Virgin Mobile Refuses to Refund Money to Teen

Imagine a company as large as Virgin Mobile refusing to refund $42.00 to a seventeen-year-old. It happened to my daughter and it has probably happened to many more teens and young adults across the nation.

It all started when my daughter changed her Virgin Mobile plan to a monthly plan in order to save money on texting. The plan required registering a credit/debit card, checking account or PayPal account to ensure payment each month. However, in their Plan Description page found at: (http://web.virginmobileusa.com/help/plans/monthly-plans/payment-monthly-charge), it states that you can "Pay the monthly charge(plus taxes and surcharges) each month using your registered credit/debit card or PayPal account - or your cash balance." The cash balance in your account can be placed there by either using a credit card or adding one of their Top-Up cards that can be purchased at numerous department stores. After reading all the Terms of Service she saw no reason why she couldn't pay on her monthly plan with either the credit card or cash account so she switched over to the new plan.

The trouble began when she tried to pay her monthly payment with the money she still had left over in her cash account. There was nothing on the website showing that she could use the cash account instead of the credit card, so she e-mailed a "Live" Customer Service Rep to find out how she could do this. She was told that not only could she NOT use her cash account to pay her monthly payment, but she also couldn't get the money refunded to her. Because she used a Top-Up card to put money in her account she was not able to withdraw it, use it for her monthly bill or have it credited to her credit card. In other words, she had no access to her own money in her own account.

The solutions the Customer Service Rep gave her to her problem was to: 1.Change back to another plan so she could access her cash account or, 2. Change the credit card in her file to a faulty or expired card number so that they would have to use her cash account to pay the monthly payment. First of all, she would lose money by going back to the more expensive plan just to "use up" the money in her cash account so that makes no sense at all. Secondly, "What? Are you kidding me?" Not only is it ridiculous to put an expired credit card number into the system, but placing a faulty one in is illegal. That type of advice was not acceptable.

Upon hearing about her problems trying to use or get a refund for her money, I called Virgin Mobile on her behalf and talked to a Customer Service Rep. After 30 minutes of going back and forth I was told she would put in a claim for the money and I was to call back in 24-72 hours for the response. When I did call back, that Customer Service Rep acted like he didn't know what I was talking about and gave me the same line about not being able to use the money or get a refund. This new person, however, told me that the money did not belong to my daughter once it was put in her account, so therefore she had no right to ask for a refund. So, she bought the Top-Up card with her own money and placed it into her account but now she had no right to it. I had never heard anything so stupid in my entire life. If you overpay your credit card bill does the credit on your account not belong to you? Of course it belongs to you. No legitimate business keeps customer money that doesn't belong to them.

I then talked to this person's supervisor and was told the same spiel. There was no way my daughter could either use, or get a refund for the money in her account. Her cash money that she paid for. Then the Customer Service Supervisor told me the topper - even if my daughter canceled her account she would not get a refund on the money. It was theirs to keep. Of course, I politely told her what I thought of such a company and hung up.

My daughter wasn't asking for Virgin Mobile to give her something she hadn't paid for. She was more than happy to have them use the cash account to pay her bill. But they refused to do this and also refused to give her money back. She can use the extra cash account money if she makes International calls, buys extras like ringtones, or changes her account to a more expensive one. All of those options are useless. She doesn't want to waste the money just to use it up - she wanted to pay her bill with it.

So, everyone who has a Virgin Mobile account and has used Top-Up cards to put money into their account - Be Warned. If you change your plan while there is still money in the cash account you risk losing that money. Even if you read all the Terms of Agreement you will not see anything in there that states you cannot use your cash account to pay on your bill. In fact, you will find (on the page I highlighted above) that it says you can use your cash account on monthly plans. Just not the ones they decide upon after the fact, I guess. So don't use Top-Up cards and your money will be safe. And if you have had this same experience, please let me know. Since Virgin Mobile is obviously marketed toward teenagers and young adults I think it is a crime that they can get away with this type of unacceptable customer service.