It Happens Everyday

Valentines Day was a bit different this year. While went to a new local restaurant for a treat, someone else decided to do a bit of splurging, using my VISA card.  They apparently purchased a piece of jewelry for over $700.  They also paid for a credit check through Trans Union.

When I noticed these strange charges on our account I called my hubby right away. I didn't want him to try to get gas on the way home from work only to discover his credit card was refused. He is the primary card holder, so I figured he was the one who would have to call VISA.  He did that, and was told that it was actually my card that had been used for these fraudulent purchases, and so I would have to call in too.

When I called I found out that whoever was using my card had also tried for something worth over $2000. The VISA people knew these charges were not mine, and had already locked down the card. This particular card was originally obtained to make online purchases with. It has a very low limit, so when thing like this happen they don't go through and we don't have to worry much.  I hardly ever use the credit card myself.  I can count on the fingers of one hand how many businesses I used it for this past year...or ever, for that matter.  It was really easy for the VISA people to spot this fraud and put an end to it. They cancelled my card that day, and my new one has just now arrived.

In the meantime, I didn't like the idea of someone getting their hands on my personal information through Trans Union, so I placed a call to them to let them know what had happened.  Firstly off, let me say that their phone system is extremely confusing. It's an automated system but the recording does not give you a chance to have the options repeated. I dialed several times while trying to figure out what button to push next.

When I finally reached humans, they were heavily accented, spoke quickly and were hard to understand. They asked a lot of personal questions to verify my identity. I actually started to wonder how I could verify theirs! Anyway, I was told that there was no activity under my name but urged to put a warning on my account ($5 for 6 years). That would require them to contact me before giving out a credit report to anyone asking for it. For this service I would have to come up with another credit card number, since my VISA was cancelled.  Though I didn't feel comfortable with that idea, I was forwarded to that department.

At last I had an English speaking person, or at least one that spoke with no accent, but he seemed to have difficulty understanding that I just wanted to make sure my information had not been sent out to someone else.  I finally discovered that my credit card had been used, to the tune of $19.95,  to order information on someone named Robert Banks.  They asked if I knew him and when I said no.

I was then forwarded to a supervisor in the expedited section. He confirmed that my own info had not been accessed and that Robert Burns was likely a victim of fraud too.  He put locks on both the account that had been created, and though I told him that my credit card had been cancelled, he also cancelled it at his end, so it could never be used again.

One would think this would be the end of the story, but even after my hubby had been able to make a purchase at the drug store last weekend, his card was refused the next time he tried to use it.  The bank could see no reason for that, as there appeared to be plenty of room for the transaction to go through.  Another series of calls to VISA indicated that though the Valentines Day splurge had been stopped, that $700 charge had not yet been cleared from the system and any further purchases would have put him over the limit.  It was frustrating not being able to see when it was cleared and resulted in another embarrassing moment when the card was turned down again, even after being told that it would be okay to use by then. 

I don't know why it took so long to clear that one charge, as the company who made the sale even called me at one point. They asked if I'd bought something from them, and I told them I had not.  I had never heard of this company, but apparently they are down in New York someplace.  I imagine that they lost the item they sold, and are out the money for it.

One thing I'm glad of is that we do have this "little" card, which is used primarily for online purchases and buying gas.  Who knows how much damage could have been done if it had of been one of our other credit cards that had been compromised.  I had asked the VISA people if they could tell where the card number had been stolen from.  The lady said that scammers spend all day finding ways to get these numbers, and sometimes they even just make them up. The person that called about the jewelry purchase knew my name and my phone number, so I don't imagine the card number was picked out of a hat on this occasion.  When looking at the places I've used the card, I've come up with my own idea of where the number was obtained.  I have, several times over the past years, used the Walmart photo centre to order prints.  I place the order online, and pick it up when I go to in that direction.  Last summer there was a data breach that involved Walmart Canada's Photocentre Website. I suspect the crooks have been sitting on a pile of numbers, just waiting to use them.  If you used that service during the period between June 2014 and July 2015, you could also still be at risk. Keep an eye on your credit card statements, and if  you have not changed your password on the Walmart site, I suggest you do so.  They are thinking of opening the site up again soon.

Cyber Week Adventures

In the past I have purchased various things on line, but I have shied away from clothing.  One never knows just how something will fit, and it's hard to judge the quality of something from a picture online.  I didn't want to be out the shipping costs if the item needed to be returned.

 I have a favorite store where I've bought a lot of my clothes for many years. It used to be in the mall that I frequent in Ottawa. It seems the mall decided it needed that space for something else so my store disappeared. There are still a couple of other outlets for this store where I can go, but I'd have to make a special trip to get to them. My shop decided to get in on Cyber Week this year.

The Cyber Week sales were too good to resist. I do, after all, know my size at that store, so I jumped in and tried to buy a pair of my favourite cords for just $19.99 on Dec 4th.  These cords are normally about $65, though I would never pay that much for them, and usually wait until they go on for half price, or something.  I had already decided I wanted another pair this winter and was willing to wait until the big sales after Christmas. The problem with that is the colour I want may be gone, or the size I fit into could very well be sold out.  This Cyber Week sale was too tempting to pass up.

