Virgin Mobile USA
Reviews and Complaints

I have been a customer with Virgin Mobile for many, many years. On approximately May 3, 2017 I replaced my Samsung Galaxy S5 with a Samsung Galaxy S7. I called in to Virgin Mobile to do the switch. I then listed my old Samsung Galaxy S5 on Ebay and sold it for $275.00 with fees. The person who bought my phone tried to activate it on approximately May 16, 2017 and was told by Virgin Mobile that the phone had been reported stolen.

I called Virgin Mobile immediately on 05/16/17 at 4:25 pm. I explained to them what happened and asked who reported it stolen. I was never given an answer. Either their employee made a mistake when switching my phone or they allowed an unauthorized person to report my phone stolen without verifying my identity.

Nadia told me they would research it and I would get a call back the NEXT MORNING on May 17, 2017. No one called so I called back at 2:30 pm on 05/17/17. I was again told they would research it and call me back within 48 HOURS. Again, no one called me back so I called on 05/19/17 and I was told they would research it and call me back within 72 HOURS. In the meantime, I had sent an email and they responded that the phone was fine now. Today, May 20, 2017 the buyer tried to activate the phone again and was told the SIM Card was reported stolen.

So, AGAIN I called on May 20, 2017 at 11:13 am and was told they would research it and call me back. This time I did receive a call back at 12:52 pm on 05/20/17. She told me their was nothing they could do and I would just have to buy a new SIM card. I told her that wasn't acceptable because this whole problem was caused by Virgin Mobile. I asked for a supervisor and she RELUCTENTLY sent me to a supervisor. This supervisor told me he couldn't help me. When I asked for his supervisor he refused. After approximately the 5th time I asked him for his superior, he put me on hold. I was on hold for approximately 10-15 minutes and they he disconnected the call. Since you record these conversations for quality control I'm sure that you be able to see who this supervisor was who wouldn't let me speak to anyone else.

In the meantime, the buyer of my phone has reported me to Ebay as selling her a stolen phone. Ebay is giving her back her money including the shipping she paid to me and the shipping cost to return the phone. Ebay and PayPal are not returning my fees and I am out $61 from Ebay and when I get the phone back it will still need a new SIM Card because of a Virgin Mobile error.

I would like to receive a free SIM card from Virgin Mobile and be reimbursed for the $61.00 I lost in this transaction. I also think a free month of service is in order for the 6-7 hours I have spent on Virgin Mobile's error.

Order number EK-VBPP-[protected]
On Tuesday April 25, I received the phone that I ordered online 7 days before. On that day I decided not to keep the phone. OK, how does one return a phone to Virgin. I found out it is nearly impossible. You have one phone number to contact you. It only works if you already have a Virgin number or account. I am not nor will I ever be a Virgin customer.

It took me two days to get someone on the phone to ask for a return merchandise authorization. The first person with whom I spoke said that a RMA is included with every phone. That was a lie. After 4 more abortive attempts and several hang ups by Virgin, I spoke with a rude woman who told me I would have to pay to ship the phone back but she did not want to give me an address. She finally gave me the address for Ingram in Indiana.
I paid 14.80 to ship the phone.

I was so upset by these lies and lack of customer service that I finally figured out how to leave a complaint. Your "Customer Care" is anything but and is extremely opposition and confusing.
When I complained that I was told by one of your customer service representatives, that a return merchandise shipping order was included with the phone,
Jorge M., said:
"Upon reviewing the information that you sent, we have escalated this
issue to a higher department since the return merchandise authorization
number should have been created before the package was sent, we
understand that you try to follow the proper procedures, however, you
were met with limitations from our end."
The request has been escalated, and if it is approved, it may take 7-14
business days for a refund to be processed, you may get in touch with us
within the next 72 hours to get an update on the request that has been
made. "

On 4/28/17 Raul G said, "please reply to this e-mail with the order number so we can create a return number for you. The order number is composed of 6 letters and 7 to 9 digits, when ordering online the order number starts
with EK and is marked as invoice number in the FedEx package."

Too late, by that time, I had gotten through your maze, figured out where to send it and returned it .

Since those emails, various "Customer Care" associates have informed me that they were "happy to assist me but then said I was responsible for shipping and further, I only had 7 days from the date of purchase to return the phone for a refund! It took 7 days to get to me!

