Idle State

If it were just an authorisation it wouldn't appear as a transaction - but it would affect my available credit. In this case, it does show as a transaction on my card and I've paid my credit card company for the amount - so I'm out of pocket and it seems Skype are going to do nothing to give my money back.

It's not a lot of money but the fact remains that it's my money and not theirs and two months later they are not refunding it. In fact, they've not lifted a finger to try to sort out the problem. To add insult to injury they keep sending me patronising and generic replies claiming as I've indicated above - that they didn't really charge me - and then just closing the ticket.

So what am I to do?

First step, I guess is to have the transaction reversed by the credit card company. Then, at least, Skype will have to explain why they are making the charge.

But my main issue is that Skype, to cut to the chase, have such poor systems in place that they can't identify a transaction that has gone astray or that they are basically blatantly and arrogantly stealing my money. In the first case, I don't want to ever give them my credit card information again or, if it's the second case, I really don't want to ever give them my credit card information again.

Do I have a responsibility to stop Skype (and perhaps eBay) from doing this to users in organisations where I consult? I'm inclined to think the answer is yes.

So it would be really simple for the proxy servers at fairly large enterprises where I do some consulting to block access to all Skype and eBay web sites. And it also seems really simple for CONNECT requests to Skype supernodes to be denied.

If they were blocked, they could, perhaps, be re-instated, if Skype and eBay were to satisfy us that they are not so irresponsible with their user's money.

Protecting users by blocking access to web sites of questionable morals, illegal activities or not inline with corporate policies is done regularly and users who query why are told exactly why the site is blocked. In fact, it's part of my job description. So I guess there's another one to add to the list.