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Call Kurtis: Prepaid Cell Company Won't Refund Account Balance After I Left!

ROSEVILLE (CBS13) -- Some cell companies want you to pre-pay for service, but Mary Kay Sager called Kurtis when her company refused to refund money she paid in advance.

Sager switched cell companies and wants Virgin Mobile to refund the money she paid toward her account balance.

But the company says no. Why is that?

"I was happy with Virgin Mobile until this," Sager said.

Fired up, she said Virgin Mobile isn't treating her right.

After paying her final bill, Sager still has a $18.75 credit on her account. but she said Virgin won't refund her.

The company said "account balances are not ... refundable."

"It's just frustrating. It's just not right, it's not their money!" Sager said.

In an email the company told her it assessed "a termination fee equal to the value of any balance on the account" -- which Virgin said means they don't owe her the $18.75.

"I have no recourse, but to just say, 'Oh well,'" she said. "And I thought, 'You know what? I'm not gonna say, "Oh well."'"

Consumer attorney Robert Buccola said just because a company says it can take your balance as a termination fee doesn't mean they really can.

He said it has to be a reasonable amount -- which he thinks $18.75 is.

"They can argue the account balance reflects the reasonable termination fee," Buccola said. "If it was a large sum of money, then the reasonableness of it would be called into question."

We reached out to Virgin Mobile which told us, "The terms and conditions a customer agrees to when activating an account detail that any remaining balance is not transferable or refundable."

Virgin would not credit Sager back her $18.75.

"How many people out there have lost money this way?" Sager said.

Tossing her old phone into a junk drawer, Sager said she'll never go back to Virgin Mobile.

"They are getting away with it," she said.

Sager could have paid the exact amount of her monthly bill each month, but she admits she just deposited $100 at a time every few months.

Virgin Mobile tells us it's "completely comfortable" with their policies, and said they are "clearly spelled out for customers."

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