The following is copied from your website. It DOES Not say 7 days from
purchase.
"7-Day Guarantee
Whatever the reason, if you bought a phone from us online, you can
return it for a full refund within 7 days. Make sure you have the
original receipt and packaging."

These are some of the Customer "eCare "team members who said totally contradictory things and failed to help:
Cuautemoc B
Raul G
Jenifer M
Venus Q

I returned the phone. I know it was received in Ingram on May 1. I want to be reimbursed for postage $14.80 and the money refunded for the phone. I used to have a favorable impression of the Virgin brand but no longer since this has been an outrage and a nightmare.

I setup new phone and account. Did not work well in my rural area even though area showed on coverage map. Ported my number to different carrier. Virgin cancelled my account. Would not refund $20 I had added to account. Stole my $20 even though calls were not working. I consider them thieves. Never will use again or recommend. On their website it says that customers can cancel if unhappy with service and receive refund.

My fiancé is looking to upgrade her phone as her contract is now up for renewal. She has been speaking to your staff from the Menlyn branch as well as the call center.
She has been told that there are no handsets available for her to do the upgrade. I told her that this is nearly impossible as all the other retailers have received the phone she wants as well as Vodacom Celtis Ridge S/S as my friend upgraded to the same phone my fiancé needed.
Now I am not sure how to go about dealing with this. I also called on her behalf and the info given to me was the same. One lady told me that it was unclear whether or not Virgin will continue. That too we would like to know as it will influence ouyr decision to continue with the brand.
None of the people from the call center could tell me when we could expect the phones as they topo where kept in the dark. I called your head office. The receptionist just sent me back to the call center and said I needed to speak to them as she too was unsure how to deal with my query
She gave me two names of managers I needed to contact, Collin and Kenneth.
When I called the call center again trying to get to either one of the two people that was suggested to me I was screened by the call center agent. This they seemed to be extremely good at and had all the answered as to why I cannot be transferred. After having to explain it all again to another person I was placed on hold – 2 min.
The lady returned saying that all managers where in a meeting. That was approximately 13:50 today the 2nd of May (Just in case this in not seen today)
So now we feel pretty much done in as customer of Virgin because not only are we unable to upgrade we are concerned that there is no more growth of infrastructure, consumer service has obviously been effected due to poor communication ext.
What should we do? I hope this reaches a member of management as the general employees cannot give feedback.

I have been a customer for many yrs, so when I couldn't get service in June, 2016, I was willing to wait until they resolved the problem. I've tried many times to call or message, no luck. Every time I called them, they said they couldn't figure it out and would get back to me in 24-72 hrs. No one ever called me back.

I finally get to talk to their resolution dept., a master at fogging, a term psychologists use to get people to do whT you want by repeating over and over, the same thing.. She'd repeat over and over how she was going to resolve my problem, but then, never did so.

When I said I was going to voice my complaints on the Internet, suddenly she was going to get me to their financial people. Oh right. And they will call me back, right...

Since US companies have out sourced their customer services, it's like pulling teeth to get a reasonable person to handle your complaint. I've lived in other countries, and although I haven't lived every where, the US has some companies that should be emulated for their customer services, such as Nordstrom, Kohl's and Macy's. Satisfy a customer, and you have a life Long customer.

All I wanted is for them to send me my money for the period of time during which they did not provide service. Could it be any clearer than that?

Richard Beck [protected]
Dear Sir,
Recently I was cold called with the intention of getting me on to a new contract. I'm sorry that it has taken a while to complain but firstly I've been very busy and secondly I've been thinking about whether an attempt was made to dupe me. I have decided that I'm not happy about virgin sales team continuing to try to get me to agree to a contract change that I didn't want.

I said that I was happy to go through with the change dog contract for my wife's sim provided that it didn't cost me any more money. The salesman assured me that there would not be any increase in the cost. He said that he would need to do a credit check, I asked why, as there wasn't going to be any increase in costs, and he said that it was due to it being a new contract. I agreed to the check being made PROVIDED that the costs would not increase. The check was successful and he then read out the legal stuff which included the increased costs. I challenged him about the increase and after a short exchange I said I wasn't prepared to make the change.
I now have had a hit on my credit rating and your salesman is off trying to dupe someone else.

