NOT!
Simply put, my company has two policies which I needed to enforce today.
1. Never ever ring up a credit card sale unless the cardholder has the actual card in hand. Numbers on a piece of paper with the expiration date do not count.
2. Stores may NOT process telephone orders. That's why our website and 877 number exist.
The reason that both of these rules exist is to combat identity theft as it is related to credit card fraud.
Well, the irate SC on the phone could not get that through her head.
We had a woman and her daughter come in looking to make a purchase. The woman asked an associate if she could use her mom's card number. The associate came to me, I ascertained from him that they did not have the card. I told him to tell them no and went about my business.
Well, evidently they called the grandmother on the woman's cellphone to let her know that we couldn't accept the card. I then the cellphone handed to me by the little girl.
"My grandmother wants to speak to you," she says.
So I take the phone and repeatedly try to explain rule #1. Then she says, "Well, I'm giving my permission." This invokes rule #2. I tell her at least three times that these are anti-fraud measures.
"But I don't understand, I've ordered from other stores and... blah blah blah..."
I AGAIN tell her its an anti-fraud policy instituted by the company and I have no power to change that policy.
She goes on about how she has lived in the city where I work for a very long time and how her husband is a prominent lawyer and so on and so forth. Then proceeds to tell me how the company I work for, a GLOBAL company with retail outlets in North America, Europe, Japan, Australia, Russia, and Southeast Asia mind you, will never get very far in the world. I still don't bend and then she finally asks for the number of someone higher up the chain. I give her corporate's main number we conclude our call.
I then apologize to the woman and her daughter, who were much cooler about it than the grandmother. Afterwards, I get on the phone to my boss and the other assistant manager to give them a heads up. They back up my decision, and I then e-mail our district manager to give him the heads up so he doesn't get blindsided by this if the woman on the phone tells a different story.
Simply put, my company has two policies which I needed to enforce today.
1. Never ever ring up a credit card sale unless the cardholder has the actual card in hand. Numbers on a piece of paper with the expiration date do not count.
2. Stores may NOT process telephone orders. That's why our website and 877 number exist.
The reason that both of these rules exist is to combat identity theft as it is related to credit card fraud.
Well, the irate SC on the phone could not get that through her head.
We had a woman and her daughter come in looking to make a purchase. The woman asked an associate if she could use her mom's card number. The associate came to me, I ascertained from him that they did not have the card. I told him to tell them no and went about my business.
Well, evidently they called the grandmother on the woman's cellphone to let her know that we couldn't accept the card. I then the cellphone handed to me by the little girl.
"My grandmother wants to speak to you," she says.
So I take the phone and repeatedly try to explain rule #1. Then she says, "Well, I'm giving my permission." This invokes rule #2. I tell her at least three times that these are anti-fraud measures.
"But I don't understand, I've ordered from other stores and... blah blah blah..."
I AGAIN tell her its an anti-fraud policy instituted by the company and I have no power to change that policy.
She goes on about how she has lived in the city where I work for a very long time and how her husband is a prominent lawyer and so on and so forth. Then proceeds to tell me how the company I work for, a GLOBAL company with retail outlets in North America, Europe, Japan, Australia, Russia, and Southeast Asia mind you, will never get very far in the world. I still don't bend and then she finally asks for the number of someone higher up the chain. I give her corporate's main number we conclude our call.
I then apologize to the woman and her daughter, who were much cooler about it than the grandmother. Afterwards, I get on the phone to my boss and the other assistant manager to give them a heads up. They back up my decision, and I then e-mail our district manager to give him the heads up so he doesn't get blindsided by this if the woman on the phone tells a different story.
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