Phone at Nat Park when no cell service

Popsie wrote:
You might want to contact the National Park Service about this scam. It could be a local initiative that they know nothing about.

The Park Service gets nothing out of it, nor are they probably even aware what company a phone's connected to.

And anyway, this isn't a "scam"- it's perfectly legal to charge whatever the market will bear. And it's been going on for YEARS- probably ever since busting up Ma Bell/deregulation opened up the market to all comers. First place I encountered it was in a motel a very long time ago. I made a collect call to my husband only to find a twenty dollar charge on my phone bill. That's when I started using phone cards.

Here's a tip:

Even if one has no phone card there's no obligation to use the long distance company that first comes on the phone line. There are tons of others out there, and all one need do is dial them up, check the rates, and call through their system.

Francesca Knowles wrote:
Dunno why more folks don't have a prepaid phone card in the wallet.
Twenty-five bucks at Walmart gives you 500 minutes of inside-the-U.S. talk. They never expire and can be recharged.

As a no-cell traveler, I can attest that the cards work on any landline, anywhere. There is an upcharge if calling from a pay phone, but nothing that comes up to the charges imposed by using whatever operator comes on the line when you pick up a phone!

One reason is most folks never use a payphone. I can't even tell you the last time I used a payphone. So it may never expire, but I'm sure the card would decompose before I ever had the need to use it.

Popsie wrote:
You might want to contact the National Park Service about this scam. It could be a local initiative that they know nothing about.

likely as not the phone from which the call was made is owned, or leased by FairCall or FairCall has an agreement with the owner of the phone to be the default long distance provider. seems to me I recall a way of bypassing these companies and reaching AT&T for long distance calls but it's been so long since I've used a payphone I've forgotten the process.

You might want to contact the National Park Service about this scam. It could be a local initiative that they know nothing about.

daveor wrote:
I just did a search using 1 800 faircall and it looks like they are a scam company,, if you used your credit card,, make sure it wasn't cloned,, found one post that said theirs was and it cost them $3000 before they got it stopped.

and see if your credit card company can help. file a disputed charge and see where it takes you. won't cost you anything to try.

path1 wrote:
Camping in Natl park. 31 miles to nearest cell coverage. Called daughter for birthday from campground pay phone on some service called 1 800 fair call. Billed to credit card, got home and fee was $42.00 and only left message saying happy birthday. WOW good thing she didn't answer!
I can't even find anything in a computer search about "fair call" Nothing on or near phone explaining the high fees. Called park after getting home and finding out the fees. Wanted to find out if anybody else has called about the fees. Parks answer was "Oh ya, they are expensive". I think it is a scam. Anybody else go thru this? OR maybe this post should be considered a warning! This is the first time I've been ripped on a phone since calling home from Japan many years ago.

is THIS the company? also THIS. lots of other stuff in this google search.

This has been going on for many many years. They can charge what they want for their phones and you decide to use or not.

Pogoil.

I just did a search using 1 800 faircall and it looks like they are a scam company,, if you used your credit card,, make sure it wasn't cloned,, found one post that said theirs was and it cost them $3000 before they got it stopped.

Dunno why more folks don't have a prepaid phone card in the wallet.
Twenty-five bucks at Walmart gives you 500 minutes of inside-the-U.S. talk. They never expire and can be recharged.

As a no-cell traveler, I can attest that the cards work on any landline, anywhere. There is an upcharge if calling from a pay phone, but nothing that comes up to the charges imposed by using whatever operator comes on the line when you pick up a phone!

Ouch!