The Top 5 Calling Card Purchase Mistakes

Many users buy calling cards on-line and regret it. Their card may not connect or it may disconnect earlier than expected. There's nothing worse than talking to a loved one overseas and hearing, "there is one minute remaining for this call".

Below are the mistakes that many purchasers make and how to avoid them.

1. Hidden fee analysis
2. Incentive programs
3. Testing the customer service number
4. Buying a Brand-Name
5. Start Slow

1. Examine all hidden fees: Users typically do not read the fine print. Please see Hidden Phone Card Fees for a summary of all fees associated with calling cards.

Example: one card that we know of charges a 30% administrative fee after the first 3 minutes of the call. That sounds okay if the per minute rate is really low and you just want to leave a message less than a minute long. Here's the catch, this card uses 3 minute rounding, so even if you call for 30 seconds, you will be billed for 3 minutes + the 30% admin fee.


2. Incentive Programs: a) search for coupons, b) participate in incentive programs. If you are buying your long distance cards online, always get on your search engine and search for a promo-code for the calling card company you are buying from. Even if the company does not have a "Promo code" field, you may be lucky and find a link that when clicked will automatically apply a discount to your shopping cart. Incentive programs may give you a percentage discount on your online pin numbers if you buy in bulk or if you refer friends.

Example: Phonecarddepot.com has a program whereby you can enter your friend's e-mail addresses after check-out, if these friends buy cards, your account gets credited 5% of their purchase.


3. Testing the customer service number: Before you buy a calling card, whether on-line or in-store, take out your cell phone and call the customer service number. This is the number you will be calling if you have problems with your calls, make sure that it works.

Example: When calling the customer service number of Best Rate Calling Card in Toronto, I was directed to voicemail, the voicemail stated "This Mailbox is Full". Be careful.


4. Buy Brand Name: Brand name calling cards are the ones that you will find both in-store and on-line (Private Label vs. Brand Name Calling Cards). Buying brand name reduces your risk of the calling card provider's system crashing or being 'shut down' for solvency reasons.


5. Start Slow: Do not buy in bulk before you have tried the card. Many people buy calling cards in packs of 10 or even 20. It is sometimes tough to travel to your local variety and purchase cards individually, but do it for the first purchase. Call quality may be poor, the network may be fickle or the card may have hidden fees that you were not aware of. Once you find a card that you are comfortable with, stick with it.a

Follow the tips provided and you will save a lot of money on long distance and also have the flexibility of calling cards that do not tie you into long long distance contracts. For more information on overseas cards please visit the Phone Card Depot Blog.

Tavis McKenzie
GM, Phonecarddepot.com
http://www.phonecarddepot.com/blog

Tags: hidden fees, calling card purchase mistakes

Phone Card Depot is Hacker Safe and SSL Secure

Phone Card Depot has received the "Hacker Safe" certification from ScanAlert. The ScanAlert team diagnosed the site and fixed all vulnerabilities. Phone Card Depot is now a calling card merchant with hacker safe. You can now see the Hacker Safe logo on the right-hand side of the home page. We have also decided to display our Geotrust certificate here to ensure that customers know that we are doing everything possible to ensure an up-to-date safe shopping environment.




Customer Profiling

I thought it would be interesting to note that most of our customers have been Toronto residents looking for toronto calling cards. Our most popular cards have been the Gold Calling Card in Toronto and the CiCi Calling Card in BC. In fact, 30% of our customers come from Toronto, and the next highest customer base stems from Ottawa, Ontario.

Regards,

Tavis McKenzie
GM, Phonecarddepot.com
http://www.phonecarddepot.com/blog

Calling Card Testing: Smart Call by SCI

I was looking to add a new no fee calling card to the Phone Card Depot mix. I saw a poster for Smart Call Calling Card by SCI in a Markham calling card store, so I thought I'd give the customer service number a try. "...sorry, this mailbox is full". "...the person at extension xxxx is not available, please try again later". Phone Card Depot will not be carrying Smart Call.

Calling Card Buying Tip: Before buying the card look at the poster or website, get the customer service number and call it immediately. See what happens.

Regards,

Tavis McKenzie
GM, Phonecarddepot.com
http://www.phonecarddepot.com/blog

Gold Calling Card Receives Great Reviews

Since the launch of our Calling Card Reviews section last week, we have had a number of customers share their opinions on the phone cards that we carry. Gold Calling Card has already received 3 reviews and they are all great, I have pasted the reviews below.

