So, last Friday I went to Target and got an LG Aloha (cuz it's cheap and I don't need a bunch of stuff) and some Top Up cards. I went online and picked out a plan, registered my serial numbers and what-not, activated my phone, sent friends/family my new number. It is now Tuesday night and my phone is STILL not activated.

I called customer service on Sunday (going all the way downtown to use a land line at school), and the first woman was nice, but didn't get it - she told me to do the whole ##whatever thing again, and if it didn't activate after 4 hours, to call back. It didn't, and I did. I also emailed VM cust. service on Friday night, and just TODAY got a message. The girl on the phone the 2nd time told me to do the same thing (again) and then was all, "oh, that's weird..." when it didn't work. I was on hold forever, and when she came back, she said there had to be an "investigation" that would take "24-72 hours." Which is SO not cool, since I do not have a land line (only internet). I was given a $5 credit. No one has contacted my roommate's cell (my "alternate" #), and the only email I received didn't have any info in it.

I responded by politely saying that I am trying to be patient, but it's been 5 days without any activation. I've tried several times to "activate" my phone, to no avail. I also stated that I have no land line, so email is the only way I can really be contacted; and if it's a phone equipment issue, then I hope I can be sent a new one ASAP. Then, I said that if I don't have an answer by the end of the week, I'm going to have to be forced to cancel my account with Virgin (not in a mean way, mind you). That's reasonable, isn't it? I really don't understand why their first instinct wasn't: "We'll send you a new phone, send yours back in that recyclable thingy."

I left AT&T because they are money-suckers, but what I did like about them was that they had internet chat rooms with technical help. I wish Virgin had the same.

Long story short (too late) has anyone else had this issue? What happened?

I was really excited about Virgin - the plans are completely reasonable and I love not having a contract. But if this is a sign of things to come . . .