I've been a Virgin Mobile customer for several years without problem. Last week my wife and I each (separately) purchased an iPhone 5s. At no point were we told that they were shipped with no signature required, and we certainly never authorized it. Our tracking numbers told us that each of our phones would be delivered on 9/28, so we arranged to have someone at home to receive them. But then when we tracked our packages on 9/26 it said that the phones had been delivered that day (we were both at work). FedEx claimed that they had been left at the front door. I immediately foresaw problems, and sure enough, when we got home that evening there were no packages at our door. My first call was to FedEx, where a lady spent twenty minutes or so telling me that the driver confirmed the delivery, and that there was no way he would have been involved the phones' disappearance. When I asked if she knew him personally, she said no, but he'd been working for FedEx for several years. When I asked how that made him honest, she had no reply. Ultimately she said that since Virgin Mobile authorized the shipment to be left without a signature there was nothing they could do. She admitted that the only "proof" they have of delivery is the driver's word. Next I went to Virgin Mobile's website and used the online support form to send an email explaining the situation and asking for a refund or that another phone be sent to me (since my wife and I have separate accounts I had to restrict my request to my order). They responded that I would have to get a police report since a theft had occurred and that I would have to send them the report before they could do anything. There are several problems with that, including that I live in a rural area with very little law enforcement (none is needed, we have almost no crime, which is why I suspect the FedEx driver) and they weren't sure a report was warranted because in their opinion, this was a custody issue between FedEx and Virgin Mobile since there was no proof that the phone was ever delivered. In any case, even if they would file a report, it would require me taking a day off work to deal with it. I'm a contractor, and don't get paid days off, so this costs me money. Since I make more in a day than the phone costs, it also makes no sense financially. Over the course of a few emails I pointed out that this situation was their fault since it's *** to send something as easily concealable and valuable as a mobile phone without requiring a signature and without notifying the customer that it was likely that it would a) arrive two days early and b) be left (supposedly) at the front door. But their responses were just more of the same, we're happy to help, just go use your time and money to do what we tell you and we'll process a refund. Finally I decided to call the number I had been given in an email and speak to someone at Virgin Mobile. When I called I got the automated system, which gave me options to choose from, none of which was to talk to a human. I finally chose the option for lost or stolen phone and was told to wait. About 30 seconds later the line went dead. I tried to call back but got a message saying my account had been suspended due to a lost or stolen phone and that I needed to call a different number to get it re-activated. Wonderful. I called the number and got tech support, and while he was handling my account issue I explained why I was calling in the first place and expressed my frustration with Virgin Mobile and said I was ready to not only cancel my account but that my wife would as well. I went on to say that I would talk to the several people I had reccommended Virgin Mobile to over the years and encourage them to cancel. I also said that if I wasn't refunded my money I would initiate legal action. He immediately looked up my case and after reading it told me that he was transferring me to a supervisor who would be able to do something about this. Amazing, I thought. If I had just called tech support in the first place... The supervisor, who's name was Erica, listened to my story, agreed that the situation was a mess, and after I repeated my litany of the actions I was going to take if it wasn't resolved told me "I'm going to fix this. I just need a little time. I'll call you back in two hours." Several hours later she called, but I busy at work and couldn't take the call. She left a message saying that she was still working on it and she would call me soon. 24 hours later I still hadn't heard anything so I called back, spoke to someone else, who after hearing my story and reading my case told me that he thought I was right and that he was "on my side." He then transferred me (after 10 minutes on hold) to someone who was supposed to be able to do something about it. But when she came on the line, I could barely hear her (I'd had no problems hearing the first person I spoke with). I asked her if she could speak up, but she didn't. I asked if there was a number I could call her back at, or if she could call me. She said something about me just calling the 800 number again, but I could barely hear her at all and I'm honestly not sure what she said. Marveling at a mobile carrier whose phone system doesn't work, I hung up out of frustration. I had spent most of my lunch hour on this, and was actually late getting back to work because of it. So I went back to email. I explained that I didn't really care about the phone or the money anymore, just the incompetence, indifference, and dishonesty in the way I had been treated and again laid out what actions I planned to take, giving them one more chance to do the right thing, not to mention hang on to paying customers and avoid lawsuits that I'm now planning to file just on principle (I have experience with this so it's not difficult). That was about 12 hours ago and I've gotten no response, so starting with this site and spreading across the web and social media I'm going to tell my story and encourage others to strongly consider switching to another carrier. I may even offer to finance the purchase of a new phone for a certain number of people if they switch to another carrier, although I need to hash out how that would work. So I encourage everyone with Virgin Mobile service to consider switching before you have a similar ordeal. And if you don't have them, don't join. Thanks for listening.
This is normal. The process of transferring service from your existing phone to the replacement phone will disconnect your call with Customer Service, and the activation of the replacement phone will likely fail.