Simply the best (Virgin Mobiles)

Member Name: Kitten23

Product:	Virgin Mobiles
Date:	09/08/04 (184 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Simple easy tarriff, Excellent customer service

Disadvantages: Limited selection of phones

I'd been travelling and hadn't taken a mobile phone, previously to that I was on a contract. Back to reality, I needed a mobile. I decided to go for Pay as You Go, and I knew which phone I wanted. My task was to try to search among the huge number of tarriffs, which just ended up making my head spin. Virgin Mobile were recommended to me by a friend. They are so much simpler. No fancy "bolt-on" things, no complicated peak or off-peak prices, just one tarriff.

Here are my views:

Call costs: 15p a minute for the first 5 minutes each day, then 5p a minute. This applies to other Virgin Mobiles and standard land lines, but calls to other mobile networks etc. are still reasonably priced. Text messages are 10p, but 3p to other Virgin customers - so you'd benefit by getting your friends and family to switch to Virgin! Voicemail message retrieval is free - so many providers have the cheek to charge - and calls to the customer service line are charged at a flat rate so you don't have to worry about holding or having a long query. You can pay by voucher, credit or debit card, or direct debit. Overall - excellent.

Customer service: Thankfully, Virgin haven't yet outsourced their call centres to India. What's more, I've always found the customer service workers to be couteous, pleasant, and helpful (in contrast to the grumpy or moronic people who often seem to be employed in call centres). Again, excellent.

Phones:
Phone prices are comparable to the best I found - I paid £99.99 for my Samsung A800. There are usually offers (in store or on the Internet - search for Virgin mobile). I got £20 free airtime, although this was some time ago now so the offer may not still be on. £5 airtime is always included, and you also get a hands free kit included.
Note: You can buy "as new" second hand phones, for around half the price of a new one. I discovered this when my phone was damaged by my own clu
msiness! I bought a replacement over the phone and received it the next day - it was as good as new.
The selection of phones isn't always as large as other high street stores, but it is reasonable.

Other: There is optional insurance, which I didn't buy.

Summary: