Virgin Mobile SCREWED ME (so they lie about still being Virgin), Internet

I made the mistake of ordering a cell phone from Virgin Mobile on December 27th. It didn't arrive until January 7th, then when I tried to activate it online using my old phone number as promised on their web page, there was no way of doing that, and they activated it with an assigned number--with a link to a way to change the number for a $10.00 fee.

So I called their customer service number and got a robot answering device, when it asked me to say one of several options, I waited to talk to a person because none of the options applied to my situation.

But instead of a person picking up my call, it hung up on me because I refused to speak like a dog! Also, the phone had no signal, so I sent them an email in mid-afternoon, but when I hadn't yet received a reply by late that night, I realized my mistake in doing business with Virgin Mobile.

Then the real nightmare began. It took several emails to get them to cancel the monthly servicealthough it took another week for them to credit my card (their promise was within 72 hours). But they refused to send a shipping label so that I wouldn't have to pay to return their phone. After several more emails, I accepted the fact that if I wanted my money back for the phone, I would have to pay the return shipping. I sent the phone by parcel post and paid extra for delivery confirmation (not required by them--but for my protection). Now they demand to know the tracking numbereven though it's on the box containing the phonewhich they already received!

Each time I send an email, it takes them at least 24 hours to respond and it's usually a different person with names like Fatima, Gerzan, or Ligia. (What third world landfill is that?) So there's no continuity and they keep asking the same questions even though one of the LIARS said Virgin has a NO QUESTIONS ASKED RETURN POLICY! They want me to state in writing that I agree to their rules even though I already agreed to them in practice. They want me to request a return authorization numberso that I can then provide that number to them! They can't seem to understand that I refused to be their customer and therefore don't have to play by their rules (even though I actually did)!

They recently asked for a shipping addresseven though they had already shipped a phone to me (which I returned) so that there was no need for them to have my shipping address again. All these questions are in spite of their NO QUESTIONS ASKED RETURN POLICY! And obviously a stalling tactic to avoid refunding my money since they've had the phone for over a week.

I even sent a letter to the Sprint corporate headquarters (Sprint owns Virgin), advising that I intended to file a civil suit, but so far no response. I also filed a formal complaint with our state Attorney General, but haven't heard back from them yet.

So it's now been over a month since I made the huge mistake of ordering a phone from Virgin Mobile but I have no phone and have lost over a hundred dollars! I've sent them over twenty emails attempting to get them to refund my money but all I get is more meaningless apologies, stupid questions, and boldfaced lies to avoid returning my money. And the final insult (so far) is that after they already cancelled the monthly service and refunded the money (four days late), they just sent a reminder for me to pay on my account so that I wouldn't lose service!

This clearly shows how incompetent and disorganized they are. They've spent well over a hundred dollars in staff time to deal with a $99.99 issueand of course they've done this with total disregard for the damage their ignorance and lies might cause to their corporate image! I'm in my sixties and Sprint/Virgin Mobile is one of the worst companies I have ever had the misfortune to do business with! BUT NEVER AGAIN!