Skype Sucks

By | October 2, 2006
36 Comments

Got this charmer of an e-mail today:

Hello bowermaster,

We hate to bring bad news but there’s no nice way to say it – your Skype Credit has expired. This means that all your credit you had at your account is now gone.

== What is Skype Credit expiration policy? ==

We’ve tried to make our expiration policy as user friendly as possible. You just have to place one call every 6 months to keep your credit. Skype Credit expires 180 days after your last purchase or SkypeOut call. Extending the period is as simple as doing short call. This automatically extends the period for another 180 days.

== Why does Skype Credit expire? ==

There are several reasons why Skype expires Skype Credit that hasn’t been used for 180 days – we have to comply with normal accounting rules and cannot keep “dead” accounts in our databases forever.

You can view your account history – including your Skype Credit expiry date – on http://www.skype.com/go/myaccount and get more information about our expiration policy here: http://www.skype.com/go/help.faq.expirationpolicy

Please note that after each purchase, it can take up to 10 days for the expiry date in Your Account to refresh.

== Getting help for Skype ==

While you cannot reply to this email directly, you can contact us through our Help section at www.skype.com/help for assistance or to correct any errors. You can also visit our forums at www.skype.com/go/forum.

Thank you very for much for using Skype and best regards,
The people at Skype

I wasn’t aware that normal accounting procedures required taking someone’s money away and giving nothing in return. That’s very interesting…and less than thoroughly convincing. I’ve been on Sklype several times over the past six months, but I guess I never initiated the call. And now I’m happy to report that I don’t intend ever to initiate another Skype call.

Are there any alternatives?

UPDATE: In the comments, a Skype fan explains that — although the e-mail clearly states that I lost my credits because I didn’t make any calls — apparently I could have been initiating calls in North America and still have lost my credits, because those calls are now free. It seems that my options were as follows:

1. Make international Skypeout calls or send SMS’s
2. Purchase ringtones (Dang, sorry I blew my chance on that one. Talk about value for money!)
3. Let Skype have my money

I chose option three by default. You live, you learn.

  • Jim Strickland

    Vonage works reasonably well. $24.95 (or so) a month, unlimited calls anywhere in the U.S., Canada, and an expanding list of other places.

    -Jim

  • Huffnhustle

    The Skype policy is clearly stated in black and white for those who will read it and heed it. No secret, no mystery. Sad to suggest though, that many in the US will lose their credits purchased months ago before the Free SkypeOut period for the USA and Canada was launched. All SkypeOut calls since the launch have been free and credits unused sit and will rot except spent in some other way: by a SkypeOut to a land far away or by purchasing a Ringtone or by trying out the new SMS. Ringtones $1.20, SMS $0.112, fools who disregard terms of service/policy “priceless”

  • Phil Bowermaster

    Wow, Huffnhustle, you really showed me. Indeed, what I fool I am…any policy that is printed in black and white is clearly a good and moral thing, and anyone failing to take heed is clearly a fool. How nice for Skype that they’re able to make a handy profit raking money off fools like me, with the added benefit that stalwarts such as yourself have their back.

  • http://robot_guy.blogspot.com Ed Minchau

    Well Phil, you may have chosen option 3… however, they will probably end up losing more than that just in lost business. It only takes a few people reading this blog post and deciding to go with Vonage instead. Of course you yourself will likely go with a competitor as well. Service companies disregard customer service at their peril.

    And this six-month rule is just stupid, regardless of what huffnhustle said. What kind of company doesn’t keep records for seven years? It’s a few bytes, the cost of keeping a customer is effectively zero. The cost of losing a customer and other potential customers through word of mouth is orders of magnitude greater.

  • D. Vision

    Phones are so twentieth century.

    I still have trouble processing the fact that Vonage costs $25 a month….for crying out loud, one can get decent cell service for not much more!

  • http://robot_guy.blogspot.com Ed Minchau

    Does that decent cell service give you unlimited free long distance calling throughout North America?

  • Gramarye

    Very, very close, actually. Communication services are one of the few heavily regulated industries where there’s actually been real progress in both services and prices in the past decade. For $40/mo, you can get a heck of a cell phone plan (I have 1000 anytime and unlimited night/weekend, and have never come close to running over), and of course the mobility of a cell phone is an added fillip that a landline can’t match.

    It will be interesting to see how the market reacts to this. If this is something Skype only recently started doing, then it wouldn’t be too surprising to see a bit of an act of contrition from them in the coming weeks. If this is something that has actually been going on for a while now, however, and Phil just now found out about, then it’s likely the smart money in the market has already factored in the effects of that business practice. (Doesn’t change the fact that it’s pretty darn annoying, of course.)

