Virgin Mobile Lets A Stranger Cancel My Account, Apparently Has No Regard For Private Infomation
Audriena says Virgin allowed another customer to cancel her account.
It all began the other day when Audriena attempted to add insurance to her phone. She was told she couldn’t because she’d already had the phone for too long. Oh well. Not that huge a deal.
But not long thereafter, she found that her texts and calls weren’t going through. At first, she assumed she was simply in a dead zone. But when evening came and she still couldn’t use her phone, she knew something was up.
Using a co-worker’s phone, she contacted Virgin Mobile, only to be told that her phone had been disconnected earlier in the day buy someone named Andre.
“I said I am the only person who has access and authority to my account,” Audriena tells Consumerist. “They say I can’t get my phone turned on or a refund and I must wait 4 days to see the case go through investigation.”
This leads to her being transferred around from CSR to CSR, none of whom can help her get her phone turned back on, or even get her money back. To rub salt in the wound, her call was ultimately disconnected.
She tried again later that night, this time using a roommate’s phone.
A rep confirms that her issue is being looked into and that her phone service should be restored shortly. But then she gets transferred to another person who just runs through the same old “Someone named Andre canceled your service and there’s nothing we can do for you” line.
“They said there is no way I can get my money back from this month’s bill or have my number back,” recalls Audriena. “Then I get transferred to someone else who says I can get a temporary number if I pay them for a month of service. I get disconnected again. I try calling back and the company is closed for the evening.”
The next morning, she tried — again — to get a straight answer out of Virgin Mobile about what happened and what could be done to resolve the issue.
“I gave them the serial number of the phone they said was on my account as well as the person’s name who closed my account,” she writes. “They immediately gave me his private telephone number without asking for the account pin.”
When Audriena pointed out that they had just given her another customer’s supposedly private information, she says the rep denied doing so and transferred her call.
The next rep provides a slight ray of sunlight, saying he can provide her with a new number free of charge. Nevermind that this is completely contradictory to everything all the previous CSRs had told her.
Unfortunately, Audriena’s attempts to get her old number back keep coming up against a variety of roadblocks and dead ends, as each CSR provides her with a different answer.
“Some people are saying that my number is under investigation, some say I still have to wait, some try to hook my number back up and some say my number isn’t even on file,” she writes. “I call back later in the evening and found out that my case number was never given to me. That my complaint wasn’t even under consideration. They file another complaint and flag my old number and then transfer me to a manager that I have to re-explain my issue to again for the millionth time. He says that now they can give me my number at some point.”
Aside from Virgin Mobile’s inability to know what in heck is going on with her case, Audriena’s biggest concern in this ordeal is the company’s apparent lack of respect for private information. First, they allow a stranger to shut off her phone and then they give her his personal contact info.
“It’s an invasion of privacy which Virgin Mobile seems to be taking lightly,” she explains. “I want my original number back, I want my money back, I want to see the company realize how bad their security is and how they can’t just give out private information and completely cut off a service for no reason at all.”
We’re reaching out to Virgin Mobile and Sprint to see if anyone is willing to look into this case. If it gets resolved, we’ll update.
Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.
