You guys realize that vm is now charging you for missed calls, right?

seanfodonnell · Aug 1, 2013

Virgin mobile is screwing us!! I always use the $35 plan and lately I've been going over my mins a lot. Short story I know if you run out of mins and your month still is current your text/data work, and if you have cash balance your charged 10 cent a min. I just ran out of mins and put $10 dollars in my account so my phone would ring. One missed call and my cash balance went down bye 10 cent. After testing and reading though my phone log and transaction history on-line, they take one phone evertime your phone rings and you dont answer and if out of min but have a balance they take 10 cent for a missed call.

I called them they said they had to call me back....

Is this a known business practice??

comments please

TDOW · Aug 1, 2013

I have the 1200 minute plan for $45. I have never gone over.

MrJedi · Aug 1, 2013

The answer to your question is very clearly published in their TOS: Virgin Mobile USA

How We Calculate Your Charges
Regular Voice Calls: We round up partial minutes of use to the next full minute. Time starts when you press "Talk" or your Device connects to the network and stops when you press "End" or the network connection otherwise breaks. You're charged for all calls that connect, even to answering machines, voicemail, or voice transcription services. You won't be charged for unanswered calls or if you get a busy signal. For incoming calls answered, you're charged from the time shortly before the Device starts ringing until you press "End" or the network connection otherwise breaks. You're charged for the entire call based on the rate that applies to the time period in which the call starts. However, the types of charges actually deducted from your account balance will vary depending on your Service. Call time data displayed on your device may be inaccurate and may not be relied upon for determining charges to your account. Call time for a single call may be subject to a maximum duration and may be automatically terminated if the maximum duration is exceeded.

Someone has some 'splaining to do. You need to point this out to them. Or I say we all jump in on a class-action lawsuit so a few lawyers can make a buck or two, Virgin doesn't change it's practices at all, and we get a coupon for 15% off of an accessory (not including tax or S&H).

Seriously though, I understand your frustration, but I think you will have a hard time getting anywhere with this. It is a back-end software problem that the normal everyday reps won't be able to do anything about. You could request service credits once a month for each time this happens, but seems like a lot of work for only a $1 or $2. I have never gone over 200 minutes a month so it hasn't affected me. If I was on payLo and paying per minute I would be a little peaved.

OverByter · Aug 1, 2013

Virgin ToS specifically denies you the right to participate in class action, arbitration only, on a case by case basis. :rolleyes:

OB

pinocytosis · Aug 1, 2013

I've noticed that I started getting charged minutes for when people leave a voicemail. I never even touched the phone. Pretty sure it wasn't always like this, but if I start going over my 300 minutes, i'll just get a nexus device.

seanfodonnell · Aug 1, 2013

ive called 3 times now, yesterday and twice today. they keep telling me there investagating and are going to call me back with 72 hours. in the mean time my cash balance as still been charged for every missed call. ive been with virgin for 7 years. who really knows how long they have been doing this? when i ask about what about ALL the other people on the network, they tell me it must just be my account.

PEOPLE CHECK FOR YOURSELF!!

if these guys don't do something BIG for me i'm gonna sue, whos coming with me??

ENVi3 · Aug 1, 2013

The TOS says they won't charge you if you call someone and they don't answer or you get a busy signal. It does say they charge you minutes from right before your phone starts ringing up until you end the call or get disconnected.
They're not doing anything that's not in the TOS.

seanfodonnell · Aug 1, 2013

can you please show me where it says they can charge me for a missed call?

OverByter · Aug 1, 2013

Read my post above, according to the terms of service you have agreed to give up any and all rights to be heard by a court, you've agreed to arbitration for all disputes not resolved to either parties satisfaction. This has nothing to do with the Evo V so I'm moving it to the Virgin carrier forum.

OB

RealFastOne · Aug 1, 2013

seanfodonnell said:
Virgin mobile is screwing us!! I always use the $35 plan and lately I've been going over my mins a lot. Short story I know if you run out of mins and your month still is current your text/data work, and if you have cash balance your charged 10 cent a min. I just ran out of mins and put $10 dollars in my account so my phone would ring. One missed call and my cash balance went down bye 10 cent. After testing and reading though my phone log and transaction history on-line, they take one phone evertime your phone rings and you dont answer and if out of min but have a balance they take 10 cent for a missed call.

I called them they said they had to call me back....

Is this a known business practice??

comments please

This happened to me once when for some reason my auto-payment did not post and it drained the $25 buffer I had in my account VERY quickly. Even though the fact that the auto-payment did not post was THEIR fault, I only managed to get $12.50 put back in to my account. This was a couple of years ago and one of the few times in which I have been disappointed with Virgin Mobile since Sprint bought them.

