Surgical treatment with open reduction and internal fixation is advocated for Sanders' type II and III intra-articular fractures of the calcaneus. Some clinical and technical problems in this type of operation are due to the thickness and the stiffness of the plates. The authors report their experience in the open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF) of type II and type III fracture using the multihole GECO® plate with 22 fractures treated in 19 patients during the period November 1994–May 1996. Fourteen patients (17 fractures) were followed-up at a mean of 18 months for both clinical and radiographic tests. According to the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) score and to the Maryland Foot Score (MFS) the clinical results were ‘excellent’ and ‘good’ in 12 cases and 13 cases, respectively. There were more necroses of the surgical wound margins than in the literature; this was due to the learning curve and the initial prolonged surgical times. Peroneal tendonitis occurred less frequently (12%) than in the literature (20–30%).