Phone Card Review: Super World

I have been making a lot of international calls lately and turned to my favorite online site for phone cards, Phonecardsmile.com. I have been using this one particular card for a long time now and it is great when calling landlines but does not give a lot of minutes if calling a wireless phone. So, I did a search on the site for the card that gives the most minutes when calling a cell phone in the country that I wanted to call. Super World seemed to be the best choice.

Yesterday was the first time that I used Super World. It promised 55 minutes for $5 dollars compared to the 30 minutes I was used to getting with the other card. Though the card claims to be $5, it is really priced at $5.89. That was the first issue but I ignored it because I still thought that it was a good deal for the price. Then, the website throws in a $1 processing fee for purchases less than $20. So the total cost for the card would be $6.89. Regardless, I was still happy with my purchase.

The problems began once I actually placed the call. First, After dialing the 1-800 number, the line was silent for about 5 minutes so I disconnected and called right back. Then, the line was silent for a while before asking for the pin number. I entered my pin and then destination number, heard the '55 minutes if used in a single call' message and waited for the phone to ring. A few minutes into the call, the call was disconnected. I called right back and got disconnected a second time. The person I was speaking with and myself both found it suspicious since I had made calls to them using a different phone card company and never had any problems. The amount of time actually spent speaking with the three times that I had to call was a little less than 20 minutes. I actually did not notice the amount of time that I lost yesterday until I calculated it today. In fact, I did not give the fact that the phone kept hanging up a second thought. I just thought that we were having a bad connection that day or something of that sort.

I bought a card from the same company today because I needed to place a call to the same number. This time, the phone got disconnected twice, just like it did yesterday. There was a total of about 20 minutes of talk time, just like yesterday. This was when I rationalized that there had to be a problem with the phone card. I decided to call the phone card company because I needed for them to know that something was wrong with their card. I spoke to two customer service reps and a manager and got absolutely nothing accomplished.

I understand that customer service reps have scripts. I've worked in customer service myself so I am familiar with their job descriptions and the tools that are accessible to them. However, I am going to need them to know a little bit more than what they have written on the screen in front of them. The first rep that I spoke to kept on telling me that I did not get the 55 minutes because I did not use it in a single call. I kept on trying to explain to him that the reason why I did not use it in a single call was because the call kept cutting off. He would not listen to me and kept repeating the same thing over and over. I saw that it was getting nowhere so I asked to speak with a manager. He came back and told me that the manager was busy and to call back in 15 minutes. I called back in about 25 minutes so that the manager would have enough time to get off the other call. Honestly, I did not expect to be calling back the same place or speaking to the same manager because it is most likely that they are at a call center and companies usually have many call centers all over the world. Anyways, I called back and ask to speak to a manager. The CSR wanted to know what the issue was and I told him. He started sounding like an echo of the other guy and saying that there was nothing that they could do. I told him that this was why I asked to speak to a manager in the first place. He got his manager on the phone who was even less help than the two reps. The manager tried to convince me that the issue was with the destination that I was calling and the fact that it was a cell phone. I tried to explain to him that I had been calling that same cell phone in that same destination and had never had an issue until I started using their card. He kept on repeating himself until I told him that I had understood when he said it the first three times, I just don't agree. We went back and forth for a while because I am 100% sure that the issue is with their card. When I saw that he was going to be absolutely no help, I ended the call.

I am pretty sure that it's quite obvious how I feel about this company but I would go ahead and say it anyway. This company suck. I am not sure which is worse; their phone cards or their customer service reps. At least when I bought the cards that promised 30 minutes, I actually got 30 minutes, which is more than what I was getting with this card that promised much more than that. I seriously think that they are ripping people off because it makes no sense to me that the same issue happened twice in a row. I refuse to believe that it is a coincidence and I would love for someone to look into it.

Out of 5 stars I would give them 0. I don't think they deserve any stars. Honestly, it is not the service to try. Stick to what you know has always worked for you. You may try to save money but end up losing instead.

I would really like to know if others have had bad or good experiences with this company. I know it can't just be me who has had to deal with their crappy cards or customer service so let me know about your experiences.