Virgin Mobile Clearly HATES Me
Sunday, August 8th, 2010 06:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
forchancookieI can't even begin to tell you how FRUSTRATED I am at the moment! My cell phone company clearly hates me. I don't know why! I've only ever been with Virgin Mobile. It's the first and only cell phone company that I've ever been with. I've gone through three different cell phones. I've switched numbers three times in three different states. I've never had trouble like this. Never ever! But this is so distressingly problematic, I'm just beside myself!
I don't talk a lot on my phone. I talk very little really, so a pay as you go phone is a perfect fit for me and when I first got a phone, I decided to go with Virgin Mobile. With my plan, I pay .25 cents a minute for the first ten minutes and then the prices reduces after that. I usually put $20, sometimes $40 on my phone per month, depending on how much I've talked and it's always worked out well. Until now!
On June 26th, I topped up my phone with $20. Over the next few days, my phone proceeded to charge me $1.05 per minute instead of my usual .25 per minute for the first ten minutes.
6/27 - 7 minute call charged $7.35. Should be 1.75. Difference of 5.60
6/27 - 1 minute call charged $1.05. Should be .25. Difference of .80
6/30 - 1 minute call charged $1.05. Should be .25. Difference of .80
7/01 - 8 minute call charged $8.40. Should be 2.00 Difference of 6.40
7/03 - 6 minute call charged $5.95. Should be 1.50 Difference of 4.45
I only noticed this on the July 3rd and quickly called the support line. They said they'd look into it for me. A week later, the problem was not resolved and I called again. I was told that some service requests were taking up to 72 hours (though I'd waited a week) and given a $5 credit for my trouble. Half of the credit disappeared, presumably sucked into the deficit that my phone overcharging me had caused.
The problem persisted as I was once again overcharged on July 13th.
7/13 - 1 minute call charged $1.05. Should be .25. Difference of .80
By 23rd (finally) charges were back to normal, but I have not received credit for being overcharged. I called at the end of July but the Advisor was rude and insisted that there wasn't anything that he could do to help me because systems were updating and that I had to call back.
Beyond frustrated, I waited before calling again on August 7th, well over a month since the problem started. My first advisor didn't seem to understand my problem at all and kept returning to the fact that I received a $5 credit. But that was merely to compensate for inconvenience and does not cover the $18.85 that I was overcharged. After repeatedly trying to explain the situation, she asked to put me on hold and promptly dropped my call.
I called back and my second Advisor was sympathetic and clearly wanted to help fix the problem. It took a while, but he said that he'd gotten a credit for the $18.85 to go through and that it would take four hours to go through. That was over 24 hours ago. I decided that the absolute last thing I want to do is call and talk to an Advisor again. While some of them have been helpful, many of them have been skeptical and unhelpful. I don't think they're even looking at the same information that I am. How can they help me if they can't see the length of my calls versus the charges?
Over all, from June 27th to July 13th I made or received 6 phone calls and totaled 24 minutes. I was charged $24.85 for these calls. With my plan, I should have been charged .25 a minute or $6 total. I was overcharged by $18.85. It's taken over two weeks just to fix the overcharging and far longer than that to try to get my credit back. This is well past the point of inconvenience as I refuse to top up the phone without being credited for being overcharged. I haven't been able to use my phone properly for over a month!
Rather than call again, I composed an email, but Virgin doesn't give you a simple contact address, you have to fill out their email contact form, which I did. And when I went to send my email? "The specified URL cannot be found." What does that even mean? What's the point of having an email form if you can't email it?!
Now, my only course of action was to call back again! I have to keep a text file open with dates and charges because nobody seems to know what I'm talking about. I'm armed with information and I keep getting sent through the eternal troubleshooting loop because the advisors have a script they must stick to and don't seem able to access any of the relevant information! But I keep trying.
Today, I called again. I rambled a bit. The Advisor looked at my account and asked to put me on hold. I agreed, though I was wary of being cut off. The hold music played, so I though I was safe. But no. They hung up on me after a few minutes on hold. That's the second time I've been hung up on! But my problem still isn't fixed, so I called back. I immediately asked to speak to a manager. The advisor wanted to help me, but I insisted on a manager. It was, after all, the seventh time I've called. That's six times too many. I gave her my information and explained my problem so she'd have something to tell the manager before I was transferred. That's fine. Annoying to repeat myself yet again, but they have procedures after all. She asked to put me on hold while she looked for a manager and then....I bet you can guess what's coming next. I was hung up on.
