All online Best Buy orders confirmed by phone?

[JustMike]

I placed an order a week ago on BestBuy and got an email saying I had to call to confirm my order. Is this normal practice?

I called but was put on hold first thing in the morning so I can canceled the order. I've been using the same credit card for online shopping since the web began, including at Future Shop (same company, no?) without issue.

Is this BB's stupid policy or was this a one time deal?

[jerryhung]

Never, from FS or BB for me

They might just want to double check your CC

[mlerner]

If the shipping address is different from the address on your credit card, they will ask you to call for verification. Can be a bit of an annoyance but you only have to call them once and then subsequent orders will not require a call.

[tkyoshi]

It's just a precautionary check, they've had a lot of situations where say the child takes the parents card (it's stored online) and orders things without their consent, then the parents call to complain or do a chargeback.

So if the name doesn't match or the items are going to a different address they just want to confirm.

[JustMike]

I can understand their reason for checking, but none of my information was different... the name on the card and billing address/phone no have been the same for more than 10 years. It's a real disappointment when I have to call an online order in. Kinda defeats the purpose.

Thanks for the replies.

[milk]

I got the call/email as well even though none of my info changed.

With the huge amount of credit card fraud now, phone verification is one of the steps being taken to lessen the loss. Where I work, the banks and credit card companies told the owners to do the same thing starting last year. Now even though you think it's a hassle, consider this: All anyone has to do is get a copy of your credit card number and expiration date and they can order anything they want and ship it anywhere they want. This is the whole reason for taking extra caution for orders now.

[JustMike]

This ruins the whole concept of online shopping... I don't want to talk to a salesperson when a website and shopping cart will suffice. I don't like salespeople.

[Siefer999]

I can understand their reason for checking, but none of my information was different... the name on the card and billing address/phone no have been the same for more than 10 years. It's a real disappointment when I have to call an online order in. Kinda defeats the purpose.

Thanks for the replies.
i know what you mean. i have asked them numberous times via email for an exact reason why 100% of my orders need to verified and they keep giving me a canned response of occasionally we require some orders to be verified by phone... please read the blah blah blah.

i email them again telling them taht they didnt answer my question and they give me teh same canned response.

i emailed them again telling them to cancel all my pending orders at teh time because they wont answer my quenstion and if they do not answer it this time, i told them to cancel my bestbuy and futureshop account. THEY GIVE ME THE SAME CANNEd RESPONSE TELLING ME TO READ THE USER AGREEMENT AND COMPLETELY IGNORE THE REAL ISSUE AT HAND!

customer service my ass.

I say screw them. I'll take my business elsewhere now.

[goldenegg]

This ruins the whole concept of online shopping... I don't want to talk to a salesperson when a website and shopping cart will suffice. I don't like salespeople.

What are you talking about? You don't have a sales person calling to try selling you more stuff. It's a standard security check.

Has human interaction really become such a negative thing?

[tkyoshi]

What are you talking about? You don't have a sales person calling to try selling you more stuff. It's a standard security check.

Has human interaction really become such a negative thing?

I'm sure the same people will be complaining when someone gets a hold of their card info and orders a bunch of stuff on FS/BB online. "Why don't they randomly verify orders?"

Really it's not very hard at all, only takes a few min to verify the order.

[Siefer999]

I'm sure the same people will be complaining when someone gets a hold of their card info and orders a bunch of stuff on FS/BB online. "Why don't they randomly verify orders?"

Really it's not very hard at all, only takes a few min to verify the order.
would you find it annoying if you had to verify all orders

[goldenegg]

would you find it annoying if you had to verify all orders

Not really. You still didn't have to drive to the store, right? The beenfit of online shopping is the convinience of doing it in your own home. That convinience is bearly affected by a 2 minute phone call.

[cwb27]

So let me get this right.

People are complaining because a retailer is taking precautions to ensure YOUR credit card isn't being wrongfully used.. hmmm.

