Skype

Full review
*
- Updated: Jan 24, 2006 11:30am
*
This morning, my "Support Request" was closed by Skype - Customer Support just copy and paste standard answer from a TOTALLY IRRELEVANT ISSUE (see copy of their reply at the bottom of this review).

I am sure no matter how good the technical side the company is, this type of "Customer Support" will destroy this company soon.

I have wasted enough (time and money) on this company, no more business for them.


*
- Updated: Jan 24, 2006 1:30am
*
Amazingly, after this comment was posted here (on Epinions.com), I got a reply from this guy "Henrik" (who was the one first replied the initial complaint after one week), I made a copy of it, see the bottom of this post.

Henrik actually tried to "reserve" fund on my credit card!!! This is outrageous!!

First, I never complain about my credit card has problem (and even there is problem, Skype is not the one who should check about that!);

Second, I never authorize anyone in Skype to ¡§test¡¨ my credit card, I guess I have to consult with my lawyer about whether this is actually legal!;

Third, why on Earth would Henrik try to do that without first check their own payment system (as I repeatedly complained about).

The fact is, I tried to go through the payment process again (about the 20th times in the past month), exactly the same error message came out ¡§The specified order cannot be found, or the order is ALREADY PAID.¡¨

If any of those customer support can read, they will be able to tell that this problem is about the order was paid (as Skype's payment system thought), and hence cannot be paid again.

Anyway, this seems to get worse everyday, besides the phone number (from SkypeIn) is still not working (my clients who had the number would think my business is closed down!) now I have to worry about my credit card, if this Henrik guy is going to do something stupid with my credit card information...


*
- Original comment on Jan 23, 2006
*
CAREFUL! DO NOT USE THEIR PAID-SERVICE!!!

Ironically, everything was ok when I was using their free services.

The complaint I filed for the paid-service (SkypeIn) as copied below was filed almost one month ago (and the service is still down), one would not be able to imagine how stupid it is for them to treat their (paid) customers this way, the complaint was not replied by anyone until one week later (and my service was already down for a few weeks by that time), and that¡§customer support" just replied with a standard message without even reading my complaint about what was wrong.

And since then I was trying to explain in many different ways about the problem and keep waited patiently for an answer, you know what happened?... CASE CLOSED! The ¡§Support Request¡¨ was closed after I had been waiting for weeks and without any responsible reply.

I do not expect anything to be fixed the next day (although it should be, considering it is realtime¡§communication¡¨ service they are offering)... that is one of the reasons why I waited long enough before commenting on their service.

I started to use the Internet and all kinds of services derived from it ever since there has been¡§Internet¡¨, but I have never seen any Internet company so irresponsible and their customer support is so unprofessional before.

I would suggest you guys out there thinking to use any of their paid-service to look somewhere else, after all there are lots of choices (after what was happened, I found at least three other similar service providers from the Internet), Skype totally does not worth your time and energy (especially if you are thinking to use their services for business purpose).

*
- Here is part of my repeated ¡§Support Request¡¨:
*
As explained in my previous messages, I tried to pay through Skype's website sometime in early Dec last year, the payment seemed went through (no error message) at that time, a few weeks later (on Dec 28 2005), I check this Skype account and the SkypeIn service was already inactive, so I thought the payment somehow didn't go through (although there was no error message) and I immediately tried to pay again (on Dec 28, 2005) with the same credit card, however this time your system responded with an error message "The specified order cannot be found, or the order is already paid.".

Since then I keep on trying to pay in many different ways (including using different computers which I never used to access skype's website), as a computer guru for 20 years I can assure you that it is not a "cookie" problem of my browser (as the other unhelpful customer support lazily concluded).

To save you guys your precious time in researching the problem, here are the facts regarding this payment problem:

i) the initial payment (in early Dec 2005) did NOT go through (I checked my credit card statements there was no such transaction in the month Dec 05);

ii) I tried to pay again (many times) on and after Dec 28, 2005, your systems do not allow payment for this account (SkypeIn service) to go through;

iii) my SkypeIn service is still inactive.

First, what you were asking in the email is to prove the payment went through, that's a wrong direction to solve this problem, the payment DID NOT go through.

Second, (and this is the part you guys need to fix, I can't do anything even I wanted so much to help) your payment system somehow set a mark on my account that the payment was already made, that's why I cannot pay no matter how I tried, and it responded with the message "... the order is already paid".

One logical way to see what I am talking about is try to go through the payment process of my account, then you will see exactly what the problem is.

If there is a genius in Skype find out why your systems (1) did not process my first payment and (2) solve the mystery of why I can't pay (even at this moment), I promise to keep using Skype's service for the years to come...

A-Very-patiently-waiting-Skype-Customer

Patrick

*
- REPLY FROM SKYPE "HENRIK" on Jan 24, 2006
*
Our systems show that you have not completed order process. The order was created, but no payment information was registered. Try again to complete the process (please read directions carefully).

During the purchase process, we made an authorization request to your credit card, and check that funds are available. This may be shown as a booking or reservation on your credit card statement. It is not an actual charge. Money was not taken from your account and we have reversed this authorization, we assure you these reservations will be removed.

Best regards,

Henrik
Customer Support

Have you got the new Skype?
http://www.skype.com/download/

*
- Skype CLOSED "Customer Support" request by copy and paste standard reply message from TOTALLY IRRELEVANT issues, Jan 24, 2006
*
Hello,

You made the payment with GLOBAL-COLLECT.

Bank transfer is payment method that can take longer to process than other methods. It can take up to 7-14 days to clear the payment and credit your account after you have made the transfer.

If your bank has confirmed that the payment has cleared and your account still has not been credited after that time, please send us the following so that we can locate your payment:

- Order Number
- Bibit's bank account number (where the money has been paid to)
- Shopper name
- Shopper's bank name
- Shopper's bank Account Number
- Amount and currency as per bank statement
- Value date of the transaction
- description / reference used on the bank transfer form

Also, a scan or screen shot of your statement or confirmation of payment would also be very useful.

With this information we can locate your payment and credit you account, we apologize for the inconvenience.

Best regards,

Henrik
Customer Support

Have you got the new Skype?
http://www.skype.com/download/