Skype -- Well Renouned Voip (and Facts About Paypal Which Skype Recommends As Their Checkout) Cheat (or) Cheap ?

[longtimeago 0]

Hello everybody and i am gonna pour out what i had learnt after using Skype, yeah the very famous Skype which claims to be the cheap among all VOIP calls, PC to phone calls etc. Yes i do agree skype is cheap, but it is cheap only for those who get to know all the Tricky steps followed Skype. First of all i do not have any complaints or negative comments on the quality which they provide. Yeah the voice clarity and everything which is provided by Skype is simply excellent. As long as you use the free services offered by Skype one wont know the exact Tricky steps which Skype follows. But unfortunately if you check out what is free in Skype, its nothing other than PC 2 PC calling and Instant Messaging. Of course all other messengers like Yahoo, AIM and every messenger that exists gives this particular service free of cost and there is nothing much to boast about that. May be for a better quality people may choose skype. On the other hand when you use Skype there might be some voice disturbances only once in a while, like when you use a wi fi connection and if there is some block between the wifi transmitter and the computer which is being used. In such a situation the sound clarity may get disturbed and yes i do agree that is unavoidable. So lets end this free service discussion with this since there is nothing to boast about that in skype because all other messenger too offer the same for free.So now next let me talk about the so called Trick which they play ( I feel so, may be some may agree with this ). So now when does Skype comes into full action, only when you need to make a call to a Normal phone, which means to a Land line or Mobile phone using the skype dialer ( messenger i mean ). So in this case you have to buy some thing known as Skype credit ( hope every on is aware of this ) .This skype credit is used for making calls from your skype account and its is obvious that one has to buy this Skype credit. In order to buy this skype credit one can use the given method in skype, how ever Skype recommends paypal ( which is yet another trick player, will discuss about that in the next para ) there are other modes of payment like credit cards, money bookers etc. Now the fact about this so called Skype credit is that you have to buy a minimum of 10$, this is where it made me think that why is it Skype forces us to buy a minimum of 10 $ . Skype claims that its call rates are so cheap that with 1 $ you can speak for a very long time ti selected countries, if that is the case, if some one wants to make a one time call to a foreign country, might be to get some support regarding a product they have bought or there may be various other reasons where one has to make just a single call. So in this case too he / she has to go and purchase 10$ for skype credit. Here some one may claim that skype credit wont expire so they can buy and keep, if that is the argument made by some one, just think about the interest and other things. 10$ might be a small amount for a single user, just imagine collectively for the whole world, how much interest do they make out of that money. So let me bring out the so called next trick which is being played by skype, SKYPE STORES YOUR PAYMENT INFORMATION AUTOMATICALLY, unless you delete it, it will remain there. While purchasing the skype credit there is a particular option which says :Enable auto recharge if credit falls below 2$ . Yes this may be useful for some, but not necessary for many. Here what happens is that this particular option is ENABLED BY DEFAULT. It is unlike the check box which is used for terms and condition where we read the terms and condition and then we check it, here in this case the check box is checked automatically which many will not notice. The most tricky part in this is, once you uncheck this check box and then if you go and change the payment method and come, this check box gets enabled automatically ( this is what i call it a trick to fool users thinking that they have unchecked it ). So what happens if this is enabled ? People may think that it is advantageous but it is not, let me tell you why. It is because if you have 10$ in your skype credit and if keep talking for 8$ + you will be automatically charged from the credit card or paypal or what ever you have chose for the previous payment. Here the user may be thinking that his balance is not yet over, so he is talking but on the other hand his credit card is being used after is balance had got over so he is talking. Yeah making uninterrupted calls is possible with this option where you give "auto recharge" but this should not be made as the default settings because users are misled. This can be a option which people can avail if needed. Now if skype checks this check box of auto recharge by default why not check the terms and condition check box too by default. They wanted people to read the terms and conditions else that may result in serious court cases if that is enabled by default. So by enabling this auto recharge by default skype tries to fool its users. Now i had quoted earlier what trick does paypal play. And not surprisingly skype recommends paypal. This is not my quote but just check out in the skype webpage, Skype recommends paypal. Why so ? Here i will make it clear. Paypal gives you a helping hand in many cases, Hats off to them. Cases such as if you do some online earnings and if you want to redeem that money, you can use pay pal and redeem that money. Yeah that is fine, fantastic. I also did the same. and i had some dollars in paypal. Thanks to pay pal for this serivce. But on the other hand pay pal had withe held my account and said some action is required from the account holder. I had the error which reads "Account Limited" So when i had contacted the help i came to know i have to submit proof, so i had scanned and sent to paypal my photo identity. Now that pay pal has relieved my account from limited account. Now that my account is not limited and i have some dollars in my paypal i tried to purchase something in skype with the paypal checkout. To my surprise i saw a webpage which reads , please enter credit card information to make this purchase, my God, i am sure that i had sufficient amount in paypal