Virgin Mobile Issue(tte)

[canarytops]

Hi everyone,
Took up the Virgin Mobile offer from ntl in mid December and everything went very smoothly for a while. I was supplied with a Lobster 544 and I had no problems until one day whilst I could hear who I was phoning they could not hear me. (Checked mute was off !). Popped into local store who reseated SIM and all seemed to be OK thereafter. In mid Jan the problem returned and having called Virgin Support via landline I was pleased to find they replaced the handset next day.
On first day phone was fine, next day had the same problem. Once again Virgin support promply sent another replacement handset. The problem recurred almost immediately. Virgin support suggested trying SIM in different handset and checking if problem persisted in different locations. Visited my mother (30 miles away) and tried calling home on the way - problem persisted. Moving SIM to Mother's (Virgin) handset all was fine. Virgin support agreed to replace the handset once again.
This arrived last friday and all was OK until yesterday. Not surprisingly Virgin are reluctant to change the handset again. I've requested a different type of handset but Virgin are requesting further tests with the latest handset as they are suggesting a "network problem". I couldn't understand whether this was different from "poor reception" and the support person wasn't able to clarify to my satisfaction.
From my non-technical viewpoint I've experience what I regard as poor reception when the signal "breaks up" and it is difficult to converse. However in my situation I have no problems hearing my caller, there is no hint of the signal breaking up, it does seem that I'm on mute ?
Does anyone know if the "explanation" is reasonable or am I being "fobbed off" ?
The problem does not appear to be solid, it occaisionally works OK for a while but eventually the problem returns. (Beginning to suspect that powering off handset may "fix" the problem know and again).
I must admit that individually the Virgin support staff have been very helpful, unfortunately I'm just not getting any further with this issue.
I've checked the T-Mobile site that shows reception for my home and this is shown as "good".
Is anyone else having the same problem ?

[MovedGoalPosts]

Clearly replacing the handset itself with a similar model isn't solving the issue. If the handset's were that useless everyone would be up in arms. The problem has to lie elsewhere.

[hairy_mick]

i have the same problem this is my third lobster

[canarytops]

After a particularly frustrating day with this problem have decided that this service is not reliable enough so have cancelled. Shame as the support guys were far better than most call centres I've experienced recently.

[tweetypie/8]

Originally Posted by canarytops

Hi everyone,
Took up the Virgin Mobile offer from ntl in mid December and everything went very smoothly for a while. I was supplied with a Lobster 544 and I had no problems until one day whilst I could hear who I was phoning they could not hear me. (Checked mute was off !). Popped into local store who reseated SIM and all seemed to be OK thereafter. In mid Jan the problem returned and having called Virgin Support via landline I was pleased to find they replaced the handset next day.
On first day phone was fine, next day had the same problem. Once again Virgin support promply sent another replacement handset. The problem recurred almost immediately. Virgin support suggested trying SIM in different handset and checking if problem persisted in different locations. Visited my mother (30 miles away) and tried calling home on the way - problem persisted. Moving SIM to Mother's (Virgin) handset all was fine. Virgin support agreed to replace the handset once again.
This arrived last friday and all was OK until yesterday. Not surprisingly Virgin are reluctant to change the handset again. I've requested a different type of handset but Virgin are requesting further tests with the latest handset as they are suggesting a "network problem". I couldn't understand whether this was different from "poor reception" and the support person wasn't able to clarify to my satisfaction.
From my non-technical viewpoint I've experience what I regard as poor reception when the signal "breaks up" and it is difficult to converse. However in my situation I have no problems hearing my caller, there is no hint of the signal breaking up, it does seem that I'm on mute ?
Does anyone know if the "explanation" is reasonable or am I being "fobbed off" ?
The problem does not appear to be solid, it occaisionally works OK for a while but eventually the problem returns. (Beginning to suspect that powering off handset may "fix" the problem know and again).
I must admit that individually the Virgin support staff have been very helpful, unfortunately I'm just not getting any further with this issue.
I've checked the T-Mobile site that shows reception for my home and this is shown as "good".
Is anyone else having the same problem ?

sorry to hear about your problems,as you state their customer care is great, i cant say the same about the lobster hand set they are crap!! i got the £10 deal but i opted to buy the phone of my choice and i have no regrets good luck with solving your problem.

[liamboyle06]

I am having sort of the same problems:
Fiance and I are both on Virgin Mobile, and have been for a few years now.
However, yesterday and today, we are having problems with making and receiving calls.
If i dial a number, i do not get a ringing sound, and the phone says connected straight away, although no one can hear me and i cant hear them.

Its also the same if I receive a call, my phone will ring, but when I answer it, can hear no one and no one can hear me.
At first I thought it was the phone but my Fiance says the same thing is happening wiht hers also.
Texts messages are fine.
Phones are not on Silent or mute or anything ilike that.

This is happening on both of our phones, a k750i, and V3.
Any help would be greatly appreciated, as there are a few calls I urgently need to answer.

Ps sorry yabout hijacking this thread.

[liamboyle06]

[brundles]

lliamboyle - If it hasn't been suggested already, try power cycling the phones. Switch them off (make sure to use the off button rather than pulling the battery), leave them for an hour or so (bit extreme but given your problems is likely to help more than a couple of minute) then power the phone up again.

To be honest, if you've tried the SIMs in different handsets I don't think there is much more you can do other than wait for the network issue to be resolved.

