Skype Is Not Quite Ready for Prime Time

In January of this year, I canceled my regular phone service went all in with Skype VOIP phone service. I signed up for a year’s subscription and got a phone number along with voicemail so I could use the service as my primary (in and out) calling service. I also invested in a really great wireless computer headset that I love (I bought two!).

From a financial perspective, this move was a no brainer. I was paying the local phone company $79 a month for local phone service plus extra for calls to Canada. My Skype phone service for a year’s subscription was only $60 for the entire year. That’s an annual savings of almost $900!

All was well until about a week ago. I called someone and even though it was crystal clear on my end, they said I sounded like I was on the moon — lots of background noise and my voice was distorted. They called me back and it didn’t change a thing. I tested different methods of calling — three different headsets, direct from computer — and nothing changed.

So I searched (and searched and searched) the help files at Skype with no luck. I followed every possible suggestion trying to find a solution. Heck, I even sent a tweet to Skype on twitter and they never bothered to respond. Note: I just (today!) realized that twitter account is a robot.

Not one to give up, I searched for a way to submit a trouble ticket. You see they have no contact phone — typical of the way of the dot commies operated in the early 2000s, but not cool in this day and age — and I found a forum post on how to submit a skype trouble ticket. (Thank you Gladiator!)

So I submitted a ticket detailing the problem:

I have been using skype for a few months now and have the phone / voicemail service. It’s been fabulous. However yesterday I started to have a problem. I can hear fine when I call someone or they call me,but they can barely hear me. There is a loud echo and lots of scratchy noise on the line. I have used different headsets so that is not the problem. I also tried unplugging / resetting my router to no avail. Help please. Thank you.

Finally, I thought I was headed in the right direction to get my phone problem solved. Well, not so fast. Once I submitted the ticket, I received an automated response that read:

April 27 7:02am This is an automatically generated email. Please do not reply. Thanks for contacting Skype. Just to let you know, we’ve received the support request you submitted on our website. We’ll get back to you with more information in the next 18 hours. Hold tight! The people at Skype

Oh joy, I thought. 18 hours! That’s a lifetime when your phone service isn’t working properly. Thank goodness for my cell phone.

Well, it was a bit longer than 18 hours, but here is the response I received to my ticket

April 28 6:02 Hello Denise, Thank you for contacting Skype Customer Service. We are sorry to hear that you are experiencign issues with Skype calls. We have recently released an upgraded version of Skype for Windows that hopefully solves some of the difficulties you are experiencing. Please upgrade to this version to begin troubleshooting your problem. If it does not resolve your issue please reply back. The latest Skype for Windows is available for download here: http://www.skype.com/download/skype/windows/ With updating Skype, your Firewall needs a new rule in the exception list. Even if the previous version of Skype is already in the exception list, delete it and create a new rule for Skype. If you have more than one Firewall each of your Firewalls will require a rule allowing Skype to connect to the internet. Sometimes Firewalls allow Skype to connect for a number of days before blocking it. For firewall setup – http://www.skype.com/help/guides/firewall.html We apologise for the inconvenience. Please let us know if this has resolved the issue. Should you need more assistance, feel free to contact us again; we will be glad to help. Best Regards, [Customer Support Person's Name] Skype Customer support

I did what they suggested and responded back to them one hour and 48 minutes later. And I got an automated response just like the one above. Ugh! So I waited. Here’s the next message:

April 29 6:35a Hello Denise, Thank you for contacting Skype Customer Service. We are sorry to hear that your issue has not been solved yet. Please, specify the number(s), destination(s) you have trouble calling. Also the way in which you dial them so that we can investigate further. We are looking forward to hearing from you, so we can assist you further. Best Regards, [Same Customer Support Person] Skype Customer support (Do they only have one customer support person? No wonder it takes so long.)

And I sent back what they requested. Then I heard from a different Skype support rep. It was like she had not read any of the previous correspondence. Her email is too long to include, but you can read the laundry list of suggestions she gave me here. If I wasn’t so annoyed, it would be laughable.

But I did follow her directions to no avail and have since sent back another message to support. We’ll see what happens next. By the way, I called my voicemail and left a message so you could hear what people hear when they try to talk to me. It’s not pretty. Listen here.

Am I expecting too much? I realize this is an inexpensive service (maybe I’m getting what I paid for??), but if Skype wants to position itself as a serious player in the VOIP phone service market, they’re going to have to do better than this.

What do you think?

Update: The problem seems to have fixed itself — or somebody did something and forgot to tell me. Skype will have to do better than this from a customer service perspective if they want to secure and keep business for the long term.

Update #2: I have had absolutely no additional problems with Skype since this situation occurred. I love my Skype service and wouldn’t trade it for the world. I highly recommend it if you are looking for a flexible phone service at a very reasonable price.