Airport Payphone Charges $20 For 1-Minute Local Call
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 $20. Thanks for letting people know about this scam.
Truly heartwarming. It's also good to know there are still people out there who have managed to avoid falling into the trap of paying for a cell phone every month, fighting the good fight.
(Photo: u2acro)
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Comments:
@SWBLOOPERS: He was at an airport. It's not like there is competition in the payphone market today, or like he could walk off the airport property and go find another payphone.
If you have to use a credit card to make calls, look for an AT&T calling card machine at the airport.
It will take your credit card and the rates are not insane.
(However, the ripoff pay phones may block you from calling 800 numbers)
(However that is a sign you shouldn't use that phone)
Having once lost my cellphone and needing to get in touch with friends I can tell you that finding a pay phone is HARD. Thankfully a local business was kind enough to let me use their phone (it was a local call).
Anyways, sometimes you really need a phone and it does not , should not cost 20$ unless you're using a payphone on MARS.
Thanks for helping me fill a slot on my consumerist bingo card dude.
I was charged 26 bucks for a 6 minute local call on my credit card. And this was just a regular pay phone at the grocery store. (I have having trouble with my cell.)
@SWBLOOPERS: Did you stop to think there might have been an emergency that prompted the OP's need to make the call?
100 years from now no one will have any clue what "dropped a dime" was a slang term for or what it derived from.
@attackgypsy:
So if you would have used change would it have just been $.50? I guess I didn't realize that even regular payphones would nail you like that for using your CC.
@thesadtomato: Kinda like "dialing a number". I can't remember when I last used a phone with a dial.
@thesadtomato: And my father always imitated old movies where a character would pick up a ringing phone and say, "Shoot, It's your nickel!".
@thesadtomato: I must be 100- I had to explain to my son what 'rolling the window down' in my car meant....
I have a car with power locks. Everyone assumes that means it has keyless entry. Nope, just a button on the front doors that lets you lock or unlock all the doors. This confuses more people than it should.
@Bogart's Falcon: Just Forget the Other Name: Why do we always ask "Did you stop to think...", when if the person had, then he probably wouldn't have posted whatever silly BS that he posted in the first place? :P
"Drop a dime" will catch back up - as in $10 per minute, minimum...
I had avoided buying a cell phone for years. I even worked for a company that manufactured cell phones and tested software for cell phones and I still didn't own a cell phone.
After flying over Thanksgiving and Christmas and having flights cancelled on both holidays until the next day I found myself in each case hostage at the airport paying $29 to tell my family to go home and come back tomorrow to pick me up. I even had a calling card but couldn't use it because I was blocked from calling the number on the card.
It was at that point I finally bought a cell phone. If I were ever to run into that situation again I would rather ask a stranger if he would like to make $20 to let me use his cell phone for 5 minutes than to pay those bandits.
@MaytagRepairman: Out of curiosity, why have you avoided having a cell phone? If it's cost, pre-paid phones are a very cheap way of making sure you have something with you for emergencies.
@thesadtomato: yep most cars it's included in the cost my Step father forced the dealer to find him a car with roll down windows to save i think 500 dollars on the "electric" package.
Most things at the airport are ripoffs anyway, as most things in captive marketplaces are.
@thesadtomato: I prefer non-electric windows- I keep my cars forever and inevitably that's something that breaks-- the old fashioned ones work every time.
I always wonder why someone doesn't manufacture a new car using 20 year old (1990) technology-- completely basic in every way-- I'd buy one.
@pecan 3.14159265:
I dont have a cell phone and don't want one. I like to be left alone when I'm not at home. I don't understand the fixation people have of being able to get EVERY message from everyone all the time. And I'm a dad.
@tekkierich: Yeah, i work at a store that sells batteries and other electonics, i had a teen come in in a panic because her key fob had died and she couldn't get into her car. We did not have the correct battery, so i walked her to her car and put the key in the door, and unlocked it for her.
My car has power locks and no fob as well. If you hold they key in the unlock position for a second, it unlocks all the doors.
@humphrmi:
So because there's no competition consumers get to decide how much they want to pay for a service?
Does this tactic generally work with Comcast?
So what is with the cell-phone hate? It certainly CAN be a trap, but with some planning it can be a fantastic deal.
I share my 70(50base+2extras) dollar a month cellphone plan with 4 people, thus paying about $17.50 a month. This also results in the elimination of 2 landlines which effectively defrays the costs some.
I took a while to adopt cell phone usage and originally got one for emergencies. How I have adapted and find them incredibly convenient and reasonably cost-effective.
