More pay phones in paris

I used pay phones twice in Paris to check my messages on my home phone in the US. There was a notice in the booth to dial *803 and use your credit card to do this- which I did with no problem. It took about 2 minutes per call to complete the calls.

Now I%26#39;m home and checked my credit card. I was charged $44 for each call!!! I can%26#39;t find any info on this on google, and, of course, have protested to my credit card company- but has anyone else heard of or had this experience?

What did you do?

Thanks.

|||

It is kind of hard after the fact to do anything...it was an advertisement from a private company and you followed it. We always stop in a tabac and buy a pre-paid phone card, which is very inexpensive. Usually if you chat the guy up, he%26#39;ll tell you which is cheaper to the country your calling per minute as it seems some brands favor certain countries...

Sean

|||

%26lt;%26lt;%26lt;has anyone else heard of or had this experience?%26gt;%26gt;%26gt;

Yes

This is a classic tourist rip off, one that unsuspecting travelers complain about often. Never use a credit card in a phone booth or make long distance telephone calls without a clear understanding of the costs involved.

A phone card, available in tabacs or magazine stores, sells for under 15€ and can be used to make a good number of calls both within France and to other countries.

|||

That%26#39;s such an unfortunate thing that happened to you, but thanks for posting as a warning to others.

Like the other posters have said, we purchased a 10 euro card from a newspaper stand in Paris and we used it both in Paris and Venice for several calls home, and still had about 150 minutes of calls to North America left. I was astounded at the amount of time that one 10 euro card provided.

|||

Yikes! Thanks for the answers.

Oddly enough, I had a card from the tabac, but didn%26#39;t know it was good for overseas, and thought that the *803 was how I was supposed to do long distance.

Obviously, I feel like a rube- but it won%26#39;t happen again!

|||

Don%26#39;t feel bad, tapit. It can be confusing, and obviously the company posting the *803 sign counts on that. But hopefully now you may have prevented others from making that same mistake.

|||

Hi --

That%26#39;s the sort of thing that really irks.

When you buy your phone card from a tabac, always ask if it is international or domestic. Not all of them can be used for any call, and not all of them can be used in a different country. Just ask the questions so you know what you%26#39;re paying for.

|||

Hey! If any of you are in Paris now, get yourself a sharpie and X out the *803 cards in the phone booths with the word SCAM!

Even with all of this, I can hardly wait to go back...

|||

%26lt;%26lt;%26lt;Not all of them can be used for any call,%26gt;%26gt;%26gt;

I really do not know to what you are referring here. Since they were first introduced, I have purchased countless télécartes from both tabacs and magazine stores. While it is true that I have not dialed every country on the globe, I have neither found nor heard of any restrictions in their use.

|||

Re the international vs local issue: what I found out was that the 7,50E card I bought at a tabac was a much better deal for calling internationally than for calling locally in Paris or elsewhere in France. The service would tell me each time how much credit I had left for the call, and when I called the US, it was hours and hours, whereas for the local calls, it was much less.

That%26#39;s consistent with what Rick Steves says in his Paris guide--that some cards are geared towards international calls and others towards local calls.

Anyway, I was amazed at how inexpensively I could call and check messages back home with the phone card. Sorry you fell victim to that scam, tapit!

|||

I checked a phone booth yesterday, and %26quot;confusing%26quot; is putting it mildly - %26quot;misleading%26quot; seems a better word. The advice to call that number for international calls seems part of the official instructions on the phone (BTW, wasn%26#39;t it *808 instead of *803?).