From that experience I learned that it is better to re-start the month earlier to get the minutes, rather that have it hit the buffer money.

That said, EVERYONE I know has problems with their cell phone provider about SOMETHING, and that Virgin Mobile is not the worst to deal with anymore.

Lawsuit threats to a pre-paid carrier are worthless. Try sending a non-threatening email to their customer service and see if you can get some credit from them.

Good Luck!

seanfodonnell · Aug 1, 2013

Thanks overb I was thinking the same about where too post. Regardless VM can't just take mins or money, that's stealing no matter what's disclaimed.

Let's blow this up. Come let's be real.

I sent the email and even got my buddy ( who interns at the today's show) to mention it to a producer. Who knows...

Stand up

News worthy??

RealFastOne · Aug 1, 2013

"News worthy??"

No.

seanfodonnell · Aug 2, 2013

major phone company scamming thousands or maybe millions, your probably right. this isnt news at all.....

ENVi3 · Aug 2, 2013

seanfodonnell said:
can you please show me where it says they can charge me for a missed call?

I must have skipped a word. I was looking at this section of the TOS:

For incoming calls answered, you're charged from the time shortly before the Device starts ringing until you press "End" or the network connection otherwise breaks. You're charged for the entire call based on the rate that applies to the time period in which the call starts.

I guess it does say "for incoming calls answered". It doesn't say anything about calls you don't answer, though...

seanfodonnell · Aug 3, 2013

free months are cool, but my biggest question is how long has this been going on? i never answer my phone but never had a problem with mins. now that i use my phone alot more and especially since virgin mobile is stealing from me for missed calls, i may have switch carriers. 10 missed calls a day for 30 days is 300 mins. SCAM

is anyone else pissed? has anyone else called virgin?

i called 3 days in a row, and was on the phone for over a hour each time and everytime the kept saying they had to esclade the call. keep in mind they argree with me, but still no help. they said they would call but they havent. im gonna call again today.

Deleted User · Aug 3, 2013

I noticed that my account also shows each missed call as using one minute of air time. They show up as calls from my phone to my phone's number, like I was calling to check voice mail.

seanfodonnell · Aug 3, 2013

check this out on facebook, i could get the screenshot to load.

https://www.facebook.com/VirginMobi...ffset=0&total_comments=1&notif_t=feed_comment

OverByter · Aug 3, 2013

There you go:

Seems like they are trying to work it out for you. It might take a couple of days, but most people seem to have better luck emailing the angels as opposed to calling a different person every day and starting from the beginning.
OB

seanfodonnell · Aug 3, 2013

thanks overb, i email the angles and we'll see.... but im still calling today at some point.

OverByter · Aug 3, 2013

Just to go momentarily off topic, just so you know it can be a lot worse and more frustrating, ever since the system update 5-6 months ago I'm forced to call every month when my plan restarts because of some connectivity issue, email not sending, no voice mail notifications, mms problems. Such is the life of a budget carrier subscriber. :rolleyes:

OB

seanfodonnell · Aug 3, 2013

i hear you bro, but at lease let it be know that this is gonna happen. i used to have the mentality "i'm not gonna answer because i dont want to waste my mins" THATS OUT THE WINDOW NOW.

i need to top up but am really torn what to do

seanfodonnell · Aug 3, 2013

so i got someone with half a brain. long story story is they said its a known issue and said there gonna fix it. so they put 18 dollars in my account so i can use my phone while they figure out how to not steal from my account. the only thing is i dont have voice mail.

so its a voice mail issue, if the call goes to voice mail your charged even if the caller dosent leave a message. i really think this is gonna make them change there TOS to inform people of this issue and take it or leave it. i really hope they just figure out not charge you for this dumb issue. they said theyll let me know

OverByter · Aug 3, 2013

Well if the call does go to your voice mail, even if no message is left, their network is being utilized by your account. Someone's got to pay>you. Lol
OB

seanfodonnell · Aug 3, 2013

i agree with that statement ob, but at lease tell people about it. is there a way for the common user to turn off there voice mail? they turned mine off and they can just keep it off for all i care, its not worth losing the min

OverByter · Aug 3, 2013

I really don't know about detaching voice mail from your account, having vvm is pretty cool. I have the 300 minutes plan also, use the Magic Jack app whenever I'm on wifi and my plan minutes otherwise. I usually have almost 100 minutes left at the end of the month.

OB

You guys realize that vm is now charging you for missed calls, right?

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