Billy discovered how it can pay to read Consumerist. He was charged $20 for a pay phone call from an airport, but remembered our post last year about the NCIC credit card system’s exorbitant charges.

Since Billy anticipated the problem, he was well-prepared to talk NCIC down to a more reasonable rate. He writes:

Hello. I read an article on The Consumerist regarding pay phones using the Network Communications (NCIC) credit card system. I made a local phone call from the Oakland Airport. They were charging me $20 for a 1 minute local call. I called the customer assistance number listen in your article at this link. I asked to speak to a supervisor and they were able to lower it to $3.75; which is still ridiculous but much more reasonable than the original $20. Thanks for letting people know about this scam.

Truly heartwarming. It’s also good to know there are still people out there who have managed to avoid falling into the trap of paying for a cell phone every month, fighting the good fight.

(Photo: u2acro)

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