I've been a Virgin Mobile customer for at least four years and never had major problems with customer service but I had never ordered phones directly from them either. I ordered two Samsung Galaxy S2 phones in February - one for my wife and one for me. Hers had a constant clicking noise and I decided I didn't want to keep mine. Even though one phone was defective, they wouldn't send me a prepaid label to send either phone back. I was fine with that but then they told me even though I got free shipping to me they were going to deduct shipping charges from my refund.
Around the first of March I called to get a return authorization number, enclosed it with the phones in the original box, and shipped the phones insured with delivery confirmation back to the Fairfield Indiana returns department received a few days later. I wasn't happy about them saying they were deducting shipping from my refund so I called Regions who I bank with. They told me I could file a dispute to have the full amount Virgin charged to my Visa Check Card credited back to my account and they would take it up with Virgin. Regions said it could take up to 10 days for them to start on the dispute.
Meanwhile, I called Virgin to check the status of my refund and they told me I would have my refund by five days max. I waited the five days and no refund. I called and got the runaround waiting 15 to 20 minutes each transfer to multiple reps to finally get to somebody in returns whom I thought could help. I was told they had received both phones but the rep processing the return had made an error on the form and so a new refund form would need to be started and the refund could now be up to 6 to 14 business days. I persisted and persisted that this wasn't my fault and I should get a refund and asked that she escalate the refund process which she said she would try. I told her I no longer wished to do business with them and to close my Virgin account out.
In two days, I got exactly half of the purchase price credited back to my bank account. I called to ask why only credit for one phone and got more runaround and no answers why. I communicated all this to Regions eight days after I submitted the dispute but they said as long as Virgin has agreed to refund my money, they could be allowed up to 30 days and there was still no guarantee I'd get the other half of my money back. I said I'm sorry but I thought the Visa Check Card guaranteed disputes like this were resolved and I would get my money back as long as I had the receipts and tracking that I returned the phones within 30 days. That was the way it worked with my old credit union before I switched to Regions. The suggested I contact the Better Business Bureau and speak with an attorney if I don't get my refund.
Yesterday, Virgin credited a little over the cost of both phones shipped to my Virgin account. The deposit made my plan auto restart and $45 was automatically taken out to cover the monthly cost. I spoke to my bank again because I was too frustrated at this point to speak to any of the incompetent employees at Virgin. The bank said what I had suspected that it looked like they were trying to get around refunding me the rest of my money. Either that or they were just too incompetent to do the refund correctly.
At this point I've contacted the BBB and state attorney general but this could take weeks to get a response and there's still no guarantee they can do anything. It's going on business day ten when my bank told me they would have a decision. This is unbelievably frustrating. I've always bought my phones locally or ordered through Amazon and have gotten credit back within a day or two if I returned anything.
Beware before you order from Virgin and I'd strongly suggest if you want to have a phone with them to buy from Amazon.
Has anyone had experience returning phones to them?
Around the first of March I called to get a return authorization number, enclosed it with the phones in the original box, and shipped the phones insured with delivery confirmation back to the Fairfield Indiana returns department received a few days later. I wasn't happy about them saying they were deducting shipping from my refund so I called Regions who I bank with. They told me I could file a dispute to have the full amount Virgin charged to my Visa Check Card credited back to my account and they would take it up with Virgin. Regions said it could take up to 10 days for them to start on the dispute.
Meanwhile, I called Virgin to check the status of my refund and they told me I would have my refund by five days max. I waited the five days and no refund. I called and got the runaround waiting 15 to 20 minutes each transfer to multiple reps to finally get to somebody in returns whom I thought could help. I was told they had received both phones but the rep processing the return had made an error on the form and so a new refund form would need to be started and the refund could now be up to 6 to 14 business days. I persisted and persisted that this wasn't my fault and I should get a refund and asked that she escalate the refund process which she said she would try. I told her I no longer wished to do business with them and to close my Virgin account out.
In two days, I got exactly half of the purchase price credited back to my bank account. I called to ask why only credit for one phone and got more runaround and no answers why. I communicated all this to Regions eight days after I submitted the dispute but they said as long as Virgin has agreed to refund my money, they could be allowed up to 30 days and there was still no guarantee I'd get the other half of my money back. I said I'm sorry but I thought the Visa Check Card guaranteed disputes like this were resolved and I would get my money back as long as I had the receipts and tracking that I returned the phones within 30 days. That was the way it worked with my old credit union before I switched to Regions. The suggested I contact the Better Business Bureau and speak with an attorney if I don't get my refund.
Yesterday, Virgin credited a little over the cost of both phones shipped to my Virgin account. The deposit made my plan auto restart and $45 was automatically taken out to cover the monthly cost. I spoke to my bank again because I was too frustrated at this point to speak to any of the incompetent employees at Virgin. The bank said what I had suspected that it looked like they were trying to get around refunding me the rest of my money. Either that or they were just too incompetent to do the refund correctly.
At this point I've contacted the BBB and state attorney general but this could take weeks to get a response and there's still no guarantee they can do anything. It's going on business day ten when my bank told me they would have a decision. This is unbelievably frustrating. I've always bought my phones locally or ordered through Amazon and have gotten credit back within a day or two if I returned anything.
Beware before you order from Virgin and I'd strongly suggest if you want to have a phone with them to buy from Amazon.
Has anyone had experience returning phones to them?
