One way we assist travellers within Australia is by supplying a Phone card.
Purchase an Access Phone Card for AUD$15 and you receive an Access Phone Card to the value of AUD $10. The balance is used to pay postage, handling and to help fund this site. Cards can be recharged by phone or via the Access Phone Card website.
ACCESS PHONE CARDS
Unfortunately most Australian phonecards brands carry some level of misleading advertising. The problem is that most of the cards available have some sort of hidden charge in the background. The difficulty is that these are buried deep in the fine print of providers websites.
Here is a short list of things you can easily look out for that shows the advertised per minute rate is nothing like what is actually charged at the time of making the call.
1. Charging in 3, 5, 10 or 30 minute blocks, i.e. for cards charging in 5 minutes blocks calls lasting 10 minutes are actually charged at 15 minutes or 50% higher than the advertised per minute rate.
2. Account Keeping or Service Fees, this now appears to be the norm amongst providers cards with a large % carrying this type of money gouging scheme from the card balance, i.e. based on a $10.00 card over a 30 day period with the 20 cents per day fee, results in 60% or $6.00 being deducted from the card balance therefore it is impossible for the advertised rate to ever be achieved on that card.
3. Connection Fees and Disconnection Fees, with the connection fee its pretty easy to see what effect this has on a 10 minute call, a connection fee of 59 or 69 cents adds an average of 6-7 cents per minute to the call on top of the advertised rate. Now the latest trick is to charge a disconnection fee each time the user hangs up a call of up to $0.69 cents some higher.
4. Per Minute Surcharges, cards advertise what looks like a cheap rate, as low as 1/2 cent per minute, however after just a few minutes these cards add surcharges of anywhere between 3 & 20 cents per minute on top, making the advertised rate completely false.
5. The last trick is with rounding up, most do this on a per minute basis or they round up at the end of the call to the nearest 5 cents or more, this makes the rate far more that what was presented on the advertising available at the counter.
Q: What to do to avoid getting caught out?
A: If a phonecard looks like it offers incredibly cheap rates- check the small print!
There is one Phonecard in Australia that does not carry any off these tricks or hidden charges The Genuine Aussie Phonecard “What You See Is What You Get!” straight forward honesty & great value for money on all calls at all times to anywhere in the world.
No connection or disconnection fees
No per minute surcharges
Calls are charged in 1 minute blocks
Aussie has no account keeping fees
An example of why every month many thousands of consumers around Australia move over to buying The Aussie Phonecard!
We have been actively promoting honesty and transparency in the phonecard space for 7 years now and suggest now might be the time for retailers to take this product category more seriously for the benefit of all concerned.
To get your Access Phone Card click on the Buy Now button
