I signed up for Skype Pro (Country Germany, Skype Pro is active).

The glossy advertisement reads:
Pay nothing per minute to national landlines
--> it says nothing about connection fee

After further reading, you can see connection fee (on a different page):
A connection fee of 0.039 (0.045 incl. VAT) applies to all SkypeOut calls.

This is misleading advertising!

But worse, when making calls, I get charged (calls to landlines in my country):
Mar 01 09:35 +493305xxxxxx Germany Call 0.000 00:45 0.078
You see: 45 seconds, call charge 0.000 yet still paying 0.078

Way more expensive than any local carrier.
Anyone else with the same problem or "misunderstanding" of this "grand" offer ??

I have the same problem with SkypePro(from Italy):
untill yesterday I paid 0,046 Euro (VAT included) for every call, as indicated with SkypePro.
Today the sum changed to 0,078 Euro, so I asked why or wanted to have the problem resolved.

twice the connection fee of 3.9 ct ... ex VAT

What are you saying? That VAT is now calculated at 200%?
Please put more text in your post. i.e. elucidate for us mear mortals.

Hi I have the same problem you have.
I alreadu contacted the custumer services but i did not get any reply...

If I find how to get our money back i post something ..

cheers

Please advise your filed ticket date and your username.

@ Norman

I am giving you a friendly slap around a bit, and wake you up. Cause you are trying to help? but don't get it.

Several users have complained in this thread and others, about customer service effectively no different than pre-lawsuit PayPal. All I've seen are apologist remarks, some quite crude, or 'post your ticket #' - HOW?

For example:
I have ONE ticket number, ONE of several different customer service requests. The ONE ticket number I have, sixteen months old, was resolved already. Well apart from Skype's terrible response.

Now when I go to support.skype.com, there is no way to log in, and view existing tickets. Looking at the URL in the 16-month-old email, I deconstruct the URL to http://support.skype.com/index.php?_a=tick...amp;_m=viewmain. If a Skype-user clicks on this link, they should be able to retrieve any past ticket numbers, IF they were ever issued one. Otherwise, Norman, our support requests are going into a black hole, NOT responded to by the greedy bastards at Skype, nor their henchmen. So we have NO ticket numbers to post to your silly question.

If you want to be an apologist for greedy bastards, please do it somewhere else. If you want to help, then post a single, useful reply regarding these issues.

Thanks for listening.

He just meant post the date you sent your latest e-mail support request in for this extra charge problem (if it's been more than 4 business days he'll try to get you some extra help). From reading the forums it seems that Skype has a glitch in it, and is charging a bunch of ppl double the normal connection fee (and yes I agree that the connection fee is false advertisement!). Good luck!

update:

they changed the connection fee in call history to 0.039 - yet they have not refunded any monies they overcharged for weeks on twice the connection fee.

All they did was change 0.078 to 0.039 in call history.

My ticket:
Subject: RE: GQW: Skype Pro charged 0.078 instead of 0.039 !!
sent to Skype Support on:
Date: Thu, 01 Mar 2007 08:46:37 GMT

has not been answered either.
We are now 8th March!

Need I say more ???

Same problem here. Here is the copy of my support request to Skype:

"I have SkyPro and I paid for a landline call to Portugal the normal charge per minute. The call was made on the 1st of March at 21:07. The call duration was 22:02 minutes and I paid the connection fee plus 0,017 times 22, when I shouldn't have paid for that since I have SkypePro activated. I already sent a complaint to you, a few days ago and I havent received any answer. I'm really upset with this. If I don't get any answer within the next few days and if the situation isn't rectified I'll stop using SkypePro, Skype and warn everyone I know against Skype and its services".

Where are you calling from? As it is stated, calls are only free to National Landlines, not International.

Ike

Same problem for me, i call from Italy (with a italian IP) to italian landline numbers and every time i paid the normal charge per minute. More support request to Skype, without reply and ticket number, is incredible...

Skype user : buce_falo

Pleae note that there is a connection fee involved.
Replies can take a minimum of 4 working days.

If you already sent a ticket more then 4 workingdays ago, please report back with the date you sent your first support ticket and I will point to Skype Staff.

Ike

I was about to sign up for Skype Pro and will now not be doing so.
The publicity implied that the discount applied to ALL Skype Out calls on the list of countries, not just National Calls.
This is sharp practice of the worst kind and combined with a transaction that has been "pending" for over 24 hours and no reply to my email, I question if I will continue to use Skype for calling normal numbers (Skype Out).
Skype, you may be top of the tree at the moment, but there are plenty of alternatives and many companies have gone under through complacency and poor customer service.

You will need one to calm down after trying to contact "customer service"

I GOT SKPE PRO AND HAD A REPLY FROM THEM , I CLEARLY STATED THAT I AM STILL PAYING FOR MY CALLS ON SKYPE PRO , THEY SAID PLEASE EXPLAIN MORE, HOW STUPID CAN THEY BE, THEY ARE CONNING EVERYONE , I WISH I HAD LOOKED AT OTHERS COMPLAINTS BEFORE BYING, A TOTAL RIP OFF.

TOTALY AGREE!!!

voipbusterpro looks much better

Please give me the date of the tickets and I will forward to Staff.

Ike

I have other kind of problem with Skype Pro. I live in Holland and want to order Phillips 841 phone with 30 Euro discount. The problem is that I simply can't do that. When I select the hardware discount option in my profile it takes me to the Skype Shop in UK. Where I can't finalyse the order because my postal adres is in NL and in dutch Skype shop there is no option to select this phone with Skype Pro discount. Does anyone had the same problem? And maybe, just maybe someone knows how to get around this problem.

that just takes me to another point: is there actually anything working properly? and is actually anybody 100%satisfied with skypePro and didn't encounter any problems? I really would like to know...

ps. sorry - I certainly cant help you with your problem...really hope sb else can...

