My best friend has a Virgin Mobile phone. He was on a "Pay As You Go" plan and was having a difficult time financially, so I helped him out by "Topping Up" his phone via Virgin Mobile's web site using my credit card.
Everything seemed fine, and after a few months when he was back on his feet he switched his plan to a monthly plan. A month after that (several months after I helped him out) I received an e-mail from Virgin Mobile stating that the next monthly charge on this account was due in a few days. I disregarded the e-mail it because it stated that NO charge would be made to the credit card on file unless IT WAS REQUESTED BY THE ACCOUNT HOLDER.
A few days later a charge appeared on my credit card for $38.05. I spoke with my friend who said that his bank card was also charged for the same amount. I called the customer service dept. And was told that my credit card information was still listed on the account and that's why my card was charged. I told them that he was also charged for the same amount.
When I asked that they credit my account since they had collected the money twice, I was told that they could not refund the charge, but they could remove my credit card from the account so that this would not happen in the future. I inquired about the e-mail statement of "We will not charge the credit card on file unless you request that we do" and was told that they had changed they're policy (although neither my friend nor I was informed of such). Since my friend agreed to pay me back for the charge to my credit card, everything was ok on my end.
However, HE did not get a refund or credit either, so Virgin Mobile received two payments for the same month and my friend only got one month's worth of service. This is most definitely a rip off!
The next month I received another e-mail from Virgin Mobile with the same statement "We will not charge the credit card on file unless you request that we do". Why is this statement still appearing? It is obviously a lie.
Virgin Mobile DID in fact remove my credit card information from his account, so I have not had any further charges from them. But I felt inclined to warn all Virgin Mobile's current (and future) customers about this deceptive practice.
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