Quote:
Originally Posted by dduane
And as a side issue, can anyone suggest any reason why Fonic's website still says that you do need a German bank account? Are they trying to frighten off non-resident purchasers, or do they just have a lazy webmaster?)
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I'm replying a little late, but better than never: Germans are extremly paranoid about data protection and many hesitate to share credit card or bank account information especially online. Against this background a lot of potential customers are likely to prefer recharging their SIM cards with recharge codes from brick and mortar stores instead of using direct debit payments. However for cell providers direct debit payments generate far fewer costs (~0.3% of amount paid) than the sale of recharge vouchers through retailers, who get a margin of ~5%. Further customers using direct debit are likely to recharge faster and more frequent as they can do this in a breath from home, while customers relying to topup vouchers need to visit a retailer first. As a result direct debit customers will usually generate more revenue. Lastly when using direct debit customers can also activate automatic recharge which again stimulates revenue.
That's why Fonic probably intentionally make people believe that they have to recharge by direct debit.