What is NOT cost effective is paying 10 bucks a month for navigation service (a 60 buck refurbished GPS does so a lot better). 30 bucks a month for a data plan which is about the speed of dial-up is a rip off too, unless you don't have a home internet and live off your phone (some do).
I can beat this. Was just in Vietnam. Turned my Blackberry on a few times, responded to some emails. Last day I get a text message: "When roaming, $2 a minute in Vietnam. $30/Megabyte of data. Your roaming charges are $3093.90. Please call 514-XXX-XXXX to confirm."
@JGKojak: Get a Japanese phone. Those have the capability to bar all incoming calls. The cheapest ones (Sharp SH903i, Sony Ericsson SO903i, NEC N902iS) are physically incapable of receiving any incoming communications without a Japanese SIM card (that is, you can call and text out but you don't get any incoming calls or texts with an American SIM card). You can call out if need be but people can't bother you otherwise.
@JGKojak: I'm the opposite. To me, the physical walls that divide home and everywhere else are only physical. I like that people can reach me wherever I am. I can ignore their messages or calls, or I can accept them. But I like the ease that whether I'm home or somewhere else, I can be reached.
Then again, I don't have a landline.
@drgmobile: Handy words to know in Vietnam- "Viettel" and "Vinaphone" if your Blackberry is GSM, "SFone" and "Vietnamobile" if it's CDMA. Get it activated locally and save the money.
$2/minute and $30/MB sounds like AT&T so I'd wager a guess and say you're on GSM. Get a Viettel SIM on arival, less trouble that way.
@joe1512: I do have home internet, and I still pay $30 for data. Yes, it's mandatory, but even if I didn't have to, I would anyway because I can't pick up a wifi signal in my building (everything is secured) and having a data plan has been absolutely essential to us. We were visiting some friends a few weeks ago, and the town name they gave us wasn't popping up on the GPS. We weren't familiar with the area, and as such, would not have been able to get the correct directions with a GPS. Thanks to my iPhone and its data plan, I Googled the place we were going to, and was able to get accurate directions.
@jamar0303: I always get a local SIM card, as you won't get stuck with huge roaming charges.
One of my co-workers went to Japan on a trip and used his phone over there. Then he realized how much it was, but for some reason the phone company never charged him. He didn't complain, either.
And this is why I always carry $2 in quarters wherever I go.
@twophrasebark: I know this seems like a crazy idea to most people, and that we live in a culture where everyone is terrified of having even a momentary connection with a stranger (Stranger danger!!!), but...
Try walking up to a friendly-looking stranger, explaining your situation, and asking to use their cell phone. Most people are nice, and genuinely like to help others out (at least, when it's not costing them anything). You'll actually make them feel good that they could help.
Don't mean to sound like a Consumerist blaming commenter... but dude, you were in Vietnam.
Wouldn't it have been cheaper to go buy a back of M&Ms and get 50 cents in change? And less hassle than calling back, getting a supervisor on the line and then haggling a price you HOPE will be reflected in the actual charge and for which you'll probably have no documentary evidence if it isn't.
@QADude: Well, Japan's different. You need a Japanese government-issued ID just to sign up for a prepaid SIM (ostensibly to prevent criminals getting throwaway prepaid phones and not being traceable). So the providers get to gouge you on rentals. Unless you head to a touristy electronics store where the salespeople may be willing to bend the rules to make a sale.
I was just thinking about that -- the rarity of pay phones -- the other night when I realized I'd left my cell phone in my office. It occurred to me I'd have no idea where to find a pay phone should I need one on the drive home!
My sister had a similar freak out two weeks ago. My parents replaced the battery, but my Dad was amazed that she didn't remember she could use her KEY lol. I never had the key fob to that one when it was mine (I only had the regular key). It was rather said. It's like when I tell 9 year olds that when I was there age I did NOT have a cell phone. In fact NO ONE I knew had one. I didn't get one until I was 17!
I think the airport administrations should be held accountable for some of the blame. They take the quick buck to allow these kinds of vendors exclusive use to provide phones/internet terminals -- that charge unconscionable rates. Sure it's a "free market", but the airport essentially sacrificed unaware passengers' $$ to get a small cut of their own, in an environment where you don't have a choice or options to find out the alternatives.
@JennQPublic: You must be from the south. Here in un-friendly MA, we try to avoid all contact with strangers. You never look anyone in the eye or smile or wave. People are all scared of each other and not very polite.
I totally agree with you though :) That's what I would do, I enjoy being friendly here as it throws people off guard.
Honestly...who doesn't have a cell phone?
Aren't the fees posted on the phone? I thought this was required by law? If so and they are excessive, DON'T Use the phone. If the fees AREN'T posted on a given pay phone, DON'T use the phone!