Is there anyone in the UK who can log on with your account name to buy the phone?
SkypePro is also valid when you should be in the UK for real.

Ike

I had the same problem, filed a ticket about it and still did not get any reply. I proceeded buying the Philips 841 phone package offered on the normal shop web page and sent Skype another ticket asking for the 30€ discount. If Skype is fair, they will grant this, but I have severe doubts... On the other hand, the offer of 30€ off 199€ is not really that attractive compared to the 179€ package including a free handset and Skype time. Actually this is another example of how misleading the offer was; I supposed the 30€ would be discounted from the 179€ package.

BTW, there may be a workaround. Try this:
Go to the web shop of your country
Select the Philips 841 package (the title or Details)
In the link you see in your browser, replace the last part of the link (sku=BPHIL841/080) by sku=BPHIL841PRO. This will take you to a page with the offered deal. However, this is a workaround, and I have no idea if it actually works (I didn't go all the way to purchasing it this way).

Yes I can do that. But like the lumme pointed out why should I pay 199 Euro minus 30 Euro discount for the phone on the UK Skype Shop? Why is the no option to bye the same phone on the Dutch Skype shop where I can get the same phone for 179 euro and get another travel phone for free? I don't think that letting me and other people to go true so much trouble to get a discount on the phone is the solution to the problem.



Thank you for you reply. I don't think that replacing part should work properly. Please let me know the outcome of you ticket. Maybe I should go the same way as you did.

i will get it in the right box ,
they did reply to me and asked me to explain in more detail, so i sent back the first message i sent this was 6 days ago as i could not explain it any clearer then skpe pro does not work full stop, lots of people say the same i cant be the only one to complain about this , and i dont have the time to deal with it , it is a total rip off and the customer service is shocking, i have councilled it now and will never take up another offer from skpe. i want my money back for what they took of me for skpepro i also want to no they excepted my councilled skpe pro and that they are not going to con me out of any more money for there ripp off scam called skpe pro, no one should wait 4 days even one , there should be a number to ring , never trust a company that has a bad customer services, iv learnt the hard way. i was taking skpe as a serious buisness to use in my own but not now, its a joke . this is worse then bt and thats saying something
zennadream

I mentioned to Staff.

Ike

About the Philips 841 phone package:

please follow the link in your confirmation email. The product displayed on this page is already discounted for Pro users. Please ignore the voucher code in the email, it is not required.

For those who never received the e-mail, please check your SPAM settings and the SPAM folder at the server first. If no e-mails, please submit a support ticket. Note a reply can take 4 working days.
If you have already done so and you never received a reply, please give me your user name and the date you sent the ticket and it will be forwarded to Staff.

Ike

Hello Ike,

Ik have skype-pro, but I pay, 0,039 euro each call from netherlands to netherlands. Can you please explain how this can happen?

All SkypeOut calls are subject to a connection fee, 0.045€ (0.039 Excl. VAT)

Ok,

I am sorry, this was a misunderstanding
Thank you for your information

I enticed my buddy to try Skype after I made a demo in his house. We are in Los Angeles, Calif., USA. He signed up by himself today but I didn't know Skype Unlimited has been discontued. He subscribed the Skype Pro and one year Skype_IN number just to find out Skype Pro it's not free to call the landline of his next door neighbor. Whoa! He was able to cancel the Skype Pro but he's still tryin' to figure how to cancel the one year SkypeIN number.

Wow, I just learned about it today, Dec. 9, 2007. I'm in Los Angeles, Calif., U.S.A. Yesterday I made a Skype Unlimited demo to my buddy via my laptop and a USB phone. He was very impressed that he signed up with Skype right away by himself. I didn't know Skype Unlimited has been discontinued. Apparently he signed up for Skype Pro and got also SkypeIN number for a year. He called his wife at her work and immediately noticed local calls is not free at all. It charged him $0.0.21 per minute just like calling a landline phone in London at the same rate? What a crap. He cancelled the Skype Pro immediately but still tryin' to figure how to cancel the SkypeIN number already paid for one year.

I'm currently a Skype Unlimited user until Jan. 8, 2008. I thought of getting an expensive Skype compliant WiFi phone but not anymore. I'll just get the Mobile PCS wireless service for $50 per month with unlimited calling, unlimited SMS and unlimited e-mail because calling more will cost more with Skype Pro!

Jim Nav,
The facts are as follows:
1. The Unlkimited Calling Plan has NOT been discontinued.
It has been incorporated into SkypePro - details here http://www.skype.com/allfeatures/unlimitedupdate/
2. A temporary software malfunction has caused calls which are normaally free to be charged.
Skype are aware of the situation and are working on a fix.
3.You say you are going to get a PCS unlimited call service which costs $50.00 per month.
SkypePro which includes the UCP costs $3.00 per month!
Are you sure you are making a good choice?

Well right now at 21 cents per minute for Skype, he is making the right choice. And virtually every PCS has a customer support PHONE number which can be contacted where someone will help deal with any issues you have RIGHT AWAY! The only reason i went to SkypePro was to have a inexpensive solution for daytime calling so i don't have to use my mobile minutes. Turns out the only thing i paid for was a MORE expensive solution and a headache.

I think you've got your decimal point in the wrong place and are, consequently, overstating your case by a factor of 10!
The per minute charge you refer to is 2.1 cents (not 21).

I really hope you aren't serious Norman, this guy is looking for some real help to his problems and you are correcting my decimal point? Sorry ok, 2 cents. I hope we can look forward to even more great help like this from Skype! (please note sarcasm in statement)