Reader James B. was pretty psyched to have nabbed an unlimited plan from Skype so his wife could call her mother in Colombia for as long as she wanted to, a deal he writes is no longer offered, but he kept due to a legacy policy. But now that unlimited plan has quite a limit — that is, his wife can’t get through to her mother anymore.

When he contacted Skype about his problems, he got an un-useful answer that they hoped he would somehow find useful.

He writes:

For the past two to three years, I’ve paid Skype for a calling plan that allows my wife to call her mother’s landline phone in Colombia. It is a great program, because there is no limit in terms of minutes. Although Skype no longer offers the unlimited plan to new customers, I am one of the legacy customers who still get the same unlimited plan so long as I renew. That is, until now.

In the last month, my wife has been unable to call her mother through Skype. Every time she attempts it, Skype says that the call is blocked. When I contacted Skype support, I got the following response: “We are sorry that you have been unable to call that specific number from Skype. Due to an increased number of fraudulent calls to that number, we have blocked it while we investigate. The number will remain blocked until further notice. We hope you found this answer helpful.”

There are NO fraudulent calls going to my wife’s 70-year old mother’s landline phone. My wife is the only person who contacts her outside Colombia, and the only person who contacts her via Skype. When I went to Skype’s own support forums, I was very surprised to find other “unlimited” calling plan customers sharing similar stories, with the same bullshit excuse on the part of Skype. It seems clear that Skype is doing this on purpose, blocking the most frequently-called phone numbers of legacy customers who remain on their unlimited plans. This is shockingly underhanded of a company of their stature, and clearly fraudulent.

Has something like this happened to you? Were you able to salvage your unlimited plan?

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.