Virgin - aibu to be so cross and write to Richard Branson?

[BigcatLittlecat]

I have a sister with special needs. She needs a new phone and my DF decided he would get her a contract phone as she was on pay as you go and going through at least £10 a week. One of the conditions was we needed was that we could cap the amount of data and minutes used as my DS is innumerate and has no idea about numbers.
To cut a very long story short we called virgin mobile as DF has a virgin account with TV and phones and the very first question I asked was could we cap the account and the guy on phone said yes! Fabulous, DS would have a phone and everyone was happy!
Phone arrives I set it all up and call virgin mobile to put the cap on and it turns out they cannot do it! We were lied to! There is nothing they can do!
So we have had to cancel phone and we will be sending it back! We have spent over 2 hours on the phone trying to sort it all out! And my sister has taken it very very badly and has bitten and self harmed herself! She was so excited and now I am having to deal with this!
I feel like complaining and apparently customer services will be calling me in morning but I'm not holding my breath! I am absolutely raging! My DF is going to shut down everything he had with Virgin. I know that they won't care!
So I may email Richard Branson and tell him what has happened. AIBU?

Does he still own virgin mobile?

I understand your anger.

That is rubbish customer service, you should definitely complain. You might have more success contacting someone who is directly involved day to day rather than RB though.
I had a Tesco mobile contract which was capped and it worked brilliantly- it was a few years ago but they would be worth a try if you need an alternative.

Did they take the phone back ok?

Not sure what contacting Richard Branson would achieve.

If you have a mobile then I would recommend giffgaff, you can get a monthly goodybag and once you have used your allowance that's it till the next month when it renews (you can choose to start the next one early if needed)

Tesco mobile caps - my sons phone is £8 a month

OP have a look at I'd mobile. It's cheap. And you download an app and can cap spending on there.

RB doesn't own the mobile division of The company. He sold it. The purchasing company retains the right to use the name, that is all.

Virgin mobile have gone down the pan now they're no longer owned by virgin. Their customer service is appalling.

They are unbelievably shit. I have a complaint with them at the moment, I had to email the CEO to get a response from anyone though. Email address is available online.

You need to contact the Virgin CEO

If you want to complain to the owner of Virgin Mobile then you'd need to contact Liberty Global Inc. not RB. You might get a better response if you contacted Tom Mockridge, he's the CEO

I am on Tesco mobile and you can set a cap and get warnings when you are nearing your limit.

Three allows you to set a cap too x

Thanks everyone really appreciate the advice. May email the CEO Tom Mockridge and Liberty Global. Will see what tomorrow brings!

Suggestions if you or a family member are paying for a phone or any other service in Your name but on behalf of someone else You will be liable for the bill if unwanted or high charges are made. I would suggest get a mobile phone with a pay as you go Sim card eg £10. If your sister is over 18 she can sign for a contract herself and have a 'special needs' flag put on her account, but she would still be liable for any high or what you believe to be unacceptable charges. Example child watching YouTube on holiday in Turkey, which is a non EU country, not using hotels WiFi running up enormous bill of something like £170,000,evidently messages were sent to phone saying do you want more data and yes was pressed not understanding the high roaming charges

Secondly you cannot really blame Virgin mobile if your DF contacted Virgin ref a new phone contract, because the contract was between him/her and Virgin, not Virgin and your sister.

On forum write to complaints, virgin media, Police box 333, matrix court, Swansea, SA79zj

Should say PO box

A giffgaff sim only deal is what you want. You use money to purchase has a goody bag, which has minutes, data etc, and she that runs out you can buy a new goody bag. It can automatically renew each month, but you're not tied into a contract and you cannot run up a bill on it, as it's pre pay.

Tesco cap and so do EE.

Shit you were lied to.

You need Giffgaff. Exactly what you're looking for and impossible to over spend on. About a tenner a month, but can be less depending on what she's using the phone for.

TBH, why do you feel you have to get involved with something your DF purchased? Can't he deal with this? The contract isn't with you.

ID mobile do capped as well. Think it's called shockproof or something like that. My sons in unlimited mins and texts so he can always call or text if he needs to with 4gb of data for £10.

Thanks everyone! I am involved as I did all the talking and organising on the telephone my DF spoke to them first and gave me the authority to speak with them! So no the contract is not with me but I did all the work for it.
And yes I can blame virgin because I explicitly asked if the contract could be capped and they said yes. I explained it was for someone who has special needs. My sister does not have the capacity to organise or have a contract of her own and that is why we her family help and support her! Thanks for all the recommendations!
I'm still cross this morning that they lied to me! And that my sister was so upset.

You can easily get a phone capped but that won't necessarily help your sister if she doesn't understand the cap. She will just be left unable to use the phone until the start of the next month. Have you talked about how she can check how many minutes/texts/data she has left? This is easy and free on Tesco mobile.