Cell phone carriers in United States have been charging for incoming text messages for quite some time. This does not justify Canadian carriers charging, as voice rate plans in the United States are much lower than in Canada. A voice plan in Canada that includes 250 anytime minutes can cost upwards to $30/mo, plus system access fees and applicable taxes. For $30/mo. plus applicable taxes in the United States, you can get a plan with 600 anytime minutes. Most cell plans in the United States also include unlimited long distance within the US. Long distance in Canada is $0.35/min. on average.

This situation in Europe is quite different. Generally, all incoming calls and text messages are free. Only the user placing the calls, and sending the text messages, is charged. However, even landlines calling cell phones are charged.

There has been a lot of outrage from both consumers and government officials over this announcement. As a result, many class-action lawsuits have been launched. Canada’s Industry Minister called for an explanation, stating “I believe this was a poorly thought out decision.”

The Facebook group I’m against the text message cash-grab currently has over 36,000 members. Canada’s NDP party is strongly against this decision. All resources and information about these text messages charges are available through the Facebook group.

If you are affected by this decision, write to your elected officials. Cell phone companies taking advantage of the Canadian consumer must stop.

- Dave

Wait, what? Didn’t the bank tell you that the new card would offer you more security? Only if you’re the only one who knows your PIN.

Here’s some background on the issue: Banks and credit card issuers in many cities are introducing “chip and PIN” credit cards. They’re unique in that they have an embedded smartcard as well as the traditional magnetic stripe. When making a purchase with a chip card, the card is inserted into a reader and the customer enters a PIN number to confirm the purchase. The PIN is used in place of a signature.

At the same time, many banks are also taking the opportunity to embed radio-frequency identification tags into cards, allowing contactless transactions. MasterCard’s version of the technology is called PayPass, used at many Tim Hortons outlets. Visa has a similar standard called payWave.

Apart from possible security implications with RFID - which are documented in many places online - the real security for Chip and PIN is in your cardholder agreement. In the event your credit card is stolen, you are required to report the loss or theft to your issuer immediately. If the thief knows or manages to guess your PIN, you’re liable for the purchases made before you report it. In short, if somebody else knows or guesses your PIN, it’s considered that you’ve made the purchase.

Here’s the relevant section from TD Canada Trust’s cardholder agreement:

If you notify us, you will not be liable for any unauthorized use of the Card. However, if the Account is used with a personal identification code such as the Cardholder’s Personal Identification Number (PIN), Connect ID and/or Password, the Primary Cardholder will be liable for the full amount of all unauthorized Transactions which occur before notification.

So while having a Chip and PIN card may prevent unauthorized transactions from being made, make sure that your PIN is secret! It’s also a good idea to change it on a regular basis, and most financial institutions allow you to make this change from their ATMs: simply put the credit card in the machine like you would with a debit card, and select the “Change PIN” option.

- Jake

This post is a repost of the original article over at jakebillo.com. Visitors here may be interested in it as well.

Over at the Consumerist, there’s a recent piece debunking a Boston Globe article on writing “See ID” or some variation of the phrase on the back of credit cards. I admire what popular consumer advocacy site has done for the average person who’s gotten screwed by a large company, but some of their posts definitely suffer from the Gawker formula. In the effort to crank out content persistently every day, editors inject significant personal bias and non-news into the stream of articles.

Unfortunately, the Consumerist takes the anti-fraud prevention stance pretty significantly. Not that I’m advocating fraud: a large number of people write in who have experienced identity theft. As a result, the editors’ viewpoints trend towards “being safe than sorry” all the way up the ladder to blatant fearmongering. The latest contribution towards the fearmongering effort (which also contributes towards the page view effort) is to talk about the advantages of writing “See ID” beside your signature on the back of a credit card.

“See ID” is not a valid signature by itself.

I’m willing to bet that most of the advocates of not signing their credit cards have likely never read their own cardholder agreements, and aren’t aware of the merchant agreements that retailers must abide by. For example, credit cards are all property of the issuing bank, and must be surrendered upon request to the original issuer. In theory, a credit card can be revoked for any reason or no reason at all. When using a credit card, you’ve been granted the privilege of using someone else’s good name to acquire goods and services. If Visa, MasterCard or American Express decides that you’re sullying their good name, your permission can - and will - be pulled.

(Before I go too far with this, I’d like to let it be known that I have indeed read the cardholder agreements for my particular accounts, and am familiar with the merchant terms for acceptance. After all - I signed a contract, so it’d be stupid not to read it beforehand. The agreements are not what one would consider consumer-friendly, but I accept them because I receive significant benefits from the issuers.)

So what constitutes sullying the name of a large financial lender? The obvious answer, “not paying your bills,” is definitely there. Another good reason is if you’re not holding up your end of the bargain and complying to the agreement that you signed. One of the agreement’s terms and conditions is that you sign the back of your card before using it, and your signature is not “See ID”.

“See ID” doesn’t help protect you. It might cause even more problems. It’s worse than useless.

