14 DAY TRIAL // Skype has settled a class-action lawsuit from customers who had their accounts credit expire due to inactivity, a practice they believed was illegal. Skype has denied any wrong-doing, but chose to settle out of court and pay back users who were deprived of their credit $4, with the entire sum amounting to $1.85 million. The company also agreed to stop the practice.
"The plaintiffs allege that Skype User Accounts and Skype Credit constitute “gift certificates” cannot expire or be subject to inactivity fees under various states' laws and that Defendants unlawfully applied the Skype Credit expiration policy against their Skype Credit balances," the legal notice sent out to the US Skype users who might be class members in the lawsuit read.
"The defendants deny that they did anything wrong whatsoever, and contend that plaintiffs’ claims are meritless. No court has decided which side is right, and both sides have agreed to resolve the cases and provide relief to the Settlement Class instead of litigation," the notice also mentioned.
Skype calls between users are free, but the service charges for external calls made to landlines or mobile phones through the SkypeOut service. The calls are cheaper than on regular phone services, but to use SkypeOut you have to put down $10 up front into your account. As you can expect, not all of those that paid actually used up all the credit or made too many outside calls. Skype figured that if they didn't use them, they probably didn't need them anyway so after 180 days of inactivity, the credit would expire and the money would disappear.
People weren't too happy about this, apparently leading to a class action lawsuit citing several state laws which banned expiration dates on 'gift certificates' which the plaintiffs considered Skype credit to be. The company maintains its innocence and defends the practice, but has agreed to settle the lawsuit before it went to court anyway. Users who have been affected, which aren't few, will receive $4-worth of Skype credit but only if they redeem the sum.