Contract Data Woes

[lnj2012]

So I have had my contract now for around 30 months and have been on the same tariff since I joined 800mins 3000 texts, 3000 virgin to virgin mins 1 gb data. My allowances refresh on the 11th of every month. A while back I got charged for some data usage despite not being over my data allowance I rang 789 and they promptly refunded the charge to me without any real issue.

This month I again received my bill to find that I had been billed £0.50 for data usage on the 12th of August (the day after my data refreshed) I rang 789 again to find out what was going on and was advised that they would again refund the £0.50p, I was pleased with this but because this was now the second time that it had happened to me I ask the operator why this is happening. OMG I wish I had never asked, the first response I received was

Excuse 1

• You have been charged the £0.50p as you do not have a data package on your account, my response was ok but my package shows that I have 1gb of data. This conversation went round and round in circles for a minute with the operator really not getting the point that I would have been charged data every single day for the last month if this was truly the case. After a few minutes the operator put me on hold and when they came back they corrected themselves and gave me an even better reason why I had been charged for the data.

Excuse 2

• The operator now informed me that I had gone over my data allowance for the month and that is why I had been charged for the data usage. Again I was confused by this and pointed out that if this was the case and I had gone over my allowance in 1 day then I would have been charged for the whole month and not just for that one day, especially when my bill then shows that all my data usage for the rest of the month was included in my tariff. Again the operator put me on hold and returned with yet another excuse.

Excuse 3

• This excuse was the final straw and has caused me to write an official letter of complaint to virgin mobile. The operator then informed me that if you add July’s data usage with August’s data usage I have gone over my 1GB data allowance.  This made me laugh at first until I realised that the operator was being serious he was claiming that adding Augusts bill had to take in to count Julys bill for data (which had already been paid by DD). The operator failed to understand that if he was adding July’s data to the bill that he then had to add July’s data allowance to the equation also still meaning that I had not gone over my data allowance for the month.

So my question is can anyone please explain why I keep getting billed £0.50p for data usage when I am within my data limits. 

[Krystal_E]

Hi Inj2012,

The only thing I can think of (from what's been said by the 3rd agent) is that your bills are produced on a different date to the bundle of mins, texts and data being renewed. e.g. bill produced 14th September but bundle renewed 1st September. That bill would then cover 14th August-14th September and thus be partly from the bundle before and the one that started in September.

Please can you respond to my private message and I'll get someone to look into this for you.

Many thanks.

[pw66]

I know there were quite a few problems in July & August with rogue data amounts being added. Both my daughter & I had them too. They sorted them out quickly once spotted. Also got texts alerting us to the problem. It sounds like it was quite a widespread problem so I'm amazed that the agents you spoke to weren't aware of it.

[walkerx]

---

Krystal_E wrote:

Hi Inj2012,

The only thing I can think of (from what's been said by the 3rd agent) is that your bills are produced on a different date to the bundle of mins, texts and data being renewed. e.g. bill produced 14th September but bundle renewed 1st September. That bill would then cover 14th August-14th September and thus be partly from the bundle before and the one that started in September.

Please can you respond to my private message and I'll get someone to look into this for you.

Many thanks.

---

I had this exact problem while I was on my normal contract, it's not how the bill is produced but how Virgin implement the package.

A user takes out a contract on 10th of month - this means everything included in the package should be available to them up to 23:59 on 9th of the following month, and the package is refreshed at midnight.

But Virgin if they have setup your account wrong, which looks to be the case, they will add your calls and texts first, then 24 hours later they add your data. This means you lose a day on your data usage every month. 

I had this same issue for over 6 months and threatened to cancel the contract without penalties to myself, due to them being in breach (not supplying package as purchased). In the end they resolved it by removing the package on my account and then re-applying it. The only problem with this is, it takes 24 hours to re-apply but they gave me some free texts, calls and data for the 24 hour period.

But after they done that I never got the billing issues again (except for when moved to a 30 day contract and wanted to switch to a different one)

The bills can be produced at any time and doesn't need to be on the same day as the refresh date.

I'm just waiting now for my next bill to ensure they have set it up correctly so my DD comes out on the 6th of each month as requested, as last month they wanted to take it early so had to pay by debit card a lot earlier while i had some cash left, instead of when the DD should have been collected

[LittleRabbits]

This is happening to me too, and all the reasons you've given are a load of bumf.

The last two months running I have been charged these £0.50 amounts - the first month there were 2 charges, 5 days apart, and at the bottom of the bill Virgin had a credit amount for the £1.00.

This month there is a single charge of £0.50 which I had to phone to get refunded.

Even if you add both months together I haven't went over the data amount (500kb per month and at end of the month I have always used about a quarter - its just a phone, I don't surf on it, just occasionally check emails).

The last person I spoke to said it was a computer glitch and I've just to keep an eye on it - there was no quibble about refunding, but it's going to be a pita if I have to phone ever month.

The weird thing is the contract has been running for about 12 months and it's only just started happening. 

[walkerx]

---

LittleRabbits wrote:

This is happening to me too, and all the reasons you've given are a load of bumf.

The last two months running I have been charged these £0.50 amounts - the first month there were 2 charges, 5 days apart, and at the bottom of the bill Virgin had a credit amount for the £1.00.

This month there is a single charge of £0.50 which I had to phone to get refunded.

Even if you add both months together I haven't went over the data amount (500kb per month and at end of the month I have always used about a quarter - its just a phone, I don't surf on it, just occasionally check emails).

The last person I spoke to said it was a computer glitch and I've just to keep an eye on it - there was no quibble about refunding, but it's going to be a pita if I have to phone ever month.

The weird thing is the contract has been running for about 12 months and it's only just started happening. 

---

The other month Virgin admitted there was an issue with customers being charged for data and thus the reason you automatically see the credit on your bill, which is different to what the OP stated.

What I've said is not a load of bumf, but true facts

below is part of an email i sent to virgin back in january 2011 regarding the ongoing charges for data on my plan, after I kept getting the same feedback as the OP

my contract has data, voice and text included, yet on a regular basis I have to ring your helpline to get refunded for the internet charges you place on my account, and whenever I do this via my mobile I also have to pay for the privilege of reporting this, why should I have to pay for your mistakes.

[lnj2012]

I'm glad I'm not only one having issues. My partner was affected by the automatic error the other month. This is not the same problem as that is

[LittleRabbits]

Sorry walkerX - I wasn't referring to you, I was referring to the umpteen reasons the op was given!

(so any idea why I'm still having to track 50p's?)

[walkerx · Accepted solution]

---

LittleRabbits wrote:

Sorry walkerX - I wasn't referring to you, I was referring to the umpteen reasons the op was given!

(so any idea why I'm still having to track 50p's?)

---

No problem

what you need to do is check your bill and see when your refresh date is and see if they are charging you the 50p for internet access on that day - also check previous bills as it may be on there and you not realised.

if they are charging you for access on the day of your refresh then they need to fix it at their end, but you might only get it sorted if you make a complaint and threaten to report or cancel the contract as being in breach for charging you for usage when they shouldn't be.

[LittleRabbits]

Thanks, I'll keep an eye on it.