Pay phone

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Pay phone

patrickstarr

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#61383 15-May-2010 15:16

Why the hell is Telecom charging me $50.00 just for using a pay phone?!?!?!?! They told me it's bond and my bank told me it's part of the terms and conditions but it should be visible to the booth and I only made like a 1 minute phone call and it has costed me $57.00!!!! andthe $50.00 gets refunded within 30 days, great one telecom thanks for sucking me into giving over $50.00 without knowing, I also hate the lack of knowledge, took me 20 minutes just to find out what is going on with the phone and card!!!! BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!

heavenlywild

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#330401 15-May-2010 15:26

Pay phones are now few and far between. It's hard to spot one these days!

If this is their new policy, then it's totally unfair.

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sbiddle

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#330402 15-May-2010 15:27

How did they charge you this? I'm lost.

patrickstarr

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#330404 15-May-2010 15:42

I honestly have no idea, I thought someone frauded my account, I rung my bank they told me to ring telecom, I rung telecom they thought it might be a fraud, rung the fraud company they said they cant view the information, they told me to ring my bank and hold the card, rung the bank THEY asked me then if I rung from a pay phone and said yes and they told me part of the terms of using one is $50.00 bond fee for using the booth, I rung telecom the 123 and ask them and then I finally got somewhere and they told me yes there is a bond but it's a friggen joke that they can charge that amount of money, all I can say is I better get the money back because I have bills I have to pay.

sbiddle

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#330406 15-May-2010 15:46

But what did they charge this to? To call from a phonebox most people use a Telecom calling card. I don't understand how they charged you?

Did you try and make a reverce charge call and charge this to your Telecom account or something unusual?

patrickstarr

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#330407 15-May-2010 15:51

it was to my visa debit plus card if you mean that

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#330408 15-May-2010 16:02

Ahh. That explains a lot then.

Telecom haven't actually charged you anything. You have only been charged for the cost of the call.

What they would have done is lodged a $50 pre authorisation amount against your card when you made the call. This is to ensure you have funds available on the card to axctually pay for the call. This is the exact samr thing that prepay fuel pumps, hotels do when you check in and what bars do if you set up a bar tab. They can't deduct the cost of the call at the start because they don't know how much it will cost. It's something that is extremely common in the world.

Your problem is that you have a debit card. Because of this it's "used" $50 of your money. With a normal credit card your money is never used because you don't pay the bill until the following month so it becomes totally irrevelant.

It's probably an issue you should be raising with your bank rather than Telecom, as Telecom aren't doing anything wrong at all. The bank should probably be advising you of the implications of a debit card - if you tried to check into a hotel for example or book a rental car you could easily find $500 or even $2000 deducted from your account and this would not be available to you again until the pre authorisation was removed.

It's certainly something that people using debit cards need to be aware of, and something the bank presumably hasn't told you about, or if they have it's in the fine print.

sbiddle

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#330411 15-May-2010 16:18

I'm not sure what bank you are with but Kiwibank clearly point this out on their site

http://www.kiwibank.co.nz/personal-banking/ways-to-bank/atm-and-eftpos/visa-debit-card-faqs.asp

Look under "Why is there a difference between my available balance and current balance?"

patrickstarr

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#330414 15-May-2010 16:25

I've never had that happen to me with my debit visa card I've stayed at a hotel and everything, I've had my visa card for about 2-3 years and have never come across this, but on kiwi bank it says 5 days, with telecom it's an extra 25 days! That is rediculous!

sbiddle

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#330422 15-May-2010 16:42

It's certainly the norm for any hotel to lodge a pre authorisation while you stay there, and for a rental car company to do the same thing.

If you use EFTPOS at pump or a self serve petrol station such as Pak 'N Save fuel exactly the same thing happens.

The issue is something you need to raise with your bank however, not the company that is charging the pre authorisation.

richms

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#330423 15-May-2010 16:48

Or get a proper credit card so it is the banks money that is being secured against not your own.

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#330424 15-May-2010 16:49

And at least kiwibank are just reducing the available funds, other banks will actually remove the money and then put it back when the authorization lapses.

Richard rich.ms

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#330427 15-May-2010 17:01

richms: And at least kiwibank are just reducing the available funds, other banks will actually remove the money and then put it back when the authorization lapses.

It makes no difference really - you still don't have access to that money.

richms

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#330430 15-May-2010 17:19

Yes it does - interest paid is reduced if your actual balance is reduced. Also the waiving of fees at most banks is reliant on keeping a minimum balance.

Richard rich.ms

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#330818 17-May-2010 10:05

patrickstarr: I've never had that happen to me with my debit visa card I've stayed at a hotel and everything, I've had my visa card for about 2-3 years and have never come across this, but on kiwi bank it says 5 days, with telecom it's an extra 25 days! That is rediculous!

Unfortunately Telecom does not have any control on the time it will take for a bank to reverse the pre-authorisation amount. Theoretically, they can do it right at the end of the call when the payphone gives them the cost of the call. Some banks do it immediately, some banks do it later...

If you want to speed up the refund you can call the Telecom Card Services team (lovely bunch) on 0800 808 242 with your name and the card number. They can send a fax to the bank explaining that they agree to pre-authorise and charge the customer for the real cost of the call.