Support the tree planting project in Ethiopia by joining thru Dialfund.org: You can talk to family and friends (48 minutes for $10.00) First call is free! www.dialfund.org
Many of the growing number of users of international calling cards to call Africa or the Caribbean from the United States, could be in for a nasty shock, according to research recently published by Swedish based telecommunications company Rebtel.
Their research, conducted during August 2010, revealed some intriguing facts about their customers calling habits and a surprising revelation about the reliability, quality and honesty of using calling cards for international calling.
The figures unveiled by Rebtel revealed that 90.9 percent of respondents, who regularly made calls to the African country of Liberia using calling cards, had actually received far fewer minutes on the card than they had paid for. Unsurprisingly perhaps, less than a third of those questioned felt that international calling cards were a reliable or trustworthy way to contact friends and family in Liberia.
Of course, if these findings were simply an isolated incident for one country, then the results could be dismissed as a statistical anomaly, however further research conducted in August on callers who contacted friends and family in the Ivory Coast and Trinidad and Tobago showed startling similarities.
82.2 percent of those who called the Ivory Coast stated that they had received fewer minutes that they had paid for on a calling card and for those calling Trinidad and Tobago, the figure was around the 75.3 percent mark.
The startling conclusion being that almost three-quarters of customers who had used an international calling card, had received fewer minutes than paid for.
When this amount of money paid for calling cards minutes that are never received, is totalled up the amounts soon add up to reveal stark figures. The average reported loss to a customer who used international calling cards regularly was put at an amazing $125, though there are reports from customers who have lost a great deal more money than that, with several complaining they been cheated out of $500 worth of calls or more and some claiming that the figure was nearer $2000.
These results may well go towards explaining why Rebtel has enjoyed sustained economic growth across its international calling market over the past twelve months. The company sustained increases new customers, high-customer satisfaction rankings and perhaps most importantly of all, the feeling that the customers are not being cheated on the deal and actually receiving a quality, reliable and honest service for their hard-earned money.
Call traffic to Liberia increased 300% from Autumn 2009 to Spring 2010, calls to Trinidad and Tobago have doubled in the past twelve months while Ivory Coast calls have increased by 40% over the summer period alone.
Rebtel also received glowing recommendation from their customer base scoring highly when it came to call quality, (89 percent of Liberians felt Rebtel offered superior call quality than their competitors), call rates (62% of those calling the Ivory Coast felt Rebtel’s rates were better than the competition) and 82.5 percent of those calling Trinidad felt Rebtel’s service was far easier to use than their competitors.
This research was conducted just before Rebtel announced huge cuts in their call rates, with rates lowered by 24% to the Ivory Coast, 40% to Liberia and a staggering 72% to Trinidad and Tobago.
With operational control Mikael Rosengren stating that he hopes Rebtel’s rapid growth can continue from its American base across Europe and into Asia, it certainly looks as if Rebtel is providing a popular, easy-to-use and honest service to their customers and directly appealing to those customers who may have paid over the odds for an unreliable calling card service in the past.
Go to www.dialfund.org and join Rebtel: Your membership contributes to the tree planting campaign in Ethiopia (Friends of Ethiopia)
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