I took my son to get a prepay Virgin Mobile cell phone. At the store, he told the clerk that he expressly wanted a pay-as-you-go phone. Although he had to give his debit card number for the initial set up, he said he wanted to use the prepay cards only.
Since he has had the phone, they began billing his debit card each month, $30 for 300 minutes. He called them to request that they not bill his debit card, but they refused, telling him that was not the kind of account he had set up. Even when he told them that they were continually overdrawing his checking account, they refused to stop. They debit whenever they feel like it, and he never knows when the money will come out. There is no set timeframe. This is why we didn't want the card debited in the first place.
They have continued to bill the debit card, not only once a month but any time his minutes get a little low, they have billed another $10, sometimes two or three days in a row, and then the next week, and the next week. My son does not use his phone that often and as a result of the excess billing, he is getting charged over $100 a mo for 600 min.instead of $30 a mo for 300 min. Since there is no online way to check your minutes with Virgin, or any way to look up how much money they have taken, it is impossible to prove where you are at with the minutes usage.
Virgin Mobile does not furnish an online source to verify the minutes that have been used. Nor is there any statement sent. The only reference we have is my son's bank statements. So, the only way we could stop the debiting was to cancel the debit card, and order a new one at the bank. The bank said once you give your debit card, it is considered a contract and unless the billing is fraudulent, they can't cancel the ACH. (well prepay phones are supposed to be for people who don't want a contract!) So, what is Virgin trying to pull here. I think it is a scam to make more money in a month's time.
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