  • http://freeskypecredits.com cabbar

    Try freeskypecredits.com. They also give away free Skype Credits at registration.

    http://freeskypecredits.com

  • http://freeskypecredits.com cabbar

    Try freeskypecredits.com. They also give away free Skype Credits at registration.

    http://freeskypecredits.com

  • Spaulding Smails

    Good to see the Skype apologists out in force.

    What Skype is doing by revoking credit is tantamount to theft in my opinion; there is no technical reason why they would have to revoke your credit. This is simply a ploy to rip people off.

    I have started investigating the possibility of taking legal action against Skype; it may only be a few dollars but someone needs to teach these chumps a lesson.

  • EE Roberts

    I found this discussion by Googling “skype sucks”. This is a search tactic I use when considering a service, and it hasn’t yet failed to turn up discussions which enlighten and aid my decision making process. One thing that I have learned so far which has discouraged me form using Skype is that it is owned by ebay. Ebay is, in my opinion, the single most arrogant, user unfriendly corporation I have used.

    This thread is helping me come to a decision of whether or not to use Skype. I’m leaning toward eliminating Skype as a possible internet phone service for my business use.

  • khan

    i use vonage to call a long list of friends in UK and Ireland. i use it like 2 hours or more everyday. Best part – For FREE!

    As for Skype, i paid $10 to make some calls (to pakistan-not in list of vonage free calling) – and my account has yet to show that balance after 5 days!

    Skype DOES Suck!

  • jfever

    Skype’s explanation that they can not hold on to ‘dead accounts’ doesn’t make any sense at all.
    the SEC requires data to be stored for at least seven years before it can be deleted.
    so if they have to hold onto your records for that long they may as well keep your account open.

  • lucky

    The fact that they want to expire credit that hasn’t been used is perfectly fine with me…just as long as they return the monetary balance to the customer. Otherwise that is theft in my opinion. Here in New York, companies used to do that with gift cards and charge you a fee if you didn’t use your card in a certain amount of time. Yeah, it was laid out in black and white. But the Attorney General’s office said that’s still illegal, no matter what the disclaimer says. If you pay money for a service, you get that service or you get your money back.

  • Jorge

    I know I usee to use the “xxxxxxxxxwhatever” username, but there is not possible to recover the password witthis this skype thing. It keeps on saying my username and email combination is no match. Skype is so lame… no wonder every time I used it I deleted it. There is no way to recover my password and my username by avoiding the username+email combination? Are there no other ways? It seems I will never be able to use my username again. Fhuck Skype.

  • tookewltim

    Use a set of headphones with mic and use yahoo IM to call anyone for free.

  • http://espacios-digitales.com Sebastian

    If you expect an invoice from Skype, after buying a number in Mexico you need to send a written MAIL to:

    Hello Sebastian,

    Thank you for your reply.

    We are very sorry for the inconvenience, but unfortunately Skype is unable to provide you with an invoice for your online number in Mexico.

    To receive your invoice for this order, please contact the following company with your purchase details.

    Megacable Comunicaciones de México, S.A.
    Sierra Candela No. 111,
    Piso 8,
    Col. Lomas de Chapultepec, C.P.
    11,000,
    México

    Again, we apologize for the confusion and thank you for understanding.

    Best regards,

    Joanna – Skype Support

    Visit http://www.skype.com for latest news, updates and tips.

    These people are crazy. Or they are not paying taxes.

  • BriteBlonde1

    Does anybody else see the sad irony in the fact Skype, a PHONE service, does not have a PHONE NUMBER to call and get customer service?

    Does anybody else not feel taken that Skype charges for outgoing calls AND incoming calls in two different ways? It’s akin to buying a ticket from Phoenix to Hawaii and having to buy another half way through the flight to land!

    Skype is truly a badly run, badly conceived, wretched attempt at a service company. They deserve to go out of business.

  • verdun

    well, I’m damn enough with the skype shit, it drops my calls all the time and when I wanna call their customer service and curse both those retardos and their families, I found out they dun even have a real customer service phone number, WTFFFFF

  • Geraldine

    I just typed Skype Sucks on Yahoo Search and came across t his page. I am not surprised at all reading everything I just read here. As I typed in my search that Skype sucks and it�s the TRUTH.

    I’m totally pissed off with Skype. I have a family in the Philippines and I use Skype to call them with a usual $10.00 dollar charge whenever I get extra money to spend for an overseas call. Not only Skype charged me 3 times with that automatic recharge which I tried canceling/disabling but they also deduct your credit even when the calls didn’t go through. It’s like the hi-tech theft of this generation. It’s completely bullshit especially in this economy when pretty much all people are struggling.

    Charging me $10 bucks 3 times automatically through my PayPal account without me authorizing it, and deducting money off my credit are all considered �stealing�. I was shocked to see my credit rising back to $10.00 and I am like, wait a minute, I do not remember recharging money on this thing but sure enough the Skype automatically charge when the auto reload was disabled. It was complete out of my budget what they did. Skype sucks and they should have a Customer Service you can call to in this kind of ordeal.

