Why do companies do offline credit card renewal?

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Forums › Finance and wealth management › Why do companies do offline credit card renewal?

nate

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#129076 3-Sep-2013 09:50

Crap like this really irritates me, especially when you sign up online. For the record, had to get a new company credit card as I left it in a cab in Wellington:

Hi Nathan,

We just found your credit card has been declined when we tried to renew your account.

Please fill in attached credit card authorization form and send it back to accounts@xyz.com as soon as possible then we can reactivate your account.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us.

Best Regards
XYZ accounts team

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#888773 3-Sep-2013 09:56

Because they think it's still 1927.

Goosey

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#888776 3-Sep-2013 09:59

How is that 'offline'?
The company needs verification that they are dealing with the person. ok ok any fool can hack your email and do this but I guess it comes down to authorised signiture which is far better to give than your pin yeh?

nate

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#888783 3-Sep-2013 10:07

Goosey: How is that 'offline'?
The company needs verification that they are dealing with the person. ok ok any fool can hack your email and do this but I guess it comes down to authorised signiture which is far better to give than your pin yeh?

In saying offline, I mean more that I'm not able to provide my new card details through their web portal. I have to print and scan/fax it back to them.

When I signed up, I gave them my credit card securely online.

Goosey

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#888786 3-Sep-2013 10:12

Yeh I get that and you could perhaps still do that IF you created a new account with them. This would be a change to the original authorisations you gave them originally and yes your correct their software cant handle this administrative change. Small print can change too so getting a new signed auth on the changed paperwork is gold for that company.

timmmay

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#888808 3-Sep-2013 10:41

The business analyst who wrote the software specifications didn't think of it, or they didn't have budget to implement it.

richms

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#888826 3-Sep-2013 10:58

Because PCI compliance is a huge hassle to deal with for a small operation and its easier to just take it all offline by fax then deal with banks.

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timmmay

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#888830 3-Sep-2013 11:03

Someone asked for my fax number recently. I said to fax it to 1990, as that was the last time I had or used a fax machine.

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richms

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#888844 3-Sep-2013 11:14

Small non-it businesses use the fax extensively, perhaps in another 20 years when all the old people have died out it will die as well, but for now there are many many many small shops with no computer, no email and no desire to get either. Some get quite hostile when you suggest to check out product details on the website and still want a printed catalog and are quite annoyed when told that the only one we have is from a single supplier and mostly not stocked.

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ajobbins

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#888852 3-Sep-2013 11:25

We got new cards from the bank ealier this year (changed from gold to platinum).

I pay most of my bills automatically with the card. That way I can just eyeball the bill when it comes in, and if all looks OK I don't have to do anything else and it just gets paid. Probably had about 10 things set up this way that I had to change.

Most places were pretty good, some had web portals where I just put in the new card details and it verified it and all good. A couple I had to call and they did it over the phone.

One however, my power company (somewhat ironically called 'Click Energy'), made me fill in, sign, and email in a printed form. Sure enough when my next bill was supposed to be paid, it got declined and they hadn't processed the form and tried to ping my old card. I rang them, and they found it sitting on someones desk. They said they would sort it that day, but the same thing happened the following month. Still sitting on the same persons desk, unprocessed.

They finally sorted it after about 4 phone calls and two months of manually crediting my prompt payment discount for their screw up.

They already have an online portal where I can log on, view and pay bills manually - surely it can't be that hard to add the ability to capture card details for future automatic payments like most of the others do.

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richms

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#888854 3-Sep-2013 11:29

Hard to add, no. Hard to comply with absurdly complex rules that banks make you agree to when getting a merchant agreement - yes.

Yet a paper folder full of signed forms sitting around the office is fine. Go figure.

Richard rich.ms

Geektastic

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#888889 3-Sep-2013 12:23

timmmay: Someone asked for my fax number recently. I said to fax it to 1990, as that was the last time I had or used a fax machine.

Absolutely. I get much the same reaction when people ask me for my landline number and I tell them I no longer bother with one.

Inphinity

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#888902 3-Sep-2013 12:37

richms: Hard to add, no. Hard to comply with absurdly complex rules that banks make you agree to when getting a merchant agreement - yes.

Yet a paper folder full of signed forms sitting around the office is fine. Go figure.

I have to disagree, sorry - it really isn't that hard to comply, and they're really not absurdly complex - they're about protecting people's financial details. It essentially boils down to "Can you or can you not store X piece of data" and "Must you or must you not encrypt Y piece of data".

I find it such a hassle to have to phone up or fax to update card details (and, as you allude to - the security of this is shocking when it's just floating around in someones paper tray on their desk, or included in a recorded call to a call centre lackey, and heard by all 7 trainees that hear the recording), that I won't deal with the company, and I know quite a few others who are the same these days. So companies who are either too lazy, too cheap, or too ignorant, are only going to find they are increasingly shooting themselves in the foot by not allowing a simpler, more secure method of managing this sort of customer data.

Kyanar

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#888927 3-Sep-2013 13:13

Geektastic:
timmmay: Someone asked for my fax number recently. I said to fax it to 1990, as that was the last time I had or used a fax machine.

Absolutely. I get much the same reaction when people ask me for my landline number and I tell them I no longer bother with one.

Finance companies are the worst. "Provide a daytime contact, evening contact, and mobile. Daytime and evening contact must be landline. Then provide contact numbers for three relatives not living with you. Relatives contact numbers must be landline".

Drives me insane.

richms

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#888933 3-Sep-2013 13:18

I have my 2talk number to give people that insist on a landline number. Almost never answer it, and the voicemail greeting just gives them my email address, twitter name and a mobile number to text on. Cant be assed with voice communication with companies.

Richard rich.ms

mattwnz

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#888946 3-Sep-2013 13:29

Blame bureaucracy and the rules, rather than the company who is asking you to do this. ALthough IO would have thoyght they could just cancel the cc details they have, and ask you to fill them in again online. What happens if you need to change to another credit card?

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