Skype gives 10,000 users wrong number

Skype, the internet telephone service owned by online auctioneer eBay, is facing a furious backlash from customers after admitting late last week that it will have to cut off 10,000 UK numbers just before Christmas.

Customers have been receiving e-mails from Skype, the largest supplier of internet phone lines in the UK, in the past few days saying they will have to change their numbers by December 20.

The numbers affected begin with 020 7870 and have been allocated to London customers. Skype is offering users a year's free subscription by way of recompense.

The company's own chat rooms at Skype.com been inundated with complaints from furious customers. One client who used their Skype number for business purposes described having to cancel an expensive mailshot.

The user said: "I've just had to pulp a mailshot to 3,000 people, already stuffed and ready to go, with first-class stamps stuck on. That's a grand in stamps alone."

Another has had to bin freshly ordered business cards.

There are also complaints that the electronic voucher sent out to recompense clients for the inconvenience is being rejected by Skype's own systems.

One user wrote: "I'm not even trying the voucher until I am assured this will never happen again. My view has just gone from Skype being a 10-out-of-10 to being a complete zero."

A spokeswoman for Skype said this is the first time users have not been able to renew their number. She said: "It's deeply regrettable, and it's never happened before. We will do everything in our power to make sure it never happens again."

The public relations disaster could not have come at a worse time. Last month, online auctioneer eBay admitted it had overpaid hugely for Skype when it bought the company for $2.6bn (£1.26bn) in 2005. Ebay said it would have to take a $1.43bn charge against profits. Skype's registered users have mushroomed from 57m to 220m in the past two years, but revenues have not grown as quickly as expected.