Skype ... where the whole world CAN NOT talk for free. Not even for PAY!

Ok ... I had to take a moment to vent about Skype. What a great product ... what lousy execution. Their support? It sucks beyond almost any vendor I have ever dealt with.

On my recent Philippines trip, I started to use SkypeOut ... or tried to. First, I was unable to get them to accept any of my credit cards ... business or personal. Now these are the same credit cards that I use for all other on-line purchases ... but not with Skype. Nope. They wouldn't take them. So no SkypeOut credit.

Well, then I noticed that they accept PayPal ... hmmm ... wonder if that will work. Yeah! It worked! A week ago I was able to pay Skype $10 for SkypeOut credit. They even gave me an extra $1.60 of credit for paying! I called lots of people ... for one day. Then ... back to ground zero.

Six days ago ... the morning after my success paying via PayPal ... and after using Skype to make calls for over an hour ... I wen to dail a number only to see a red bar appear that said:

Skype Account Blocked - Your Skype account has been blocked! Click here for details

Yeah ... right. Try clicking ... it takes you to their home page. Uh guys ... how about if I log into my account? I simply get another message:

You are currently restricted from purchasing services or redeeming vouchers. Please contact Customer Support to review your account status.

Ok ... great. No details ... I click the link ... get taken to a crappy tech support form. Fine ... I filled it in, posted it, and was sent to a page with a bunch of unrelated "knowledgebase" articles ... with another button to *really* post my support request.

So six days ago ... I sent my support request. And I have done so for each and every day since. No response. Oh ... well this monring I finally got back a message saying that they have received my first support request ... sent seven days ago!

So Skype has my money ... and has blocked my account. As for the "free in the US" they claim to be offering? I can't call those numbers either now ... my account is blocked. I can call PC to PC ... I think ... but no SkypeOut at all ... nada.

So they lie ... the whole world CAN NOT talk for free. And in my case, I have even paid my $10 and I can not talk ... at least not via Skype. What a bummer ... some people are screwing up a perfectly good idea.

[tags: skype skypeout ripoff voip support sucks]