Please review the recorded exchange between ourselves and you will see just what a scammer he was.

I'm displeased that Virgin using these tactics disregarding customer's wishes as I had always thought that Richard Branson, and therefore his companies, were honourable.
Kind regards

Egregious corporate behavior and sorry customer services

To make a long and unresolved case accurate, I recapitulated the facts.
I bought a Kyocera Hydro Reach on 10/19/2016, a model I chose in replacement of a lost Samsung. It turned out after getting familiar with the phone that it was defective. You could not hear anything unless you used the speaker phone and after a dozen of text messages, you could not retrieve them any longer.
I read reviews and found out those were pervading issues that plagued this Kyocera model. It is actually a phone that should not have left the factory if properly tested. I suspect V.M. knows very well of the problems but still sales it. I used the online system to contact Virgin and didn’t hear anything until I made a call to Help Line.

On Saturday 10/22 after a patient wait and long talk with operator Caesar. After an hour of talk and negotiations, we agreed that
I would send phone Kyocera Hydro Reach with all accessories I received in box to
Virgin Mobile
2675 Reeses Rd., Suite 190
Plainfield, IN 46168
ID# on package xxx xxx xxx
Shipping would be reimbursed.

In exchange I would receive upon return of VMU Kyocera Hydro Reach, a Samsung Galaxy S5. I took note and asked him to send me email with all information, which he said he would do but never did.

I sent express cellphone in original package with all ancillaries and material on Monday 10/24 and package arrived tracking said at address by 9:30 am on Tuesday, 10/25.

Wednesday, October 26, 2016
I was contacted on 10/26 by help desk around 10 am. I gave information of my tracking number and ref case #
Someone was supposed to email me as I cannot always answer phone but neither email nor voice mail was left.
I called Virgin Help from skype at 2:41 pm and explained laboriously the case giving all information again. I was told the case was “escalated” and asked for what it meant and told it would take another 24 hours to process. I asked the operator to note on my account what had been agreed on 10/22 with Caesar about shipping reimbursement, replacement with Samsung Galaxy S5 within 24 hours. Called finished by 2:57

Thursday, October, 27, 2016. Called at 3:53 ended 4:01
I wanted to verify status of my situation as I had not heard anything. I talked to Paul, after explaining and re-explaining situation and stipulating I had little time and that he would have to email me. He made me wait to check though I told him had little time. When he came back over phone I told him I had to go and he would have to email me.

Saturday, October 29, 2016, 11:32 am for 58 minutes.
I talked to Merlin and re-explained my story with Caesar of Saturday 10/22 and I was promised new phone.
I also inquired about follow-up emails that were never sent. Merlin told me they cannot send email as it is handled by another department.
I then asked to talk to a manager and put on wait for at least 10 minutes.
At 11: 54 am, I finally had manger Jess on the phone.
She asked again for my phone, pin and about what I was calling for. I said it was written on my account. I found out that Samsung matter had escalated again and was still under review, as she checked my account again.
Jess re-iterated policy exchanged. I re-explained what I was told by Caesar, the way I was treated, and Kyocera was out of the question for me. Jess indeed confirmed that conversation with Caesar had been verified and was true!
Jess said that within 24 hours to 72 hours again.
As she asked if there were any other matter to address, I mentioned review of Kyocera I sent but that was not posted so far. I learned that the review process review process was part of a different department, she couldn’t handle it. She told me to repost it.

Monday, October 31, 2016
9:52 am Neil called. Finished 10:12 am
Recording checked and indeed admitted Caesar made the offer of exchange of Samsung S5.
Neil made three offers:
1. Would send me a refurbished Galaxy S5, reconditioned phone used as a back for customers. Device would be checked for proper functioning. Pending on model available as there is one with back cover missing (the part covering batteries is removed and kept by customer from old phone for their new shipped one). This is pending upon availability. Will check with head quarter and call back within 24 to 32 hours.

2. Money back but didn’t say how much but I assume same price.
Nothing about shipping cost and my time to solve this matter.

3. Different model of the same price of what I originally paid.

I asked about my account number. He asked me why I needed it. I said in case I need to change carrier. He informed me he didn’t have this information that he just deals with issue of this exchange. I needed to call help line.

