Skype restricted my paid account, without recourse, over a billing hiccup

Skype is a regular tool in my journalist toolkit. It’s far and away the easiest method by which to record phone interviews (using the Call Recorder plug-in). I prefer it over Google Voice or Google Hangouts because it’s a much simpler tool to deal with, and damn near everyone already has a Skype account anyway. For about $60 a year, Skype gives me a phone number in my area code and the ability to make unlimited calls to and from it, and I’ve been paying that $60 a year and using Skype for six years without incident.

Until two weeks ago, when I went to make a Skype call to an interviewee’s cell phone. Instead of ringing, the Skype client immediately disconnected with an error that said "Account blocked."

The cause

I did the interview with my cell on speakerphone so that I could record it with a handheld recorder and then went digging. A quick bit of testing showed that while I could make "normal" Skype calls to other Skype users, I couldn’t call out to regular phone numbers from Skype, and I couldn’t call my Skype phone number from anywhere else.