Dear forum / users
Firstly I'll mention that I tried to join one of the existing threads concerning stolen certificates - but I have somehow no permission to do that. I choose to make a 'new' topic on the same subject.

Facts:
Gift certificate taken by rowenta429, August 16, 2007 kl. 17:02
End date for the certificate: January 05, 2008

As one will guess, I do not know any 'rowenta429'

I have now read many examples of stolen certificates here on the forum, and most of you have had problems getting respose from support. I'm sorry to say that it is also my situation. I have contacted support twice, but only got the autoresponse back... Some of you mention making a report to the fraud team - how do you get in contact with them?

Regards from Denmark
Ask

Dear Ask, There are two common threads running through many reportings on the Skype Forum. One is the regular numerous reports of Gift Certificates being stolen and the second is the aparent inaction on Skypes part in the addressing of their users problems. I refer you to my report "Gift Certificate Purchase Blocked - Why?" (Kananook). I have been very frustrated in my efforts to have Skype resolve the blocking of Gift Certificate purchases on my account despite it being acknowledged it is a fault at Skype. I recently took to writing to the Chairperson of the Skype Board of Management in an effort to get some resolution. I am awaiting a reply. If one arrives I will do a further update to my Post. I think it is time that a concerted effort be made by all Skype's users who are having no satisfaction with a support team who produce automated answers, some of which do not relate to the reported difficulty. I suggest more people write directly to the top management. Maybe then, when they receive a volume of similar complaints, some positive action may be achieved. Best regards in your seeking a resolution, "Kananook".

Tks. Kananook, for taking your time to reply.

>>I suggest more people write directly to the top management

Well, it's not really normal procedure or should not be necessary.... Do you know if the lack of support/reply is a general problem, or just about this subject? I'm very new here on the forum and do not have an overview over the general level of satisfaction concerning support. But I agree that it can be needed to get in contact with higher level staff - in my case the subject is theft/fraud. I find it serious and I'm quite sure that skype agree, but it takes some dialog to get to the bottom of it. My question must then be: How do you get in contact with the higher level staff, that you mention?

Ask

Dear Ask,
I agree with you. It should not be necessary to directly contact the top management, but when the department responsible for dealing with the problems users are having does not appear to be effective, what else can you do? Who do you turn to? I have only gone to the "top" because I tried all the other avenues of enquiry that one is supposed to use. It is only because of their failure to deal successfully with my specific problem that I went further.

I cannot speak in broad terms for all the other topics on Skype but I have noticed these difficulties with Gift Certificate problems and particularly with numerous reports of fraud. I found an address on the Skype site which offered the opportunity to write via regular mail. It is:

S. Technologies, 2 Stephens Street, London W1T 1AN, United Kingdom.

I decided to address my report to the Chairperson, Skype Board of Management. Somewhere along the way I came across another address but as I wasn't sure if it was one to be used for complaints I chose the London address. I will share it with you anyway. It is:

Skype Communications S.a.r.l., 15 Rue Notre Dame, L-2240 Luxemburg.

I hope this has been of help and I wish you success with a resolution. Best regards. "Kananook".

Ask,
The method of communicating with Skype is by filing a ticket as you have already done.
If you don't receive a reply after 4 business days or the reply does not address your specific problem please advise here with your username and the date on which you filed your first ticket.
(I don't need the ticket #).
With this information we will ensure that your problem is followed up at Skype.

Kananook,
While there is nothing wrong with writing to either of addresses you mention neither of them will be able to assist very much.
Both will almost certainly forward your letter to Customer Support.
If you read my post above you will see that we will do this much faster for you which will hopefully result in a speedier resolution of your problem.

Dear Norman,

I thank you for the encouragement. However, I have done all that and to no avail, hence my trying to take it further. At least, if a letter comes via the top management it might get some attention. I have gone through the proceedure of reporting my problem through "Promotions" and the "Vouchers and Gift Certificates" subsection for Customer Support on two occasions. I did receive email responses but they were not helpful in that they did not seem to understand the problem. Simply, my problem is as follows.

I am a long standing user of Skype. My brother is also a Skype user. However, as he does not have a Credit Card facility I have once before purchased a certificate/voucher and gifted it to him. As this has run out I wish to purchase another Gift Certificate/Voucher. However when I go to buy same I am being blocked by the message:

"Apologies, but due to security measures, we can not process your request at this time. As a new SkypeOut user, you are restricted to one purchase at a time. The option to purchase more credit will appear well before your existing credit runs out. Thank you for using Skype. You have reached limit in buying Gift Certificates. Please try again in a few weeks".