    I cannot believe Oprah Winfrey promotes Skype on TV while numerous people are having problems with it. I called PayPal to have my credit back but with no success. According to them, once Skype takes the money off your PayPal account, there’s no luck getting it back.

    I just don’t understand why they don’t have a customer service? Why they automatically charge money when even the automatic recharge is disabled? And why they deducts money off your credit even when calls didn’t go through. It�s complete bullshit. Skype is a thief.

    Lastly, in Oprah�s defense, maybe Skype is only good for a webcam chatting or calling another Skype account with friends but not good when you want to use it to call a telephone line abroad. Needless to say, I still think what they did to me and I am sure with other people simply makes them a thief. Its not right!!!

  • angryskyper

    totally agree, skype is a total scam, they hide info from the user hoping to screw you for your money, the interface sucks and you’re lucky if it even works. i hate how this happens to good things. well it will be fun to see them slowly wither away and get overtaken by services that treat consumers right. booooo skype!

  • http://forum.skype.com/lofiversion/index.php/t54812.html IHATESKYPE

    I HATE SKYPE!! Horrible company. This has happened to me and a lot of my friends. And none of us will ever buy anything else from Skype – ever again. Skype is free today but you watch – if they ever try and charge for their basic service then they will find out how loyal their customers are. Treat us like sh#t and we’ll treat you like Sh$t. I do not like Skype.

  • disappointed

    I had been really happy with Skype until they messed up on an unlimited country subscription. They kept charging me for calls that should have been covered under the subscription I paid for. I tried to correct this issue with many different customer service representatives for over a month. I’ve given up now. Are there any good alternatives to Skype?

  • Mahvish

    Dude,

    That is not the only reason that skype sucks. A lot of times, the skype out numbers I have purchased do not work. The skype in numbers I have purchased do not work. Etc. etc. It’s a pain in the ass.

    Oh, and the worst thing. THERE IS NO DAMN CUSTOMER SERVICE!

    There are endless problems with Skype. The only reason I use it is because I cannot see an alternative at the moment.

    I.E. PROBLEM OF MONOPOLY!!!

    Anyone want to make something kickass and 10000792875928745 times better than skype, and then kick skype of the IP calls market? Oh how nice would that be…
    :D

    M

  • Fred

    I also found this site after searching for “skype sucks” on google. And I couldn’t agree more: skype truly does SUCK.

    More than half of calls to cell phone won’t go through, and yet they charge for it. It’s an extremely annoying program, and I’d appreciate it if someone could point me towards some other provider that doesn’t SUCK as much as skype.

    And I completely agree with the original poster that taking people’s credit is theft. There is no excuse for it whatsoever, and that email you received is complete bullshit and lies.

    Thanks. Hope people read this.

  • Anonymous

    I’ve just come back from Holiday to find a Skype message in my home email to say that my credits were going to expire. I tried phoning a land line on the 29th but apparently my credits expired on the 28th. I would not have seen the emails since I was overseas. Now, first of all I don’t see why Skype can justify taking someone’s credits. I use Skype daily for text messages and computer to computer calls. I don’t use it often to phone land lines, only when there is an emergency and I have to contact my family overseas.

    The 30 day period was to short for me to respond anyway as it does happen that someone can be overseas and a 4 week holiday to visit my family is not abnormal.

    I send a message to Skype only to receive the expected standard reply about me not making a call, not answering my question at all. My credit of E11,62 still shows but that is apparently only going to ‘refresh’ next week sometime. Funny how my account refreshes on the moment the clock hits midnight but it takes days to show in my Skype window.

    The Skype explanation on being able to take people’s credits to clear out ‘dead’ accounts is ridiculous. As said, I use Skype daily and it is not that they disable your account after it is perceived ‘dead’, they just take your credits but you can still happily log in and add more money to your account. Now which bank wouldn’t like to take someone’s money, get the interest for the period of time that the customer gives them the money, to than just take the money if you don’t use it. And not just a set fee for accounting, no they just take all your credits, no matter what the balance is.

    Now in this day of age, I’m sure there will be few people to accept such a policy, no matter how big this company is.

    Oh, and btw, I did actually try using Skype to phone to a land line while on holiday, but when I was in Holland using Skype on my iPhone it turned out that the cellular company blocks outgoing Skype calls soI couldn’t make a call anyway. I really feel taken for a ride here.

    Skype Out,

    Sylvan

  • Sylvan

    I’ve just come back from Holiday to find a Skype message in my home email to say that my credits were going to expire. I tried phoning a land line on the 29th but apparently my credits expired on the 28th. I would not have seen the emails since I was overseas. Now, first of all I don’t see why Skype can justify taking someone’s credits. I use Skype daily for text messages and computer to computer calls. I don’t use it often to phone land lines, only when there is an emergency and I have to contact my family overseas.

