Network Solutions, an e-commerce company, just experienced a data breach that resulted in them compromising 573,000 credit and debit card accounts. The company has begun to notify merchants of the breach so they can tell their customers, but gosh, it’s just so hard.
accounts
Chase/WaMu Changeover Leads To Comical Levels Of Customer Inconvenience
By 6.3.09
Shawn was a faithful Washington Mutual customer, and by default is now a Chase customer. Sort of. He learned that the transition will take until September (September?!) and he can’t deposit personal checks in his account—even at a branch—without elaborate workarounds. What kind of bank is that?!
Comcast Credits Your Payment To The Wrong Account, Disconnects Your Cable
By 5.18.09
Reader Adam wrote in to let us know that he’s switching to FiOS after Comcast credited his payment to the wrong account number, accused him of not paying his bill, disconnected his cable, lied about it, then couldn’t get it back on for several days.
Host Monster Turns On Customer, Shuts Down Blog Without Warning Or Sensical Explanation
By 5.11.09
Web hosting company Host Monster only has so many SQLs to hand out to people, and can’t go around passing them out willy-nilly. Why, there are probably websites in Africa that don’t have any SQLs. We’re not really sure what “SQL” is but we think it’s used to store blog entries; whatever it is, Joe Posnanski used too much of it. The Kansas City Star/Sports Illustrated reporter upgraded his hosting package a few months ago and was assured by Host Monster that there’d be no problems as his professional blog drew more traffic. “No problems,” except that last Friday they permanently closed his account without warning.
Why Is It So Hard To Cancel Your EFax Account?
By 5.4.09
In Slate today, Timothy Noah describes his hour-long ordeal to cancel the eFax account he never uses anymore. If you’ve ever tried to cancel an online service, you probably already know how this story goes: it was impossible to find a “cancel my account” link anywhere on the site, support numbers were no help, and a scripted service rep tried to shove an extension on him instead of simply providing customer support.
Personal Finance Columnist's Financial Advisor Accused Of Fraud
By 4.21.09
Last week, New York Times personal finance columnist Ron Lieber discovered that his family’s financial planner was being investigated for fraud, because millions of dollars had been transferred out of clients’ accounts without authorization. What’s funny is Lieber found the financial planner while writing a column on how to comparison shop for one.
Cox Cable Needs $40 To Change The Name On An Account
By 4.15.09
It’s pretty hard for Cox Cable to change the name on your account, as Keith and his wife (the original account owner) discovered recently. First they have to disconnect your service, then reconnect it under the new name—and that probably requires all sorts of paperwork and labor. Probably hours of work! Probably someone has to drive out to somewhere and manually do something!!! That’s clearly why they hit Keith with a $20 Digital Activation Fee and a $20 Video Activation Fee.
Best Buy Taking Over Circuit City Credit Cards
By 3.31.09
“Good news about your credit card account,” proclaims the letter Wilman recently received from Chase. Starting in May, you’ll be able to use that Circuit City card to make purchases at Best Buy. We think this is more like “mixed feelings” news, but on the plus side you won’t have an otherwise good credit card account closed (assuming you care about your FICO score). See the Chase letter below.
How To Easily Remember A Different Password For Every Site
By 3.31.09
Everyone knows that one of the best ways to protect yourself from online security disasters is to use a different password for each account. But do you do it? Probably not, because at first glance it looks like an unreasonable burden, having to either remember dozens of unique passwords or having to keep them all written down somewhere (which in itself is a security risk). The website ideashower.com offers a simple way to create a unique, easy to remember password for every account.
Google Checkout Just As Bad As PayPal
By 3.27.09
Web brokers Google and PayPal don’t believe in human-to-human communication, and one place where you really need that is when you’re troubleshooting financial transactions. An interface designer/developer who used Google Checkout to sell an ebook has just been given a huge serving of suck by the “don’t be evil” company—they closed her account on her without warning and refuse to tell her why the closed it. The $200 in earnings that hadn’t been paid out yet are unretrievable, and she can’t open a new one.
8,000 Comcast Passwords Exposed, Phishing Scam Suspected
By 3.16.09
The New York Times has reported that a list of over 8,000 Comcast user name and passwords were available to the public via Scribd for two months, before a Wilkes University professor discovered it over the weekend after doing a search for his identity online. Comcast is saying it looks like the result of a phishing scam and isn’t an inside job, and that there are so many duplicate entries on the list that it’s closer to 4,000 customers.
How To Delete Your Online Accounts
By 3.10.09
PC Mag has assembled a list of instructions on how to wipe your account from a long list of websites, including Classmates.com (you’ll have to call), Windows Live ID (it’s complicated), and Friendster (ha ha ha). In many cases, canceling is as straightforward as clicking a link and authorizing the cancellation, but it’s nice to see all the phone numbers and tips collected in one spot.
Citibank Launches iPhone Version Of Mobile App
By 3.4.09
Okay, all you iPhone dorks, Citi’s just released an easy way for you to keep track of your account balances while you’re running around pinching things bigger and smaller with your heavily patented gestures. Don’t worry, ugly phone owners, they’ve got other mobile versions too.
Don't Keep Your Money In A Shoebox, Or At Least Don't Pose For A Photo With It
By 10.9.08
Thanks to the New York Post, we know there’s a 48-year-old man named Richard Cruz somewhere in Manhattan who’s hoarding his daughter’s college fund in a shoebox. We even know what he looks like, because in the photo that accompanies the article, Cruz is posing on the sidewalk with his withdrawn cash like he just won the shoebox lottery. “‘No one hides their money under a mattress any more,’ he said. ‘That’s the first place people would look.'” Good thinking.
Stop Payment Orders On Checks Only Last Six Months
By 10.8.08
Jennifer says National City Bank has contacted her fiance to inform him that the stop payment order he placed on a check is about to expire, and he’ll have to pay another $32 fee to renew it for six more months. She writes, “Have you heard of stop payment now only being ‘suspend payment for six months’? This seems to me to be extortion.” We’re going to come down on the side of the banks in this case—but because of the recurring nature of the fee, it might just be cheaper to close the account.
Customer: "I Have A Brain Tumor" Apple Rep: "Not My Problem. Okay. So You Want…"
By 9.12.08
You don’t have to believe everything customers say to you when you’re a customer service rep. You don’t even have to actually care. But if you can’t stop yourself from slipping in phrases like “not my problem” when you’re helping out a customer, maybe you need to try a different career. Like, say, parole officer.
UPS Randomly Delivers Unordered, Damaged TV, Charges You For The Pleasure
By 8.30.08
Matt didn’t order a broken 42″ plasma TV, and he didn’t ship one either, but that didn’t stop UPS from plopping a big box with a broken TV on his porch, a service for which they charged $120.12. UPS explained that the TV Matt didn’t ship was being returned to him by the recipient because it was damaged, and it was now his responsibility to arrange for re-delivery. “If I was the shipper,” asked Matt, who lives in Ohio, “why would the package have come from Ontario, CA, not Medina, Ohio?” The TV sat in the rain overnight, and it wasn’t until Matt reached the local depot, where his father worked for 27 years, that he convinced someone to take back the mystery box. Two weeks later, a bill arrived…
Watch Out For These 5 Overdraft Traps
By 8.20.08
Banks need your money. They’re not doing too well on their own, and you’re not screwing up enough to generate the fees they need to make their shareholders happy. That’s why they’ve set up sneaky ways to maximize your every mistake—or in some cases, ways to change the rules so that you make new mistakes where you didn’t before—in order to penalize you. Here are five things SmartMoney says to watch out for.
