NCIC Ridiculously high charges for long distance calls from payphones without notice Longview Texas

As many other people have reported, I found myself in the airport waiting for a friend, and my cellphone ran out of battery. My friend couldn't catch the plane, so I had to make some calls from the payphones next to the baggage claim.

I dial the number in, and I am asked to enter $1 or swipe a card. I happened to have 4 quarters, and for $1 I got 4 minutes of long distance call. I had to do 3 more calls, so, instead of getting more change, I decided to swipe instead my credit card, that I thought it was more convenient.

So far it looks like something quite a normal scenario, and one I am sure many other people have found themselves in.

Well, after swiping the card, I get instructions for entering my exp date, and that's all. I can call. No other message. "Quite convenient", I thought, and I assumed that I would get the same 4min/$1 dollar rate, with maybe a charge fee of some cents for using the phone. I made three calls, each of around 1 min and half each.

I just checked my credit card invoice: $11 each call.

This is simply put a scam. There is no visible notice of a $8 connection charge + $1.5/min. Nobody charges $8 for using a credit card. I have used this credit card overseas and they charge me less than $2 for it, at most. And it's not a one time connection fee; each call incurs on it. Their business model is one time users, getting the most they can out of them.

I called them up. They say that they have to cover expenses, and that was all. Only after telling them that I was going to file a complaint, they said that they will give me 50% back. I've seen other complains getting $11

This is a ripoff and even they know that, so they reimburse you some money just to make you think that they are sorry... They got $15 out of me for nothing! They claim to have 20,000 payphones in the US. I can't imagine the number of people that fall on this scam each day.

Victor
Seattle, Washington
U.S.A.