Senate To Air Findings In Web "Mystery Charge" Probe 120
CNet reports on hearings scheduled to open tomorrow in the US Senate on mysterious charges on thousands of consumers' credit cards. The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation has been investigating online loyalty programs, which shoppers encounter (often with little comprehension) on the sites of online retailers such as as Continental Airlines, FTD, and Classmates.com. "At the center of the federal probe are Webloyalty, Affinion, and Vertrue, companies that make 'cash-back' and coupon offers to consumers and charge them monthly fees to enroll in their loyalty programs. ... In August, as the government's investigation rolled on, Webloyalty announced that it would alter its ads to require that consumers 'enter the last four digits of their credit or debit card to confirm' they wish to pay the membership fees. Last week, Affinion made similar changes. During the hearing, when the Senate committee is expected to make public the results of a six-month investigation, it will also likely say the alterations made by Webloyalty and Affinion don't go far enough. "
Re:Could be fixed with a simple law. (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm not sure that would benefit consumers greatly, since many are having a hard time already filling out forms when purchasing stuff. Also, the more forms there are, the more points of exploitation there will be as well.
Perhaps merchants should be forced to inform by email or preferably by snail mail when and why they share information, much like is done when companies ask for a credit report on you (at least where I live).
Customer Loyalty? (Score:3, Interesting)
A couple years ago I went to a local movie theater and the box office line was too long so I chose to buy tickets from the computer kiosk. After choosing the showtime and sliding my credit card, a screen popped up saying:
Customer Loyalty?
YES | NO
Uh, no? I thought it was asking me if I was enrolled in some discount program I had never heard about. I answered honestly (or figured that if I lied then it'd ask for an ID number I didn't have). But I could see how Web sites might ask a similar question and fool customers into buying something when they had a reasonable expectation of getting something free.
I use a virtual card. (Score:3, Interesting)
I use a virtual card. It requires me to generate a CVV2 code every time I make a new batch of purchases - the code is valid only for several hours after generating it.This makes storing it or passing to others useless. Also, I "charge" the subaccount bound to the card with the amount I want to pay, so they can't withdraw more than I consent to.
As for repeating purchases like monthly fees, either I watch for it myself, or use other methods, like bank transfer order. As a general rule, I don't allow anyone ever to withdraw money from my account without my explicit consent for every separate event of doing so.
As for daily, non-online purchases, I use a regular "flat" card, which requires the actual card for the payment, not the card number alone.