[QUOTE=InvisibleWombat]
Another thing that frosts me: I was in California last week. I went to four different places where they took my credit card and didn’t check the signature even though it says “check ID” on the back. In two of them, I didn’t even sign the card–just swiped it. I was highly tempted to call the credit card company. Merchants are required to check signatures for a reason: so that it’s harder to use a stolen card!
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[QUOTE=Happy Wanderer]
They ARE supposed to check the signature. They AREN’T supposed to ask you for ID. They always do it the exact wrong way. But just try to explain that to the average chimp that works in retail. :rolleyes: I have even thought about printing out the merchant agreement from my MC so they can read it for their own dumb ass. You aren’t supposed to check my ID because if you are a thief yourself, then will you not only have my credit card info, but my address and DL# as well, and I’ll be set up for a royal screwing. Not that a person with your cranial capacity could do so, but still. You are so busy thinking I am a thief, but it never crosses your mind that there might be two sides to the story, and that not everything that your asshat GED totin’ supervisor at Best Buy told you, is true.
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I know you’re awfully busy frothing at the mouth and all, but consider, for a moment, that some of those average chimps are sick-and-fucking-tired of certain customers who write “Check ID” on the back of their card who then proceed to get all put-out when the chimp doesn’t violate their Visa/MC terms of service in order to do things the way that Certain Customer wants them done.
When I was an average retail chimp, it was a customer who (kindly and politely) informed me that it was against TOS to request ID for credit card transactions. Lo and behold, he was right. So I stopped asking, only to have the next eleventy million customers treat me to lectures ranging from condescending to abusive about how I’m “supposed to ask for their ID”. The thing is, if you work in retail, half the customers believe you deserve to be treated with total disregard anyway because, you know, if you had any “cranial capacity” you wouldn’t be a retail chimp, right? :rolleyes:
The point is, on one hand we have InvisibleWombat getting frosted at the employee for not asking for ID, then you calling people chimps and dumbasses for asking. Anyway, the idiocy of directing this rage at the employee who asked for your ID rather than the “asshat GED totin’ supervisor” who requires them to do it or lose their job seems… self-evident.
InvisibleWombat, according to my Visa/MC/Discover/AMEX TOS agreement, if you ask to purchase something from me and hand me a card that says “Check ID” I am not supposed to even accept your card, until you sign it in front of me. If you refuse to sign it, I’m allowed to call the company, and confiscate the card. I’m not enough of a jerk to actually ever do this, but keep in mind that it’s only your idea coming from some stupid meme that writing “Check ID” makes your credit card any safer, and that your credit card companies not only do not want you to do this, but they don’t want their merchants to go along with it, either.
Furthermore, it says in my TOS that I’m absolutely not allowed to check ID as a condition for using the credit card. According to Visa/MC etc, the card is ID for the purposes of using it to purchase things. If I refuse to allow you to use your card because you didn’t have ID on you and you complain to Visa/MC, I can lose my ability to accept credit cards. Also, I am told by my CC processing company that I’m really not supposed to reject a card for a signature mismatch, because I am not a trained handwriting analyst, and again, if and when customers complain (and they will) I’ll lose my ability to accept CCs. More or less, the CC companies want me as a merchant to accept the card under all but the most suspicious of circumstances and if there’s a fraud problem, they’ll sort it out with the CC holder.
Sucks for the customer, but don’t get pissed at the merchant. They don’t set the rules.
I actually was so irritated by this exchange, I just called Visa and MC both to confirm what I remember about my TOS, and what they told me is that when you hand me your card that says “Check ID”, InvisibleWombat, what I am supposed to do is to call the issuing bank to report and/or confirm ownership of the card, and failing that (weekend, holiday, after business hours) I call Visa… but they ask me not to accept the card without a signature and reiterated that if you refuse to sign I should confiscate the card. They also said the only time I’m ever allowed to request ID is if I have a direct probable-cause reason to suspect fraud. I am not allowed to do it as a catch-all safety measure. Reading one of your last posts more carefully, I see that you have signed your card with “Check ID” underneath–in that case I’d go ahead and accept your card, but I wouldn’t attempt to match it to the signature on your license. Anyway, what CC companies are asking for is a signature match between the CC and the signed receipt–not matches between card, license, and receipt.
I know strict following of the CC company rules would cause way more rage from customers than it would prevent fraud, so I’ll continue to do as I do, accept the card absent specific suspicion, and let Visa/MC sort it out if necessary.