I tried to explain that I am not a new SkypeOut user and have a proven track record. In the past year alone I spent AUD$656 with Skype. Emails went back and forth. I was asked for a jpg. of the screen showing the message. This I did. Then I received a reply stating it was a known problem at Skype and an apology was given for any inconvenience caused. When nothing thereafter happened I once again wrote as a reply to the previous email only to be answered by someone totally different asking for more detail as if we were starting from scratch. I again replied. When nothing further happened I responded again to the latest email only to receive a further email from the same person with the exact same wording. It was at this stage, with nowhere to go that I decided to write to top management in the hope of getting some action.

Meanwhile, my account is still blocked from purchasing Gift Certificates with the same message showing. I hope the above will clarify why I have resorted to doing what I have done. I followed your link to contact Customer Support only to be brought to the point I first started out from. "Kananook" is not my Skype user name. It is only used for this forum. I am conscious of not wishing to detract from Ask's original problem in this part of the Forum as my problem possibly belongs to another part. Thank you for listening. I will keep an eye out for possible guidance from you as to where to go to from here in light of having explained my situation. Thank you. "Kananook".

Dear Kananook + Norman

Thanks to you both for all the suggestions. I just got a mail from skype support with vouchers to cover the lost amount. I have no idea if it happend because I participated here in the forum or if I just were the next in the line of tickets. The mail came from 'Jekaterina' (I assume it's a bot) and it simply closes my case.
I do not wish to continue using gift certificates - it seems too risky/beta like. The idea is ok though.
Kananook, I think I understand your situation, but are you sure that gift certificates are the right solution (theft, fraud, blocking/bad functionality, lack of support/information and so) ? Can't you use paypal to transfer an amout?

Regards
Ask

Dear Ask,

I'm delighted everything worked out for you. It was also "Jekaterina" who first responded to my situation. Thank you for the suggestions. I already have my PayPal account linked to SkypeOut and it works fine for the purchasing of calls. My problem is that for the specific purchasing of Certificates/Vouchers I can't even get through to the point of purchasing them as I'm being blocked by Skype's error. Thank you for all you have facilitated. Best wishes. "Kananook".

Hi

I have been suffering with the same problem of stolen certificates. I complained to the Skype support on 8th Sept and have been patiently waiting for a reply since. I just checked the forum and realised that I am not the only one facing this problem. Like Ask_dk I also got certificates of some 25 Euros stolen from my Account.

To me this seems to be a bigger security problem and I am now really concerned about the safety of my credit card and other information stored with skype. I hope someone from skype can reply and
a) Help me get back the stolen credit and
b) Address the general concern that users seem to be having about the security of skype.

Its a great service and it would be a shame to see it go down because of security concerns.

Gary

Gary,
Please advise your username.

Hi again Kananook
>>I already have my PayPal account linked to SkypeOut and it works fine for the purchasing of calls.

I just ment that if you need to help someone to purchase calls/get credits on skype, the gift certificates seems - at the moment - NOT to be the way to go. But to transfer money to someone via paypal to let them get credits for skypeout is an easy and fast task. Well, both of you need paypal....

Ask

Dear Ask,
Many thanks for your idea. You have raised a very good point. I will suggest to my brother that he consider opening a PayPal account which could be linked to his bank account, thereby not needing to use a Credit Card facility. Thereafter he could purchase SkypeOut calls directly with Skype using PayPal. Best wishes. "Kananook".

Hi,

I had a couple of Skype vouchers stolen recently. After reading in the forum, I got the impression that Skype would be nice about this and compensate users for stolen vouchers, so I wrote to Skype support about it.

The reply I got (see below) basically said that my vouchers were stolen because someone got access to my Skype account, and it's my own fault for not keeping my computer and my Skype password secure. So obviously Skype will not compensate me for the stolen vouchers.

I find this reply both rude and dismissive. There is no evidence that someone got into my Skype account. Considering that only 2 of 8 vouchers were stolen, it seems much more likely that someone got access to those particular voucher codes, and that it is not my fault at all.

Since other users got compensated for their stolen vouchers, I wonder what I need to do to be treated with the same courtesy by Skype?!

Thomas Hallgren

---------------
Thank you for contacting Skype Support.

We are very sorry to hear that someone has gained access to your account and has fraudulently redeemed your Gift Certificates.

Unfortunately Skype cannot refund the money you lost due to this incident. We advise all of our users to take the best care of their security systems on private computers. ...
...
We strongly advise you to change your password as soon as possible.
...
Best regards,

Katri L.
Skype Support

I just checked my account and to my surprise, 3 vouchers were redeemed by 3 different persons I do not even know. Also, this is a bunch of crap about someone accessing the account. Noone accessed my account. This is the last time I or any of my family or friends trust buying Skype gift vouchers.

Please change your password immediately because if your account has been hijacked someone could make calls as well or even worse, change your password so that you cannot log in to your own account.

You can address your problem to Skype by submitting a support request here. Please keep in mind that it takes a minimum of 4 business days to get a reply from Skype Support. If you don't get one by then, post again here, stating your username and date you filed the support ticket.