Skype Ripoff
"Credit in your SkypeOut balance remains active for 180 days after your last succesfully connected PSTN phone call. Credit balances on accounts with no activity during a 180 day period will be lost."
Did you know that about Skype? The last time I went through the process of purchasing SkypeOut credit, this warning did not appear anywhere on my screen. It may be buried in one of the links you can click for more information, but it is not prominently displayed during the purchase process. And once you've lost it, it's gone. No refunds.
Now, Skype is a cool service, especially for a free service. The audio quality is sometimes spotty, but that's to be expected when trying to reliably shuffle packets between computers of varying abilities and across an internet with unpredictable connections. When it works great, it's great, and when it's not, you can always use a landline.
But users should be warned that the credit they paid for and expected to use may not be there when they need it.
Am I the only one who thinks Skype needs to improve its service in this regard?
Blog Tag: Opinion Blog Tag: News
Posted 7/11/2005 05:29:00 PM
L
On 7/12/2005 2:06 AM, 
Jaanus said...
On 7/12/2005 8:29 AM, 
dkgoodman said...
On 8/30/2005 3:57 PM, said...
On 9/14/2005 1:32 AM, said...
On 9/16/2005 3:12 AM, said...
On 10/12/2005 3:35 AM, said...
On 2/06/2010 7:10 AM, aroundu said...
7 Comments:
There's a lot of discussion on this in Skype forums. It's very similar to how mobile prepaid cards work where you have to make one PAYMENT per 6 months or less. Skype doesn't require you to do that, it only requires you to do one CALL per 6 months to retain your balance. If you are not using the account at all, then why worry about the lost credit?
I don't have a problem with the policy. I have a problem with the lack of warning. If the credits expire, they should tell you that when you purchase them in unmistakeable terms.
It's one thing not to be warned, and I don't think I was either - but it may be difficult to prove that now. However, this whole business of it is the 'usual thing' for credits to expire with prepay services should be treated for what it is - a con, an absolute scam. It is simply another case of 'the emperor's new clothes'. It is not enough that Skype gets to earn interest on my money - but then they have the cheek to steal it from me as well! What gives them the right? The answer I'm afraid is a gullible consumer market which feels paralysed in the face of large corporations. Well it won't be the first time that a David wins over a Goliath and I plan to cause as much of a stink with Skype as my £8 is worth by taking them through the UK legal system. Let's see how much I can cost them shall we?
Guys, but there is a warning before you puchase credits. On the same page, where you choose the amount. I have always noticed the warning, therefore I don't really understand the problem here.
I never noticed that warning at all. Don't you have to provide an e-mail address when you sign up? Why don't they send a notice? If it wasn't for the fact that their product can be used free P2P, I'd go as far as to say they stole my money as far as I'm concerned.
It's not the fact that they took my money that pisses me off, it's the fact that they rely on people to forget, so they can skim people's accounts. When I had a bank account with Wells Fargo, I got the same treatment from those criminals. (They and Skype, now one and the same.) Well, what goes around comes around.
Skype IS a ripoff. These guys are lying thieves! They didn't warn anywhere in documentation that credits would expire.
Sneeky, greedy, pathetic, scum-bags. They now have no chance whatsoever of EVER getting more credit from me, and I'll be making sure that tell everyone that I can what thieves they are.
The Skype Out service is extremely poor quality anyway. Not worth paying for in any case.
of course they rip. they are huge. i can't even tell after wasting hours exactly how much certain calls will cost.. unlimited world? free? usa x cost? all written by lawyers i imagine. spent considerable cah on wifi mobile, if i find any misleading comments it will be the ACCC for them and many more comments. perhaps it's time for a backyard operator to devise a better service? certainly skype has no decent customer support whatsoever. ever managed to talk to a person? no phone number to call whatsoever. we will see. all sympathy to those already conned.
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