What is Hermes Phone?
Hermes Phone is the telecom service with world's lowest rates for calls to Central and Eastern Europe.
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How do I sign up for the service?
Follow the link “Open New Account” on this website. Choose your method of payment and follow the instructions. If you choose to open your account on-line with a credit card, you’ll receive your PIN number by mail within minutes. Thus you can start calling right away.
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How does my account work?
You can open your own rechargeable, prepaid calling account that makes international phone-to-phone calls possible at very low rates.
When you open your account you submit your personal and payment information. If payment is successful, you’ll receive your PIN and dialing instructions in you email box.
From here on, all you need is your PIN. You can use it to log into your account on this web site and check your call history, check your payment history, your calling statistics, recharge your account.
Owning your own Hermes Phone calling account entitles you to receive monthly statements directly into your mailbox.
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What is a PIN?
Each Hermes account has a Personal Identification Number (PIN) that allows you to make phone calls from any phone in the US. Each PIN code is unique and is used to confirm that the person who is placing a call is you. Valid PINs used for Hermes services consist of two parts, separated by the pound sign (#).
Your PIN can be used for making calls (enter it with the telephone’s touch-tone keypad), for logging into your account and for identifying yourself when you call customer support. top

How can I get assistance if I have a problem?

• Email hcs@hermesphone.com

• Dial free 1-866-6626-360, your PIN and 101*.
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  How to recharge my account?
  Hermes Phone offers you two fast and easy ways to recharge your account:
• On-line
  Log into the client area of our website with your Hermes Phone PIN. You will see summary of your account information – Balance of your account and Calls made during the current month. Under the section Remaining Balance click on the Recharge link. Fill in your credit card information and the amount you want to recharge and then wait for a confirmation screen saying that the payment was successful.
• By Phone
  Call our toll free customer support line 1-866-6627-244 or 1-888-6700-768 from Canada. Our representative will ask for your PIN code and your credit card information.
  
  Choose the way which is more convenient for you and you will be able to use your account immediately after the recharge is made.
  
  If you have forgotten your Hermes Phone PIN click here.
  If you see expired after your name when you log in the client area, please call our customer support line 1-866-6627-244 to reactivate your account.
  
  If you are not a Hermes Phone client yet click here to open a new account.
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  Whom can I call through Hermes Phone?
  With Hermes Phone you can call anyone, anywhere in the world. However, our premium rates are for phone calls made to Central and Eastern Europe.
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  How do I make a phone call using Hermes Phone?
  Here are the dialing instructions for a PHONE-TO-PHONE call:
• dial the toll-free access number 1-866-6626-360 from USA or 1-888-6700-764 from Canada or the local access number  1-646-5132-857
• At the prompt enter the PIN you received when you opened your account;
• After confirmation from the system dial the number you wish to call followed by the star button (*).
  Please, use the following dialing format:
  For US, Canada & the Caribbean: 1 + area code + phone number;
  For international: 011 + international code + area code + phone number;
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  How am I billed when I use the phone-to-phone service through fixed (office/home) or mobile phones?
  If you are using an office/home fixed telephone to access the Hermes Phone network, dial our Toll Free access number 1-866-6626-360 or our Local Access number 1-646-5132-857. You only pay for the minutes you talk. The minimum we're going to charge you is for 30 seconds. And for call duration above that you are billed at short increments of 6 seconds.
  
  Use our Local Access Number 1-646-5132-857 and get the lowest rates – 2c/min LESS than the Toll Free line rates:
• If you have unlimited long distance or free minutes (depending on your plan) on your cellular phone (Most mobile operators in US include such long distance or free minutes options as part of their cellular phone service. Please contact their Customer Service for clarifying the terms of the plan you have received from them)
• If you live in the NY area (The calls you place are LOCAL for the NY area)
• If you have free interstate minutes plan at your fixed phone (The calls you place are considered as LOCAL for the NY area)
  
  If you are using our toll-free access line from Alaska, Hawaii or Canada, there is an additional fee of $0.10 per minute added to the initial rate. This fee is imposed by the toll-free phone providers for all calls made outside the continental US area. For calls from Alaska, Hawaii and Canada placed through the local access number, the regular (with no additional charge) local access rates apply! If you have unlimited long distance or free minutes (depending on your plan) on your mobile or home phone you can avoid this $0.10 extra charge by using the local access line in NY - 1-646-5132-857 which will even make your calls through Hermes Phone $0.02 cheaper.
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  Are there any fees?
  There are no monthly, installation or activation fees. There are no connection fees when you use fixed (office/home) or mobile phones. There is a per-call connection fee when you use payphones. It is imposed by the companies owning the payphone machines, Every time you make a call from a payphone $1.29 will be deducted from your Hermes Phone calling account.
  
