Skype Complaint - Skype Fraud - - Skype Pro

Posted by superbowl on 2008-01-31:

We use Skype IM all day long. We have always been a bit suspect of the paid services. Thank you for the heads up on this problem. The ad based IM seems to always work well. Skype seems to run independent of eBay as they are in Luxembourg so I don't see eBay/PayPal messing them up to bad. (VH)

Posted by chow on 2008-02-03:

Skypes is the best among all the messenger service and telephony company, i used it all the time for all sorts of long distance call, it is great!!!!!never see any online company better than skypes so far.

Posted by jenniferatcoastal on 2008-02-03:

Just an update. After 10 days of no reponse from Skype and spending way too much time with their moderators in the forums playing their game of answering the same clarifying questions over and over. Skype now alledges they terminated service claiming I have multiple users on my account, however, they are unable to provide the IP address that initiated the calls. Again, if this is a true allegation, it is without my knowledge and part of THEIR PROBLEMS WITH THEIR HACKER issues.

They also claim that with Skype Pro (which they advise is for business use to reduce costs) I exceeded a 3,000 minute allowance of minutes and that as of February 1 I would be active.

Well, It's Feb 2 - account still not functing properly and I exxported all the calls and ran a total. I only used about 1/2 the allowable minutes. It was between 1400 and 1500 in the 11 days they allowed service to go uninterrupted.

I also requested their totals and how they arrived at their alleged numbers of minutes used to investigate potential fraudulent use of the account (remember, they opened this can of worms claiming multiple users have accessed my account). Of course, they refuse to respond to the inquiry.

Hands down, the Skype software and interface with professional databases for businesses is by far the best. But it is worthless when there is no customer service, timely response to inquiries, and all the stupid wasteful nonsense I witnessed and experienced on the alleged Help Forums. (Me thinks the moderators may have one of the power trip rushes thinking they are important. When they accomplishing something useful and productive, they can reach out and impress me.)

If reliability of service isn't an issue for you! By all means - take your chances with Skypw. But if you are running a business... SIP is clunky, but reliable. And there are a number of VOIP providers offering low rates (as low as $10 a month). IMHO a clunky SIP that needs occasional babysitting while running my business software is better than a service that doesn't work at all.

Now, the question is, who do I know with VOIP experience that I can partner with and re-develop the Skype efficient software.

Since I live in NJ, Headquarters on Vonage and their many disgruntled employees and developers that are worked like dogs for less than the going salary, I think I can do some networking and pitch my idea.

I could grab investors off Beadstreet. I just wonder what the profitability would be. Much research to be done to see if it would be profitable to throw my hat into the ring.

Posted by chow on 2008-02-09:

skypes provide their users with $0.00 per month telephony service, in return for adv. viewing, i think they are the best among all others. yahoo n msn are no match at all.
Skype is doing the right thing terminating your service,why wasting their times and technology on senseless and unreasonable customer.

Posted by jenniferatcoastal on 2008-02-09:

Maybe Chow misunderstands the concern since he never provided Skype info for billing as a paying customer and just uses the free services.

What is happening is not that I am being unreasonable. There are serious illgal business practices the Skype Business has in place.

If you read the Skype PRO service agreement. You are paying to use their service. You can register your business (if you have one) as part of their "hook" to get you in. They are fraudulently using misleading terminology (as outlined by the FTC and FCC) to increase businesses. On a larger scale, this is what happened in the banking industry and why the housing market is in a turmoil. Fraudulent advertising and non-dsclosure up front. I think a few folks from ENRON may have wound up in jail for that if you recall.

They provide an accounting of calls like every other service provider. Now based on their records, I am not "over-using" the service. (Let's refer back to the business contract and the fraudulent advertsining that there would be unlimited calls if you PAY up front for an annual and REGISTER your business).

Now in the interest of business interruption, if my clients didn't get customer service responses in 2+ weeks crippeling their business, I would be out of business not mention I would end up in small claims court for fraud.