[Siefer999]

So let me get this right.

People are complaining because a retailer is taking precautions to ensure YOUR credit card isn't being wrongfully used.. hmmm.
so by them requesting that i call them is an indication that my card is suspected of being wrongfully used? so for them to make it so all my orders have to be verified means that im a potential fraudster. having to verify over $100 items fine but for a 5.99 item? they obviously have their priorities messed up hounding me for every order i make.

and its not all orders to be verified, its only some orders. people who have to verify all orders such as myself have their accounts flagged for some reason.

[cwb27]

so by them requesting that i call them is an indication that my card is suspected of being wrongfully used? so for them to make it so all my orders have to be verified means that im a potential fraudster. having to verify over $100 items fine but for a 5.99 item? they obviously have their priorities messed up hounding me for every order i make.

and its not all orders to be verified, its only some orders. people who have to verify all orders such as myself have their accounts flagged for some reason.


Have you ever asked them why it seems that every order you place requires verification? I'm willing to bet they'll tell you exactly why and if you asked if there was anyway to avoid such a situation from occuring they could make it happen.

I'm pretty sure there is some way to resolve this other than complaining about being so hard done by a retailer that is attempting to safe guard you and as a side effect has created a somewhat annoying, but no where near horrible, situation.

[charger]

All anyone has to do is get a copy of your credit card number and expiration date and they can order anything they want and ship it anywhere they want. This is the whole reason for taking extra caution for orders now.


This is not true. Most online places that do a large amount of business will only ship to the credit card billing address. It's a pain when you have rural route addresses and then house numbers to deal with.

It's all about due dilligence. I work in a store and if the signature is worn out on the back of the card I must ask for photo ID. It's not the law, nor does the bank require that we do this, but we do keep a log on transactions that we have asked for ID on.

The biggest form of fraud, is still by a long shot, cheque fraud. More fraud takes place with cheques than with credit cards or debit cards. All someone needs is the numbers off the bottom of the cheque. They can then print off checks to their hearts content. They can even put another name on the cheque if they are really feeling frisky.

[Siefer999]

Have you ever asked them why it seems that every order you place requires verification? I'm willing to bet they'll tell you exactly why and if you asked if there was anyway to avoid such a situation from occuring they could make it happen.

I'm pretty sure there is some way to resolve this other than complaining about being so hard done by a retailer that is attempting to safe guard you and as a side effect has created a somewhat annoying, but no where near horrible, situation.
i have asked them over a dozen times to a dozen reps. they ALL say its random and only for some orders and that they are not singling me out in any way. I asked them all specifically if it was my shipping address, my billing info, my phone number, etc. and they all assured me that these are just steps taken to assure that credit cards dont get misused by others and my next order may not have to be verified.

im 19/19 in the past 6 months for orders ranging from 5.99-199.99. thats not SOME, thats ALL. i can order stuff right now and i am confident that it will give me that message. i sometimes even get the message before my order confirmation. it will tell me to call in, then it will tell me that my order has been processed. customer service is just feeding me the same thing over and over. If they want my business, they can fix it. There are plenty of alternatives elsewhere.

[JustMike]

customer service my ass.

I say screw them. I'll take my business elsewhere now.

My thoughts exactly. If Best Buy makes it difficult for me to buy from them, I'll buy elsewhere. I shop there out of convenience, not because I actually like the place.

[JustMike]

What are you talking about? You don't have a sales person calling to try selling you more stuff. It's a standard security check.

Has human interaction really become such a negative thing?

I think you're missing the point of online shopping. I can shop online 24 hours a day. I work for a living. I can't afford to sit on the phone during business hours and wait for a BB rep to confirm my order on a VALID credit card.

[cjpark]

I've never been called for any of my orders, but lately I've just been doing in-store pickup.
A friend of mine ordered an mp3 player from Future Shop and they called him the next morning. He wasn't in a great mood and didn't appreciate a call for an online order so he cancelled it.