for the purchase i am making still i am asked for my credit card information. Pay Pal sees to that the account holder exposes the credit card information to them so that in their policy it is written if you make a purchase( unknowingly too ) which exceeds the amount in the pay pal automatically it will be taken from the credit card. And also in some small fonts ( this is what i call it as a trick ) they would have quoted in many places that if there is a mismatch in the name around 5$ will be taken from the credit card as return fee etc. Pay Pal advertises that hide and keep your credit card information, and do not expose it online. IF THEY SAY SO, WHY IS IT THAT THEY ASK FOR THAT INFORMATION ( WHAT DO YOU CALL THIS OTHER THAN A TRICK ). If i have the sufficient amount in pay pal too i am not able to purchase unless i enter the credit card information. They just take advantage of the ignorance of the user and frame these policies. And now lets hook pay pal and skype, Just think why is that Skype recommends paypal ? Simple indirectly they access your credit card. In Paypal for verification they dont even accept debit cards (visa enabled) only credit cards are accepted. Just to bore the money in your name. So lets come back, If you purchase Skype credit using paypal and if you have not disabled auto recharge ( because by default it is enabled ) then again your credit card might be used by you in your ignorance. Yo may think that the call is connected, but actually it is connected by making use of your credit card and not by the available balance in your skype credit. Moving on, let me expose the next trick which i sensed that skype plays on the user with their ignorance. In skype you not only make calls using skype credit but also there are subscriptions available. Do you think they would have offered this scheme with no tricks in it, definitely not. Subscriptions are cheap and thanks to Skype for that. In particular subscriptions to US and Canada calling are really cheap and i really thank Skype for providing that. But wait, let me tell you what is subscription. Subscription in skype is something where you can pay monthly, 3 months , and so on. This is not pay per call. So this is advantage for several reasons. But on the other hand when you purchase skype monthly subscription please read CAREFULLY WHAT IS WRITTEN THERE. For example let me tell you, if some one is in need of a subscription for just 1 month to call a particular place, yeah very well he / she can approach Skype and purchase one. While purchasing they have just kept radio buttons ( i really dont know whether they have kept it for user convenience or to take advantage of users ignorance) In the interface where you choose the validity of the subscription of which you purchase it reads as " Every month ** $ " and not as " Monthly ** $ " . This means by default they have enabled that subscription for you for Life ( Please not subscriptions are not free, your credit card will be bored for that ). So unless you go to your subscription accounts page and disable it, you will be charged for the recurring month even if you dont use it. Yes i agree this is useful for people who are lazy to login to make a purchase for the second month, if so why cant there be a option available like, please tick here if you want to make the same subscription every month without your action. Instead they enable it by default saying "Every month ** $". Please note the ** which i have used in this para refers to the amount of the relevant subscription which you are making in skype. So in the subscription scheme provided by skype too a trick is being played which in turn deals with your credit card. If the subscription is cheap and if the user learns by mistake he may digest that he lost it ( i mean the subscription being charged for the recurring month even if he didnt mean to activate it ) due to his ignorance. On the other hand just imagine where subscription goes beyond 50 $ and the user dont need that for the second month and due to ignorance he is charged.Here please note, one you have enabled that so called auto recharge ( by mistake also ). and if you call outside you subscription the call will get connected, please dont think that skype is so loving kind that it allows free calls outside subscription. In such a case the credit card is accessed directly and the skype account is recharged.So friends and all Skype Lovers (Including me ) the act of skype of enabling some money matters by default which can easily mislead the users, is it Cheat ? or is it fine ? and the act of paypal which makes users to enter credit card information to them ( they say hide credit card info online with paypal ) is it fair? Even if you redeem money using paypal, you are not able to use it unless you enter credit card information. ( possibly this is from jan 2010 i am not sure ) . I Dont know who frames these tricky marketing strategies behind the scene. These actions simply means that they are waiting for a chance where they can take the users ignorance into advantage by which they can make money. Moreover this pay pal is more prone to hacking and Phishing etc. where attackers try to steal passwords. Still why pay pal compels users to enter credit card information and link credit card ?? Isnt it enough if you have money in pay pal you can use it. Already they get interest for that which they dont share with the users. That itself makes a good profit for them, they why they aim in taking advantage of the ignorance of the users. Yeah it is good for people who make mass purchase with paypal, for them if they dont want the reply at their check out as " Insufficient balance " in paypal, they can use and link their credit card. On the other hand why make it mandatory. Now paypal may say that to keep track of the users they do so. For that why not a debit card is enough ? They know in debit card only the available money can be taken. What if the user is clever enough to maintain zero balance in the debit card which he had linked with paypal. In such a case pay pal cannot take advantage of the ignorance of the users. So they go for credit card. Very funny right ?? Isnt there some one or some organization to check these tricky strategies which is deployed by corporate giants like skype and paypal ?? what ever after reading this Please Vote