  Calls from Alaska, Hawaii and Canada through our toll-free access line are additionally charged 10c/min – a charge implemented from the toll-free phone providers for all calls made outside the continental USA area! There is no such charge from the local access line, where the regular rates apply!
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  Do calling rates differ depending on the time of day?
  Hermes Phone offers the lowest phone rates to Central and Eastern European destinations, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You pay for the minutes you talk, regardless of whether it's "peak" time or "non-peak" time.
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  How do I monitor the balance of my calling account?
  In order to be able to make phone calls through Hermes Phone, you need to make sure that your account balance does NOT drop to a critical level. There are a number of ways in which you can monitor the balance of your Hermes Phone calling account according to your own preferences:
• Internet: When you log in with your PIN at our website, you can check the remaining balance of your account at the Account Summary area.
• Email: The system of Hermes Phone will automatically send you an email when your account balance reaches the amount of $1.
• Over the phone: Once you dial the destination you wish to reach, the system will announce your remaining balance in minutes to the destination you have dialed.
• Subscription by phone: You can subscribe to account balance notifications by phone. You need to determine the balance level of your calling account, at which you would like to be notified over the phone. Our Customer Support Team will monitor your account on a regular basis and when your account balance reaches the critical level for recharge determined by you, one of our representatives will be responsible for calling you in order to notify you and assist you in recharging.
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  How long are you going to keep the call history for?
  We are going to keep the call history for at least 6 months.
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  How can I check what my account balance is?
  When you log into your Hermes Phone account, the first 2 things your are going to see on the welcoming screen are:
• your remaining balance;
• your calls for the current month;
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  How do I change my personal and/or billing information?
  To access your personal information, simply log into your account and go to “My Profile”. In this section you can view your personal information. If you believe that some part of your personal information is not correct, please send us an e-mail with your correct information.
  Regarding Billing information: we don’t keep your billing information like credit card number for security purposes. You enter it every time you make a payment on-line.
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  What payment methods do you accept?
  We Accept Most Methods of Payments
• on-line with a credit card;
• on the phone with a credit card;
• cash;
• certified checks;
• money order;
• bank transfer;
  If you are using a credit card online, you can pay any amount between $5 and $50.
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  What is Secure Login?
  When you browse a web site, the server sends information to your computer over the Internet. This information is visualized on your screen by your browser. Information that travels between you and our server can be encrypted, so no one can "eavesdrop" on it along the way. This is called secure protocol. The web site of Hermes Phone uses secure protocol in two places: in the payment forms (obligatory) and for login (optional). Thus sensitive information is protected with industry standard 128-bit encryption. You can check if you are under secure protocol if the padlock next to the login field to the right is LOCKED.
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  Could I be asked to fax my credit information?
  Yes. Sometimes we need to see is a photocopy of your credit card along with a credit card statement showing your billing address and credit card number. We can accept a driver's license, passport and bank/credit card statements. Please black out any information that is private.
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  Why do I have to fax you my credit card information when I already entered it online?
  We occasionally request this information to protect our customers from possible international credit card fraud. We use this information to verify your account. Once your account is verified, you will not have to provide this information again.
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  What is Card Security Code?
  The card security code (CSC) is usually a 3 - or 4 - digit number, which is not part of the credit card number. The CSC is typically printed on the back of a credit card (usually in the signature field). On some cards, all or part of the card number appears before the CSC.
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  Why was my credit card declined?
  There are several reasons why your credit card might be declined by our system. The most common reasons are:
  1. Wrong expiration date - check to make sure you have the correct expiration date
  2. Incorrect credit card number - make sure that you are entering the correct 16-digit credit card number
  3. Incorrect billing address is incorrect - make sure the billing address you enter matches the address that appears on your monthly credit card statements.
  4. Incorrect ZIP number - make sure the ZIP number of your billing address matches the address that appears on your monthly credit card statements.
  5. Insufficient Funds - make sure the amount you are trying to purchase does not exceed your credit card limit
  6. Credit card reported missing or stolen;
  If you are unsure why your credit card was declined by our system, please contact Hermes Phone customer support for more information. While in most of the cases we’d able to help you with more information regarding the problem, we might not be able to actually solve it, if it is with your issuing bank.
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  What is Hermes Phone's policy on privacy issues?
  Hermes Phone is a licensee of the TRUSTe Privacy Program. You can view our complete Privacy Statement on this website.
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  I just signed up for Hermes Phone services. Why haven't I received my PIN code yet?
  Although rare, there are cases when your credit card issuer might require us to contact them first so they can authorize the charge to your credit card. This procedure protects you from fraudulent charges on your account, and it may take up to 48 hours after you have registered with Hermes Phone. Once we receive approval from your bank or financial institution, you will receive an email verifying your PIN code for activating your membership.
  In the majority of the cases you'll get a message on the very website, immediately after payment, so you'll know right away if there are any problems.
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  What if I have lost my PIN?
  If you lost your PIN the best thing you can do is contact customer support by e-mail first. Please provide your phone number so we can call you back. Once in contact with you, Hermes Phone customer support will ask you a number of quesitons to verify you are you. Please be patient.
  Although we’d like to make your life easy, we cannot compromise our customers’ security and privacy and sometimes customer support will not disclose your PIN on the phone for security purposes. In such cases they’ll offer a way to solve the issue.
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  Why is it important for me to log out of my account when I am not using it?
  The "Log out" button has been added to your Hermes Phone account to protect it by making it very difficult for another individual to make a call from a different computer using your account credentials and/or viewing your personal information.
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  I recharged my account with 10 USD and my credit card statement says that you charged an additional 1 USD. Why is that?
  Actually this 1 dollar is not withdrawn from your bank account. It serves as a minimum value for authorization. With every on-line payment our web site makes an authorization check first, and only if it is successful it will withdraw the requested amount - 10 USD in this case. This 1 dollar will be unblocked in 2 or 3 days, depending on your bank's policy. This is a widespread practice among Internet merchants aimed at the improvement of the payments' security.
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  Do calling rates differ depending on the time of day?
  Hermes Phone offers the lowest rates to Central and Eastern European destinations, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You pay for the minutes you talk, regardless of whether it's "peak" time or "non-peak" time.