Because the Skype service is under $50 a month, it isn't worth my time to sue. Quite frankly, they should reimburse the entre unused portion of funds received... but they refuse to do that.

Now, let's talk about fraud and illegal charges. I am very careful about providing billing information to companies. Skype automatically sets up an "Auto charge" through paypal which I quickly terminated once the contract was in place. I was only hit with another $20 overcharge.

Many people on the forum affected by the illegal business practices have been hit for hundreds and even thousands maxing out people's credit cards, wiping out checking or savings accounts etc.

it isn't about the technology. I agree that is superior. But to say they had a right to cancel a contract and assume I am wasting their time, when they are wrong on so many legal levels is insane.

Skype's free service is EXCELLENT - but I maintain - BUYER BEWARE and recommend everyone steer clear unless you plan to risk losing the monthly fee. Whatever a consumer does, don't sign up for auto charge.

I think Skype really crossed some lines and if the people who did have funds stolen from the autobill feature - they will be fined heavily and the company is too young to take the hit. They will go under.

Posted by chow on 2008-02-11:

jennifer, whenever you provide personal information to a company, you will never know where or how the inf. going to be used, it is part of the risk of everyone has to deal with in today world, unless you can prove skypes is using your inf.for illegal activity, it is just your word against them, as bank, IRS, school, hospital and many other institutions also have your personal info., you will never know who is passing that out.Since you claim so ,why you do n't file a law suit?

Posted by jenniferatcoastal on 2008-02-11:

No law suit because the time spent filing one (even if I did it myself), isn't woth my time. Ine hour of my time worknig is double what I could ever hope to acheive. I was smart and didn't have significant damages because I stopped that autocharge as soon as I saw what was happening.

True, there is risk dealing with anyone. Look at Enron, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Verizon, and other companies that illegally sold or used information for their own personal gain. However, there is reasonable expectations one could expect for a company to justify billing, provide responsive customer service ina reasonable time frame (3+weeks and counting is not reasonable).

I think considering the damages I have been reading about all over the net, it's only going sink the company's reputation and people will not invest into them. You aren't investing your money into them so you must see the point I am making.

On the law suit front, it's just too damn time consuming and would cost more money than it's worth. I can write the losses off on my taxes and recoup 100% with no muss/no fuss. I just need to have my record of emails and the accoutning of minutes used showing Skype did not provide services paid for.

I turn into a bleeding heart sometimes because I came from an underpriviledged childhood and until 5 years ago when my business took off, I worked 2+ jobs and had very little disposable income. I remember what it's like unplugging the refigerator during the day when I was at work to "save the electric" because I was struggling to make ends meet.

People who I have seen complaining of fraududlent billing and loss of service seem to have been promised an alternative phone service to save money and we billed 10X's or even more in a few cases I saw that Ma Bell's extortion.

My advice is go with a SIP provider paying $25 a month like Vonage or Voip Your Life. It's US based, governed under our FCC regulations.

People need to realize you get what you pay for, but at least when you take the loss, you can write it off on your taxes to recover expenses.

Posted by chow on 2008-02-12:

skype software is good for p/c 2 p/c use only, not the pay service, jennifer, their technology is not realible for land line.

Posted by bigalman on 2008-05-08:

I have a similar complaint:
When I signed up just last month for 1 year the policy was any calls in the US and Canada are free per minute and there is no connection fee. Now they changed the policy when I have 11 months left in my contract.
The new policy is only calls to Canada are free and a connection fee applies. That is Fraud!!

Sending emails to support is not helping so far!

Posted by kshdzines on 2009-03-08:

Is there not somewhere we can report internet service fraud? They have done me dirty as well and I am very upset. I wrote a review explaining the issue. They removed a $30 online number credit/discount I had in my account when I was trying to use it. They acted as if it was never there. After 10 days of emails trying to use it, they ironically removed it..GRRRRRRRRRRRR Do I have "STUPID" written across my forehead or what??