But it should have been obvious

I know the story I'm about to tell would not have happened if I had a cell phone, even one I only use for traveling. But I don't. Yet.

When I came back from Texas about a month ago I called my friend to say the flight arrived. Alas, it took 3 calls and I only had quarters for two. I checked over the instructions posted on the phone, then used my credit card. Instead of $.50, the entry on the statement was $7.19! That entry gave a phone number, which I checked online before calling. I didn't get a corporate website from Google, but lots of complaints about high charges using pay phones.

So I called. First, the background noise at the other end was so bad I had a hard time hearing the customer rep and had to talk loudly so he could hear me. That and knowing their practices were shady had me on edge from the start of the call. He told me the prices on the phone didn't apply to credit cards and I should have called an operator for charges if I wanted to know ahead of time. But the sign on the phone gave no indication the charge would not be $.50. I demanded to speak to the supervisor. She said that since the placard on the phone did not say the fees were the same I should have assumed they were different. I didn't buy that line either. She offered a refund of $2.40. I took it. Moral: Pay phones and credit cards don't play well together.