[Lobstergrl]

My word, I thought I was the only one!!! I thought I was losing my mind and that I was at fault but couldn't figure out what it was that I was doing wrong seeing as this problem occurred intermittently.

I bought my phone in the sale at one of the Link stores £39.99 and whilst I didn't buy the phone for all the other gadgets that it claims to provide (and I haven't tried the other functions either) I am bitterly disappointed that this doesn't even provide an adequate basc function as a phone (which is all I wanted really). As I only payed £39.99 for it, I toyed with the idea of just writing it off and buying another phone, but at the end of the day the lobster handset itself is perfect for me in terms of design and size and there's nothing else out there that comes close to this (which is also frustrating).

If there is anyone out there with a solution to this problem, please, please share it with the rest of us sufferers.

[molly10]

Hi, no solutions but it has helped me to know i'm not going mad. on my third lobser since Sept and I am having the exact same problem for the third time. how come if there are so many of us Virgin still insist on claiming there is no problem with the handset. even though all three phones have led to no one being able to hear me Virgin have said that they will only replace with another Lobster. has anyone else had any more joy in getting a different (and usable) phone?

[Milliesdad]

Originally Posted by molly10

Hi, no solutions but it has helped me to know i'm not going mad. on my third lobser since Sept and I am having the exact same problem for the third time. how come if there are so many of us Virgin still insist on claiming there is no problem with the handset. even though all three phones have led to no one being able to hear me Virgin have said that they will only replace with another Lobster. has anyone else had any more joy in getting a different (and usable) phone?

I got the Lobster 574 as the 544 was out of stock when I took up the £10 offer. Didn't have sound problems but did have a lot of texting problems with only half a message being sent, or nothing at all. Had the phone replaced but the same thing happened.
I refused to take another phone of the same type and was offered the Lobster 544 but they only sent the hanset and not the charger so it was useless. I phoned again and they offered the Motorola L6 or V235, which I took. Had no problems since.

[debbiet]

Thank heavens for forums! Have been having exactly this problem since I took up the ntl offer in Dec 06 and thought I was going mad.

Am on fourth lobster 544 fone, and son's fone on second 544. Virgin consistently refused to change for another fone, even tho' there are clearly inherent faults with the 544. Reason given was that I signed up to ntl deal and handset was free.

Eventually was promised Motorola L6 but it didn't arrive. Called to chase it and they said it would need authorisation and someone would call me to arrange delivery. No one ever called so after a week I called again, only to be told that I couldn't have an L6 because it was the ntl deal! aaagh!

Like you say, customer service are very helpful and replacements are quick, but I have epilepsy and can't afford to be without a reliable fone as it is my lifeline if I have a seizure.

It's a shame when the deal is so good but looks like we'll be going back to a proper foneco

Anyone know if there is an "official" body to complain to? It seems dangerous to me if Virgin are giving out fones they know are faulty which might put people at risk if they needed to call emergency services for example.

[chickendippers]

It's a telecoms matter, so one would assume Ofcom.

[Paul K]

If a small percentage of phones fail then you can hardly state that the phone is known to be faulty and shouldn't be sold. If a very large percentage fails for the same fault then a re-seller would look to recall the lot and send them to the manufacturer for replacement. Do not forget this site is for people with problems so you will most likely only see complaint posts about the Lobster here, this does not mean that every phone sold by VM is faulty.

[busybody]

I bought a Lobster 544 from The Link last September for my daughter's birthday. My whole family uses Virgin network and is on 'Pay as you go', buying limited credit for the children's phones (limits the losses if lost or stolen). Fortunately I invested an extra £20 in the optional 12-month warranty. Within 3 days the handset had the fault described earlier in this thread: she could hear the caller or callee, the other party could not hear her. I returned to The Link store for a full refund only to find that it had closed.

For months I tried to find The Link or the buyer of The Link which had responsibility for its store customers' contracts. Meanwhile my daughter returned to her reliable Sanyo basic non-camera mobile. None of the customer service or support numbers I called repeatedly would accept responsibility for a refund. Eventually I gave up and in June returned the faulty handset to The Tech Guys who are tasked to provide repairs under my extended warranty. TTG reported a 10-day turnround.

Six weeks later I chased them to be told that they did indeed have the faulty handset, that it could not be repaired and that they would send a replacement. On 9 August 2007 we received a Lobster 544L labelled "Virgin Quality Used". By 15 August it had developed exactly the same fault as the first handset - the already-identified "mute" issue. My disabled child is away on a group holiday on the Yorkshire Moors and has been unable to keep in touch with her own phone - although her SIM card did work in somebody else's phone on the Virgin network so the problem is clearly not there.
This morning I have spoken to ten people on nine different customer service lines, ending with The Link Virtual Store. I require a full refund on this phone to enable me to purchase another, reliable model. I am advised to write to: 02 UK Ltd, Complaints Review Service, PO Box 116, Leeds, LS11 5BD. The information given to me by an adviser at The Link Virtual Store is that the department at the end of that address has been establised to "deal with" The Link store customers' contracts. I'll let you know what transpires.

FYI, the IMEI number of the replacement Lobster 544L appears to be a much earlier one than that on the Lobster 544 purchased last September so presumably this is not a 'batch' fault but a design issue. I am surprised that there is no pathway to replace the Lobster 544 with another model when customers have problems since this appears to be a recurrent failure with this phone.