tom

I came across this outfit on the Matt Barrett Greece Travel site. Greece Travel Phones operates as a sideline, out of a Carpet store near Syntagma Square. Maybe that should have been my red flag. <BR> <BR>The arrangement is that you "purchase" a phone for $150, then at the end of your stay turn in the phone & they will "buy it back" for $50. It's basically a $100 per phone rental. <BR> <BR>Last August, I rented 2 phones, and I've been trying unsuccesfully for over 8 weeks now to get the $100 refund to my credit card. At least half a dozen emails have been exchanged, and nothing but stonewalling & lame excuses as to why it's not his fault or responsibility. <BR> <BR>I now am trying to work it through my US credit card company. Fortunately I kept a good "paper trail" - all the contracts, emails, and credit card slips. <BR> <BR>While I was there, I also priced brand new cell phones at a normal retail shop. At one "Radio Shack" type place off Syntagma, sleek, tiny, new Nokia phones were being sold outright for about $130. Since Greek cell phones operate on a system of prepaid "phone cards", you don't need any permanent billing address to get immediate phone activation as a tourist. <BR> <BR>On future trips, I would go this route & just buy a new phone ... I'm sure I could easily resell it for $30 or $40 at a tourist hangout. The Mazarikis "rental" phones were ancient, big, clunky Motorola phones.

Rob McPhail

Tom <BR> <BR>In just seven days or so that's the second time I've read a bad report about a company from Matt Barrett's site. <BR> <BR>I think it was Thyra who had a problem with a car hire outfit that also advertise on his pages. <BR> <BR>His site has OK information but those problems have certainly colored my thoughts about those that use his site to sell their products. <BR> <BR>Rob

Diane

Matt has some wonderful information on his site, but I learned to be careful with the suppliers he recommends. I had a problem at a jewelry store he recommended. The proprietor took my credit card and instead of charging the card, she took it across the street to a Thomas Cook-type place and used it as a cash advance. My credit card company was nice enough to delete the service charge and interest payments when I explained that I was unaware this was happening. <BR> <BR>It was Matt, however, who also directed me to Dolphin Hellas, and I think they were great.

Paulo

Have you guys contacted Matt to report your problems? Tom? Diane? Thyra, are you there? <BR> <BR>I also think that Matt's site has some wonderful information for visitors. But the better his site is, bigger is his responsability. I think that he would drop the suppliers he recommends from his page if they're proven to be traps (or am I naive?) <BR> <BR>Paulo <BR>

tom

Yes, I emailed Matt Barrett at about the same time I posted here, informing Matt of the problems I had. <BR> <BR>Maybe Matt will reconsider his endorsement of Greece Travel Phones, or intervene on my behalf (although I didn't ask him to). <BR> <BR>You'd think Mr. Mazarakis of Greece Travel Phones would realize how quickly business could wither, given the ease with which information can be shared over the Internet. <BR> <BR>Would you buy a carpet or rug from his shop, expecting it to be promptly shipped back to your home, after you've paid for it? Not me, anymore!

Diane

Paulo, yes, I did email Matt at the time I had a problem with the jeweler. Matt seems to me to be sincere in his efforts to help people in planning their trips to Greece. I have no problem with him, just the jeweler.

tom

Matt Barrett also just emailed me back regarding these rental phone snafus. He's offered to facilitate resolving my problems with Greece Travel Phones and/or Travel Phones' Greek bank, whom the Travel Phones' proprietor is blaming his troubles on. <BR> <BR>Matt seems very intent on maintaining the integrity of his web site & referrals. <BR> <BR>It's not my intention to "flame" or "trash" anyone here, just to pass on semi-objective information on my experiences, favorable as well as unfavorable. <BR> <BR>I will certainly post back regarding the final outcome.

