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I work as a telephone CSR for a company that offers in-store referral orders. We talk to the store clerk and get information about the item, then the phone gets passed to the customer. At that point we get billing and shipping information and the customer pays over the phone using a credit card.
For the security of our customers we match the billing address information including name and phone number against whatever the credit card issuer has on file. If it doesn't match it may cause the order to be delayed. At the beginning we ask the customer for an email address that we will ONLY use to send a confirmation email, the tracking # once the order ships, and contact the customer if we have any questions or problems. This particular customer refuses and thats cool with me. I get the billing address and I'm a huge stickler for making sure I have the information as accurately as I possibly can. She doesn't seem to appreciate me quickly but very carefully verifying her information back to her (I always find that stupid that they would rather have it as fast as possible and maybe not accurate than almost as fast but very accurate).
THE FUN PART, after getting the BTA I ask "may I have the phone number that your credit card company has on file for you?". I understand some people are paranoid and they think that I'm asking for this NOT to verify the information with the credit card company but as a way to market to them (a FALSE assumption on the customers part but kind of understandable I guess maybe). If the customer doesn't want to provide the BTA phone number thats cool, I can enter in a fake one and it MAY or MAY NOT delay the order. If you insist on not giving me a number just say something like "I'd rather not give that information" and I'll happily move on no questions asked. Could this customer be that logical? Of course not thats why I'm here.
She had to be cute and respond "I don't think there is one! Why would my credit card company have a phone number on file for me?" So I try to explain it that ALL credit card companies keep your contact information including a phone number on file so they can A) contact you incase of questions or problems B) many companies (including this one) do not process transactions without verifying the BTA and phone with the credit card issuer, this helps prevent strangers from using your card. Her response "Thats ridiculous I have an AMERICAN EXPRESS card and they NEVER would collect my private information like that" I advise her that that the most likely number they have on file for you would be the phone number for the BTA. She says she's uncomfortable giving that information out. Cool I can work with that and we both would have saved time I you just said that instead of playing dumb. I strongly advise her that with NO quick contact information like an email or phone if there were any questions or problems we could only contact her through mail and this would greatly delay the order. We place the order. After I get off the call I run just her name and street address through a common white pages search engine. As never fails with these security freaks, I can find way more than average info with it including several phone numbers for that address and the customers age.
Funny thing, when I make purchases I will gladly give my BTA phone and one of my emails AND my information has been taken off every white page search engine I can find. You idiot no phone and email lady fail.
I love to ramble so here is my point. Why do people these days think they are super rich and important if they happen to have an American Express card? I understand this feeling in the past (wikipedia has a wonderful article about AMEX) when American Express cards did NOT carry revolving balances (as the first major credit card it was a way for rich people to carry large sums of money while traveling in a time before debit/credit cards). But nowadays when lots of fairly average people can easily get an AMEX card that carries a revolving balance. What is the point of having a card that usually has yearly fees (the original ones had LARGE membership fees and the main income stream for the card issuer), often have higher interest rates, and are accepted less places than Visa or Mastercard? Does it really make you feel that special? I know some places give perks to AMEX cardholders but if you step back its just a way for AMEX and the whatever company offers these perks to make more money (some people may get a card just for these specific perks *cough* Disney Families *cough*). Your opinions welcome. I just needed to vent. If I had the money these people have/pretend to have I'd still use my debit card linked to my checking account (with about a month or two of expenses in it) and any excess money in say a high yield savings account. This makes more sense to me that using a credit card to prove I'm a big spender (sure you might get perks and miles and crap, but the interest from my way makes more sense).
For the security of our customers we match the billing address information including name and phone number against whatever the credit card issuer has on file. If it doesn't match it may cause the order to be delayed. At the beginning we ask the customer for an email address that we will ONLY use to send a confirmation email, the tracking # once the order ships, and contact the customer if we have any questions or problems. This particular customer refuses and thats cool with me. I get the billing address and I'm a huge stickler for making sure I have the information as accurately as I possibly can. She doesn't seem to appreciate me quickly but very carefully verifying her information back to her (I always find that stupid that they would rather have it as fast as possible and maybe not accurate than almost as fast but very accurate).
THE FUN PART, after getting the BTA I ask "may I have the phone number that your credit card company has on file for you?". I understand some people are paranoid and they think that I'm asking for this NOT to verify the information with the credit card company but as a way to market to them (a FALSE assumption on the customers part but kind of understandable I guess maybe). If the customer doesn't want to provide the BTA phone number thats cool, I can enter in a fake one and it MAY or MAY NOT delay the order. If you insist on not giving me a number just say something like "I'd rather not give that information" and I'll happily move on no questions asked. Could this customer be that logical? Of course not thats why I'm here.
She had to be cute and respond "I don't think there is one! Why would my credit card company have a phone number on file for me?" So I try to explain it that ALL credit card companies keep your contact information including a phone number on file so they can A) contact you incase of questions or problems B) many companies (including this one) do not process transactions without verifying the BTA and phone with the credit card issuer, this helps prevent strangers from using your card. Her response "Thats ridiculous I have an AMERICAN EXPRESS card and they NEVER would collect my private information like that" I advise her that that the most likely number they have on file for you would be the phone number for the BTA. She says she's uncomfortable giving that information out. Cool I can work with that and we both would have saved time I you just said that instead of playing dumb. I strongly advise her that with NO quick contact information like an email or phone if there were any questions or problems we could only contact her through mail and this would greatly delay the order. We place the order. After I get off the call I run just her name and street address through a common white pages search engine. As never fails with these security freaks, I can find way more than average info with it including several phone numbers for that address and the customers age.
Funny thing, when I make purchases I will gladly give my BTA phone and one of my emails AND my information has been taken off every white page search engine I can find. You idiot no phone and email lady fail.
I love to ramble so here is my point. Why do people these days think they are super rich and important if they happen to have an American Express card? I understand this feeling in the past (wikipedia has a wonderful article about AMEX) when American Express cards did NOT carry revolving balances (as the first major credit card it was a way for rich people to carry large sums of money while traveling in a time before debit/credit cards). But nowadays when lots of fairly average people can easily get an AMEX card that carries a revolving balance. What is the point of having a card that usually has yearly fees (the original ones had LARGE membership fees and the main income stream for the card issuer), often have higher interest rates, and are accepted less places than Visa or Mastercard? Does it really make you feel that special? I know some places give perks to AMEX cardholders but if you step back its just a way for AMEX and the whatever company offers these perks to make more money (some people may get a card just for these specific perks *cough* Disney Families *cough*). Your opinions welcome. I just needed to vent. If I had the money these people have/pretend to have I'd still use my debit card linked to my checking account (with about a month or two of expenses in it) and any excess money in say a high yield savings account. This makes more sense to me that using a credit card to prove I'm a big spender (sure you might get perks and miles and crap, but the interest from my way makes more sense).
I got my cousin, but I'm not listed anywhere.
Whatever . . .
"You'd feel a Hell of a lot better if you'd just rip into the occasional customer." 
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