usenet@bbx.UUCP (USENET manager) (01/30/89)
In article <1363@moscom.UUCP> jgp@moscom.UUCP (Jim Prescott) writes: >The problem at hotels isn't that you might get routed though some bozo LD >company but that the hotel is a reseller of telephone communications and >can thus charge whatever they want to. One of the more obnoxious setups >that I know of is charging customers 175% of the AT&T day rates for all >guest calls while placing the call with the hotel's low-cost WATS lines. >Even calls that don't cost the hotel anything (locals, credit card, reverse >charged etc.) can get a surcharge tacked on. > The problem that I have had is that even the lobby phone might be passed through one of the dippy LD companies. The only clue that you might get is that the 'thank you' message doesn't say the whole string of 'thank you for using AT&T' - just the thank you part. The only technique I've found is to wait after the tone and force a human operator to come on the line - at that point I can usually insist on getting an AT&T operator. At least the call is only billed at operator assisted rates and not the horrible surcharge some of the LD resellers will apply. BTW - if you want to see some *really* horrible phone charges I've got some old hotel bills from a trip 2 years aro in Germany. The room charge was about $100.00 a night - my 40 minute call to the U.S. cost $400.00. I fought it and won back the hotel charge - all $350.00 of it. I think that the German PTT has modified some of its rules since then - but I seldom call from a hotel - and only long enough to pass a message and have the other end call back. -- Russ Kepler - system admininstrator for bbx - Basis International SNAILMAIL: 5901 Jefferson NE, Albuquerque, NM 87109 UUCP: {backboneishsite}!unmvax!bbx!russ PHONE: 505-345-5232