BS: credit crd customer service

Subject: BS: credit crd customer service
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 29 Jun 11 - 05:42 PM

I'm trying to simplify my life.

Recently I took a trip from Kansas City to Austin. I decided to call my credit card company and tell them I'd be out of town. I had to:

enter my card number and zip

listen to my balance, due date and available credit (not needed)

wait for a human

exlain my reason for calling several times to a suspicious woman. When she demanded more info, including my mailing address, I decided she was collecting enough info to steal my identity.

I ended the call without ever knowing whether she noted it in my record that I'd be out of town.

So, does anybody have a credit-card company that treats you like a normal human and a good customer?

I found a site that rates these things, and it says AMerican Express and Discover have good customer service. Can I trust that?

Subject: RE: BS: credit crd customer service
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 29 Jun 11 - 05:46 PM

I should add that this isn't the first time they've wasted my time and irritated me. Time for a change.

Subject: RE: BS: credit crd customer service
From: michaelr
Date: 29 Jun 11 - 06:15 PM

If you called your card company and told them your name and card number, she already had your mailing address on her computer. She asked for it to make sure you were who you claimed to be. It's to protect you.

Subject: RE: BS: credit crd customer service
From: Phil Cooper
Date: 29 Jun 11 - 06:16 PM

I found with discover card, that when I mentioned I really didn't want sales calls advising me of extra services, that the calls immediately stopped. Before then, I was getting one every couple weeks, for some service I didn't want or need. My dad passed away in 2009 and I got a letter from a credit card of his saying they were dropping him if he didn't make a purchase by August of this year. I tried their customer service line and never could reach a human. I did find out that his balance was 0 (good luck collecting on that, if it wasn't). I guess I really didn't need to call them, just thought I'd tell them not to bother reaching him.

Subject: RE: BS: credit crd customer service
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 29 Jun 11 - 10:33 PM

What does she need my address for? They're already giving out my financial info on the basis of my cc number and ZIP.

Can you imagine being treated like this in a store?

You want to try on shoes, and the clerk says "You can buy shoes online, you know. Just go to www.shoes.com and click on oxfords." He demands 14 digits of info, gives you a spiel for popsicles, then tells you to listen carefully as the shoe-polish options have changed. He makes you wait a goodish while, then tells you they don't have your size.

That's customer service?

When my husbands orders shirts from Land's End, a person answers the phone. She knows who he is before he even says anything and knows what shirts he's ordered before. She verifies the style and size, takes his credit info, and the order's on the way. That is doing business.

Subject: RE: BS: credit crd customer service
From: Jeri
Date: 29 Jun 11 - 10:42 PM

I'm baffled as to why you'd tell your credit card company you'd be out of town. If I had to notify mine, I'd get a card with someone else!

I believe they ask you questions they already know the answer to to 1) verify you're who you say you are, and 2) make sure their records are correct.

Subject: RE: BS: credit crd customer service
From: katlaughing
Date: 29 Jun 11 - 10:57 PM

Our bank, where we have our credit card, always contacts us if they see any suspicious activity. When we were visiting our daughter in CT, they were great when Rog realised he's lost his card. Live person on the phone stopping all activity on his card and sending a replacement asap.

They always ask me to verify my personal info when I call with questions, etc. It's just to make sure someone else isn't pretending to be me.

Subject: RE: BS: credit crd customer service
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 30 Jun 11 - 10:31 AM

"I'm baffled as to why you'd tell your credit card company you'd be out of town."

A lot of people do it. I would have told them online, but it slipped my mind.

They are quite capable of putting a freeze on the card when they see activity 'out of the ordinary', which they may define as simply not being in my home town. As if Americans never travel anywhere.

When I worked retail, the company used to send us newsletters on how to do our jobs better. One thing I learned is that a dishonest person is one of the first people to get angry, to act suspicious, and to bully a defenseless clerk. The rep at the credit-card company was giving off just that vibe, and I cut off the supply of info to her. She could have verified my identify (for about the 4th time) by asking for part of my address or the last 4 digits of my social.

So, can anybody recommend a credit-card company which doesn't waste one's time with irrelevant stuff and personnel with a chip on the shoulder?

Subject: RE: BS: credit crd customer service
From: Dave MacKenzie
Date: 30 Jun 11 - 11:17 AM

I have trouble on mine when I make out of town purchases even when I'm at home, eg booking with Travelodge, then buying tickets from the Crusaders (Rugby League) in Wrexham who are administered from Dublin! When I visited my daughter in Paris, recently, I made sure that all my card issuers were prepared for foreign transactions (then forgot to check that I knew all my PINs).

Subject: RE: BS: credit crd customer service
From: artbrooks
Date: 30 Jun 11 - 03:56 PM

I get excellent service from USAA, but they are a limited-membership (sort of a co-op) organization that you have to have a (US) military affiliation to join.

Subject: RE: BS: credit crd customer service
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 30 Jun 11 - 04:41 PM

"A lot of people do it." Why? Wastes the time of some credit card company employee.

Subject: RE: BS: credit crd customer service
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 30 Jun 11 - 05:03 PM

Just thought I'd pass on another word of wisdom. In 2005 I was a victim of indentity theft. Somebody was buying jewelry online with my credit card and using P*yp#l.

About that time, a senior and respected Mudcatter commented that most such cases of fraud are down to an employee. I thought back over my troubles and said to myself. "That makes sense. I bet this theft started inside P%yp@l." Couldn't prove it. I'm just saying it seemed to make sense, though I can't remember the details after all this time.

I think we can be leery of the diabolical teenagers who dwell in concrete-block basements, live on Cheezits and hack the most sophisticated systems with their incredible powers. As that 'catter said, employees, with the inside track, are the logical people to look to for identify theft.

(I cancelled my P@p*l account, a tortuous process. Later I set up a new account which draws on a little-bitty savings account at my bank. No connection to my credit card.)

So when the surly rep pretended not to understand what I wanted and kept demanding more and more info from me, alarm bells went off.

I'm still looking for a company that acts like a normal American business.
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Q, read Dave MacKenzie's post.