VIRGIN!!! :argh!:

[Triple Zero]

As some of you may remember, I bought a throwaway "burner phone" during my holiday in the USA.

I was stupid enough to give Virgin a real email address, because, well, Dutch companies usually stop emailing you if you ask them.

Virgin apparently does not. As my credit ran out, and consequently expired, I got increasingly more urgent sounding emails about what a brilliant idea it would be to put some more dollars into the account of a phone that's pretty much bricked in Europe cause it has the wrong frequency bands, let alone they wouldn't accept my European Mastercard because it didn't have a USA ZIP-code attached to it (I used Cram's creditcard to put $10 into the acct).

When I got an email with the subject "YOUR PHONE NEEDS YOU" (seriously?), I decided it was enough:


From: no-reply@virginmobileusa.com
To: Triple Zero
Subject: YOUR PHONE NEEDS YOU

Hi TRIPLE ZERO,

Since you haven't added money to your account, your phone has stopped
working. Top-Up now so you don't lose your phone number and to keep
talking and texting.

Remember to add at least $20 every 90 days to keep your payLo account
working. That's even if you have money in your balance.

You can add money to your account using a debit/credit card or PayPal
account, or by buying Virgin Mobile Top-Up cards, which are available
from over 100,000 locations nationwide. When you're ready to Top-Up, hit
the Top-Up button on your phone ($) or log in to your account at
www.virginmobileusa.com <http://www.virginmobileusa.com/>.


Thank you,
payLo by Virgin Mobile

This message is about your phone number (914) 564-3680.


From: Triple Zero
To: Virgin Support
Subject: Re: YOUR PHONE NEEDS YOU

Can you please stop emailing me, I just got that phone as a temporary phone during my holiday in the USA. I'm never going to use it again and it doesn't even have the right frequency bands to function in Europe.

Thank you.


From: Our Team at Virgin Mobile USA
To: Triple Zero
Subject: YOUR PHONE NEEDS YOU [Incident: 110918-000009]

Hello Triple Zero,

Thanks for contacting Virgin Mobile Customer Care. Let me extend my apologies for any inconvenience this has caused.

We can remove the email address from your phone account to stop the automatic alerts, but first we need to verify that we have the right account, please forward us your account phone number and the account PIN. Once we have that, we can get right to business and get you on your way!

If you would like to remove the email address by yourself, you can complete it at www.virginmobileusa.com. In case that you would rather cancel the account, please give us a call to our international number (215) 757-9645 for assistance.

Feel free to respond to this email. You can reach us Monday through Sunday from 4am-9pm PST.

Thanks,

Roger
Virgin Mobile At Your Service
www.virginmobileusa.com


From: Triple Zero
To: Virgin Support
Subject: Re: YOUR PHONE NEEDS YOU [Incident: 110918-000009]

The phone number is 914 564 3680. I have no idea what the PIN is, but you can just remove the email address triplezerosemail@gmail.com from your database, you can tell it's mine because I'm the one mailing you from it.


From: Feedback@virginmobileusa.com
To: Triple Zero
Subject: Virgin Mobile USA Customer Satisfaction Survey

Hi Triple Zero,

We noticed you recently contacted our Customer Care Team and corresponded with one of our Advisors.  How was your experience? We want to make sure your voice is heard, so please take a moment to fill out this short survey. Also, please take advantage of the free form fields to provide us with details regarding the Advisor you last corresponded with and your overall Virgin Mobile USA experience. We want to hear it all!

If you have not recieved a response to your original email inquiry please check your SPAM or Junk folder. Also, please add oiur email address "ourteam@mailwc.custhelp.com" to your safe email list.

Click here to take this survey.

Sincerely,

Your Virgin Mobile USA Customer Care Team


From: Our Team at Virgin Mobile USA
To: Triple Zero
Subject: YOUR PHONE NEEDS YOU [Incident: 110918-000009]

Hello Triple Zero,

Thanks for contacting Virgin Mobile Customer Care.

We can certainly help resolve your question but first we must verify we have the right account. Can you please respond and provide your Virgin Mobile Account PIN (six digit numeric security code). If you don't remember it, that's fine because you have also a back up question that is: What is your pet's name?.

Once we have that, we can right to business and get you on your way!

Hopefully you can understand you wouldn't want just anyone getting your private information. Without the information requested we can't divulge information through email, it's a privacy thing.

Hope this helps. If you need additional assistance, feel free to let us know how we can assist further or contact us at 1-888-322-1122 (or *VM from your handset). You can reach us Monday through Sunday from 4am-9pm PST.

Thanks,

Edwin
Virgin Mobile At Your Service
www.virginmobileusa.com


From: Triple Zero
To: Virgin Support
Subject: Re: YOUR PHONE NEEDS YOU [Incident: 110918-000009]

Hm. I believe my pet's name is "Burp Castle", hope that's right.

If it's not, then I'm obviously not qualified to receive all these emails about this phone account either.

So it seems only reasonable that you stop emailing me, regardless.

I await your refutal of this unstoppable logic.


From: Our Team at Virgin Mobile USA
To: Triple Zero
Subject: YOUR PHONE NEEDS YOU [Incident: 110918-000009]

Dear triplezerosemail@gmail.com,

Thanks for sending us an email. We received your message dated 09/21/2011 05:10 AM .

