Welcome to the consumerist blacklist, Dalton Trumbo!

Consumer Affairs is reporting that ChargeBack Bureau, a company that lives by the motto “the customer is always right,” is selling itself as a blacklisting service to merchants. It’s aim is to help companies deny service to customers who have denied credit card charges in their database. “Know your customers before you sell them something!”

Like all databases, it’s a Russian hacker’s wet dream: it contains names, addresses, emails and past transactions. This, of course, is generated without customer consent. But at least you get an email saying you’ve been entered into a negative customer database! Naturally, there’s no obvious way at the website to get your name out of the database… but as an honest customer, that’s nothing you need to worry about. Right?

They even claim to be able to “give merchants the location of the IP address from which an order is made!” Fun! They are also kind enough to share their database with credit agencies.

It’s a beautiful service. After all, challenging a credit transaction is your legal right… but now, finally, companies have a way of getting back at you! We wonder how long it will take for them to expand their services to cover customers who cause other kinds of trouble

If you see the banner to the right on a site you’re considering buying from, steer the right fuck clear. It means the company you’re thinking of ordering from is going to try to extort you if a transaction goes south.

“Blacklist” Helps Merchants Spot Assertive Consumers [Consumer Affairs]

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