It went smoothly. I picked out a colour, after a bit of hemming and hawing, then chose the correct size and went to cash out my purchase. There I discovered that they were deducting an additional 30%, so I went back in and picked out another pair in a different colour.  By the time I had cashed out, the total came to $40.41 including the shipping and the taxes.  That's just fantastic, and I was all ready to mark my calendar to go shopping on Cyber shopping at the same time next year.

Then the invoice came in my e-mail and my VISA was being charged at the full price.  The total came to over $111 so I fired off an e-mail saying that I'd just made the purchase at their sale price and they could either send me a corrected invoice or cancel the order.

I waited for a few hours and got no response.  I checked my banking and saw that the full charge had indeed showed up on my VISA account.  I decided to phone them. The lady was very apologetic. She said the computer had a glitch in it and she was recalculating my total, even as we spoke. The final total, she told me, was $54.16.  I mentioned that that was not what I had seen when I put the order through, and she said, "But there is shipping."  I knew the shipping had been included in my total, but was relieved to have her at least get the charge down to a  more manageable amount.

The lady mentioned during this conversation that my address was a postal box, and she wanted a street address. I gave that to her, grumbling to myself that now I'd have to be at home to receive the parcel.  All my other online purchases come by regular mail.  I really hate being held captive by delivery people.

I went back in to the site and investigated.  That's when I noticed the 30% off was just supposed to be on regularly priced items, so that was another computer glitch, and explained why her total was different from mine. I admit I had not been expecting that extra 30% off anyway, but it did cause me to go back in to get another pair, and I will be bringing that up to their attention when this is all finished.

I decided to recreate the purchase, and was prepared to capture screens along the way so I could prove the final total I had been originally shown.  I usually print that page, but saw the confirmation e-mail arrive and foolishly closed the site before I opened the e-mail. As it turned out, the deal was so good that my colours and size had already sold out so I couldn't duplicate the order after all. I guess a lot of other people liked that extra 30% off too.

I put that order in a week and a half ago, and I have been watching the VISA charges ever since.  They were very quick to put the charge through,  but it took them over a week to correct it.  I never did get a response to the e-mail I sent the first day.  No new invoice arrived in my mail at all.  I did get an e-mail that the parcel had been prepared for shipment and that I would receive a further e-mail from Purolator telling me the tracking number when they were ready to ship. 

I saw when Purolator put a label on my package on Dec 10th.  I waited for it to show up all the next day. When it didn't arrive by the end of the day, I tracked it down, and saw that it was returned to them with a notice "Attempted delivery - incomplete / incorrect address provided."  I had personally given the address to the online order lady when I called about the original invoice, since she wasn't happy with the post office box number. Could she have written it down wrong?  Now I had to contact Purolator and find out what the problem was. You do that by way of an online chat, and it was now too late in the day to reach them. I made note of the time that the office opened in the morning and made sure I got online with them early enough to get the parcel back on the road that day.

When I asked what the problem was,  I was told, "We need a unit number and a buzz number."

I had brain fog for a moment there. I had no idea what she was asking for, and stared blankly at the invoice. I was just about to ask her where I should be looking when it dawned on me, they thought I lived in an apartment!  That's silly.  If the truck had come down my street, it would see there are NO apartments in the area. I told her that, and once again gave my address, going so far as to tell her I was at the east end of the street.  She said she would send it out the following morning...Dec 13th.  So getting online with them first thing in the morning wasn't going to help after all.  I was going to have to wait another day. But at least I knew I was being allowed to escape from the house for one day.

I don't know why I looked later that day, but it appeared, by the end of that day, that a total of four attempts had been made to deliver my pants. I still had time to get someone on the chatline this time though, and I did that.  She assured me that there had only been one delivery attempt so far, and that the other reports were because the warehouse scans everything on a regular basis. She asked me a couple of questions and I explained, once again, that there are no apartments here. I live in a single family dwelling.

So the order I put in on Dec 4th took until Dec 13th to show up at my door. The label on the package indicated that they didn't know whether to go east or west on my street, even though I had told them (but the driver must have called that in as there was an additional label that had nothing but the word "East" on it).  This is also foolishness, since my street is exactly 3 blocks long, and there is only one block west of the main street,  so my house number could not possibly have been in that direction. I think some of these drivers are getting paid to joy ride, wasting gas without actually looking for the address on the lable.  How else would you explain all this?

I just looked at the tracking site again and I see that the driver has entered the fact that he has now delivered the package. He did spell my name wrong though.  It's a wonder he found the street, let alone the house!

My first internet purchase of clothing has been quite the adventure.  It cost me more than I intended, and was very hard on my nerves at times. Still, I got a good bargain in the end.... even if I did end up with two pairs of pants instead of just one. I'm not sure if I'll ever try this again though. We'll see how adventurous I feel next year at this time. In the meantime, I think I'll stick to the actual stores, even if I do have to make a special trip now and then.