I just purchased my very first cell phone from Target. It just so happens there was a Virgin Mobile representative at the store who talked me into buying a pre-paid card & Virgin Mobile phone.
I asked all the important questions about the phone and the plan, activation, etc.; the salesman answered all to my satisfaction and made it sound like a breeze to activate online, however, it anything but a breeze.
The first problem was getting the code number from the phone. It's written so small that you really need a magnifying glass to see it (I'm not kidding). Once, I got that number I went online to activate my new phone.
Online I was able to activate the phone and get a phone number, but when I tried to program the phone with the number, it would not work. I kept getting error messages that instructed me to call a number.
I called and got one of those obnoxious automated things and had to wade through that bullshit to obtain a live assistant. The assistant guided me through the steps to program my new phone about 10 times. Every time some error message.
The second time I called I had more trouble getting through the automated garbage and once again, the live assistant could not help me. I was guided through the same steps over and over even though I explained that I had done this with the last live assistant.
The third time I called I asked the Live assistant to put a supervisor on the line and I was placed on hold for ten minutes and automatically cut off.
The fourth time I called and explained everything I was again guided through a bunch of useless steps and the assistant told me "It must be the phone".
At this time I had about 2 hours invested in trying to program this piece of shit. I decided to cut my losses and return the phone to Target. Target exchanged the phone but would not refund my Virgin Mobile pre-paid minutes card because it was used when trying to program the useless Virgin Mobile phone.
So now I have another phone (same model), but I'm out $20 for the pre-paid card. I go online and log in to my Virgin Mobile account. I clicked on the link that says swap phones and some crap about how easy everthing is to do online (yeah, right). I punch in my phone code number and lo... An error message comes up telling me that there is some problem and that I must call the company.
Here I sit. Out $47. No (working) phone. I wasted an entire afternoon trying to program THEIR phone. They do not pay me to figure out what's wrong with their phones! I think they should either make the damn phone work or start sending me a paycheck for all the troubleshooting I've done.
Of course, I will call the Virgin Mobile people again, but I am dreading it! It's going to be more wasted time and more aggravation from a company that obviously doesn't know anything about their own products or how to make them function. Even if somehow they get this phone working, I've wasted a lot of my time.
This is everthing I hate about American companies and I will hope and pray that Virgin Mobile goes bankrupt and all their people are out in the street begging for food. Unfortunately, it probably won't happen.
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