I dislike washington mutual's credit verification system... hate is too strong a word

[thechidz]

I ordered a refurb 8 gb iPhone yesterday and my stupid credit card company made at&t go through a verification process on the order... Ugh!!! so frustrating... so I had to call att this morning, wait on their stupid automated phone system that works like crap for 20 mins to find this out... then call wamu to verify the charge and now Im on hold with att again to see if I can even get this order processed.... If I lose out on this deal because of this Im going to be irate as I just sold my iphone last night and the 8 gb was supposed to hold me over until 3g comes... Ive always hated att customer service and their phone system which rarely ever works....

 

[touchyphone]

Kind of sounds liek your fault no, I mean the bank is your institution, they must have guidelines you must not be aware of. I really don't see how this is AT&T's fault. Nor the banks, they most likey waited to make sure fraud wasn't occuring, I'd say that is a good thing no?

 

[jlmba08]

I ran into the same problem. One of my orders was canceled because of credit card verification problems. Customer service couldn't give me the specific reason it was canceled which really frustrated me..

I was lucky enough to have an order placed on another credit go through with no problems. I checked the ATT website last night and there were no refurbs left, so it may be too late.. Good luck

 

[SFC Archer]

Your bank is only trying to protect you from theft and validating that it is you that has altered your normal spending pattern. To fault your bank for protecting and taking care of you is insane. What if it was a theft...then you are going to be angry/upset for them not validating the purchase.

Seems to me that you need to contact your bank and change the check purchase limit. Most are set at $300-500 depending on the bank. If you want them to not validate at a lower level then change it...but don't blame them for protecting your bank account

 

[thechidz]

Kind of sounds liek your fault no, I mean the bank is your institution, they must have guidelines you must not be aware of. I really don't see how this is AT&T's fault. Nor the banks, they most likey waited to make sure fraud wasn't occuring, I'd say that is a good thing no?

Im not saying its att's fault, Im saying I hate their automated phone system...

I am saying its wamu's fault for this unnecessary verification on a relatively small purchase... especially when its a reputable company that requires a contract it makes no sense... if it was a charge from 1800-goobegone I would understand...

Im on the line with them now and it looks like I'm gonna be ok... not so frustrated now...

 

[SFC Archer]

Im not saying its att's fault, Im saying I hate their automated phone system...

I am saying its wamu's fault for this unnecessary verification on a relatively small purchase... especially when its a reputable company that requires a contract it makes no sense... if it was a charge from 1800-goobegone I would understand...

Im on the line with them now and it looks like I'm gonna be ok... not so frustrated now...

So what your saying is that if I "the crook" wanted to purchase a Mac Computer from Apple (a reputable company) then I can use your account and you don't want wamu to validate the purchase? Great give me your account so that I can buy 3G iphone with your bank account. I am glad my bank makes sure that I and not some ID theft jerk is making a high dollar purchase. It has saved me two times already!

 

[thechidz]

So what your saying is that if I "the crook" wanted to purchase a Mac Computer from Apple (a reputable company) then I can use your account and you don't want wamu to validate the purchase? Great give me your account so that I can buy 3G iphone with your bank account. I am glad my bank makes sure that I and not some ID theft jerk is making a high dollar purchase. It has saved me two times already!

i'm just saying if it was sensible then yes... i dont see what was so suspicious about this order... i understand the need but if it was a crook i wouldnt be paying for it anyway and the card company would need to investigate...

 

[Xjett]

Yeah man be thankful, I told Bank of America to verify any purchase above $300. A good friend of mine got his ID stolen and it took years to get everything back to normal.

 

[thechidz]

Yeah man be thankful, I told Bank of America to verify any purchase above $300. A good friend of mine got his ID stolen and it took years to get everything back to normal.

yeah i would agree with that but this was only 250

no worries... it worked out and after an hour on the phone I was helped by a very nice woman (Nadine) at att who said I might be the first to get it as they are just starting to process the order today... Im glad I kept my cool on the phone

 

[SFC Archer]

i'm just saying if it was sensible then yes... i dont see what was so suspicious about this order... i understand the need but if it was a crook i wouldnt be paying for it anyway and the card company would need to investigate...

Let me help you understand the system a little bit.

Every bank tracks your spending habits, it is federal law...that is how they catch imbezzlers and drug trafficking etc. They know what you spend on an average day, when you pay your bills and how often you go out to eat...its even more in depth then that but I think you get the point. When a purchase happens at a certain dollar amount, they verify the purchase to insure that your account has not been compromised or accessed by hackers/ID thiefs. Like another poster said, he has them validate anything over $300 at BOA...I also use BOA and they must vaildate any purchase over $500 per my request.

If someone does get into your account then you DO pay for it....until, you can prove that it was theft and they have completed the investigation which in my case took up to 3 weeks. While they are investigating the theft you do not and cannot use that money so in a sense you "pay for it"

Understand that any credit card account can be compromised by any hacker.
A credit card purchase validates name, 16 digit account number and expiration date. Visa adds a pin. A hacker or ID thief lives to take your money and there is software out there that can run until it makes a hit.

Example: Software Program says enter 16 digit number for a mastercard. Then in a loop it randomly tries to make a small purchase from some online overseas store for less then $10.00. Each attempt the expiration date changes by one month until it gets a hit. Once it makes the small purchase, the thief can go to town until your account is empty. He does not need anything from you to do this. All he needs to do is pick a 16 digit number and start his program. How do I know? Because, it happened to me from some hacker in Russia and he emptied my account with a random generated number that ended up being mine.

So after a long story....Be VERY glad that you have a bank that cares enough to validate and protect your account, because someday...you to could become a victim!

