Off topic: Why must billing information match?

Hey Guys...... I just wanted to make an off topic post to fill all of you in on an everyday problem we face. I wanted to specifically direct it here because people who are watching this forum but not posting are specifically using my name and this forum as a "how I heard about you" line in our order form. Now everyday as a computer company we deal with fraud. For every legit order, there are two or three fraudulent ones. Most are stolen cards and we never hear from those people again. However this post isn't directed towards them, it's directed towards people who make accidentally give us the wrong billing information or their credit cards don't have the proper information on file.

This happens a few times a year and usually it's easily taken care of. If we get an order in and the billing information doesn't match, the order is voided right away. If the billing information matches and then a customer wants to ship something to work or school, then we must verify with the credit card company that those addresses are listed as "authorized ship to addresses". If they aren't, we can't ship there.

Now, I have one instance recently of a customer who shall remain nameless but again, used my name and this forum as who they heard about us. We followed procedure and voided out the order when the information didn't match. Then contacted the customer and told them what happened and that the order was voided. In responce I got a threatening letter telling me that it was my fault and that I was lying about the whole situation and that I better "get cracking" or he'll go to our competition.

If you haven't already realized, I don't take well to this sort of stuff and I have choice whether or not I want that sort of customer. Whether or not, in the end it was the banks screw up or the customers (it can't be ours because the bank feeds us the approvals)..... instead of trying to understand and resolve this, he blames me. Well, guess what..... our business isn't about selling at all costs and if telling a customer like this that he should look elsewhere isn't a sign that it's not all about money, I don't know what it.

The moral of the story is, people can't make us feel bad that their information doesn't check out. As far as we're concerned, it's a fraudulent transaction and I'd rather err on the side of the potentially stolen credit card and yet give the person the benefit of the doubt until they prove to us that even if the information is correct........ the way they handled themselves makes us not want them as customers.

I don't want to say this is a lesson to all of you. Becasue it's certainly not. It's just to emphasize the importanace of making sure your credit cards are completely up to date as it's legal for us to bill or to ship anything to a person or address that your credit card doesn't already expressly allow us to. There is a reason EVERY number must match on a billing address, becasue most stolen cards are stolen by neightbors or people you know. So when an order comes it thats supposed to go to 765 first st and the credit card company says the card's address is 767 first st, thats a big sign. Usually people don't mistype their address.


If you got this far, thanks for listening to my rant. I hope you learned something and try not to turn this thread into what some of the others have become. If you have a question about billing/shipping info as it involves the credit card comapanies, I'd be happy to help you.

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

I am happy with a retailer who is extra carefull about the CC information .I would not want anyone to buy laptops with my stolen CC .

Cheers to you,Justin




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That whole "the customer is always right" thing is so out-dated... I agree with you Justin.

ASUS M6800Ne, P-M 1.5 Dothan, 512MB Ram, Toshiba Combo drive, Samsung Spinpoint M 40G HDD with 8M cache, Mobility Radeon 9700

 

send 'em on their merry way. can you imagine how much of a headache he would be AFTER he got the product? you'd be getting a call everyday about some little thing. you didn't lose any money, you gained sanity.

 

I wasn't expecting support posts, but thank you!

My main concern was with the information itself. Usually with a stolen card you obviously wouldn't be able to get in touch with the person and it's all shady. When someone flips out like that, it's probably their address and they are frustrated. But when they get to the flip out point... it's like... we haven't even processed the order and is even worth it, you know? I guess you all got the jist of it. I just find it funny when these people tell us "our software is lying to us"... If it were only possible. We pay dearly for a great fraud protection service and we're certainly not going to second guess it.

One of the main problems with credit cards today is that they aren't up to snuff on the consumer side. FedEx and UPS basically won't leave anything over I think $1,000 at anyones door without a signature. Signature releases are only good for stuff up to $1,000 I think. So people need to ship things to work more and more because they just won't be home. Well on the merchant side they tell us all ship to addresses must be listed as an "authorized ship to address" with the card. Supposedly every card company is supposed to have this service. Well some don't..... but they tell us that we need to do one thing and then out of the other side of their mouth they tell the consumer.... blah blah blah.. (whatever) and nothing is ever the card companies fault (yet they rip off merchants and consumers in fees upon fees).... seems like a pretty good venture, don't you think?