What the Consumerist suggests (to stay in compliance with the cardholder agreement) is signing the card, then writing “See ID” as well. Unfortunately, for the paranoid among us, it’s possible to do much more with the numbers and address off a driver’s license than a credit card alone.

As it stands, if you’ve given someone your credit card to process for more than 30 seconds, they don’t need your signature. They can simply memorize or record the number, expiry date and CVV code on the back and use those to make online purchases. More sophisticated criminals can skim the tracks of information from the magnetic strip, duplicate the card onto a blank, and use it at unattended terminals such as gas stations. Don’t underestimate anyone’s memorization capabilities.

Showing a driver’s license as identification immediately gives three additional, valuable pieces of information to a malicious person:

• Driver’s license number (useful as an identifier for credit checks)
• Date of birth (useful for changing account information)
• Address (useful for “billing address” fields online)

Continuing along these “scary identity theft lines” - with these additional qualifiers, what might have started as an easily-reversible, fraudulent charge on your credit card may result in a complete loss of account control. Combining the credit card details and driver’s license information constitutes a large security issue.

Credit cards have built-in fraud protection measures, and using one ensures that you can dispute fraudulent charges without tying up your bank account. Giving more information away can only amount to worse results, especially if your personal details are in the hands of a fraud artist.

“See ID” is not standard practice. Merchants don’t have to ask for ID anyway.

While some retailers will check ID when prompted as a good faith practice, there is nothing in the merchant agreement that forces a store to comply with your request. In fact, merchants are specifically prohibited from requiring additional ID when presented with a credit card and signature matching the back. They can’t make showing identification a condition of sale with a credit card - only when the card contains an invalid signature.

What to take away from all this

• Don’t expect that writing “See ID” in combination with your signature will reduce fraud.
• Showing identification to a reasonably skilled criminal could result in even more problems.
• Don’t get angry when merchants don’t follow your non-standard instructions, as pointed out by nytmare:
  

  I write ‘dance like a monkey’ on all my cards. Then I get all indignant when the cashier continues to follow their normal store procedures instead of my personal non-standard instruction. Why won’t they do as I say?

• Read your cardholder agreement. You may be surprised at its contents.

- Jake

In my experiences with Netfirms, a call to their toll-free number got me speaking to a real person in less than a minute. The agent was more than happy to cancel an auto-renewal for a domain, and refunded the charge without complaint. Based on this positive experience, I’ve since used them for all my .ca domain registrations with no problems whatsoever.

If you do request a refund or exchange, make sure you’re aware of the company policies on these points before calling in. Knowing them can put you at an advantage; and if the agent goes above and beyond the written script to resolve your request, you’ll also feel good about your business with the company.

There are some companies that don’t focus as much effort on customer service. If you’re having bad luck with one form of support available, try another: email responses are often auto-triggered by keywords, so sometimes you may have to bite the bullet and make a call. Online chat is often worse than useless and is no substitute for phone support.

What happens, then, if the company isn’t cooperative? If you used a major credit card for the purchase, you’re at a significant advantage and are protected under your cardholder agreement: not only are you protected against purchases you didn’t make, but you also have recourse if you didn’t receive a product or service as agreed. More interesting is the merchant agreement that all businesses accepting credit cards must comply with: Visa, MasterCard and American Express all have these terms, and they all say the same things:

• Merchants cannot ask for identification as a condition of accepting the card.
• The customer card must contain a valid signature. “See ID” is not valid and even if combined with a signature, the merchant can ignore this request.
• The customer must receive the good or services as described.
• Numerous disputes and chargebacks can result in the merchant losing the ability to accept credit cards.

In dealing with a disputed charge, it helps if you’re on good terms with your bank. Chances are if you don’t pay your bills in the first place, the card authority will be more interested in collecting outstanding funds than helping resolve the situation with a third party.

Before establishing a complaint or chargeback, you should note that dealing directly with your credit card issuer can provide valuable information, such as the phone number tied to the original merchant. This number may be a special customer service centre for billing issues, and you should ask for it given the opportunity.

Chargeback procedures vary among financial institutions, and often require documentation such as a receipt, tracking number and even a written statement. The level of proof required may hinge on the amount of purchase and time since the transaction was posted to your credit card statement.

One final thing to note is that while you shouldn’t abuse chargebacks, or threaten merchants with the action simply based on poor customer service issues, a prudent placement of the phrase can often reverse results. In this example from Digital River, I’d requested a backup DVD set for Office 2007 as part of “The Ultimate Steal” promotion, and had yet to receive it after eight weeks. During this time, I was moving into a new apartment and really didn’t have time to pay attention to the exact shipment dates. Here’s a transcription of the messages I received and then sent to their support team.

Dear Customer,

Thank you for contacting the Ultimate Steal online store.