Gold Calling Card Reviews

famousp (17.08.2006 07:28:43)

One of the best brands that I know. Never a problem with Gold.

sthompson (14.08.2006 12:15:27)

Perfect. My favourite card to call Poland with.

sk (13.08.2006 16:26:58)

I called from Toronto to Mt. Tremblant, QC. I got to talk to my boyfriend all day :) A great card.

Tavis McKenzie
GM, Phonecarddepot.com
http://www.phonecarddepot.com/blog

Phone Card Depot Partners with Impact Conference

Phone Card Depot has recently partnered with Impact Conference, a non-profit, student-run organization dedicated to promoting entrepreneurship to tomorrow's leaders. Last year I attended impact as a workshop speaker (Tavis McKenzie speaks) and this year Phone Card Depot will also be speaking to high school students through Impact's outreach program (Shad Valley) that helps these students foster an entrepreneurial spirit. Take a look at the Impact Sponsors for more info: Impact is one of Canada's premier entrepreneurship conferences and I am happy to be a part of it once again.



Tavis McKenzie
GM, Phonecarddepot.com
http://www.phonecarddepot.com/blog

Site Map Launched

Today we launched the Phone Card Depot site map to help users better navigate the calling cards at Phone Card Depot. Now users will have quick access to all of the great functions of Phone Card Depot. I will go through the site map below: I encourage you to click the links and please let me know if there are any errors. Thanks.

Brands: This section was created so that you can see a summary of all of PCD's calling card brands in one quick glance:
- 2020 Calling Card Details
- Bita Calling Card Details
- CiCi Calling Card Details
- Gold Calling Card Details

Local Access Numbers: Before this site map, we had all calling card local access numbers available in a javascript pop-up in the search results and as text in the calling card details. Now you can find all local access numbers through the site map as well.
- 2020 local access numbers
- Bita local access numbers
- CiCi local access numbers
- Global Papa local access numbers
- Gold local access numbers
- Jia local access numbers
- The Good Card local access numbers

Reviews: Our calling card reviews section that was recently launched can now be seen quickly with our site map.
- 2020 Calling Card Review
- Bita Calling Card Review
- CiCi Calling Card Review
- Global Papa Calling Card Review
- Gold Calling Card Review
- Jia Calling Card Review
- The Good Card Calling Card Review

Calling Card News: All of the Phone Card Depot news and press releases can now be found on the site map as well, below are some of the articles featured.
- Calling Cards for Working Abroad
- Phone Card Depot Launches Blog
- Connecting college students and parents with calling cards
- Overseas Calling Cards can Boost Immune Function to Fight and Resist Diseases


Phone Card Depot Customer Service: Our customer service section including FAQ and support forms are also available quickly and easily.
- FAQ Calling Card
- Support

Search Calling Cards: This is one of my favourite features of the site map because if we ever go back to text based browsing you can still search for the calling cards through the site.


So, that's the site map... enjoy.


Tavis McKenzie
GM, Phonecarddepot.com
http://www.phonecarddepot.com/blog

Customer Search Terms

It's interesting to find out how customers find Phone Card Depot. Most find us on Google using interesting search terms: Our favourite was "1010 long distance", I'm not sure if that customer ended up buying an overseas calling card but it's fun to see that google is at least somewhat relevant. thephonecardstore was also a funny search term to see, since the user decided not to put any spaces between the words. I also really liked "cici in canada", yes we carry cici in canada.

When I used to Google "Phone Card Depot", I'd find this cool little shop in Chicago, perhaps I'll go some day. Speaking of Chicago, if you need calling cards from Toronto to Chicago, you know where to go, but... while in Chicago get some coffee at Intelligentsia, it is the finest coffee house in the city.















Until then,

Tavis McKenzie
GM, Phonecarddepot.com
http://www.phonecarddepot.com/blog

20/20 Calling Card Added

I first saw this calling card available at a rest stop on Hwy 401 in Ontario: Today we added the 20/20 Calling Card to our mix of overseas calling cards.

