An announcement today by Skype CEO Tony Bates contains three things: an apology for the recent major outage, a holiday greeting, and free Skype credits! The credit voucher is equivalent to 30 minutes worth of call to USA, UK, Germany, China and Japan. .Actually, you can spend your credits on Skype however you like it. Skype is a great example of social media + being proactive with customer service. Indeed, there is a rainbow after the rain.

To redeem your voucher:

1. Go to skype.com/go/voucher
2. Enter your Skype username and password
3. Enter your unique voucher code and click redeem

Voucher code TA9DFRWWRJHWNN37

Here’s the complete message from Skype:

“To our valued customers:

As 2010 draws to a close, I would like to take a moment to thank each of you for your patience, understanding, and support during Skype’s recent outage.

We know how important your Skype conversations are to you and we take any disruption to our service very seriously. We are pleased to confirm that Skype is back to normal allowing you to connect with friends, co-workers, family and loved ones.

As a valued customer of Skype, we would like to offer you a sincere apology and offer you our gratitude with a credit voucher worth a call of more than 30 minutes to a landline in some of our most popular countries, such as USA, UK, Germany, China, Japan. Or spend it however you like on Skype.

Thank you for allowing us at Skype to be a part of your life. May your holidays and the New Year be a time of joy, peace, and health for you and your family.

If you require any additional information please visit http://blogs.skype.com/en/2010/12/.

Kind regards,

Tony Bates
CEO
Skype”