This week’s thumbs-up to:
Citi — for calling me when two charges showed up on my account that didn’t fit with my normal card usage. The charges were legitimate, but I really appreciate their caution, even though it inconvenienced my husband, who couldn’t figure out why the card was denied after placing two orders for drum parts. 🙂
L.L. Bean — when I called them to place an order, I discovered that they had my entire credit card number on file from a past purchase. Unhappy about that, I asked them to delete it and to ask for the full number each time I ordered. “No problem,” they replied cheerfully, “We’ll adjust your preferences.” I didn’t know I had any options on preferences, but asked them, “Wait …. are you just deleting the full number from what the order-takers can see or are you actually deleting the number from the whole database?” The sales rep put me on hold to check with security and came back and told me that the number would not be anywhere on their system after an order was completed. Hooray! The next time you shop by phone with a company, ask whether they’ve stored your credit card number, and if they have, ask them to delete it and to ask you for the number every time you order. Apart from any laws on card number retention, it just makes sense not to have your card number on file as anyone can be hacked at any time.