Careful about international calls from room

[Kristina]

This has been posted but just a heads up about using the resort phone for international calls! I was dumb dumb dumb and called home for a quick 7 minutes and Disney tried to charge me 64 dollars !! Last year I had brought my cell phone although this year I had a new model and it couldn't find a network. Tired and needing to call I thought, I'll just be quick. Ha! Well the front desk called that evening and low and behold, 64 dollars! I felt sick and stupid because I had heard the warnings and thought, well it's like 50% over ATandT so it'l be expensive but I had no idea.

I went down and talked to the woman at front desk, told her I felt cheated by Disney and how the woman at check in said it would be expensive but not that bad really. Finally she went out back then returned and had it knocked down to 32 dollars.

I could live with that, and used a calling card the next time I needed to call home .

 

[wilma-bride]

Thanks for the advice, although I have to admit that I NEVER use hotel phones, even when staying at a hotel in the UK. DH and I always buy phone cards and use them to call home.

 

[Ruth B]

we used a phone card from our room and found this a cheap way of doing it.

 

[angel659]

We have been over charged, but never thought we could of knocked the price down. I literally called home for about 2 mins max so they knew they could call me at the hotel, for some reason I could not get through using the mobile. Well I was charged something like 20-30 odd dollars. I said thats expensive he replied you signed the agreement form informing you of the charges. I just paid and thought well I will never do that again.

 

[Amyrlin]

It looks like the average rate for a cal to the UK is at about $12 a min!

 

[jns]

been there and got caught out too

$25 to leave a message on the mobile
BTW they never got


teenage son phoning friends back home $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

 

[cazzie]

I have always buy a phone card from the hotel and then use that in our room a much cheaper way of doing it I think.

 

[paulh]

when you check in ask if freephone numbers are free from the room they are for us in dvc dont know about outher disney resorts so when using calling card you dial the freephone number to get into the card system then put in the digit code for card then the international number long winded but it works out cheaper than dialing from payphone with calling card as you get time removed from card for using a payphone usaly 3 mins of time removed from card
Paulh

 

[Miffy2003]

I phoned other Disney resorts at least 7 or 8 times from my Disney room and wasn't charged a penny

Thanks for the advice Kristina, though I am sorry it cost you so much money. It's good of you to share it so others won't make the same mistake.

I recommend the phone cards too.

 

[steve_rob]

It looks like the average rate for a cal to the UK is at about $12 a min!

Actually the rate from most hotels, while pricey, is normally about $2-$3 per min. It's the surcharge they add on for phoning an international number that racks up the price ($10 or more).

We rang home once and literally said "we've arrived safely, we're in room X, phone us back" and hung up, because DW's parents already had the phone number for the hotel and we knew they could phone us cheaper from the UK than we could phone them - all they needed was our room number to get through.

That call - all 7 seconds of it - cost us about $14 after taxes.

Now we always use a phone card. Last time we got one from SeaWorld, which probably as phone cards go was not a good value one (but it had a cute picture of a penguin on, so that's okay then!) yet despite making well over 20 minutes of calls to the UK, we'd only used up about $5 of it.

 

[Kristina]

Now we always use a phone card. Last time we got one from SeaWorld, which probably as phone cards go was not a good value one (but it had a cute picture of a penguin on, so that's okay then!) yet despite making well over 20 minutes of calls to the UK, we'd only used up about $5 of it.

Steve Rob, do you mean you called from a Sea World pay phone? I did end up buying a card which cost 20 dollars and was good for 7 minutes of call time to Sweden. I too learned to talk fast but if it's cheaper off property on a pay phone than that's a good tip! Maybe Sweden too is more expensive, but it shouldn't be, not by much anyway.

Thank you everyone for replying .

 

[Queenie]

We were lucky last year. We called home the day Hurricane Jeanne was due to hit to let everyone know we were ok and in no danger as we weren't sure what was being reported in the UK and our families tend to panic easily! I was on the phone for about 10 minutes and we weren't charged a penny. We called from a timeshare apartment but I've seen those call charges listed and they are sky high!

This year TCD gave us a free phone card, meant to be good for 5 mins to the UK from Orlando but actually lasted 7. I used a payphone in MK to call mum, great being able to call home free with no worries.

 

[steve_rob]

Steve Rob, do you mean you called from a Sea World pay phone? I did end up buying a card which cost 20 dollars and was good for 7 minutes of call time to Sweden. I too learned to talk fast but if it's cheaper off property on a pay phone than that's a good tip! Maybe Sweden too is more expensive, but it shouldn't be, not by much anyway.

Thank you everyone for replying .

No it was an actual SeaWorld branded phone card bought from one of the shops in the park. They did $10 and $20 versions (I think the $20 one had a polar bear photo on the front). All you had to do was phone the freephone number on the card from your hotel phone, type in the PIN provided and then the number you wanted to call. It cost 59 cents per call plus about 20-30 cents a minute to the UK - as I said, probably not the cheapest card out there, but still a lot better than a $14 for 7 seconds call!

I certainly wouldn't call international from a pay phone in the US - had to do that once at an airport when my flight home was delayed (long before everyone had mobiles). Cost me about $5 just to get a connection, and as the phone would only accept quarters, I had to find a LOT of change!

 

[steve_rob]

In case you're interested, I've found the website of the company who provides the SeaWorld phone card. http://www.klstechnologies.com/index2.html

There's not much info on it as it's a business site (i.e. trying to sell the cards to companies so they can sell them on, rather than a site about the cards themselves), but it does give you an idea of what the card looks like.

 

[disneyholic family]

when you check in ask if freephone numbers are free from the room they are for us in dvc dont know about outher disney resorts so when using calling card you dial the freephone number to get into the card system then put in the digit code for card then the international number long winded but it works out cheaper than dialing from payphone with calling card as you get time removed from card for using a payphone usaly 3 mins of time removed from card
Paulh

in Disney resorts, tollfree numbers (1-800 numbers) are charged at the same rate as a local call - 75 cents per call.