On my seventh phone call, I was hung up on for the third time! The third time! At this point, I'm half convinced that they've put a mark on my account saying not to talk to me because I'm making stuff up. I'm probably being paranoid, but come on. Two hang ups within five minutes of each other? It's not like I'm yelling and screaming and cussing at these people. I might get a bit rambly, but I answer all of their questions over and over and over. Even when they ask them twenty times. And I have proof. These are screen shots of exactly how this information appears on my account. Clicking them makes them bigger.
When the problem started.
When the problem ended.
So seven phone calls, three of which mysteriously dropped, and three failed attempts at an email later what are my options? I can call back again and wait to get hung up on. Sure, they could fix my problem, but if they really wanted to do that, they have access to my alternate contact number. They could have called me back and they haven't. At this point, I'm convinced that they don't care and absolutely do not want to fix this problem.
Who cares if I've been a customer with them exclusively for over five years? I don't think that gets me any sort of special treatment by any means, but basic customer service that WORKS would be nice! I'm tired of the run around. I don't want the run around any more. I want this fixed. I want this fixed like last month! I want to be able to use my phone again. I don't want to have to switch companies! I might not have had any problems with them in the past, but if my very first problem takes over a month to fix, multiple phone calls, rude advisors and hangs up, I don't have any faith whatsoever in their ability to fix any other problems that might arise! I'm not asking for the world on a platter! I'm asking for the return of $18.85 that was wrongfully taken from me. I paid for it. It is mine. Yes, a compensation for my frustration beyond $5 would be wonderful too, but at the heart of the matter is $18.85. Is it really so much to ask that they fix what they screwed up? Really?
I should call back. I really should, but I have lost the will to talk to them. I think in a last ditch effort, I'm going to link this to their twitter. At worst, nothing will happen. But I'll hold out a tiny bit of positive thinking that someone at Virgin with a heart will read this and email me. forchan@gmail.com
And so this won't go out on a completely bitter note, here's a picture of Niku chilling in her chair.
I don't talk a lot on my phone. I talk very little really, so a pay as you go phone is a perfect fit for me and when I first got a phone, I decided to go with Virgin Mobile. With my plan, I pay .25 cents a minute for the first ten minutes and then the prices reduces after that. I usually put $20, sometimes $40 on my phone per month, depending on how much I've talked and it's always worked out well. Until now!
On June 26th, I topped up my phone with $20. Over the next few days, my phone proceeded to charge me $1.05 per minute instead of my usual .25 per minute for the first ten minutes.
6/27 - 7 minute call charged $7.35. Should be 1.75. Difference of 5.60
6/27 - 1 minute call charged $1.05. Should be .25. Difference of .80
6/30 - 1 minute call charged $1.05. Should be .25. Difference of .80
7/01 - 8 minute call charged $8.40. Should be 2.00 Difference of 6.40
7/03 - 6 minute call charged $5.95. Should be 1.50 Difference of 4.45
I only noticed this on the July 3rd and quickly called the support line. They said they'd look into it for me. A week later, the problem was not resolved and I called again. I was told that some service requests were taking up to 72 hours (though I'd waited a week) and given a $5 credit for my trouble. Half of the credit disappeared, presumably sucked into the deficit that my phone overcharging me had caused.
The problem persisted as I was once again overcharged on July 13th.
7/13 - 1 minute call charged $1.05. Should be .25. Difference of .80
By 23rd (finally) charges were back to normal, but I have not received credit for being overcharged. I called at the end of July but the Advisor was rude and insisted that there wasn't anything that he could do to help me because systems were updating and that I had to call back.
Beyond frustrated, I waited before calling again on August 7th, well over a month since the problem started. My first advisor didn't seem to understand my problem at all and kept returning to the fact that I received a $5 credit. But that was merely to compensate for inconvenience and does not cover the $18.85 that I was overcharged. After repeatedly trying to explain the situation, she asked to put me on hold and promptly dropped my call.
I called back and my second Advisor was sympathetic and clearly wanted to help fix the problem. It took a while, but he said that he'd gotten a credit for the $18.85 to go through and that it would take four hours to go through. That was over 24 hours ago. I decided that the absolute last thing I want to do is call and talk to an Advisor again. While some of them have been helpful, many of them have been skeptical and unhelpful. I don't think they're even looking at the same information that I am. How can they help me if they can't see the length of my calls versus the charges?