 

[thechidz]

I do understand all of that... and I am grateful... This was only a 250 dollar purchase though and Ive recently made much larger purchases for hand-made guitars... why didnt they validate those? ok. its done and I am happy so there is no problem but if I would have lost the iphone I would have been speaking with a manager at wamu...

 

[jasonnorm]

I have to agree, Washington Mutual sucks but for many reasons above and beyond their "verification" system. Their customer service is horrible as I swear they only hire people that have no high-school education. <politic incorrectness> Must be based out of Alabama! </political incorrectness>

Waiting to pay off my balance so I can cancel the damn thing. The only 2 good CC companies out there are Capitol One and American Express.

Wow, talk about off topic for a MacRumors post! LOL

 

[thunderclap]

I use WaMu for my personal and business banking and find them very easy to work with. Friendly and courteous and don't have the service fees a lot of banks use. Sorry to hear of all your woes.

 

[avaloncourt]

Im not saying its att's fault, Im saying I hate their automated phone system...

I am saying its wamu's fault for this unnecessary verification on a relatively small purchase... especially when its a reputable company that requires a contract it makes no sense... if it was a charge from 1800-goobegone I would understand...

Im on the line with them now and it looks like I'm gonna be ok... not so frustrated now...

Apparently you must not make very large charges. The fraud protection kicked in because you're using your card in a manner that is unusual for the account. My primarily used card is from Washington Mutual (formerly Providian) and I have never once been held for a fraud check. Then again, I put on and pay off thousand+ dollar items frequently.

 

[Oskee2001]

so let me get this straight. you had an iphone but sold it. so then you got another iphone to hold you over until the 3G comes out. Why not just hold on to the first one you had??

 

[megfilmworks]

To SFArcher. I think the bank is actually looking out for it's bottom line, not the clients. Fraud is covered for the consumer, but costs the banks billions.

 

[thechidz]

Apparently you must not make very large charges. The fraud protection kicked in because you're using your card in a manner that is unusual for the account. My primarily used card is from Washington Mutual (formerly Providian) and I have never once been held for a fraud check. Then again, I put on and pay off thousand+ dollar items frequently.

exactly my point... I do the same as you.. I put on thousands on my card every month and pay it off monthly so this is definitely not unusual activity. I completely understood when they did this a few months ago when I was in Costa Rica and used it for my hotel charges (I didnt notify them that I was going)... that made sense, but this seems senseless particularly because I recently made 2 large purchases for guitars, thousands of dollars, both of which could have looked much more suspicious than an iphone purchase from att, and they didnt verify them. I am signing up for an amex card today and when it comes cancelling my wamu card. I'll still use wamu for my checking as an above poster mentioned they do have low fees...

 

[thechidz]

so let me get this straight. you had an iphone but sold it. so then you got another iphone to hold you over until the 3G comes out. Why not just hold on to the first one you had??

because I actually made money on selling my iphone and I couldnt pass up the deal on the refurb... I might give it as a gift when iphone 2 comes out, or if i2 totally stinks then I'll just keep it...

plus.. I just shipped out my iphone that I sold and I have no idea how I ever lived without one!!!!

 

[Xjett]

yeah i would agree with that but this was only 250

no worries... it worked out and after an hour on the phone I was helped by a very nice woman (Nadine) at att who said I might be the first to get it as they are just starting to process the order today... Im glad I kept my cool on the phone

Yeah when it comes to AT&T, if you keep your cool they usually give you what you want. God knows how many times I have gotten new phones without having to pay full price. I seem to recall the only time I got mad at them was when I was switching from my iPhone to a Curve for my new job. I was told I couldn't do it cause my number was in the "iPhone Number Pool" and couldn't be removed. I think I said something like "Well if you guys can't get my number out of the "pool" then I might call Verizon and see if they can." They didn't call my bluff and I got my Curve.

 

[LowMach]

I was told I couldn't do it cause my number was in the "iPhone Number Pool" and couldn't be removed. I think I said something like "Well if you guys can't get my number out of the "pool" then I might call Verizon and see if they can." They didn't call my bluff and I got my Curve.

what is this about? don't like the sound of this at all.

i take my sim card out of my iphone to put in a throw down nokia 3g phone and it works just fine.

 

[Diode]

So what your saying is that if I "the crook" wanted to purchase a Mac Computer from Apple (a reputable company) then I can use your account and you don't want wamu to validate the purchase? Great give me your account so that I can buy 3G iphone with your bank account. I am glad my bank makes sure that I and not some ID theft jerk is making a high dollar purchase. It has saved me two times already!

Lol I was thinking the same thing.

It's like when I used to work retail as a student. Customers would get pissed when I would check their drivers license with the credit card they tried to use.

They became even more pissed when I wouldn't let kid's use their parents credit cards (That one was store policy ... not mine).

I love it when stores do that to me and I am always sure I thank the few that still do.

 

[Diode]

what is this about? don't like the sound of this at all.

i take my sim card out of my iphone to put in a throw down nokia 3g phone and it works just fine.

I think it's because the curve data plans are more expensive then the iphone's.

 

[Xjett]

what is this about? don't like the sound of this at all.

i take my sim card out of my iphone to put in a throw down nokia 3g phone and it works just fine.

They told me that the Blackberry data plan would take unless I got a new SIM card that wasn't programmed for an iPhone.

 

[avaloncourt]

I recently made 2 large purchases for guitars, thousands of dollars, both of which could have looked much more suspicious than an iphone purchase from att, and they didnt verify them.

This may be an AT&T-related thing, for whatever reason. I recently purchased a phone on AT&T's site for my wife with an HSBC card and that triggered the fraud department. I rarely ever use that card so I chalked it up to unusual activity but, since you experienced the same thing with WaMu without account characteristics, I'd begin to wonder if the credit card companies have some skepticism of AT&T online store transactions.