We have received your notice that you have not received the Backup DVD
from order number [redacted]. We show that the Backup DVD was shipped to
you on 4/16/08 via USPS and should have been received within 4-6 weeks
from this date. Please note that the backup DVD is shipped in a plain
white envelope and might be mistaken as junk mail. Due to this, we
suggest that the mail received to the following address be checked for
this envelope:

Jake Billo
[redacted]

Unfortunately, since the Backup DVD was originally shipped more than 90
days ago, we can no longer reship a replacement Backup DVD. We apologize
for the inconvenience this might cause.

—

I was displeased with the seemingly arbitrary 90 day policy, and decided to escalate the situation:

—

All mail shipped to this address is delivered to a secured post box. No such DVD was received during this time period. Unless you can provide a replacement disc, I will be issuing a chargeback for the 13.00 fee with my credit card issuer. Please let me know if you intend to send a replacement DVD.

Regards,
Jake

—

The response was much more favourable:

—

Dear Jake Billo,

Thank you for contacting the Ultimate Steal online store.

We apologize for the inconvenience. We have submitted a request to have the disc re-sent via a method that can be traced. Please allow 24-72 business hours for this request to process. Once this request has been process you will receive a separate notification.

—

The disc arrived via DHL the next day - and I never even had to contact my credit card issuer. The reason this message worked is because a chargeback would have been a legitimate recourse of action: I’d never received the promised product, and the company had no tracking information for the original shipment.

Hopefully you find these techniques effective in your next customer support experiences.

- Jake

Recently, Jake, Warren, and I (I’m Dave, by the way) have been running a VoIP company called GrokPhone. We have been testing out a Linksys SPA3102 ATA. This is a device that let’s you turn your normal analog telephones into VoIP capable phones, while still being able to receive calls from your landline.

I was having difficulties getting this device setup, so I called Linksys tehnical support for some assistance. Upon calling them, I was told that I couldn’t receive technical support, and that I was to contact my reseller for support. Regardless of the fact that I ensured the representative that I was in fact a reseller, they wouldn’t hear of it, and ended the call promptly. With a few more hours of playing around with it, I managed to get the device up and running, and just brushed the whole incident off.

About a week ago I received a call from the “Linksys Quality Assurance” department. The woman calling wanted to follow up on a recent call I had with Linksys technical support. She indicated that upon reviewing the recorded call, they determined that the representative’s conduct towards me was disrespectful. She had called to apologize for the incident, and gave me a direct number to call in the future for Reseller Support.

This is the sort of customer service I would expect from all companies. It is unfortunate that the incident occured in the first place, but it’s also good to know that these incidents are being reviewed and followed up on. I had a similar experience with Telus, except it took a call to their Loyalty & Retentions department to get the issue sorted out.

- Dave

Speaking as a computer consultant, the last problem I had with an Asus motherboard was in the days of the Pentium II. My problem is that it wouldn’t take an AGP card rated at 8X, which was a standard not really conceived until the Pentium III. I can hardly blame Asus for their board’s failure to work with this unsupported, abominable combination of parts.

You want to know what my solution was? Ditching the Pentium II technology. I bought an Asus P4B533-E, manned up and upgraded to a real CPU and memory, and things just worked. Hell, all the same parts still work, and work well.

That’s why I only buy Asus PC mainboards and recommend them for my clients. I’m not a shill - just a satisfied customer and reseller. Even AsRock, a value-focused spinoff, has provided nothing but stability in low-end builds for me. If you want to see a board that you might have to call tech support over, look no further than ECS or PCChips. I guarantee you’ll have a magical time, where magical means you let the magic smoke out.

I’m Jake, and I’ll likely be the angry, vitriolic poster at Booerns because I’m just so damned sick of people who feel they’re entitled to assistance without first searching Google. There are several other posters to this site and they’ll probably all have their own frothing rage to imbue your skulls with.

Here is a basic list of four things you should all shape up for and use common sense about:

• Identity theft: What would you do if your wallet was stolen? Certainly not mope about it while the mugger went to town on eBay. Have your credit report monitored and get your life back on track. It’s unfortunate to deal with, I agree, but I’m totally sick of hearing about this problem when there are many excellent resources out there, brought to you by Uncle Canuck.
• Credit cards: Don’t spend more than what you can reasonably expect to pay off. Look, I know that many people reading consumer sites are from the United States, where it seems to be common courtesy to pay exorbitant interest rates and bend over weekly for the bank. But if you read your credit card terms and conditions, and can hammy-hand a calculator, there’s no reason you should be that screwed.
• Packaging: Sometimes, things are packaged in large boxes for damage alleviation reasons. There’s nothing I’d hate more than getting shipped a computer case with the front drive bays smashed off, or a hard drive that’s experienced more than 350G’s of shock. Avoid aping your environmental conservation fetishes if the contents of the package in question are sensitive to damage, which in most cases they are.
• Getting screwed, in general: Do the research. Google is your friend. Know your rights and don’t overplay your hand. There are reasonable solutions for nearly every consumer issue reported. Small claims court counts as a viable option. Public shaming on a website doesn’t solve everything. Emailing executives and board members repeatedly will cause that avenue to fail miserably when it’s overused.

- Jake