Virgin Mobile - stung by big charge

LondonSarita

Hi there

I am going to expose my ignorance of mobile phone contracts here, but here goes
In the summer I got a Virgin Mobile SIM only rolling monthly deal. I have stayed within the required minutes/texts they allocated me and checked my online bill every month up to October to make sure all was fine

Last month I received some bad news regarding my health and made a lot of calls. I wasn't emailed a November bill but didn't have the presence of mind to notice.

This month I received a December bill, saying that I had incurred £70 in excess charges during November

I can't find anything online that tells me at what point these charges started kicking in - and there is no online November bill to check anything against.

If I had received one, I would have looked at it, and had I noticed I was approaching my limit I would have modified my call making. It's such an unlucky co incidence this happened when I was under so much stress as normally I barely use my phone at all.

Can anyone tell me if they have had an experience similar to this and whether it's worth hassling Virgin for any kind of refund due to the fact that they never issued me a November bill.

Also, are phone companies required to tell you if you are approaching your minutes/text limit? Naively, I thought they were.

I find Virgin's staff rude, bullish and incompetent but am willing to give it a go if others have had any sort of success.

Thanks

Sarah

macman

No, I'm afraid that it's your responsibility to monitor your own usage, all the tools are there on the phone to enable you to track this.
Excess charges start as soon as you go over the inclusive allowance-and are charged at a much higher rate, hence the big bill.
The absence of a bill is a factor, but would you not have noticed this from the size of the DD they took in November?
I don't honestly think you're going to have any luck pursuing this one-though by all means try.

grumbler

LondonSarita wrote: »

I can't find anything online that tells me at what point these charges started kicking in - and there is no online November bill to check anything against.

What do you mean by "at what point"? For each billing month you have some allowance. As soon as you have used it you start paying their standard rates, say, 40p/min:eek: for normal landlines and mobiles.

If I had received one, I would have looked at it, and had I noticed I was approaching my limit I would have modified my call making. It's such an unlucky co incidence this happened when I was under so much stress as normally I barely use my phone at all.

Don't know about Virgin, but normally you can check the current status of your allowances online or over a phone (free). Bills are generated at the end of the billing month when it's too late to 'modify'.

Can anyone tell me if they have had an experience similar to this and whether it's worth hassling Virgin for any kind of refund due to the fact that they never issued me a November bill.

Again, I don't know how it is online at Virgin, but a bill can get lost in the post. If this happens and you do need it you have to call them and ask for a duplicate.

Also, are phone companies required to tell you if you are approaching your minutes/text limit? Naively, I thought they were.

No, they are not required, but some do this voluntarily.

I find Virgin's staff rude, bullish and incompetent but am willing to give it a go if others have had any sort of success.

Just vote with your feet. There are better deals around.
What is your monthly usage?

Notmyrealname

My son has a a mobile on contract which we pay for so all bills come to me. Last month he split up with his girlfriend. Despite having 5000 a month text allowance he went over this by 270 in the bickering by text that ensued - the first time ever he has gone over his limit.. Its cost an extra £27 this month which he will repay us over the coming weeks. He accepts he should have taken more notice of how near his limit he was and usually he is quite good but this month he went over. He fully accepts that it is his responsibility and is repaying us the extra. HE IS SIXTEEN YEARS OLD. No idea how old the OP is but a 16 year old can manage to keep track of what they spend and accept responsibility when they go over so they should too.

zenmaster

Must be the time of year!

My son had exactly the same thing. Split with his partner, moved back here, made some lengthy emotive calls, went over his allowance and ended up with a largish bill.

When his bill became available online we took a look and couldn't dispute the fact that the calls had been made BUT I added up his free minutes which came to 200. His contract is for 300.

I've not had a chance to discover the eventual outcome as he made up with his partner and moved out again the following day.

OP - the bill must be online. If for some reason it is not ask them for another. Then check the free minutes are correct.

grumbler

Beware minutes are likely to be rounded up, i.e. 10 seconds call counts as 1 minute.

zenmaster

grumbler wrote: »

Beware minutes are likely to be rounded up, i.e. 10 seconds call counts as 1 minute.

I took that into consideration. As there were only around 30 calls there was still a discrepancy.

Also the fact that it was exactly 200 minutes makes me a little suspicious.

grimlea

LondonSarita wrote: »

This month I received a December bill, saying that I had incurred £70 in excess charges during November

Virgin allow you to put a credit limit on your account so you can stop it building up to this high amount in the future.

LondonSarita wrote: »

Can anyone tell me if they have had an experience similar to this and whether it's worth hassling Virgin for any kind of refund due to the fact that they never issued me a November bill.

No point whatsoever, they won't refund on this issue as bills can go missing in the post or emails can be missed or go straight to junk mail. You can ask for the bill to be resent and they will do so or you could just check your online account. The high bill is on your December bill anyway so your November bill is irrelevant.

LondonSarita wrote: »

I wasn't emailed a November bill but didn't have the presence of mind to notice.

Virgin don't email bills, the bills are viewed from your online account, you can goto view your bills whenever you want

LondonSarita wrote: »

Also, are phone companies required to tell you if you are approaching your minutes/text limit? Naively, I thought they were.

No its up to you to take responsibility for your own usage. You can check how many minutes/texts/data you have at any time by simply dialling 789 from your mobile. To just check your minutes costs the grand sum of £0.00. You can also check you available minutes from your online account.

macman

zenmaster wrote: »

I took that into consideration. As there were only around 30 calls there was still a discrepancy.

Also the fact that it was exactly 200 minutes makes me a little suspicious.

Isn't this your (presumably adult) son's issue though?

barbiedoll

Virgin don't email bills BUT they do send you an email stating that your monthly bill is available to view online via your Virgin account. It's unlikely that your email would suddenly be deemed as spam, unless you have changed your email address recently.

You should try calling them to ask why you weren't given a bill for November. They won't contact you to let you know that you're nearing the end of your allowance but you can send them a text with the word "balance" to 789789 for an update of your allowance.

I've got to ring them myself tonight, I received a text stating that I get 3000 free Virgin to Virgin minutes but they are still taking these calls from my monthly allowance. Am bracing myself for a long "chat" :mad:

grimlea

barbiedoll wrote: »

I've got to ring them myself tonight, I received a text stating that I get 3000 free Virgin to Virgin minutes but they are still taking these calls from my monthly allowance. Am bracing myself for a long "chat" :mad:

The person you speak to won't be able to deal with it. You need to make sure they send an IT request to get it sorted

If the person you speak to is competent the call should last 2mins maximum. The fact that Virgin are closing down its award winning call centre and moving most of the call centres offshore will probably mean you are on the phone for 45 mins with no resolution.