I asked about mailing address of customer/ complaint services: he didn’t know and I needed to call help line.

I recapitulated offer and told him in case not reachable by phone to email me and we verified email address.

At 10: 24 am, Neil called back:
He verified with warehouse. No back cover for phone! I laughed and said it was all to their advantages as convenient for them. I mentioned having been without proper phone and spending time and money too. He mentioned refund offer again.

He mentioned maximizing resources and that he would check if S5 model was available and would get back in touch once he knew from warehouse, and I didn’t need to call, I would be contacted.

11/01/2016
Called customer services 7:58 pm CT call lasted 27 minutes and went through 2 operators: Frisco then Jill
1. asked for my customer number, which took operator to call to her manager.
2. Asked for the mailing address of the customer/ complaint services as I could only find for Puerto Rico and U.K.
Frisco laboriously gave the address of Virgin Mobile warehouse in Plainfield Indiana, which is probably not what it is. She was difficult to understand—noise on the line and we have different accents.
She put me through Jill who accessed my records and found that I was a customer since 2007 and I finally got my customer number.
She hoped I would stay with Virgin. I replied I may not as waiting for a new phone and it was taking over a week.
Jill said matter will be escalated I would be called at my number. I said if could not answer to leave a message or better to email me.

Through my experience it transpires that:
Virgin Mobile offers bad phones but does not take responsibilities.

The customer service, “help line, ” is a very poor system and misleads customers. Operators are poorly trained and are just like automatons following a script but can’t answer anything outside a given scenario. Businesswise and humanly speaking, it is bad practice.

Most of the operators are difficult to understand over the phone with an Asian accent that impedes conversation even for someone, like me, who has a foreign accent and is used to listen to a variety of English pronunciations.

Customers are placated with an offer but no follow up. I was put in the situation of having the burden of the proof for a promise I was made, and Virgin Mobile has been doing everything to renege on its words.

Giving account numbers should be easy and not turn into an ordeal. It should not take over 24 hours.. It demonstrates a lack of good will and transparency. Knowing where customers can mail a complaint letter sounds like something any operator should know.

Telling customers they would be emailed and not doing it is to say the least misleading. It appears that Virgin Help Line is mostly phony and chooses what it wants to address in the time and manner that it desires for the convenience of the business and profit line at the expense of the client. Not leaving anything in writing maybe due as much as not leaving any track behind as a lack of writing ability from employees and management discouraging them to answer through email.

It is bad to offer bad phones, and worse not believe your customers when their requests are legitimate. It demonstrates a corporate arrogance that Virgin is always right and a lack of good will to make proper reparations in a timely manner.

Virgin in my experience has been manipulative and reverts to obstructions, delays as to discourage customers. Like many utilities corporations, Virgin Mobile shows a very stingy and callous attitude knowing that individuals have few if any legal recourse and mediation for their cases.

Today, I was on the phone with 4 different representatives to solve my issue and not 1 was able to resolve the issue. My iPhone 5s isn't working properly and they all seemed to think they knew what was wrong. Only problem, they quickly realized they didn't and referred me back to apple insisting they would fix the problem. Apple then referred me back to Virgin ...yet they took $7 out of my account to pay for insurance and posted it as a credit on my account after they realized their mistake.
I have been a customer since 2005 and have 3 phone lines with Virgin. After this experience I wouldn't recommend virgin mobile to my worst enemy!

