08-29-2003, 09:00 AM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 3,060
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Technology Saved Me A Bundle Of Money!
Most of us here really love technology. Some of us love it because of what it can do for us, while others love it simply because it exists. This week, though, I love technology because it saved me a LOT of money.
The other evening, I got a dinnertime phone call that sounded just like any other solicitation. It was from my primary credit card company, though, so I (wisely) opted not to hang up on the caller. As I listened to what the representative had to say, though, I become very, very interested.
The credit card company's sophisticated customer service applications had uncovered what appeared to be an atypical pattern of spending. I had used the card earlier in the day at a local grocery store, but it was also used at a jewelry store several hundred miles away. That wouldn't be that strange by itself, though, because I travel occasionally and use the card in other cities. However, the combination of distance, timing, purchase amount and type of store threw up a red flag, and we were called just to make sure that the most recent charge was, indeed, legitimate.
As it turns out, it was absolutely NOT legitimate! Somebody had stolen my card number and generated and used a bogus credit card. Luckily, only one transaction had been attempted and I will not be held liable for it. We still have to go through the headaches of closing the account, getting a new card and helping with a criminal investigation, but that's little discomfort compared to what might have happened.
And, WHY was only one fraudulent charge made? Because of the fabulous technology that was used, the total elapsed time between the charge and my determination that it was bogus was -- get this -- less than THREE MINUTES!
Less than three minutes to save me over a thousand dollars. THAT'S why I love technology!
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08-29-2003, 09:10 AM
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Sage
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 717
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WOW you should really consider yourself lucky...my wife had asimilar experiance about 4 days ago, she was called by an unknow CC representative who has informed her that a credit limit on one of our cards has been increased to 30K?! WTF - who needs this much credit on one single card, but he needed a current mailing address, her SIN card, and a bunch of other personal info to verify this and do a final approval on it. It turned out to be a fraud call, good we did not opt out for the extended credit. It seems scammers are everywhere. BEWARE!
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08-29-2003, 09:28 AM
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Pupil
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 18
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I just wish my Bank would do something like that after I had a similar experiance, getting done for �1200 (luckily they re-credited my account, but it took around 3 months...)
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08-29-2003, 10:33 AM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 541
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My sister had a similar positive experience last year as she was ordering tickets to various Las Vegas shows for me, my youner sister and her two daughters, and herself she ended up charging over $2,000 to her card within about half an hour. She received a call within the next hour asking if the charges were correct or not. In this case they were OK but she appreciated that the credit card companies are no keeping their eyes open for possible abuse as it happens.
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08-29-2003, 12:05 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 169
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It's not just credit cards. We use our bank check card extensively and last year when we purchased our wedding bands we used the same card. It was a very large purchase which is not typical of our spending. We got a call with an hour of getting home from our bank asking us if the purchase was correct.
I was very pleased with the service and it made me feel a little be more comfortable using the check card.
-Eric
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08-29-2003, 12:07 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 119
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then again: it was the lack of good technology that allows your credit card number to easily be hijacked in the first place. We really shouldn't have to worry about stuff like this.
and, before people start asking, I don't have a better idea of credit card security - it wasn't my primary area of study.
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08-29-2003, 12:10 PM
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Neophyte
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 8
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By law in the U.S. one's liability is limited to $50. Most credit card companies offer zero liability. So there's not much at risk. But it is very reassuring that they catch these things quickly.
Jim
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08-29-2003, 01:02 PM
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Moderator
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 6,878
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Just remember...
These banks and credit card companies are really not doing this to protect you, they are doing it to protect themselves. You aren't going to be stuck with those fraudulent charges, they are. They want to minimise their loss...
So if you think they are lookin' out for number one, they are!!! Only number one ain't you, you ain't even number two*... :wink:
Just my .02
Steve
*O.K., where are the Zappa fans...
__________________
"My eyes are rolling back in my head so far I can see my grey matter bubbling and frothing from reading this thread....bleh." JD
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08-29-2003, 01:25 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 450
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This actually bit me in the arse last year. My wife and I were on vacation (honeymoon, actually) in French Polynesia and about 2/3rds of the way through our vacation, when our credit card company had noticed a number of overseas charges popping up on our credit card, they tried to call us to confirm the charges. Only we were not home, obviously. So, they turned the credit card off, which we found out about the next time we attempted to use the card. Luckily we had other alternatives, so we weren't stuck too bad. Lesson learned: If traveling overseas, it's wise to inform your credit card company in advanced.
- Aaron
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08-29-2003, 01:46 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 155
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I had a similar thing happen to me last year. I was on vacation and had just used the card to purchase gas. A few minutes later I went into the convenience store to purchase a couple of items in there. By the time, the card had been locked and I had to use a different card.
At first I was not happy, but in the end I was very happy. I called the CC company and learned that my card had received several charges from MS bCentral, about one every few seconds. In less than a minute the card was frozen automatically. When I returned home a week later I found I had a message on my answering machine. They had called just a few minutes after the card was frozen. Nice.
The funny thing was that I had never used that card for purchases from bCentral; however I had used it for a purchase on another MS website. It took me almost six months and 15 calls to finally get MS to stop charging me for services I�d never approved or even requested. Numerous times they had to refund me for more false charges that they made. And every time I called I would be told that I was mistaken, and that I had requested the service. Each time I would read them back a transcript of my last call, along with the names and phone numbers of the persons I spoke with previously. What a hassle. But I finally got it to stop after my CC company stepped in and dealt with MS directly.
A funny thing too� After each encounter I would be e-mailed a link to a survey asking me my opinion of the service I�d received, etc. Each time I filled it out, yet the problem continued. Obviously no one was actually reading what I�d written, or they would have followed up on the problem to ensure it was corrected.
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