With Skype refusing to answer emails promptly or even to update their ad-hoc customer service style, Danny Wirken ponders the paperless world of Skype.

Ah, Skype. Time was, my father would often say, that one could correct most problems if you found the right paperwork. While I don't share my father's passion for record keeping (I enjoy paying my bills online and doing my bit for the environment) I must agree that the old man had some sense. If you want to pay for something like your Skype credit online but don't receive any sort of billing or billing information from Skype as part of the process, then you are surely asking for problems and misunderstandings. But perhaps that is what Skype want?

"I paid on Tuesday. The money left my card on Tuesday. I waited on Tuesday. On Friday, I was able to make a call. No emergency calls is right!!" - anonymous forum user.

While the complaints about Skype's customer service post Ebay-takeover continue to flood in, we can only look at the specific parts of their service which are failing to deliver. So far, that list is pretty long. I sent a test email to Skype as part of my research - and I received an automatic response that surely many of you are already all too familiar with: 'If your inquiry requires a response, we will get back to you within three days.' Uh huh. It's now 13 days and counting.

Furthermore - there's just no way to reply to this auto message. There are no phone numbers listed anywhere on the Skype website. There are no other ways to contact them for assistance, yet they keep charging clients and taking money from new customers.

If we were being charitable, we might say that in Skype's defence, they're doing the best job they can under extreme circumstances - nobody expected them to grow so quickly. But this is problematic. Firstly, they have now had plenty of time, and secondly it's not just about the delays and lack of customer service. A more worrying complaint has been echoed by many Skype users - random charges appearing on their accounts.

"On February 8th, Skype debited my account for $15 twice. I did not authorise or request this! And they don't reply to my emails - how can I guarantee they don't have access to my card any more?" - First time user.

If this happens to you I suggest you immediately email them - apparently it won't do much good but at least you'll have yourself covered. Skype also cannot claim this problem is the result of hackers or anyone using an account without permission. If that was the case, surely a lot more than $15 would be taken. Unfortunately, this complaint is anything but a one-off. There are even dedicated forums to petitioning Skype to look into the random account charges problem.

Even more radically, there have been complaints from people who have never heard of Skype that their cards have been charged for Skype.net. Critics say that it is unlikely that this is anything more than credit card fraud by people who are using Skype with other people's cards.

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