We initially weren't a fan of this card because of its high fees, but several customers were requesting it. If you use this calling card from Toronto to China you will pay 1 cent per minute, or if you use 20/20 calling card from Brampton to India it will be 3.9 cents a minute, but there are hidden fee's once you go above the first minute. The 20/20 Calling Card Disclaimer outlines all of these calling card fees.

Tavis McKenzie
GM, Phonecarddepot.com
http://www.phonecarddepot.com/blog

Phone Card Review Section Added

Today we have given customers the ability to post reviews on overseas long distance cards at Phone Card Depot. After a customer has purchased a card they can add a review by clicking on "order history" and clicking "review". We feel that this feature will enable customers to make better choices when selecting a pre-paid calling card to purchase. We have already received a review on Gold Calling Card. Right now, the Gold Calling Card is our top seller to Canadians and the Bita Calling Card is our top seller to Americans.

Until next time,

Tavis McKenzie
GM, Phonecarddepot.com
http://www.phonecarddepot.com/blog

Phone Card Depot Faq and Support Section Added

Phonecarddepot.com has just launched a Phonecarddepot FAQ. All customer questions and answers will be placed on this FAQ to help users find the information that they need. If you have any items for us to include on the faq, please e-mail us at customerservice@phonecarddepot.com.

We have also launched a section to help respond faster to your customer service inquiries. It can be seen here if you're interested: Phonecarddepot Support.

We hope that this will help,

Tavis McKenzie
GM, Phonecarddepot.com
http://www.phonecarddepot.com/blog

Phone Card Testing: Connexion International & VOX America

I am currently travelling in Mt. Tremblant, Quebec, sampling the raclette and the calling cards. After stopping into the local BoniChoix I bought two $5 calling cards from the local variety store. I always test each calling card prior to adding it to our inventory, so I decided to purchase a Connexion International calling card and VOX America calling card. The calling card read: “Services provided by Bell Canada”, Bell Canada is a quality company, so I gave the cards a try. The connections for both cards were average when calling from Mt. Tremblant to Toronto using their 1-800 access number. For the duration of the $5 card I experienced 3, 15 second periods where my voice was not heard by the party I was calling. When the 800 number was dialled, the prompt was as follows: “to top up your card, press *. I pressed * and was prompted to dial a 1-900 number to have the card topped up, and the fee tacked onto my home phone bill. From a consumer perspective, this is a handy way to top up, but there are better no fee calling cards on the market for calling from Mt. Tremblant, QC to Toronto, ON.

The ability for the consumer skip the retailer and top up the Connexion International or VOX America calling card direct from the manufacturer is troublesome when looking at it from a supply-chain perspective. From a consumer’s perspective, the situation is also troublesome, there is very little recourse should something go wrong with the calling card. If the card ceases to function, the consumer has just relinquished his or her ability to obtain a refund from the local store, as they have opted to have the calling card total re-filled direct from manufacturer.

Although both Connexion International and VOX America calling cards are owned by a reputable company we decided not to add the cards to inventory. Their per-minute rates were higher than most of the cards we carry and it would be difficult to resolve customer complaints if the cards were refilled directly with Bell Canada.

Until next time,

Tavis McKenzie
GM, Phonecarddepot.com
http://www.phonecarddepot.com/blog

Private Label vs. Brand Name Calling Cards

Why are the overseas calling cards that consumers see at most on-line retailers not available at any other online location or in-store. This is because many of these on-line calling card merchants have created private label calling cards. Do you ever notice that when you call your local access number for a calling card, the automated message prompts “please enter your pin”, rather than saying something like “Please enter your Bita Calling Card pin”? This is because many of these private label calling cards are run off of the same calling card platforms. Investing in the infrastructure to create your own truly non-shared private label phone card is expensive. High speed T2 connections a VOIP gateway and a calling card platform are all required. To own all of this equipment would cost approximately $30,000. In order to avoid these costs, many online calling card retailers rent this equipment. Below is a picture of how typical prepaid calling card architecture looks: Calling Card System

High speed T2 connections: These carry data to and from the VOIP gateway

VOIP Gateway: allows the incoming calls to be routed to the destination phone numbers via the internet.

Calling Card Platform: A system that manages cards you create. This is the system used to set your per minute rates and carrier routes.

