Joeydroid

Is anyone using the auto-pay feature with Virgin ? Any problems ? Does it automatically do the Restart My Account option that you would normally do after making a payment ?

Thanks

whs

Yes, using PayPal. No. Yes.

Thorsten

1. Yes. With a credit card. Never used anything else. It's super convenient, a set-it-and-forget-it type of deal.
2. No. I guess some people would consider it a downside that by using this method, you do get charged state sales tax (6% for me, YMMV), with is something you can avoid when you use top-off cards purchased online. However, most if not all states that have sales taxes might consider this tax evasion.
3. I guess so, but never having used this option manually, I'm not sure what exactly is involved. The auto-pay works as expected, though. Once a month, my credit card gets charged, my minutes counter resets to 0, and I get the following text from 0000000868:

JohnACman

I tried it for the first two month with a debit card. Both months I had a big problem with the phone loosing 3g at the end of the month. Had to call VM customer service and have them restart the plan each month. I dropped the plan and now just pay in advance on the web site. So far this works fine.

Joeydroid

I just got a text saying At midnight my plan will start over again, i will check in the morning.

Thanks

Joeydroid

I had the same problem for the first 2 months. Once i clicked on the Restart My Plan button on the website everything worked.

Jenny Z

I use it, it's been working fine for me.

adam97202

I've had problems at least 2 out of my first 5 months... but the June auto-pay seems to have gone through okay.

trey3

i wait until the top-up cards go on sale at target and buy a couple of those.

lizm

Long story but had VM a few years ago and they charged me over $500 in a matter of days....took many hours on the phone with my bank and their customer service and they still refused to reverse the charges. My bank finally had to just reverse them without VM's permission. My bank rep said they were by far the worst merchant they'd ever had to deal with on a disputed charge.

So no. I registered a payment method (credit card) so I can top off with one click, basically, but I will never, ever, again let VM auto charge me for anything.

tcklord

I use the auto payment and never had any problems except for when my card number changed, I just fixed it on the site and started it up again no problems.

Joeydroid

New month started automatically with no problems


Thanks

K-L-M

Ditto completely on Thorsten's post #3.

All good so far.

Okay on noting you saw your month start over. That was easy enough

JerryScript

Just FYI: I switched from auto pay to Topping up via the website, and I didn't get charged tax, nor did I have to re-activate my plan.

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JoeWill1947

I have been using auto pay through my credit card since March with no problems. In my case, I pay about $26.20 including sales tax. Avoiding the hassle of remembering to top off every month is well worth the extra $1.20 a month

prrep

Is "Auto-Pay" the same as "Auto-Top" up?Because I can't seem to find an auto-pay option on the VirginMobile site. Thanks

mjs2011

The big issue I've run into with this method is that your $5/month insurance payment does not get automatically taken out. Because of this, I am now switching to manually paying the night before my due date every month.

mickey1999

I've had beyond talk for 2 months now and both times I had the money in my cash balance but I had to call them each time to restart my plan. I hope maybe this month it will auto charge me cash balance!

Joeydroid

If you are paying manually make sure you click on Restart My Plan Month after you make a payment.

cutterjohn

Yep, I do this too, buy a pin from callingmart and on the day my plan ends I apply it...

...and yep I always used the restart plan option as I've heard of problems so just decided it was safest to do that...

OverBoard

Or, what has worked for me always is: . 1) Ensure there is enough cash balance to cover amount due. If not, top-up. 2) one to two days BEFORE the due date, click PAY NOW. . Using this method, I have not experienced any 3G redirections to the VM home page.

starsandsky87

Be warned...Long story, LOL

I didn't use auto-pay but I manually paid to restart my plan for new minutes with my debit card. I stopped using it due to a big problem recently. I went to restart my minutes earlier this June and VM regretted to inform me that back in May my card was suspended because they thought someone was trying to hack into my account, due to suspicious activity. This "hacking" problem was really difficulties with their system as I tried to use the card back in May. I mean if there was really suspicious activity my bank would have informed me and I would have saw something in my statement. So I was pissed that VM only told me my card was suspended when I tried to restart my plan and they didn't tell me that back in May, when it first happened. (They send a text when minutes are low, or when you restart your plan, but they couldn't send me a text or email that there was a possible hacker on my account?) There also wasn't any mention of my card being suspended on the website, when I tried to restart my minutes... I had to send documents proving the card was mine and proving my identity. It was a hassle, so I'm just using the top up cards from now on. I don't trust them with my debit card from this incident and had it removed from my account. Even with this incident I'm still with the service, overall it's been pretty good and they gave me 60 free minutes because of what happened.

Oh, sorry if this sounded like a rant.

duvallite

The last 2 months, I've topped up before my payment due date (25th), and VM has automatically taken the money out of my account each time just as the 25th starts, but my minutes have not reset to zero. I have then had to manually Restart My Month that same day to get the minutes to reset. Am I doing something wrong here? Do your minutes actually reset at the start of your due date or at midnight at the end of your due date?

melim

It's my understanding that it's the latter, but WTH do I know, lol. Don't get me started again with this payment system...

androidfonefan

I auto pay.
Has worked fine for me.

AmishFury

midnight at the end of your due date... mine is the 12th and they always reset at 12AM on the 13th

i usually just go to callingmart on the payday before the 12th and top up... never gone in and restarted my plan month or anything it all works fine for me automatically

Kobun

I have mine set to auto-pay as well and have not had any problems. I much rather leave it on auto-pay than having to worry about missing the payment date and losing accumulated rollover minutes or, on my old Virgin Mobile plan, running out of minutes during a call. I've been using Virgin Mobile for nearly a decade now. I'd suggest that while I'm sure you'll find people with bad experiences here or there, the same could be said for most any company. I wouldn't let that deter you from registering.

Last edited by Kobun; August 11th, 2011 at 12:42 PM. Reason: Additional note

TLBones

Didn't sound like a rant...sounds highly annoying. Unfortunately it sounds like they could have handled your situation better, BUT in a way it was nice they were concerned enough to question potental fraud. I, for one, would have been very grateful if the stopped some scum from trying to use my debit card to recharge their phone. I've been using the autopay without issue on 2 different accounts.

Last edited by TLBones; August 11th, 2011 at 08:59 PM.

Petrah

I seriously don't know about VM sometimes. They screwed up my account, so I call to get it fixed. Apparently they overcharged my credit card and wanted to either put it towards my next month, or refund the money to my credit card.

Here's the thing. I haven't paid with my credit card in over 3 months as I've been purchasing my topup cards at CallingMart. My credit card, in my VM account, is not set for auto pay... so while on the phone with this lady, I logged into my bank account and looked and there were no funds removed from VM for the last 3 months.

The lady actually got irritated with me, to the point where she said "I'm going to have to INSIST that we over charged you". I got tired of bickering with this woman as she wasn't listening. I got a free month and used the topup card on my daughters account.

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micahdiablo

At least you tried to be honest Her ignorance= Your blessing haha

As for OP, Personally I never use Auto-pay. I remember when mine is due(24th of every month).

As for VM and autopay, I am a bit paranoid because i heard some horror stories. All my other bills are set for auto-pay currently but i'm not sure
if i'd ever let Vm do it.

AS for tax...I use a credit card....It's not a big deal. My 25 dollar plan costs me 26.92 a month. Far less than what i'd be being with any other carrier

Petrah

I've been using CallingMart, and only pay $24.01 (there's a discount code thingy somewhere here in one of the VM/OpV forums).

Lookie here.

micahdiablo

Thanks for that. I passed it on to my brother since he has a VM as well. I just see the point in using it, if i am only saying like a 1.50