1.In july 2016 I applied for a sim contract. The sales people at the were useless didnt do the paperwork properly all these were signs for me but I still persisted giving this worthless company a chance
2. My port took over 2 weeks! I was only active in aug 2016
3. Signal was the worst
4. Unfortunately I had to wait a month to move to another provider and was stuck with pathetic service but furthermore my airtime was being depleted daily without me making much calls when I contacted on the 18.10.16 the useless call centre the agents and managers who just are so dissapointing
Why will I call and say my airtime is fininshing if I am the one using it?
I was recharging for eg r50.00 making only 2 calls less than 5 min and the next morning no airtime
They accused me of making calls to people I dont know and dont know me. I explained nicely to them that my phones is locked and with me at all times. And my log states that these was not made
The one told me that I made calls to a person at a specific time and I explained I was in a meeting and my phone was on the table my manager and other staff members are witness to say that I did not make any calls. I was told its my word against theres. This was fraustrating I was damn seeking help as maybe the staff at virgin mobile are very rich and r50 airtime for 2 calls less than 5 minutes is reasonable
I explained to agents and managers that I am not making the calls and that if they can investigate for me that maybe the number was cloned and that maybe the original number is still linked to my number somehow but all I got was a vvvvvvvv big f... You,
One agent told me to call the numbers and maybe I know them and I am calling them lol. I did call and the lady doesnt know me doesnt work with me and the time frame the stupid agent gave me she said that she never received any calls.
I even asked if I must go to the police station they said no it I who is making these callsas the phone is with me and sim with me.
One told me I can go to consumer council
One told me that the handset and sim are with me so they cant be making the calls and that it is possible that I am making these calls
Why will I waste my time and peace if I am making over 40 calls per day.

My review is to make everyone aware that virgin mobile is useless and that after calling so many times for help they just refused to investigate.

I recently bought a phone for my son and we could not get it activated. Your automated phone help was useless and the computer help is no better. So we exchanged the phone and your services and will now be using ATT to go.

Also, while I was on vacation my phone would not have service 90 percent of the time. My husband has a tracfone and it worked everywhere. Therefore once my phone is up for the month I am changing to a different service. It really is sad you can't get help with a real person. And the lady at Walmart even tried to activate the phone with no luck.

Thank you for your time.

Do yourself a favor, and do not use virgin mobile! My father lost his service, and over $200 in airtime for not adding a $20 airtime card. My parents have been customers for 10 years, and rarely use their phones, so they tend to accumulate airtime. My father simply forgot to top up, and they suspended his service, and they kept his $200 in banked airtime! I called, on 12-2-15, and they would do nothing to help. ! "jason" said he'd accelerate the case to a supervisor, but lied! The supervisor never called back! This is how they treat loyal, long time customers! I'm done with virgin mobile, and will do my best to notify everyone I know and friends of friends how awful this company treats their customers!

I have been a prepaid member for 5 years, and I recently switched to a plan. im registered n still cant access my account online or through my phone accept to pay. no support or customer service... but I can pay. tons of data charges but apps disabled

I had a Virgin Mobile account and the service was beyond horrible! Their website that you are to use to add money to your account is not functioning more often then it actually functions.The phone & text service randomly worked. I would often get text messages 24 hours after they were sent to me. My text messages went out about 50% of the time but I was ALWAYS docked for them. There was never any rhyme or reason for the spotty service.Then one day they just shut my phone off. No warning at all! They turned my phone off, kept my money & refused to turn it back on because they said I didn't fill out a form a year ago! So, all year they did not call or mail me or even send up a damn smoke signal to let me know this form was so freakin' important that they needed to shut my phone off the day before Father's Day & leave me totally stranded over it. They left me stranded in New Jersey, unable to call my ride. After many emails and repeatedly being put on hold while calling India, they said they will not give me money back nor will they turn the phone back on! Thank you Virgin Mobile for not caring at all about my well being, completely screwing me over without even buying me dinner and making the many resumes I sent out with that phone number on it a complete waste of time. Thank you Virgin Mobile for being the worst company I have ever dealt with. Virgin Mobile has made Verizon look like a gem with their surpize $400 bill! Way to go Virgin Mobile! You take the cake for most soulless scam artists allowed to roam our market! It is a true crime that these phone companies are allowed to repeatedly get away this crap! Shame on each & everyone of you monsters! You are exactly what is wrong with our society today!