Private label phone cards make their money by charging a premium on the “carrier rates” that they pay for the call. Carrier rates are like wholesale per-minute rates to a certain destination. For example, if the shared calling card infrastructure allows the private label calling card company to select a calling route from continental USA to Pakistan for 2 cents a minute, this same company may advertise this calling card at 4 cents a minute and thus, make 2 cents a minute. But wait…. there’s more: remember those hidden fee’s I talked about in my last post? Well that’s the kicker, calling card companies make a lot of money on the hidden fees. Most calling card platforms allow the private-label card maker to put any number of hidden fee’s on the card. It is for this—unregulated--reason that Phone Card Depot clearly outlines all fee’s on each card.

I haven’t talked much about brand name calling cards in this post, but we refer to these cards as calling cards created by companies that do not retail their own cards. For example, Group of Goldline manufactures many high quality calling cards, but a consumer cannot buy these cards directly from Goldline, you must buy the cards from a variety store or on-line retailer that sells their products. We think it is important for the retailer and manufacturer to remain separate. This is because a bias may develop to push private label cards over cards better suited to the user.

A big problem with most private label calling cards is that the manufacturer is completely unknown to the user and that the cards are pre-paid. Imagine if this manufacturer went bankrupt or even worse: decided to shut down this particular calling card and create a new one. You may be stuck with a pre-paid calling card that no longer works.

Regards,

Tavis McKenzie
GM, Phonecarddepot.com
http://www.phonecarddepot.com/blog

Hidden Phone Card Fees

Phonecarddepot.com does not support phone card manufacturers that do not clearly outline all fees in their card disclaimers and Phone Card Depot displays all fees associated with each card. Calling card fees are not necessarily disadvantageous because cards with these fees typically have a lower per-minute rate.

Surcharge: usually a percentage that is added onto the per-minute rate. i.e. The Good Card contains a 10% surcharge. ie. if calling from USA to Poland at 4.5 cents per minute using The Good Card the charge would effectively be 4.95 cents per minute.

Connection Fee: a flat rate deducted from your calling card's prepaid balance once you connect with the party you are calling.

Maintenance Fee: a fee charged when the calling card is not in use. i.e. a calling card maintenance fee of 25 cents per week will deduct 25 cents per week from your total pre-paid balance regardless of whether you use the card or not. At this time, none of Phone Card Depot's calling cards have maintenance fees.

Toll-free Access Fee: a fee charged added to your per-minute rate if you use the toll free number to call your destination. Most cards have a local access number, using the local access number avoids
this fee.

Service Charge: although this term is general, it usually refers to a flat fee deducted from your pre-paid balance after a certain call duration. Almost like a delayed connection fee. For example if calling from Toronto to China at 2.9 cents per minute using Jia, a "service charge of 25%

No Fee "Clean" Calling Cards

Clean cards: these cards contain no extra fees except for a toll-free access fee. This toll-free access fee can be avoided if you use a local access number to make your call. Phone Card Depot carries 2 clean cards: Bita calling card (for Americans) and CiCi calling card (For Canadians). Both Bita and Cici are great for you if your calling patterns vary between long and short call durations.

So if you call from the continental USA to Austria at 3.9 cents per minute from a local access number using Bita, you will pay just 3.9 cents per minute.

I hope that this post helps demystify some of these fees, please send comments
or questions.

Regards,

Tavis McKenzie
GM, Phonecarddepot.com
http://www.phonecarddepot.com/blog

Technorati Tag: Calling Card Fees

Phone Card Depot Starts a Blog

Phonecarddepot.com starts a blog: We have started this blog to give consumers an insight into the operations and management of Phonecarddepot.com (PCD). We want to be available to our customers both on, and off-line.

Why Phone Cards?
Phone Card Depot was launched in May, 2006 to sell phone cards on-line. We loved that traditional calling cards had become instant deliverables, instant deliverables are items with value that can be used immediately by consumers: things like e-books, software & MP3's. Telecom has changed a lot recently, programs such as Skype and Windows Messenger have provided consumers with terrific options for staying in touch with loved ones. Calling cards are great because you don't need a computer to use them, pay phones, landlines and cell phones can do the trick. Just punch in your local access number and PIN and dial.

Press Release:
Long distance calling cards provide ethnic groups with options

In my next post, I will talk about all of the hidden fee's that traditional phone cards usually carry with them.

See you next time,

Tavis McKenzie
GM, Phonecarddepot.com
http://www.phonecarddepot.com/blog