> Anyone else notice anything unusual on their Virgin Web logs? Before
>> I call them, I would like to know if I am the only one.
> No mysterious charges for my vmobl phone. The only thing I get is
> annoying emails and calls to my alternate line trying to convince me
> that I need to "top up" starting about 3 weeks before the actual
> deadline. I never use the full $20 in each 3 month period anyway, why
> on earth would I want to top up more than a few hours before the
> deadline? (Could it be so that virgin mobile gets more money in the > bank sooner? :-).
It's even worse, they get more *total* money, since the next 3-month period starts when you top up, not when the previous 3-month period runs out. So if you top up when they first warn you, you'll end up spending $100/year instead of only $80.
I just topped up this morning, and discovered that I can save $5/quarter by signing up for the auto-top-up. If you do this, the requirement is dropped to $15, and they'll automatically top up every
90 days or when the balance drops below $5, whichever is first. Since my balance is now over $70, I don't think the low balance condition will ever hit me, even though they've raised the per-minute rates (it used to be 25 cents/min for the first 4 minutes in a day, 10 cents/min thereafter, but now the 25 cent rate last for the first 10 minutes, so I'll never see the 4 cent rate).
Barry Margolin, snipped-for-privacy@alum.mit.edu Arlington, MA
*** PLEASE post questions in newsgroups, not directly to me ***