Virgin Mobile customers furious over pay-as-you-go shake-up - MSE News

rogerbfastlane

My Virgin PAYG a/c has been zeroed every time I come to use it. I had not received any notification of changes to PAYG. I contacted the helpline on 789 and was refunded £6 after complaining several times about this after topping up £10 on 30th Dec. Within 2 days this had been zeroed again with NO usage at all. I contacted VM again and they refunded £10 this morning. instructing me to double check my phone had not auto turned on data. I turned off and 30 mins later turned back on- checked that my data/WiFi etc was still OFF (it was) but the balance had already been charged £2 so balance down to £8 !!! I was told that I had used the internet (in the 30 minute interval) at a time when the phone was switched OFF. When I stated that the billing must be deducting money whenever the phone is turned on and pinging the network but NOT using any services, the assistant hung up! Seems they have a major system problem with billing on top of their outrageous price hike, so only way out is to jump networks. Luckily this is a second phone so don't care about retaining my number, but since the US takeover the service has degraded significantly and costs spiralled so taking my mob business to another network provider.

mobilejunkie

rogerbfastlane wrote: »

My Virgin PAYG a/c has been zeroed every time I come to use it. I had not received any notification of changes to PAYG. I contacted the helpline on 789 and was refunded £6 after complaining several times about this after topping up £10 on 30th Dec. Within 2 days this had been zeroed again with NO usage at all. I contacted VM again and they refunded £10 this morning. instructing me to double check my phone had not auto turned on data. I turned off and 30 mins later turned back on- checked that my data/WiFi etc was still OFF (it was) but the balance had already been charged £2 so balance down to £8 !!! I was told that I had used the internet (in the 30 minute interval) at a time when the phone was switched OFF. When I stated that the billing must be deducting money whenever the phone is turned on and pinging the network but NOT using any services, the assistant hung up! Seems they have a major system problem with billing on top of their outrageous price hike, so only way out is to jump networks. Luckily this is a second phone so don't care about retaining my number, but since the US takeover the service has degraded significantly and costs spiralled so taking my mob business to another network provider.

Retaining a number is not a problem in any case. Just transfer it to a different network sim by requesting and then exercising a PAC.

bubieyehyeh

I've now got £1.15 on my account, not sure if I can use it up, since its now £2/day. Do you get pro-rata if balance is less than £2?

robbo87

Herongull said:

If you want free voicemail and free calls within White network on PAYG piggingbacking on EE, consider WhiteMobile https://whitemobile.com

Great for family members who don't using very much credit

I second this. I've been with them a month now and am content.   One potential gotcha: according to Support they really do reassign numbers, as per T&Cs, if no chargeable service is used in the last 60 days. So do actually have to send the occasional txt..

mwarby

Is 1pmobile not cheaper, and they use EE too

robbo87

mwarby said:

Is 1pmobile not cheaper, and they use EE too

Appears to cost minimum of £10 per 4months (if u want to keep your number, which is important for me). White min seems one txt per 60days (altho I'm not being quite as mean as that).

 "..to remain a customer, you must top-up your 1pMobile phone/account with at least £10 once every 120 days (4 months) with effect from the Commencement Date."  https://www.1pmobile.com/terms-and-conditions.taf

robbo87

Yebbut what about the Virgin PAYG SCANDAL!!!!!!

Is Branson the AntiChrist? 
gotta be with that Beard..
QED