The sim card went missing in Africa – but Virgin is demanding I pay for calls made there after the account became dormant
In August 2010 I cancelled a mobile phone contract I had with Virgin Media. The phone had been used by my son who was going to Nigeria for three months. The contract was for 150 minutes/150 texts and cost £12 a month which was collected by direct debit.
I was told that the contract could be reactivated as a pay-as-you-go on his return to the UK. This never happened as the sim card was mislaid in Africa. In May 2011, Virgin attempted to draw £666.88 on the direct debit which was refused by his bank. A statement showed calls had been made in Nigeria after my son had already returned to the UK.
Virgin confirmed that the account had been cancelled in August but added that it had automatically become a pay-as-you-go account. I was informed by the fraud department that it was not fraud even though the calls had not been made by anyone I knew. I wrote to head office on 3 June explaining the situation and that the phone had been dormant for more than six months and questioning how it could have been activated and used in Nigeria when the phone didn't even work, for example, in France.
This morning I received a letter stating that if they don't receive the payment immediately they will be contacting a debt collection agency and details will be passed to a credit reference agency.
I cancelled the contract and am now being chased for calls we didn't make. SK, Hexham, Northumberland
In case you thought by having a pay-as-you-go phone you were exempt from this kind of problem, think again, although it seems the charges were only applied because roaming had been originally added to the account when you had a contract.
We asked Virgin about your case and it accepts this was a rather unusual set of circumstances. It reiterated the view that customers needs to take great care with a sim card; however, it accepts that your son didn't make the calls.
It has now cleared your account, and you will face no more calls about it.
We welcome letters but cannot answer individually. Email us at consumer.champions@guardian.co.uk or write to Brignall & King, Money, the Guardian, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Please include a daytime phone number.
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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/aug/05/virgin-phone-activated-nigeria
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