I needed to make 2 short calls at a payphone. The payphone kept spitting out my coins. I called the operator. She explained that the payphone wouldn’t accept the coins because it was full. She said she would be glad to put through my calls by credit card. I make two very short (2 minutes at most) local calls that would have cost 35 cents if the payphone had been accepting coins. I checked my credit card account a few days later and discovered that I’d been charged $24.95 for EACH CALL… that’s right… $49.90 for two local calls. After contacting the company directly to the company and having Better Business Bureau contact the president this is the final outcome:

Gary Joseph, President of Sharenet Communications Company stated that I received credit for one of the calls in the amount of $24.95 and no further credit will be given. I read a recent Los Angeles Times article about these ripoff payphone companies…this is how they operate… big charge up front, and credit back half if the customer takes the effort to complain (finding who to complain to take some effort).

So BEWARE of PAYPHONES! And get at least 50% of your money back if it’s ripoff Sharenet Communications phones.