing up to contracts. With virgin it says in the small print any data above the FUP is charged at £2 per MB.

edit: for below, i get a text the day after my allowances renew stating the next months 'unlimited' web access has been applied.

Deeko_2

mrsr wrote: »

Yes if you check after 24hrs your data should be there fair usage 1G.your texts are 3000 thats the fair usage ,did you mean your virgin to virgin mins arnt there they also will be added same time as data

Just checked my account on the virgin website and still no mention of unlimited web access on my tariff. I guess the 3000 texts is plenty.

Can't get to the Virgin shop until Thursday due to work. I want to confirm I actually have "unlimited" web access....oh and get the phone actually working. The PUK still doesn't work.

Thanks for your help

mrsr

Deeko wrote: »

Just checked my account on the virgin website and still no mention of unlimited web access on my tariff. I guess the 3000 texts is plenty.

Can't get to the Virgin shop until Thursday due to work. I want to confirm I actually have "unlimited" web access....oh and get the phone actually working. The PUK still doesn't work.

Thanks for your help

Don't keep trying PUK it will distroy your sim card you need to call into call centre to get your PUK and they will check your data and add on if nessacary I'm not sure if stores would be able to do that for you .

Deeko_2

mrsr wrote: »

Don't keep trying PUK it will distroy your sim card you need to call into call centre to get your PUK and they will check your data and add on if nessacary I'm not sure if stores would be able to do that for you .

I went to a Virgin store and they let me use their phone line to get direct access to an English call centre. Apparently a number of HTC phones have been sent out which are not only locked to other networks but locked to Virgin also!!! I'm snookered until they phone back (on my old 3 mobile) and give me a code and instructions on unlocking my new phone. Meanwhile thats 5 days without being able to use a phone which I'm paying for.

Once I eventually get it sorted they will be getting an email asking for some sort of reimbursement.

Thanks for everyones help

mrsr

Deeko wrote: »

I went to a Virgin store and they let me use their phone line to get direct access to an English call centre. Apparently a number of HTC phones have been sent out which are not only locked to other networks but locked to Virgin also!!! I'm snookered until they phone back (on my old 3 mobile) and give me a code and instructions on unlocking my new phone. Meanwhile thats 5 days without being able to use a phone which I'm paying for.

Once I eventually get it sorted they will be getting an email asking for some sort of reimbursement.

Thanks for everyones help

It would have been quicker to do a csg.They will give you something back its not your fault

Deeko_2

Deeko wrote: »

I went to a Virgin store and they let me use their phone line to get direct access to an English call centre. Apparently a number of HTC phones have been sent out which are not only locked to other networks but locked to Virgin also!!! I'm snookered until they phone back (on my old 3 mobile) and give me a code and instructions on unlocking my new phone. Meanwhile thats 5 days without being able to use a phone which I'm paying for.

Once I eventually get it sorted they will be getting an email asking for some sort of reimbursement.

Thanks for everyones help

Wee update : I just phoned Virgn Mobile again after I waited 72hrs for a phone call back from Virgin to get an unlock code, they said they would have phoned back within 48hrs. Just been told they will call me back tomorrow with an unlock code. A week after receiving the phone I still can't use it.

Not very good service so far.

mrsr

Deeko wrote: »

Wee update : I just phoned Virgn Mobile again after I waited 72hrs for a phone call back from Virgin to get an unlock code, they said they would have phoned back within 48hrs. Just been told they will call me back tomorrow with an unlock code. A week after receiving the phone I still can't use it.

Not very good service so far.

Are you still within your first 28 days

asnac

varnish wrote: »

I also have been affected by Virgin mobile's "unlimited" claim. My phone was doing something last Thursday and ran up a £254 data bill....

I too have fallen foul of Virgin's pricing policy. I have a daily 9mb limit (which wasn't pointed out to me when I arranged the contract) but the phone has no means of telling me how much I have used! Now, the limit is 9mb a day for 30p, and one day I used 25 mb. And it's not as if I spent the whole day on the internet, just maybe an hour watching youtube videos. In my opinion the excess use should have been charged at 30p for each additional 9mb or part - but no, the charge was completely mad and came to £69 for that day alone! Is that profiteering or what? I spoke to someone at Virgin and they said that as a 'goodwill gesture' they would halve this charge. I still think it's unacceptable (I mean, to say that there is a 'fair use' limit implies that what I was doing was somehow unfair to them) but it is interesting how ready they were to offer a reduction. If I had the stomach for it, I would just say, screw you and your contract, I'm cancelling my direct debit and see what the county court says about what 'fair use' means. Would be interested to know if anyone has fought Virgin on this punitive charging.

londonmomo

Hi all
It finally got the attention! I too have the problem with my renewed accout. 1, they put me on the wrong tariff. 2. taking forever to rectify it (over 4 weeks). 3 CS person explained to me due to thier Techinical problem that anyone who signed up monthly contract recently, somehow being charged for every single calls ,text, internet access dispite of within the limit.
That is crazy!!! I phoned (this was my 6-7th call) last week and at least they gave me 50min/50 extra text/unlimted web access for now...and sent me text msg" we are looking into your problem" as one of my complaint was [COLOR="rgb(139, 0, 0)"]I did not receive any text/e-mail to inform me when my new contract takes effects since I signed the contract at VM Oxford st shop 6 weeks ago![/COLOR]. But they gone quitet this week so I need to call them Again!
of course , like others I cannot access my account on line.
I think they should come clean about the problem and at least should not charge us what we did not owe!