I used my credit card to call home (San Jose, CA) from Frankfurt Airport during a trip last year. And the calling company charged $54.54 for an approximately one minute call. Here is what I see in my credit card statement detail:
| Transaction Date | 12/10/2007 |
| Transaction Description | INTL CL* 800-5762118 CA |
| Called From | GERMANY GE Number: 0114901113 |
| Called To | LOS GATOS CA Number: xxx-xxx-xxxx |
| Time of Call: 00:22 | Duration: 00:05 |
| Charge: | $54.54 |
| Merchant Address | INTERNATIONAL CALLING 511 E SAN YSIDRO BLVD SUITE 1770 SAN YSIDRO CA 92173 USA |
Gosh, this turned out to be an EXPENSIVE call!
The duration is listed as 00:05, i.e. 5 seconds. I remember talking for approx a minute. IMHO having no information is better than having incorrect one.
Fortunately, the customer service number was correct and I got some points clarified:
- This call is placed through satellite and that’s why they charged this rate. He could not explain why satellite is used when credit card is used to call.
- The pulse rate is 5 minutes. So the telephone company always charge in multiple of 5 minutes.
- Talk to a live operator, inquire about the rates and then place the call. In the United States, making an operator-assisted call charges you more money. So this was completely non-intuitive to me.
- Because of some stated law, the international calling rate, pulse rate and similar information cannot be placed on the phone equipment. Again, no reference to what/where the law is.
- Use a pre-paid card to make the international call. This is a lesson learned for me, hard way!
The customer service contact also refunded part of the charges, but even then it’s still a lot!
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Comment by intuitive — January 27, 2008 @ 9:34 am
Can you please give me the details of the customer service number/e-mail ID which I should be getting in touch with? I have also be robbed for a single minute call to India from Frankfurt airport. Thanks in advance.
Comment by Juhi — July 18, 2008 @ 1:06 am
Juhi,
I used the customer service # from the credit card statement detailed entry.
Comment by Arun Gupta — July 18, 2008 @ 5:35 am
Hi, This is Praneetha student at Texas A & M
Not knowing that they would charge so much I have made 2 calls. So I am robbed twice 
though both the calls dint even last for 1 minute
hey even I was robbed in the same fashion
Can you tell how much they have refunded cos I am charged 55.82$ twice
Comment by praneetha — January 20, 2010 @ 2:26 am
On 09-27-2009 I traveled to Hungary and returned on 10-18-2009 via Amsterdam. On 29-30/09 and 21/10/2009 I made phone calls from the Amsterdam Schiphol airport transit public phones using my credit card. 6 of the 8 calls were operator assisted. When asking the operator about the charges, he quoted $2 for the first minute and $1 a minute afterwards. I agreed to the charges. Returning to Australia I was shocked to see the charges on my account. I immediately contacted my bank (Westpac) that this was a fraud as I was overcharged for the service. The bank investigated the transactions and concluded that because I provided them my card details, by MasterCard rules the transactions were legal.
I phoned the above company and was told
1. all my calls were made from a hotel – but I never stayed in a hotel in my life.
2. none of my calls were operator assisted, so I could not have got the above quotes from them – but 6 of the 8 calls made were.
They said, they charged 60 AUD for the first 5 minutes then $2-3/minute. I asked them to find the voice recording of the conversation I had with the operator when he quoted me the charges. They said they don’t record any conversations.
I am exceedingly upset because being a single income family and having a baby we are on a very tight budget ,and I would not have used their service if such high charges were quoted.
The amounts in question are the following:
Date and charges:
09/27/2009
$51.03
$51.01
09/28/2009
$41.59
$88.57
$99.30
10/18/2009
$41.58
$41.61
$41.59
SUM: $456.28
The company is uncooperative and lie. They refused to refund any of my money. Perhaps the operators are on a commission and quote a low charge otherwise nobody would use their services.
Comment by Aiown — January 28, 2010 @ 7:08 pm
Hi,
Even I was robbed the same way but i never enquired charges b4 i made
a call. but even then i was charged 55.85$ per call i made 2 calls
from frankfurt … thnx for the reply
As they know our master card details Is thr any chance of more robbery
?? Just a doubt
Comment by Praneetha — January 29, 2010 @ 5:39 pm
I also got cheated in same way.
During my stay at Frankfurt I was charged $52 and $42.
More surprizingly I have charged by another $45 after two days reaching India as well.
This is totally fraud case.
Can somebody mail me their email id or contact number?
Can’t this be reported to Frankfurt airport authority?
Amit
Comment by amit tanwar — June 22, 2010 @ 10:29 pm
I got my money back because I complained to the banking ombudsman, so the bank refunded my money and took a loss. If they are a channel to a crime, they should pay for it else they need to ensure that the transaction is legal.
Comment by Aiown — June 23, 2010 @ 4:28 pm
The BBG/ Faircall/ International Satellite Communications scam must be stopped
John Mattes here at Investigativeguy.com .We are talking to consumers around the globe and asking for details of how they got scammed by BBG./ International SatelliteCommunications / faircall … so we can take action. The scam has gone on for at least 5 years at hotels and pay phones all over the world.If enough consumers stand up we can end the scam .Write giving us details of how they scammed you. Send to investigativeguy@gmail.com
See all our scam busting stories at http://www.investigativeguy.com
Thank you in advance
I-guy
Comment by investigativeguy — September 11, 2010 @ 1:20 pm
A quick update for people looking to make calls from Frankfurt airport.
I got scammed by BBG the first time I transited through. This last time, I realized a few things:
1) DO NOT BUY the calling cards from the machines around the airport. They have calling card vending machines right next to the payphones. As absurd as it is, these calling cards DO NOT work on their own payphones. The 800 access number on the card is blocked from the payphones. So its a complete waste of your money.
2) The rates for the payphones are clearly displayed on the LCD phone displays, and these are the cash rates. In theory, disputing the charges from BBG should be trivial if we can get a screen shot of the LCD displays. The display says that calls to the US are $1 or so per minute. Unfortunately I did not have a camera, so could not take a shot. Can someone who sees this please take a shot and post it?
3) And for folks who actually need to make a call… USE COINS. I got a few Euro coins at the money changer, and called home for a couple minutes to the US for just 2 Euro. Best of all, total peace of mind that there are no hidden charges.
Hope this helps someone out there.
Comment by Sheldon — November 5, 2010 @ 3:16 am
Hi John Mattes at http://www.investigativeguy.com/
The update on BBG is
We now know they control 350,000 phones worldwide. We also know that their phones block other 800 services so you can’t use them on their phones to avoid huge charges. We have just posted a story at
Investigativeguy.com on the scam.We need your help.We need your input as to what has happened to consumers worldwide.Send us your stories of what happened to you at pay phones and hotel phones.E mail us at investigativeguy@gmail.com.We plan to take action soon
Comment by john mattes — November 5, 2010 @ 9:00 am