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

it's been a hassle to me because i often don't ship to my billing address since i'm not home most of the time so i usually ship it to a relative's house or in my case, a family business.

it's funny though how whenever you actually speak with a sales rep, the shipping address can be changed but it's with the automated order systems that can be a headache; it'll just reject any order if the billing and ship-to don't match when it's getting a credit authorization.

luckily all my credit cards have "fields" to support multiple billing addresses.

it's a big market out there, if you lose that customer it's no big loss. he's probabaly the type of customer that thinks every business has one of Staples Easy Button.

i once worked in the Small Business dptmt of AT&T and had a customer whose phone lines had been shut off for nonpayment. He told me he had made payment and wanted the service on immediately. He told me he was a technician and that he knew all it took was literally a flip of the switch.

i no longer work with AT&T but I am always working with people and I've learned to deal with dumb people so as not to stress myself. i let the managers take care of it. [ ]

 

Well actually the only thing that gets checked automatically is the billing info: name, street, zip, phone, exp date, cc number. IF you want to ship something to your nephew at school in another state... obviously everything for that is not checked and an order will come through to us, but it then has to be manually checked out. But if someone wants to use their work address as their billing address.... and it's not listed with the credit card as the "billing address"...then it'll get declined..... From my experience thats what most people do. After they tell us off and ask us if we think they're stupid........ they tell us well no thats not my billing address, my billing address is a PO box or whatever..... well if the "billing information" doesn't read exactly like how your credit card bill comes in the mail.. it won't go through.

Then going back to shipping something to someone else in another state.... the customers will say, well i give you permission (well thanks, right?) ... well the reason it has to be listed with the CC company is becasue they can use your social security number to verify you are you.... your social would mean nothing to us and anyone can say they are someone over the phone.

What I find is the most common form of "theft" is a kid in college who might order a laptop to be sent to them and then the billing info is the parents. Well, if we don't verify that the parents have authorized the charge and have that other school address listed.... we can't do it. We see this a LOT.... and back over a year ago found out one reason why you have to check it out..... when the parents don't know a $2,000 computer was put on their credit card, they sceam louder than anyone else and they are the worst people to deal with...... When ideally, you'd think they should have to take it up with their kid.

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

well credit auths yes only billing info is checked but i've seen some sophisticated ordering systems that have implemented filters; you're right though people may change mailing addresses but never check that billing addresses match but this is also a huge problem for an industry that may use multiple database systems and some departments don't have access to all the information. hell, i had this headache when the insurer of my cell phone had a real old address of mine and they would not let me make a claim even unless i could tell them the old address. it was an address i had used for about 2 weeks so i didn't remember it. but get this, the information they had was pulled from the databases of SprintPCS so i had to call SprintPCS and tell them to update the insurance record on my account. ugh so stupid! database management is so important espcially having it centralized.

oh and about the college kid who decided to borrow the parents credit card, the fun thing is that some vendors take advantage of the fact that any family members (immediate members) that use the card are unofficially authorized and no amount of *****ing and whining will make it an unauthorized use.

 

Yeah.... well our systems pull right from the issuing banks database and let me tell you, it's up to date. I had a customer correct his address and retry an order right when the person at the CC company said it was updated and the order went right through and everything cleared instantly.

About the college kids.. I don't think I'm following you. Are you saying that the kid could use it? I mean we had a case once where a kid ordered a pocket pc to his parents house (where he lived).... the info was all right, the card number, security number were all right..... but we don't see the kid using the card, right? Well no matter who ordered it for real... the parents tried to say their underage son ordered it and they didn't have to pay for it. The credit card company told the card holder to keep the card out of their kids reach. So... for that sort of thing... i don't know if the kid ordered it, or if the parent did and then just thought up a way to try to get the merchandise and get their money back.

If that indeed was the case.... it's losers like who are always looking for a way to screw someone that really mess it up for the rest of society.

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

about college students:

Well I call it unofficial because it's not something you'd find outlined under some agreement (at least not that I know of) but this one guy at work also worked for a credit card company (fraud department) and you gave an example, he'd get hundreds of credit card users filing a complaint for unauthorized charges but after investigation it was ordered by an immediate family member.

and it doesn't have to be with charges for items ordered online, it can be the daughter who needs a new outfit and the mom just hands over the credit card or she just decides to take it.

you walk into 10 stores and I bet 8-9 will let a son or daughter use the parent's card as long as the last name matches via photo id. and the kids can even sign for it with their own name. Supposedly the kid has to notate that permission to use the card was given but of course that hardly happens.

Some stores are stricter than others with that kind of liberal use of the credit card (I mean think about all the fast food restaurants that offer instant authorization without a need for signature) but in the eyes of the credit card companies, no way in hell is a kid taking their parents card considered an unauthorized transaction and they will not eat the cost of that purchase.

people just seem to think being under 18 makes them exempt from everything; sure someone under 18 can't apply for a card but doesn't mean that kid can't use it.

purchases with reported-stolen cards are of course a different matter and those are the ones the CC's will gladly assist the customers with.

heh, this makes me think of all the lawsuits that target both the sellers and manufacturers of guns. thanks for playing the fault game!