I have a Virgin Mobile phone purchased in 2006 that I have been using continuously since then.
I have used the "Top Up" cards to keep money in the no contract account. My plan for most of this time cost $6.99 per month to pay 10 cents per minute for my calls. Top Up cards were available in various denominations - I think including $10, $15, $20 and more. The last couple years, I started purchasing cards with the larger amount, $50 so that I wouldn't have to worry for several months about running low. Consequently, I've had $59 in the account and another $50 Top Up card waiting in a drawer. Several months ago I got a message on the phone that my plan had changed or maybe, I had changed my plan. I couldn't figure out what it was all about or find an explanation on the phone. But then, a few weeks ago, I tried to use my phone and it said "Inactive" or something to that effect, and it wouldn't work. I called the company's customer service and it was explained to me that indeed the plan had been changed by the company and that I should have read the fine print. She explained that now, in order to keep my account, I needed to "Top Up" with $15 every 45 days or $20 every 90 days, regardless of how much money was already in my account. I said, "But I have $59 in the account, why can't they use that?" Nope. That's not how the plan works! The woman even commented that some customers had as much as $400 or $500 in their accounts, but still had to top up. I considered how unfair all this was, considered cancelling, and then thought, well, I might as well use the $50 card from the drawer since I learned that I can't return it anyway. So now I can use it for another 90 days, into April, but I've now added $30 to that $59 that I really don't need and will probably never be able to go through at 10cents/min. Next, guess what! I thought well, it's still a good rate at less than $7 per month. So I will pick up a $20 card next time I'm at the store. So, when I next went to Woodman's, I checked and checked again, and the lowest denomination I could buy was a $30 Top Up card! When I asked at the desk about this, they promised to have their buyer, Patty, call me about it. She did. I explained all, as above. So she called Virgin Mobile's customer service and discovered that they are TOTALLY OUT OF $20 CARDS! Imagine that. I'm ticked! Can you tell? And no, I haven't checked every other store in the area. But, I can see how this is playing out, and I think it is a really unfair rip off for the company to be keeping all this money when I cancel. And I will, in April. But I suppose I should be telling you all this from my cell phone and using it as much as possible til then.
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