Paulo

Tom: Matt gave me the same impression in 1997, when his site was still in its initial stages, and we had a couple of mail exchanges. That's why I think it's only fair to him, to let him know about eventual problems with his referrals. By offering to look into your specific snafu, Tom, he's actually going way over what I'd probably do in his shoes: to simply let my referral know that if things like this continued to happen, I could afford to have it referred it my site". <BR> <BR>Paulo <BR>

Thyra

Hi All, <BR>Here is an update, I did send a letter to Matt, today, and describing the difficulties we had with Swift rental cars. I should stress, however that 90% of the info we got from his website was great. The Attalos hotel for example went above and beyond the call of duty for us, and my in laws spent a day with George the famous taxi-driver and couldn't say enough nice things about him. Also I was very in the dark about which islands to visit and found his color photos and alphabetical listing invaluable. We also booked a yacht, for sailing through the Saronic gulf islands, I got the idea through his web site, at it was an experience I will treasure forever, though I never would have thought of it on my own since we are not a sailing family. One caveat though regarding sailing, we ended up going with a different charter company, because I liked their prices and customer service better. Well I was very glad that we ended up with Exas instead of the charter company recommended on Matt's site since a lot of people we met in Greece were unhappy with the quality of the boats offered by GSPC. We felt really lucky we booked with someone else. <BR>

Thyra

Update #2, <BR>Well I just got an email from Matt, he offered to go to Swift and confront them on this, which was pretty nice of him IMO. I told him that since we didn't have any money or resolution pending that I appreciated the offer, and please to let my complaint be a warning flag, if he gets another one he should consider taking them off his website. It was a pretty quick response.

tom

Matt Barrett was not really able to do too much in my case, as there is no proof that Mr Mazarakis acted with premeditated intention to defraud. <BR> <BR>Mr Mazarakis is rather lackadaisical, and since the money error is in HIS favor, he is not putting much effort into resolving the "missing refund", or cooperating with me. <BR> <BR>So, I have filed a claim with my bank. I must have had an uneasy feeling about it at the time, since I insisted the store clerk also sign the credit card refund slip. At least, no one will be able to claim that the phones were not returned, or weren't in good operating order when I returned the phones. <BR> <BR>But at least Matt Barrett took the time to answer personally.

tom

Well, my bank (Wells Fargo) made the refund adjustment to my credit. They were suprisingly efficient: within 1 week of my sending the bank the documentation, the refund appeared. <BR> <BR>Yet, over an 8 week period, Mr. Mazarakis & the greek banking system could evidently do nothing. Same planet, different worlds. <BR> <BR>Someone here once suggested, keep all receipts from foreign travel for at least 6 months. I would heartily endorse that. If I didn't have a record of the emails, inovices, and receipts, I would not have been able to get the $120 adjustment from my bank. <BR> <BR> <BR>

Thyra

Update #2: I also got a second email from Matt. Apparently, even though I was not insistant, he contacted Swift and got an explination of the mishap. Matt seemed genuinely concerned and it was very nice of him to go to bat for us and provide us with an update and an apology.

Michael

Why would you buy a phone when you could rent one here for $20.00 a week plus air-time and return it when you get home? That's the way to go. I rented from Record Phone International the phone worked great.They fed-ex to you and pay for the return. Next time give them a call 732-617-2100.

tom

<BR>Michael, <BR> <BR>I didn't know about Record Phone specifically, but a couple of other places I checked for cellphone rental had absolutely OUTRAGEOUS per minute rates, far outweighing the prominently advertised low "teaser" rates for the handset rental. <BR> <BR>for example, if I had used Cellhire, my home wireless account would have been charged $2.50 PER MINUTE (!!). <BR> <BR>Just to call my teenage son at the other end of an archaeological site, and say "whuss up?" would've cost $5.00 (for the 2 phones). <BR> <BR>By comparison, if renting or buying a handset in Greece, airtime costs are only: <BR> <BR>- approx US$0.30 per minute, for Greece-wide calls. <BR> <BR>- approx US$0.70 per minute, for calls to or from the United States. <BR> <BR>The USA dialing rate, especially, was very good; much cheaper than a run-of the-mill AT&T call (for which I had a very unpleasant high charge).

Michael

Tom, <BR>You may be right that the per minute call to the states was somewhere about $2.50 per minute, but it was about half for incoming calls and I'm almost certain it was much less for local calls.I don't remember the exact price of everything, I just know that I found it very convenient and it worked great!