Consumerist... a haven for SC's...

[Anriana]

I like the posts but, like most blogs, I don't even bother reading the comments anymore.


I never understood the whole receipt debate. How are they supposed to look at me and magically know what a fine, upstanding citizen I am?

[Damien]

I just show it willingly without being asked - no hassles, only takes a few seconds and makes life easier for all involved.

[Eben56]

VISA seldomly changes the agreement unless it is to benefit the user. (ie no signature required under $100.00, etc)

They (and mastercard) are huge. Even if Walmart wants it more restrictive, they will say NO. Can you imagine the effect on Walmart if they said no VISA or Mastercard? 40-50% or more of their sales.

That is why places may say no Discover or AMEX because over 90% of those people ALSO have a VISA or Mastercard.

If a store is going to insist upon an ID, they need to be able to provide a copy of their agreement that allows it... Try it sometime if you want to be a SC and throw the help for a loop. They will not be able to produce.

To those of you who require ID, ask your corporate office for a copy of the agreement, "so you can show customers". See what happens.

Personally, if a store asks me for ID, I will show it to them. I am flexible. But if I am told, "you agreed to the fees", "you agreed to the terms" and then told "but we require your ID because we want to". I will say it again:

If you don't want to abide by the contract, don't take visa.

I am not an expert, but I have reached a position in the company where I am very familiar with our agreements with venders, We have never had a fraudulent charge. (criminals seldomly charge that material it take to rebuild 2 miles of highway)

Like I said, ask your companies for a copy of the agreement and see what happens. It will be fun.

I hope this isn't fratching... But this hits a hot button for me because even though I am a corporate whore, I have to go home every night and be a consumer.

[SuperB]

This is an interesting thread. When it comes to protecting my business, I don't care what Visa/MC or a customer thinks. They'll show proof, like it or not. I have personally seen too many attempts at ripoff's. If they don't have ID, stupidly since they're usually driving, then I'll match the signatures. No signature on the card, no ID, no sale.

[DesignFox]

Oddly, despite hearing about this multiple times on this site, I've never been asked for ID when paying with a CC. And most places don't check the sigs, either.

Needless to say I keep close track of my cards.

[Dreamstalker]

1) An ID is not necessary to rip you off in an online transaction. Just the numbers on the card and your address, which is trivial to obtain whether it be from the phone book, public databases (such as voter registration lists), etc.

Exactly. In my situation a few years ago, all that the thief actually had was the card # from a statement stolen from the mail. No CVV2, no expiration date, and of course no ID. They ended up getting away with it (in fact, the issuing bank came after me claiming fraud...nevermind I was halfway across the country and so could never have signed for the alleged delivery--she forged my signature as well).

I personally think the whole receipt check thing is stupid too, but more as poor customer service due to lazy LP guys that aren't paying attention to the register lines, not as some horrible rights violation doomed to end democracy as we know it.

That's the way I see it as well. Although I don't see receipt-checks as often with bags from the store, I'll be asked for my receipt if I'm carrying the widget in my hand or a non-store bag. Not a big deal to show it.

[smileyeagle1021]

I must admit, I've never been to the consumerist, but now maybe I'll go check it out

... oh and with showing ID and identity theft... all you need is the card number, with just the number I can get a hotel room anywhere in the country... I don't even need the experation date. If I now also get the eperation date and the security code on the back I can make purchases on any website that I want... there is almost nothing on the ID that will make it that much easier for me to steal a card number and use it fraudulently. Now of course I would never steal a card because I'm smart enough to know that no one in this country has a high enough credit limit that I could get enough out of it to make it worth risking the consequences if I get caught... that and having morals and ethics (don't you just hate how those get in the way).

and my personal take on showing reciepts... is it a violation of privacy, probably... but as a consumer I would rather have my privacy violated for 10 seconds while the LP person looks at my reciept and I want everyone else's privacy violated the same way, so I'm not having to pay for someone to be able to steal, because let's not kid ourselves, stores don't eat the cost of shoplifters, they pass it on to everyone else, so I'm all for ANYTHING that cuts down that cost... even if it inconveniences me.

[anyanka2]

I too read the consumerist. Most of their stories seem to be legitimately about exposing poor corporate policy and customer service, especially in the airline, banking, and telecom industries. There are those stories about SCs gone wild, like the recent Macys and Sears stories. The comments are where it gets dangerous.

They also do recognize good customer service, i.e. Zappos and sometimes Apple.

[Racket_Man]

yes private property rules DO trump local, county, state and Federal law.

lets see smoking tobacco is a perfectly legal (though admittedly bad for your health habit) activity in most of the US. Now most businesses have at least restricted tobacco smoking inside their establishments and some have banned smoking on ALL of their property, even parking lots and inside private vehicles parked on said lots. although tobacco is federal state and locally legal the private property owner has the right to say NO not here and can and does enforce their policy

the Federal constitiution states that I as a private citizen have the right to keep and bear arms (as in legal firearms) but IF I work for one of the delivery places (or most places for that matter) I as an employee CAN NOT excersize that right even though I may have a legal permit to carry a firearm and have a legal conceled carry permit and have hour and hours of training to use said weapon. I as an agent of the company can not hold a job if it is discovered (even though I am totally legal in every rule sense) I carry any kind of weapon on me even if I am a delivery driver. their policy is to either give up everything get hurt or even killed and just take one for the team so they do not get sued by the perpotrator of the crime.

again evrything is legal for both sides but some have more right than others even here in the US (and this has been true for a long long time). right are an illusion esp if they can be arbitrarily taken away for whatever purpose even temporarily.

[Boozy]

I'd like to ask that everyone interested in topics such as the rights of private businesses, smoking laws, and gun ownership please head on over to www.fratching.com. You will be delighted to find many such threads on these subjects already under way.

Now let's get this thing back on topic: SCs who can be found on the Consumerist website and similar forums.

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

I love the consumerist (I even had my own stories from the call center featured in a "confessions" piece) but I realize some of the posts on there are from people who clearly ARE at fault for their actions.

Others are about legitimate shady practices and such. Some commenters I agree with, others I don't but it's like that with any blog on the net.

[Anakah]

I may sound dumb but I read a lot of posts that talk about LP's. What is that?

[Boochan]

I may sound dumb but I read a lot of posts that talk about LP's. What is that?

Loss Prevention (In bigger stores, the people standing at the doors checking your bags, etc if your walking out without buying anything. Can also mean Security officers in the store, or even execs of the company who work in reducing losses.

[Boozy]

I've already had to delete a post ignoring my warning to take it to Fratching. This is apparently going nowhere, so I'm closing it.

Apologies to those who remained on topic.