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It is nonsense. I don't think there's a reason to do that except to scam users. Any UX-UI Dev / Engineer / Person with common sense knows that users would not u

It is nonsense. I don't think there's a reason to do that except to scam users. Any UX-UI Dev / Engineer / Person with common sense knows that users would not understand the process. 180 days and my credit is disabled but I can reactivate it again anytime? what the hell? What I'm not sure of is what happens if you buy credit without reactivating the inactive balance... Does it reactivate the inactive balance or not? If not... they are shameless.

dasil003 9y ago
My wild guess would be that their finance people do not like a monotonically increasing liability on the books. Since some users will never use their credits, this is their way of satisfying the bean counters.
- richdougherty 9y ago
  You're absolutely right, of course. It's still weird because it puts off customers buying Skype credits in the first place, and getting credit from your customers is pretty great.
- jjeaff 9y ago
  That was my thought. But as far as the bean counters are concerned, they would base it on an aging schedule. Unused credits stop being counted at 100% after x number of months. But there isn't really any reason to disable them in the software. Especially since they can be reenabled. Just like if you have fully depreciated an office desk, that doesn't mean you march into that person's office and take it away. Sorry, this desk must be thrown out as it is now fully depreciated! So I think it is an attempt at scraping more money out of their users.
  - njarboe 9y ago
    "Sorry, this desk must be thrown out as it is now fully depreciated!" This gave me a good laugh. With lowering interest rates and quantitative easing not pumping up the economy as expected, any bets on long before this becomes a reality?
    - majewsky 9y ago
      Planned obsolescence is already a thing.
      - chris_wot 9y ago
        Wait till they apply this to people.
    - tomerv 9y ago
      It sounds silly, but these things happen! Just ask anyone who has worked in a Fortune-500 company for at least a few years. Things in good condition get replaced because there's a budget for replacing them, with asking the employees actually using those things (and sometimes despite asking and getting a response on the lines of "please don't touch my stuff, I like it the way it is").
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
CaveTech 9y ago
Having had this happen to me (and not realize it until later), I can say that purhasing new credits keeps your old credits in pergatory. They neither remind you that "hey, you have credits, dont purchase more!" and they happily spend your new credits to hope none the wiser. I imagine this was all for doing some creative accounting to pump up their books.
rapind 9y ago
Same logic with gift cards. If I have 50 real dollars that never expire, why would the $50 card you spend it on expire? The marketing that has convinced us gift cards are appropriate while cash / cheques are not is impressive.
- spollo 9y ago
  Here in Canada gift cards do not expire (IIRC there is a law against it). Is this not the case elsewhere? I know myself and many other people prefer gift cards because it forces you to buy something for yourself instead of just adding it to the savings account. It shows slightly more thought than just hard cash as well.
  - thaumasiotes 9y ago
    They don't expire in California either, but they can in other states.

dasil003 9y ago

My wild guess would be that their finance people do not like a monotonically increasing liability on the books. Since some users will never use their credits, this is their way of satisfying the bean counters.

richdougherty 9y ago
You're absolutely right, of course. It's still weird because it puts off customers buying Skype credits in the first place, and getting credit from your customers is pretty great.
jjeaff 9y ago
That was my thought. But as far as the bean counters are concerned, they would base it on an aging schedule. Unused credits stop being counted at 100% after x number of months. But there isn't really any reason to disable them in the software. Especially since they can be reenabled. Just like if you have fully depreciated an office desk, that doesn't mean you march into that person's office and take it away. Sorry, this desk must be thrown out as it is now fully depreciated! So I think it is an attempt at scraping more money out of their users.
- njarboe 9y ago
  "Sorry, this desk must be thrown out as it is now fully depreciated!" This gave me a good laugh. With lowering interest rates and quantitative easing not pumping up the economy as expected, any bets on long before this becomes a reality?
  - majewsky 9y ago
    Planned obsolescence is already a thing.
    - chris_wot 9y ago
      Wait till they apply this to people.
  - tomerv 9y ago
    It sounds silly, but these things happen! Just ask anyone who has worked in a Fortune-500 company for at least a few years. Things in good condition get replaced because there's a budget for replacing them, with asking the employees actually using those things (and sometimes despite asking and getting a response on the lines of "please don't touch my stuff, I like it the way it is").
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

CaveTech 9y ago

Having had this happen to me (and not realize it until later), I can say that purhasing new credits keeps your old credits in pergatory. They neither remind you that "hey, you have credits, dont purchase more!" and they happily spend your new credits to hope none the wiser. I imagine this was all for doing some creative accounting to pump up their books.

rapind 9y ago

Same logic with gift cards. If I have 50 real dollars that never expire, why would the $50 card you spend it on expire? The marketing that has convinced us gift cards are appropriate while cash / cheques are not is impressive.

spollo 9y ago
Here in Canada gift cards do not expire (IIRC there is a law against it). Is this not the case elsewhere? I know myself and many other people prefer gift cards because it forces you to buy something for yourself instead of just adding it to the savings account. It shows slightly more thought than just hard cash as well.
- thaumasiotes 9y ago
  They don't expire in California either, but they can in other states.