Our team is looking at your email right now. Due to higher than normal email volume recently, we will respond to your email within 72 hours. We apologize for any inconvenience.

In the event you need to contact us regarding your original message, please refer to the Incident # 110921-000124 .This will help us locate and review your correspondence with us.

Thanks once again for writing. We'll be in touch very soon.

Virgin Mobile USA Customer Support.





TL/DR: They won't stop mailing me because they can't be sure that the person they're constantly emailing actually is the person they should be emailing.

[Cramulus]

wouldn't it be cool if you could plug two customer service e-mails into each other? Like if you could get sprint to message verizon asking how their experience was, then sprint responds with a satisfaction survey, etc etc

[Triple Zero]

Interesting idea, but I wonder whether they'd respond to eachother at all? Did you ever try the thing where you get two phones on speaker to have two pizza delivery lines talk to eachother?

My idea was this, after this is over, I'll just keep sending them emails. I'll just change the Incident Number a littlebit and out of the blue inform them with answers to my personal questions ... VERY personal ones.

Hi. Because I couldn't remember my PIN number, you asked for the answer to my backup question "What is your favourite infectious disease?" to which my answer is "My grandmother's labia".

Hope this helps.

Angolia von Schurftzwellingen

[Faust]

Respond with:

Please cease any and all correspondence with this email account as it is interfering with a police investigation.

[Triple Zero]

Respond with:

Please cease any and all correspondence with this email account as it is interfering with a police investigation.

Though I'm pretty sure they'll stop soonish, because Cram's friend Mike wrote a list of pubs to see in New York and one of them was "Burp Castle" and I believe I found that piece of scrap paper while unpacking, scribbled next to it "My pet's name!" ... So I think I got it right.

Thank you, but I'd rather just order three. The answer to my security question is "because she couldn't remove the rusty nail in time".

regards,

Franko Vetbultknijper

[Triple Zero]

Why no, I never did consider my cat probably cannot send text messages. However, I still would like to be able to access my voice mail. The answer to my security backup question is "between the fibrous strands of mucus strung through the great gaping depths that pungently smell like fish".

warmest regards,

Kabil Lustgeencavia

[Jenne]

What a crock.  I'm glad their "trolling" for more $ is resulting in your own trolling them back.  Also, in asking for your pin, etc., I'd be leary it really WAS the phone company and not some scammer/hacker.  I get email messages all the time telling me WE DO NOT ASK FOR YOUR PIN OR SECURITY INFO VIA EMAIL from banks, etc.  So it's suspicious to me that Virgin mobile's asking it from you.

Still and all:  what a crock.

[Cramulus]

I'm sorry for the inconvenience, Virgin Mobile... before I give you my pin, you'll need to confirm your identity. What is Richard Branson's maiden name?

[Triple Zero]

What a crock.  I'm glad their "trolling" for more $ is resulting in your own trolling them back.  Also, in asking for your pin, etc., I'd be leary it really WAS the phone company and not some scammer/hacker.  I get email messages all the time telling me WE DO NOT ASK FOR YOUR PIN OR SECURITY INFO VIA EMAIL from banks, etc.  So it's suspicious to me that Virgin mobile's asking it from you.

Hey yeah that's a good point. Although in fairness they did know both my email address, first name and phone number (even though they asked me to provide it later on).



I just think it's funny how they apparently won't stop sending me mails until they know it's me, or something

[Doktor Howl]

What a crock.  I'm glad their "trolling" for more $ is resulting in your own trolling them back.  Also, in asking for your pin, etc., I'd be leary it really WAS the phone company and not some scammer/hacker.  I get email messages all the time telling me WE DO NOT ASK FOR YOUR PIN OR SECURITY INFO VIA EMAIL from banks, etc.  So it's suspicious to me that Virgin mobile's asking it from you.

Hey yeah that's a good point. Although in fairness they did know both my email address, first name and phone number (even though they asked me to provide it later on).



I just think it's funny how they apparently won't stop sending me mails until they know it's me, or something

Just move them to your spam folder and forget about it.

[Triple Zero]

I can always do that later!

As I said, I expect companies to just comply if I ask them to stop mailing me--it's in fact the law here--and when Virgin didn't, now it's FUNNY.

[East Coast Hustle]

This is glorious shit, Trip.

[Jenne]

I'm sorry for the inconvenience, Virgin Mobile... before I give you my pin, you'll need to confirm your identity. What is Richard Branson's maiden name?

  Or his childhood best friend's favorite color?

[ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞]

I'm sorry for the inconvenience, Virgin Mobile... before I give you my pin, you'll need to confirm your identity. What is Richard Branson's maiden name?

I use the same technique (though lacking your flair) for collection agencies, which I've had the pleasure of dealing with when the bank has dragged their ass on processing my funds a few times. They ask for my social security number so I ask for verification that they actually work at the company they claim to. I also ask for their social security number, full name, height, weight, hair color, tattoos, what kind of music do they like, pets, and so on until they hang up.

[Triple Zero]

they just replied to me that they would remove me from their mailings.

so now it's time to start mailing them! (tomorrow)