1300 reasons to avoid Skype Pro in Australia

Tony Austin
Sunday, 18 November 2007 10:51

Opinion and Analysis

I've been using Skype since soon after it beta versions first became available, and have found that it works quite well (in a small business environment, at least, where Skype's security and network performance impact are not the showstopper that they can be in a corporate environment). Then when SkypeOut was released a few years , I became an early adopter and found that my 10 Euro basic fee would last me for month after month, despite making a number or half-hour calls to North America and Europe.

And more recently, along came Skype Pro with its claim: "Pay nothing per minute for calls to landlines within the same country. ... Skype Pro subscribers pay nothing per minute* to call landlines within the same country. [emphasis mine] If you travel to any of the following countries/regions you automatically pay nothing for calls made within that country/region as well."

Notice the asterisk appended to "Skype Pro subscribers pay nothing per minute" which points to a footnote:
    * Connection fee and fair usage policies apply.

Then under the heading "Got questions?" there's a link to How much does Skype Pro cost? stating "As an introduction offer, Skype Pro will be €10 for 5 months. After the initial 5 months, Skype Pro will cost you €2 per month. ..." and a bit more with nothing looking untoward.

All was looking good, so I enrolled for Skype Pro and started calling landlines around Australia, watching as for each call lasting for more than a few seconds the connection fee was deducted and that was all.

Imagine my shock when I called my bank's Customer Service landline (same capital city in Australia, not even  long distance) for a conversation that lasted around 11 minutes, then found that my Skype credit had been reduced by more than 2 Euros.

This means that single call had cost me more than the entire month's worth of intra-country Skype Pro calls are advertised as supposedly doing.

Naturally I complained to Skype customer service. I mentioned that originating a call from within Australia to numbers beginning with a 1300 prefix costs the caller just the local call fee, no matter where you're calling from in the country. I could have made that same call via regular PSTN for around 20 Aussie cents (say, 0.15 Euros), with the call being untimed. Your Skype Pro advertising does clearly state "Pay nothing per minute for calls to landlines within the same country" doesn't it?

Skype's response: ... "We apologise for the delayed response. Your feedback is important to us and it is our goal to respond to all customer e-mails within 72 hours, however due to a recent increase in inquiries it has taken longer to respond to you. Thank you for your understanding and patience.  These numbers are only low-cost number if called from a landline in Australia. [emphasis mine] If you call the number from outside Australia, these are not low-cost numbers. We have investigated this matter and are not able to lower the per minute rate for calls to these number, (sic) as this is what we get charged by our carrier. Sorry for the inconvenience."

What an absurd answer. Don't they understand plain English? I was indeed calling from a location in Australia (a suburb of Melbourne) to another landline in Australia (Melbourne central business district). What's going on here?

PLEASE READ ON...