I think Balthisar was referring to the fact that most wireless phone plans in the U.S. don’t distinguish between local & long-distance calls any more; all are effectively charged at the same rate so long as you’re calling in the U.S. This is not true, however, for calls outside the U.S. (even to Canada) or from land-lines.
This is a real problem when trying to deal with US retail companies who only advertise a toll-free number.
Ok, this is what I have done:
I have simply replied to their e-mail, explaining to them that I am in France and all of the charges look correct . . . and then I explained why they are idiots.
The company is Citibank, and this is not the first time they have reacted to anything out of the ordinary. At least this time they didn’t immediately freeze my account like they’ve done in the past . . . or have me play 20 questions with them and someone I was buying something from.
And yes, I’ll be canceling this card when I get home.
Most landline accounts in the US also have at least an optional package that includes domestic long-distance calls. (Mine is Verizon; also available in my area from Cox and AT&T. Not sure who else.) I do not know if this is true in all geographic areas or outside the U.S.
I’ve been unable to call 800 numbers in the past, but I’ve recently heard they’ll let you through now if you tell the operator you’ll pay for the call as if it were regular long distance. Haven’t tried that yet.
But it’s not just dialing from outside the US that is a problem. When I lived in Hawaii, some 800 numbers would not work from there either. I was told that companies had to pay a premium to the phone company to allow the number to be accessed off the mainland, so if they didn’t think there’s be that many calls from a place like the Aloha State, then they wouldn’t opt for that.
For the OP: Go to the Citibank website, and you should be able to find a regular phone number that can be dialed from France.
I have cards issued by Bank of Ireland and by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. I have frequently travelled abroad and used the cards; I have never given them advance notice; I have never had a problem. I did once get a phone call from Bank of Ireland to say “are you using your card in Singapore?”. I said “yes”, and that was that.
I couldn’t tell you exactly what the foreign exchange terms and charges are, but they seem to me reasonable.
In addition to your credit card company being run by idiots, your hotel is also probably run by idiots. Any hotel catering to international customers ought to be able to tell them how to place an international call.
I also have BoA and had similar problems. I called them a while back and told them that I frequently travel overseas for business and gave them a list of countries that I usually visit. Since then I haven’t had that problem.
I once had a citi visa card blocked in Singapore. I called them and they said It was being spent outside of my normal areas. That was my third trip to Singapore… In 4 months.
Have you thought about not traveling overseas at all. Didn’t you get robbed in Madrid a few years back?
Hope you have a great trip.
While it might be inconvenient, this is why I call my credit card company *before *leaving on trips to “exotic” locales, just to inform them that I’ll be there and to put a note on my account to that effect. They usually ask me how long I’ll be out of the country and which countries I’ll be visiting, and then there’s never any problem.
I hope you’re still following this thread. Check the back of your credit card to see if the word “collect” appears next to the non-1800 number. If so, you’re golden. When Citibank answers than number, it automatically accepts collect calls. Next time try dialling 0-800-99-0011 from a French pay phone then follow the voice prompts. You’ll choose the “collect” option, probably by pressing the 0 button. Dial the non-800 number back of the card. Do not dial a “1” before the area code. You’ll hear the AT&T computer talk to Citibank’s recording that accepts the call. Sometimes they don’t sync properly and you’ll have to dial in again, but you won’t have to pay.
Some countries do require a small fee to dial the USADirect number. The USADirect web page is very good about warning you about those charges. It can also create a pocket guide that contains access numbers for the countries you’ll be traveling through.
With Citibank and Bank of America, being forewarned is not being forearmed. Prior to a trip, I’d let Citibank know of my travel plans to Japan. I got 10 days into the trip when they threw the security alert on my account. After an expensive call to their number (prior to my knowledge of USADirect) they unlocked the account, only to lock it less than a day later.
It’s vital to know about USADirect in these cases.
They do. At least, for some of us.
I live in the UK and I’ve dialled American toll-free numbers (1-800 xxx xxxx) before. As others have said, you dial it as 00 1 800 xxx xxxx.
What happens, in my experience, is that you get a recorded announcement saying something like “The toll-free number you have called is not toll free when called from overseas. It will be charged at standard international rates. If you do not wish to continue with the call, please hang up now and you will not be charged”.
The announcement seems to be pretty standard, so I think it originates with the UK network, before the call is even forwarded across the Atlantic. Do other countries get the same thing?
Sounds almost word for word like what I remember about calling US toll free numbers from Mexico.
Telecom NZ does this, but you must dial an access number first. I guess that is a way of alerting you that the call won’t be free!
Media release about the service.
In some cases, my bank does this even within Canada. It happened once when I used my Visa card in Halifax (they told me that it was because I had first used it in a pay phone, and crooks often test stolen cards in pay phones because you don’t have to sign anything). But another time, my bank card was blocked, and when I phoned, it turned out to have indeed been cloned (someone tried to use it in Newmarket, Ontario). So I’m pretty grateful for that. I keep them apprised of any long-distance travel.
Ah, the same folks who once rejected a transfer due to “issuer unknown”, where the issuer was Citibank Spain. Lovely fellows! And it’s not like I, as a graduate student, needed those funds which were supposed to cover my livelihood for a quarter, of course. I think that’s the reason it still stings, I’m not fond of the diet I had to follow while the mess cleared.
I had similar issues trying to contact the company which managed retirement plans for my last US employer. More than half their publicity was on their services for foreign investors, yet you only could contact them by calling an 800 number 9-5 Mountain Time. One of my coworkers was able to obtain an email address I could use - I understand she blessed the souls of several of the people she spoke with during the information-extraction process (native Floridian, long-time Louisiana resident).
I get the same thing from France (using a cell phone). I picked some random 800 number and hung up after the message, so I don’t know if the call would have gone(*) through for sure, but it seems so.
The message being in English, I assume it doesn’t originate from the French network.
(*) “Would have gone through” or “would have went through”?
The random number is in fact microsoft’s Bing’s number. Maybe it depends on the exact 800 number you’re calling? For instance if the company has to suscribe to some kind of “international plan”?
I hope I never start thinking like that. Shit always happens, and the Madrid theft was the only trip that I had to cancel and come home. That will not happen again, but other things will happen. I learn from each experience and take whatever precautions I need to take. But I will not stop traveling, neither domestically nor overseas.
And yes, except for this problem (which was corrected very soon) I had a wonderful trip . . . even the day I got totally lost. But that’s for another thread.