My cellphone contract was fully paid up so I phoned Virgin on the 20th August, spoke to "Happy" to forward a statement to me to verify that and he informed me that I can only get a statement in October because I needed to notify them one month prior to date. I disputed this and contacted "Hello Peter" to establish if this is even legal. Why should the client notify them when a contract is legally finished, they should phone client to enquire if the client wishes to continue, I really think the consumer board should make that an issue with all cellphone companies. Long story short, they handed me over to a collection agency, who handed me over to an attorney. The payment I made per month was R122.00. The attorney's letter dated 4/9/2014 said I have been handed over for the amount of R389.00 plus costs. Where does one month extra come to that amount. Then I received a statement from collection agency dated 9/10/2014 which shows outstanding amount as R439.88 which obviously included their costs.
I decided to drop dispute after receiving sms and phonecall from agency because I was getting nowhere and costs would just increase. I made payments of R50.00 every month into Virgin Mobile account for about 6 months prior to receiving statement and only one payment of R50.00 was recorded on statement. I asked the person at agency why only one payment is reflected and she said that's the only one they received and I said I paid it into Virgin's account and she said it should have been paid into the agency's account. if I paid more I should send her the proof which I could not do because I was robbed the day I collected my Sassa pension and do my account payments the same day and I kept it all stapled together so that meant I lost all my proof that day. And she said she will ask Virgin about the payments and came back with they can't find it. Even after that, I proceeded to pay R100.00 every month
because I saw their monthly charges comes to R50.60. Every month when I emailed deposit slip I would asked for a statement which they just ignored. Eventually this month I asked them to stop ignoring me and provide a statement as I want to see what the settlement amount would be and they phoned me to say they were not ignoring me but the settlement amount was too much for me to settle, so I asked what was it and she said something like R1300.00 I was so in shock I forgot the precise amount . I asked her how is that possible, if I have paid R750.00 to date, the initial cellphone contract was for the amount of R1379.04 which I have paid completely, yet here they are expecting me to pay a whole lot more extra than the initial price on an error they made and all this for a cheap overpriced cellphone. and how did they get from R122 to 439.88 to more than R2000.
Please Virgin Mobile or their staff are the biggest crooks, don't let them get away with robbing people who struggle to make a living.

I am formal virgin mobile customer using service from last 4 years. As per the policy mentioned on website called customer service to unlock my iPhone 4s for international use and customer service representative was very rud and gave not favorable answer. Virgin mobile customer service is just joke . I escalated to supervisor and no.want to come on phone to talk with no reason.

i do cash payment on my contract because the company debited my acount wrong now more than a year later im still having problems they sms me every month and cut my phone due to non payment i have faxed and emailed all payments to them but still no change i have spoken to a manager Elize but still nothing why must i have this problem every month formore than a year iwant this resolved and i will never renew my contract with virgin moble again

I've had a Virgin Mobile pre-paid phone since the service was first created, probably around 2002. Back then, it was a great, affordable option in an era when many phone contracts offered little and cost a lot.
Today, I rarely use that phone -- and have over $300 credit on it -- but I keep topping it up as a backup/emergency phone.
For the past year, I haven't been able to access my account, online. The PIN they gave me doesn't work, even when they issued me a new one. Now, when I call them via their own *86 connection, their service doesn't recognize what I select. (The recording keeps saying, "I'm sorry, I didn't understand that. Please review our options and choose the one that fits your needs, " or something like that.) So, I've been adding funds via email.
This month, I asked them to add the usual $10 to keep the phone active and my $300+ balance intact. However, in addition to the $10 (plus $1.05 service charge), they made a second -- completely separate -- withdrawal on my credit card, in the amount of $21.70. I'm not sure if they thought I wouldn't notice. (And, it's possible they've done this before and I didn't notice. I'm not always as watchful as I should be.)
I tried to call them when it happened, but -- as usual -- their phone system wouldn't put me through to anyone. It just kept repeating the usual options.
I emailed them and it took three days for them to reply. Even then, it was a form letter asking for my PIN, etc., though I'd included a screenshot of my bank statement... showing just their withdrawals, of course.
Several emails later, they said the refund was "under review." When I explained (via email) that this was not okay and I intended to share this experience via social media, they suddenly said the refund was approved, but could take 7 - 10 days to be initiated, and might not show up in my bank account for 30 days. No apology. Nothing to assure me they'd found the source of the error and fixed it.
For me, this was the last straw. I'm posting this to warn others to check their bank statements carefully if they're doing business with Virgin Mobile. Years ago, when it was actually part of the Virgin network, it was a great phone company. Now, I'm expecting them to be shut down (in the U.S., anyway) for illegal activities. A well-managed, above-board company would have rushed to apologize for the unauthorized withdrawal and make sure the mistake was corrected. Looking back over others' similar complaints -- some from five more more years ago -- Virgin Mobile looks like a company to avoid. So disappointing.