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Skype Billing Gone Haywire For Some Users
Cousin Scuzzy writes "This morning I awoke to 26 e-mail messages from Skype and PayPal notifying me of multiple payments for my Skype account that had been charged to my credit card and subsequently refunded. At first I suspected that this was a new wave of spam that had slipped through my defenses, but it quickly became apparent that they were legitimate messages. I then began to worry that my Skype account had been compromised. The first message from Skype thanked me for setting up their "Auto-Recharge" service which automatically purchases Skype credit when the balance falls below a certain amount. This was very suspicious, as I had never requested this service. Based on posts to Skype's forum, it now appears that there have been serious billing problems at Skype relating to Auto-Recharge for over a month. Although I believe that all unauthorized charges to my credit card have been refunded, it is worrisome that Skype, or anyone, would charge my account erroneously. Skype, for their part, has not yet e-mailed me an explanation or posted one online. This problem reinforces my aversion to automatic bill payment services that give companies the authority to draw money from my bank account at their discretion." For all the Skype users out there, have you experienced this? For what it's worth, the company's own response on the linked forum thread says that the problem is now solved.
"The first message from Skype thanked me for setting up their "Auto-Recharge" service which automatically purchases Skype credit when the balance falls below a certain amount. This was very suspicious, as I had never requested this service."
Id think the point would be moot, since once they have your card number, they can charge you any time they want anyways. Either way, whether you set up such a payment system or not, once they have your credit card, they can start charging, and I dont think legally theres any difference between taking money illigitimately WITH a payment system or without one.
Same thing happened to me; I had the automatically recharge unchecked, but the payment confirmation indicated thank you for using automatic recharge. Didn't worry too much about it, but Skype is definitely having some issues in the billing department...
Just as papal can give you a front number to hide your credit card, they should enact the ability to make that number approve payments on a time frame basis or time frame + payee basis.
-- if you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine
I know it can be convenient, but I think it's just crazy to let anyone directly charge your CC or worse yet, your bank account.
The era of buggy software which can make enormous mistakes quickly, hacked software which is out to get you, and corporate overlords who look at their customers as the enemy, makes it far to risky to grant them such access.
I won't do it.
Even if it's a CC and you can get it fixed, it's going to be a hassle.
Absolute statements are never true
The absolutely hilarious thing about paypal is that one of its co-founders fancies himself a libertarian who says of paypal: "The basic thought was if you could lessen the control of government over money and somehow shift the ability of people to control the money that was in their wallets, this would be a truly revolutionary shift." despite the fact that paypal is basically just an (expensive) escrow service with a frankly nasty reputation for incompetence, asshattery, and penny-ante fraud(Sorry, your account is locked, hope you didn't have any money in there).
That's one thing I find somewhat hypocritical of many libertarian thinkers. Its not okay when the government infringes on your privacy, but its perfectly okay when some corporation does so.
We all know what to do, but we don't know how to get re-elected once we have done it
I don't understand why this occurrence would make you want to avoid automatic payment systems... You didn't sign up for the automatic payment system in this case, and you still had a problem.
Clearly the not using the automatic payment system doesn't help you avoid this problem. In reality, there is no way to NOT give a company permission to charge your account repeatedly whenever you pay for something online... (unless you use one of those one time credit card numbers). I don't think it is practical to advise never paying for anything online, so you always run the risk of accidentally being charged the wrong amount. The only prudent action is to always monitor your accounts to make sure all the charges are legit.
Give ANYONE direct witdrawing access to any of your bank accounts, or they will one day use it as their personal piggy bank.
Even if you only deposit what you owe them in the accound, you will face overdraft fees.
Anyway, that is an ugly hack in the age of internet bill paying. All my bills are paid (a) on a credit card if it cannot be avoided OR (b) registered in my bank portal so I can send a payment at my leisure. The two options give me full control of who gets how much, and when.
And in the event of a dispute about the amount owed, I can still pay the rent because I only have one call to make to initiate a chargeback. I know people who got their main account emptied by Bell after an "error". If Bell cannot be trusted, who can?
You're not old until regret takes the place of your dreams.
The power rests in the ability of the individual to rectify this. He can stop using the corporation's services, remove personal information, etc.. You have no such ability in regards to the government.
so is it paypals fault you didn't turn off the auto renew? You need to make sure that you turn off auto renew or keep enough cash in your account to cover afew extra hundred bucks.
This was a long time ago when I was unemployed and living in my parents basement digging through the couch for change to pay for gas money to go to job interviews. I never said it was paypals fault, as well.
Also, fuck you.
Posts not to be taken literally. Almost everything is sarcasm.
paypal is basically just an (expensive) escrow service with a frankly nasty reputation for incompetence, asshattery, and penny-ante fraud(Sorry, your account is locked, hope you didn't have any money in there).
I can't say I've ever had any problems with Paypal - but then I don't trust them very much either. Fortunately, it's pretty easy with my bank to set up subsidiary accounts, and one of mine is a debit Visa card account to which I never credit more than the amount of any transaction I make. This is the one I have linked to Paypal, so there is a hard limit to how much they can attempt to withdraw.
The power rests in the ability of the individual to rectify this. He can stop using the corporation's services, remove personal information, etc.. You have no such ability in regards to the government.
That's the theory. In practice, lots of these companies act as complex monopoly-type webs and you are forced to deal with some of them no matter how much they suck (e.g. ISPs in some places). Just like dealing with the goverment, except that there's no way to get rid of them at all.
Virtually every company has some sort of unacceptable T's & C's - like including the clause that they can change the T's & C's at any time without notice. And they've already grabbed public goods (like easments) many years ago so you can't even set up in competition to them if you have the money.
Paypal doesn't quite fall into this category, although I have been completely unable to buy certain goods because I refuse to have an account.
Fascinating. Can we see the evidence you base this opinion on? If Skype is indeed being "massively" hacked, there must surely be a massive mountain of readily available evidence?
A quick google finds me plenty of angry, barely coherent forum posts by folks warning all their school friends about trojan-hacker-virusses spreading via Skype calls. I also find a not-unsurprising crowd of unfortunate users who blame Skype for genuine problems on their unpatched, unfirewalled XP-Home box.
The most serious looking warnings I find are mostly of two types. (1) warnings to businesses about the dangers of letting your employees install a secure, encrypted, peer-to-peer, file-transfer system (Skype) on work computers and thereby leak company information. (2) a whole bunch of scam sites using the same cut'n'paste text to misleadingly label the W32.Warezov email trojan as some kind of Skype-based virus.
I don't find - at first glance - a whole lot of serious articles from trusted sources claiming that Skype is a wide-open gateway to malware hell.
Nonetheless - as a Skype user and general security-concerned geek - I'd always be interested to hear genuine evidence that Skype is a security hazard to users who would not accept random file-transfers of from unknown Skype contacts.
Lets not forget that FUD is FUD even when it's not directed against Linux.
OMG!!! Ponies!!!
They might not be able to withdraw any more than is in the account, but can they not still load you up with overdraft charges if they try?
Please stand clear of the doors, por favor mantenganse alejado de las puertas
Although I believe that all unauthorized charges to my credit card have been refunded, it is worrisome that Skype, or anyone, would charge my account erroneously.
Companies make errors all the time. I suggest you spend a few moments reviewing your statements when they come in. It is pretty obvious when mistakes are made, and they seem to happen most often with cellphones.
This is one reason I like to stick to paper statements. It reminds me to look at them when the bill comes in.