Don't Call Home from Oasis Hotel
 

Just got a horrendous phone bill for two collect calls our son made in April to tell us (9 min first call) His charter plane was not coming home until the NEXT day and (2) Looked like they would be coming in at 7AM and not 2PM per previous day's message (4 min). He called from his room at the OASIS HOTEL in Cancun -- collect to our home. The bill? $55 for call one (Sunday day rate) and $39.83 for call two (Sunday night rate). By calling the poor billing company (who's number is on the phone bill for "questions?")for the THIEVES: INTEGRETEL SATALLITE COMMUNICATIONS in San Ysidro, California,who benefit from this racket, my bill was supposedly reduced by 30% -- of course it will take 2 billing cycles to clear the credit -- but I am warning anyone who is going to Cancun or any of the other resorts where they could be caught in this trap. It is truly a disgusting business practice. If it were a "pay phone" with clearly posted rates it would be one thing, but this was from the hotel room. I'll also be contacting Oasis Hotel, directly to voice this concern.

Tell me about it. I just got back from Cancun where I made two collect calls home from my hotel room. When I was making the second call I asked the operator what the charge would be. "$4.99 per minute," she said. Plus I expect there to be a ton of taxes on top of that. Needless to say, that second call lasted less than one minute.

When I was in Play del Carmen this past <BR>Christmas our hotel advised us not to make any long distance calls from our hotel as the charge was outrageous! They did advise us to buy a $10 calling card and use it in a pay phone which was located in the lobby, apparently this is much cheaper.

And don't use the phones that look like pay phones that advertise calling home collect. You will get the same exhorbitant bill from INTEGRETEL. I used one once in Playa del Carmen and even after I broke down and paid that bill, they started billing me for all kinds of phone calls to overseas numbers. It was a nightmare and we eventually had to change our phone number. I would say that Integretel tried to bill us for close to $500 in phone charges over several months. And the first time I ever saw their name on my phone bill was that one call home from Playa. <BR> <BR>Now we buy the prepaid cards - you can get them in different peso amounts - and use them in most pay phones. The phone display will show you how much you have left on the card as you talk. Long distance in Mexico is just more expensive than here, even for direct dial, but nowhere near the rip-off rate by calling collect.

Can you use a pre-paid card bought here in the states or do you need one bought in Cancun? What denominations do the cards come in if bought in Mexico?

People on my sons trip found the prepaid cards from home did not work most of the time, and only from certain phones. You will probably do better to buy one there. Considering the dollar is so strong, you probably don't need to worry too much about what denominations to buy one with -- unless you plan on making daily calls buy the cheapest.

I won't go into two years of details, but had the same thing happen after one collect phone call from Playa del Carmen. Over $600 of phony bills showed up over the next several months from INTEGRETEL, had to change phone numbers, add every block available on my line, write letters to US West, Congressman, Atty General, and FCC. It still hasn't stopped. Last month I had another collect call billed to me from Haiti! On my new line!! Never been there nor known anyone who has. <BR> <BR>I've also noticed several letters to the editor of the local paper about them. How they are allowed to still operate is beyond me. <BR> <BR>Buy the prepaid phone cards in Mexico and you will save yourself tons and tons of grief. <BR>

Yes, definitely buy the prepaid cards. It's much cheaper and easier to use.