Over all, from June 27th to July 13th I made or received 6 phone calls and totaled 24 minutes. I was charged $24.85 for these calls. With my plan, I should have been charged .25 a minute or $6 total. I was overcharged by $18.85. It's taken over two weeks just to fix the overcharging and far longer than that to try to get my credit back. This is well past the point of inconvenience as I refuse to top up the phone without being credited for being overcharged. I haven't been able to use my phone properly for over a month!
Rather than call again, I composed an email, but Virgin doesn't give you a simple contact address, you have to fill out their email contact form, which I did. And when I went to send my email? "The specified URL cannot be found." What does that even mean? What's the point of having an email form if you can't email it?!
Now, my only course of action was to call back again! I have to keep a text file open with dates and charges because nobody seems to know what I'm talking about. I'm armed with information and I keep getting sent through the eternal troubleshooting loop because the advisors have a script they must stick to and don't seem able to access any of the relevant information! But I keep trying.
Today, I called again. I rambled a bit. The Advisor looked at my account and asked to put me on hold. I agreed, though I was wary of being cut off. The hold music played, so I though I was safe. But no. They hung up on me after a few minutes on hold. That's the second time I've been hung up on! But my problem still isn't fixed, so I called back. I immediately asked to speak to a manager. The advisor wanted to help me, but I insisted on a manager. It was, after all, the seventh time I've called. That's six times too many. I gave her my information and explained my problem so she'd have something to tell the manager before I was transferred. That's fine. Annoying to repeat myself yet again, but they have procedures after all. She asked to put me on hold while she looked for a manager and then....I bet you can guess what's coming next. I was hung up on.
On my seventh phone call, I was hung up on for the third time! The third time! At this point, I'm half convinced that they've put a mark on my account saying not to talk to me because I'm making stuff up. I'm probably being paranoid, but come on. Two hang ups within five minutes of each other? It's not like I'm yelling and screaming and cussing at these people. I might get a bit rambly, but I answer all of their questions over and over and over. Even when they ask them twenty times. And I have proof. These are screen shots of exactly how this information appears on my account. Clicking them makes them bigger.
When the problem started.
When the problem ended.
So seven phone calls, three of which mysteriously dropped, and three failed attempts at an email later what are my options? I can call back again and wait to get hung up on. Sure, they could fix my problem, but if they really wanted to do that, they have access to my alternate contact number. They could have called me back and they haven't. At this point, I'm convinced that they don't care and absolutely do not want to fix this problem.
Who cares if I've been a customer with them exclusively for over five years? I don't think that gets me any sort of special treatment by any means, but basic customer service that WORKS would be nice! I'm tired of the run around. I don't want the run around any more. I want this fixed. I want this fixed like last month! I want to be able to use my phone again. I don't want to have to switch companies! I might not have had any problems with them in the past, but if my very first problem takes over a month to fix, multiple phone calls, rude advisors and hangs up, I don't have any faith whatsoever in their ability to fix any other problems that might arise! I'm not asking for the world on a platter! I'm asking for the return of $18.85 that was wrongfully taken from me. I paid for it. It is mine. Yes, a compensation for my frustration beyond $5 would be wonderful too, but at the heart of the matter is $18.85. Is it really so much to ask that they fix what they screwed up? Really?
I should call back. I really should, but I have lost the will to talk to them. I think in a last ditch effort, I'm going to link this to their twitter. At worst, nothing will happen. But I'll hold out a tiny bit of positive thinking that someone at Virgin with a heart will read this and email me. forchan@gmail.com
And so this won't go out on a completely bitter note, here's a picture of Niku chilling in her chair.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-08-09 01:54 am (UTC)Three times over the course of three months.
The last time I asked if I could get a copy of my account transcript, and I told the gal point-blank (even though she WAS nice and was trying to help) that I'd done this call-and-run-around game two months in a row, and I wanted proof on my end should my credit history or future tax returns be affected by their "computer mistakenly sending out letters." She said yes, I could get such a transcript, but...
...half their computers were down, and I would have to call back later in the day. (It's been a minimum 20 minute wait every time I've called the IRS just to get someone to ANSWER the phone, btw.)
I called back later in the day. After 30 mins and 42 seconds (my Tracfone keeps track of seconds, since it's also pay-as-you-go), I hung up. >_< I'll call again sometime when I have money and time to waste on them. >_
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