Skype’s service, not the actual software, sucks. It sucks so much that I’m wasting my time writing about it. Let me start from the beginning.
I was happily using Skype since I started the trip. I was using it to call both cellphones and landlines, mostly in Israel. Up until I reached a limit that can be charged on my credit card (Skype enforces this limit. This is not an actual limit I have on the card.) For Israelis, that limit is 30 US Dollars. Skype, being customer-friendly and all, advise you to add another payment method if you reached the limit on an existing one. So that’s exactly what I did – I have a PayPal account that I used. I managed to use it twice with Skype, but then my account was blocked without any given reason. At first I didn’t even know it was blocked – my calls were simply dropped as soon as I would make them.
When I realized that my account is blocked – I went to see my balance online and there Skype told me I can’t do anything and need to contact customer support – I followed dutifully and contacted customer support. That was last Wednesday. I haven’t heard from them since. I wrote them again two days ago. Nothing. Only the automated mails saying they got my complaint and will be back in 48 hours with a response. I still have 10 USD in that account that I bought and can’t use.
Luckily, I have another credit card. So I opened a new account and started using it for Skype calls. But today came the last straw. After billing it once, Skype’s “anti-fraud” measures reversed my second purchase of credit and now this account is blocked as well. They even admit that their anti-fraud system sometimes rejects legitimate purchases.
A friend offered that I use Gizmo5 instead, so I bought some credit there. The rates are just a few cents higher than Skype’s (per minute) and if the call quality is fairly good (haven’t tried calling with Gizmo5 yet) I’m never going back to Skype. This is proobably what I should have done in the first place. As the saying goes: “Fool me once – shame on you. Fool me twice – shame on me.” This time the shame is on me.