    The 30 day period was to short for me to respond anyway as it does happen that someone can be overseas and a 4 week holiday to visit my family is not abnormal.

    I send a message to Skype only to receive the expected standard reply about me not making a call, not answering my question at all. My credit of E11,62 still shows but that is apparently only going to ‘refresh’ next week sometime. Funny how my account refreshes on the moment the clock hits midnight but it takes days to show in my Skype window.

    The Skype explanation on being able to take people’s credits to clear out ‘dead’ accounts is ridiculous. As said, I use Skype daily and it is not that they disable your account after it is perceived ‘dead’, they just take your credits but you can still happily log in and add more money to your account. Now which bank wouldn’t like to take someone’s money, get the interest for the period of time that the customer gives them the money, to than just take the money if you don’t use it. And not just a set fee for accounting, no they just take all your credits, no matter what the balance is.

    Now in this day of age, I’m sure there will be few people to accept such a policy, no matter how big this company is.

    Oh, and btw, I did actually try using Skype to phone to a land line while on holiday, but when I was in Holland using Skype on my iPhone it turned out that the cellular company blocks outgoing Skype calls so I couldn’t make a call anyway. I really feel taken for a ride here.

    Skype Out,

    Sylvan

  • someone

    well, skype is crap.
    just noobs use it, i mean, they are using every client for relying calls.
    but they are the only one who get the money…
    so basically they use my bandwidth for making money…
    as i dont see why they should get money for me paying the inet-connection, i dont use skype anymore.
    there ate tons of alternatives!

  • Sylvan

    Thank you Skype! After a couple of messages ventilating my grievances they have reinstated my credit :-)

    Hello Sylvan,

    Thank you for contacting Skype Support.

    We are sorry to hear that your issue has not been solved yet.

    After reviewing your case we have decided to re-instate your credit.
    Your balance will be updated in the next 3 days.

    For the future please remember that you must place one call lasting at
    least one whole minute every 180 days in order to keep your credit
    balance.

    Skype is continually working to improve the notification process to make
    sure that our customers would remember to make this one call.

    Thank you once again. Enjoy using Skype.

    Should you need more assistance, feel free to contact us again; we will
    be glad to help. Have a nice day!

    Best regards,

    Ildiko – Skype Support

    Skype Customer Support

    Visit http://www.skype.com for latest news, updates and tips.

  • Jakes

    I used to use Skype. It was a good company, and I was excited about its prospects. Then comes ebay: no fun, no support, poorer connections, no growth, no good, culminating in ‘no me’ as a customer. So typical – big company buys the exciting new paradigm and ignores it all the way to a slow death.

  • skype user

    I bought one year of service with skype so i could make calls to landline and mobile and it doesnt work. My test call worked perfect but as soon as I paid and tried to make real calls to real numbers, I get robotic voice that you cant make out what is being said. I looked and I am losing 90% of recv incoming packets. After paying full price for service, you would think it would “just work”. Ah the hype… can’t find good help either. Don’t think skype wants their forums cluttered with threads about how nothing can make the call usable. Scam! And where’s my money back?

  • Charlie

    I have a much better solution for you skype users or non skype users. It’s called the IRIS 3000 Videophone. It’s a voip (voice over internet protocol) phone that is used with your dsl,cable,or fiber internet connection.You can make free calls with it anywhere in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico through your high speed internet connection. You will be able to see and hear in real time the person you call. The picture and voice quality is amazing! I have one at home and love it!
    If you are interested, you can visit my website to view the phone and order the phone for your home or business as well. Just go to http://www.clozano.acnrep.com
    You can email me any questions that you have at charlie_acn@yahoo.com

  • Candice

    Skype is a dishonest company who deserve to go out of business. Bad connection and sound quality, no customer service, crap terms and policies. They really do suck.

  • Gilmore

    I’ve given up on calling through skype. I cancelled my home phone, have high speed roaming wireless through telus and can’t make an intelligible call. Sometimes it works for 3 or 4 minutes but it rapidly deteriorates into a distorted mess. If I can hear the other person, they can’t hear me. I’m not sure where my bandwith is going but it certainly isn’t into call quality. I recommend no-one by skype until they alleviate these problems.

  • hateskype

    Skype sucks. They closed my account and say that all the credit I had is non-refundable. I lost all the phone number and contacts that I had, and for what? The say I used unsolicited communication. I’D LIKE FOR THEM TO PROVE THAT!

  • Mike

    Hey, they are making unauthorized charges against my PayPal account now. I have spent countless hours in chat sessions with these ripoff artists giving me nothing but a run around — and then charging me more for it. They are the most crooked company I have ever dealt with — by far.