Phone psychics: Rip off or ring now?

You can phone up a stranger and they'll tell you about your life? Our sceptical writer put a phone psychic to the test

by Amira Kat

Why not give it a go? Try a free psychic reading from Keen

Dial-a-psychic
I'm a natural born cynic, so when a friend of mine mentioned that a website called Keen.com were offering free three-minute psychic readings over the telephone, I was dubious. I've always harboured curiosity about one-to-one psychic phone services though. What do they do - read your aura over the phone? Tap into brainwaves transmitted over the line? I doubted it, but I decided to give it a go. At worst it would make a humorous story to tell at parties as I poured scorn and derision on all this hocus-pocus. At best I might learn something helpful. What did I have to lose - especially since I got a cool three minutes for free?

Of course, the call was short - how much could I really expect to learn in just three minutes? - but I became quite excited as I went online to the Keen site. (Maybe that was just my psychic vibrations?)

Selecting a psychic
The process for using a phone psychic is straightforward. You go onto a website like Keen.com and register - it only took a few minutes. Once I'd chosen a username, entered my email address and my phone number, it was time to select a psychic. This proved tricky. With very little frame of reference, I didn't know which criteria to base my selection on. Helpfully, each psychic has their own homepage outlining who they are; how they can help; their particular areas of expertise and in some cases professional qualifications. There's also a feedback system just like Ebay so you can read others' experiences.

First I eliminated anyone who POSTED ALL THEIR DETAILS IN CAPITAL LETTERS. Next to go were the bad spellers - if they can't spell 'separation' they have no business advising on it. I was down to a shortlist and things were getting tougher. Should I choose 'Specialwoman' who holds a Masters in Divinity - whatever that is? I came close to selecting Russ LightWing (great name!) but was put off by his moustache and messianic portrait. I toyed with the idea of tarot reading 'Soul Lover' but decided I'd want to see the cards not just hear about them. Eventually I stumbled across 'Coolnurse' billed as 'caring, intuitive and real' she had photos of cute puppies on her homepage. If she likes baby animals, she can't be that bad I reasoned as I clicked the 'Call Now' button.

ivillage uk

Phone psychics: Rip off or ring now?