Virgin Mobiles [TV Advertisement]

...purchased our online through the Virgin web site with our debit card but because it was ordered online we had the added bonus of insurance premium for the phone paid for free against lost, theft, damage, accidental damage, which would have cost £15.

This proved invaluable to us as it did kind of get damaged by accident. My wonderful husband was on his way home from work with mobile phone in his back pocket as he sat down on the bus. ...
...mind you (no wonder the Virgin guy is so rich). Within just a few days my phone rang saying that they had my replacement phone but they would need to have authorisation for the £15 access charge then they could get my phone to me the next day, that was that all done.

The next day my phone did arrive by courier, I signed for my phone and handed over my broken phone. Looking at the box I notice all these nice messages saying your phone ... more

I have to admit I am not the technical kind of person so me having a mobile phone is like a puzzle to play with and not something that bothered me if I had one or not.

However, I brought one last Christmas for my husband, with him working the best part of the day we thought it would be nice and handy for emergencies or just for a chat from time to time. Time to time then became a regular occasion and cost wise was working out quite expensive in the long run. We decided that monthly contract would be more suited for his needs as most come with free calls for the month.

So to save the phone from not being used I decided to utilise it for my own personal needs and 9 times out of 10 when I go out I always take it with me, it has served its purpose very well, and means I am always in touch if needed and stuck for any reason it can be solved with the use of a phone and a quick call.

Buying the phone
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When I purchased the phone and decided to choose Virgin, it was a little difficult as there are so many options and tariffs from other phone companies available. The deciding factor was the cost of call charges and as this phone was going to be used more in the daytime than any other time 15p for the first 5 minutes and 5p there after up until midnight appealed to my husband and to myself too.

The phoned cost just £29.99, it was a bit of a basic phone an Alcatel DB Black, with very few features in fact none that I can scream and shout about or get remotely amazed over. Along with the phone we had the usual pieces included for free i.e. hands free kit etc. The fact was it was cheap, that was until we realized that we had to buy a service pack that consisted of the sim card and a few bits of service information. This cost a further £10 but had £5 worth of calls included.

We purchased our online through the Virgin web site with our debit card but because it was ordered online we had the added bonus of insurance premium for the phone paid for free against lost, theft, damage, accidental damage, which would have cost £15.

This proved invaluable to us as it did kind of get damaged by accident. My wonderful husband was on his way home from work with mobile phone in his back pocket as he sat down on the bus. Crunch he hears as he just killed the phone by snapping the ariel off, typical he was due to hand the phone to me as his was on order. Any way a few days passed and I was getting a poor signal that seemed to be getting worse. Then I remembered about the policy and dug it out of the unit. On the phone I was, explained to the lady on the phone what had happened to the mobile so she put me through to the right department. I was then explaining to another person what had happened so she filled in the relevant forms and then sent some forms to me to fill in and send off. Before finishing with the lady over the phone I then asked what would happen to my phone? Would it be repaired? Or would it be replaced? She assured me that in this case it would be a straight swap for another phone.

Around a week later the forms came, on close inspection and careful reading it stated that there would be a £15 access charge for all successful claims but after thinking a new phone would cost more decided to claim any way, got all the forms filled and in the post, had to buy my own stamp and envelope mind you (no wonder the Virgin guy is so rich). Within just a few days my phone rang saying that they had my replacement phone but they would need to have authorisation for the £15 access charge then they could get my phone to me the next day, that was that all done.

The next day my phone did arrive by courier, I signed for my phone and handed over my broken phone. Looking at the box I notice all these nice messages saying your phone has been cared for and just like new, etc. So it was no surprise that what I had been given was not a new phone but a second time user one. I wasn’t too p***ed as it was in better condition and did look like new but most of all worked with great reception. Did I say work, will technically it did work provided you just had it kicking about and using it on stand by, but the moment you would try to call someone or just to check your balance via the info line the battery would die. It was obvious to me that the battery was a duff one, where it would normally take 30 minutes to fully charge it was saying that it was charged in less than 5 minutes. I then rang them up once again and let them know that my replaced phones battery was playing up, no problem we will order a new one and have it sent out to you, should be there in the next few days, just dispose of the old battery. Nearly 2 weeks later it finally arrived and I have not had any problems with my phone ever since.

One thing I will stress is that if the replacement phone should get damaged in any way it would not be covered as the policy is now void as it only covered the old phone.

The tariff
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With Virgin tariffs you have one rate to go by for all local, national and Virgin to Virgin calls, these are set as follows:

15p per minute for the first 5 minutes of every day

5p per minute for the rest of the day after the initial 5 minutes

Voice mail retrievals are free provided your phone is in credit

Virgin information line is also free as it is a pre-recorded service

10p flat rate for calls made to the Virgin Mobile team

10p per text message sent

10p per minute for 0845 and 0345 numbers

35p per minute for other mobile networks

15p per minute for The Republic of Ireland, Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey

20p per minute for US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand

40p per minute for Europe and some Asian countries

80p per minute for Other countries

To top up your phone you can either buy a airtime voucher from most shops, online using a debit or credit card, via you phone and keypad to type in the relevant numbers of credit/debit card or code on voucher or over the phone. Airtime is then added pretty quickly well within 30 seconds. With no service time or any other cost included what you pay on call goes all on calls.

Phones available
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Phones will cost anything from £39.99 to £ 299.99 for basic models to ones that have modems, infrared interface, personal organisers etc. All included in the price is a service pack, which is basically your sim card to connect you to the Virgin network along with £5 worth of calls. When we got our phone the cost of the sim card was not included but now it is incorporated in the cost of the phone. I have to say that they do have quite a range of phone but at the end of the day really does depend on what type of phone you would like and what price you really want to pay.

Conclusion
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Virgin is just right for me as it is used at variable time through out the day and any other kind of tariff would work out expensive as it is I can make £10’s worth of call last around 2 months. If it was a case of my phone not being used in the day but more weekend and off peak calls then I would try another tariff but as it is, it is just perfect.
 

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