The
division of household duties dictates that I shall do the dishes and the
laundry and Mike shall handle the business. He does a great job of it, too. My
only responsibility to our bookkeeping is to submit receipts for what I buy. He makes entries on a daily basis. And if a problem arises, he makes the
obligatory calls to India to get things straightened out. I hardly have to pay
attention. That’s why I was so upset when the bogus charge appeared in my
Walmart.com account.
Last
week I ordered a portable sewing machine table through Walmart.com. (The one I'm using is actually a serger table.) Perhaps
that’s when my troubles began. The table was available through many
outlets, but I chose Walmart.com because they had the best
price. Certain of my family members don’t approve of shopping Walmart. I might
be joining their ranks.
Checking
my email Saturday evening, I discovered two messages from Walmart.com acknowledging
my order for an “Xbox Live 12-month Gold Membership online – Xbox 360.” A
charge of $49.96 had been applied to my credit card. I was very tired. I had
taken friends and traveled to Tri-Cities for an all-day meeting. I’d had
enough, and now this bogus charge! I immediately checked my Walmart.com
account, and sure enough – the charge was there. I changed my password, but I
knew further action would be required -- and I would have to step up to it
since my business manager wasn’t available. I went to bed – too tired to cope.
The matter would have to wait until I could think more clearly.
Sunday
I googled “Xbox scam, Walmart” and discovered that mine was not an isolated
incident. I knew I had to act – the sooner the better. I called the number on
the back of my credit card. After running through the maze of automated
questions, I reached a real person to whom I related my concern. She confirmed
that my card had indeed been charged $49.96 and that the charge had come from
Walmart. We reviewed other recent charges, all of which I had made. I just
didn’t order the Xbox 12-month Gold Membership. Could someone else – a child or
grandchild – have ordered it, the rep asked. No, that didn’t happen.
It’s
a nebulous kind of thing because the order is not for anything tangible – just
a code that allows access to games. It’s not something you can return to the
store because you don’t want it, and the dangers of this were apparent to me the
minute I saw the email statement. The code, sent to my email, isn’t going to benefit
anyone else. It just seems to me that if Walmart could slip this one by me,
they’d be $50 to the good.
Discussion
ensued with my credit card company, and we decided that for my peace of mind, I
should order new cards. I hate that! I’m gonna miss XXXX XXXX XXXX 5287 – always
ready, always recognizable. Gone. Too bad.
I
finished this process by sending a message to Walmart.com requesting an
explanation. I’m seriously thinking that saving a few dollars might not be
worth the trouble. KW
24Oh boy, what a mess. So far, I've never had a bogus credit card charge for tangibles or intangibles. Knock on plastic. I don't shop at Walmart and you've given me another reason to avoid them.
ReplyDeleteHere's a story about a problem that I had with a big business.
Going back about 20 years, AT&T billed a $2.00 monthly LD access charge. Since that was my only LD choice, it was okay. This was in addition to actual LD calls. Over the years, it slowly increased until it reached $5.00 each month, whether I used it (LD) or not.
Over 3 years ago, I called AT&T to get the LD access charge off my bill. Talking to a customer service rep, I presented my case. They did as I asked and I was happy.
When I saw a $5.00 charge for LD access on my AT&T bill a few months ago, I phoned right away. You'll never guess what the woman told me?
"We just decided to start charging you again for Long Distance access."
"You did what?" I said in a raised voice.
End of story...I convinced the AT&T rep to take the $5.00 monthly charge off my bill...again.
The 24 before my post above is because I had trouble reading the access codes in the photo. Somehow I began to type on my message instead of the box.
ReplyDeleteI'm tired and giving up for the night.
What a joy stealer!! Have you heard back from Walmart? (And I agree with certain of your family members--Walmart is not on my list of shopping destinations.)
ReplyDeleteP.S. if this makes it, it will be the 4th time I've tried to decipher the anti-robot code...
Mike looks at all our statements for the unexpected charges and makes calls to say what he thinks. The satellite dish companies are terrible for that!
ReplyDeleteMy blog has an anti-robot code? Do all of us using "Blogger" have the anti-robot code? Sometimes I have to push the little arrow 3 or 4 times until I get to one I can even read. And then there are passwords. My list of clever, re-memorable passwords is very short.
Yes, Walmart responded to my email complaint. I was advised to dispute the charge with my credit card company, which I did successfully. My new card arrived an hour ago via UPS Express. Noting that I'm an avid Amazon fan, the company didn't want me to be long without my new card.
Walmart also suggested I download, complete, and fax a form to them, which means they will do nothing more for me unless I make a formal complaint. They're betting I won't do that, and they're right. It isn't worth my time since I have managed to protect myself through other means. I think they should care. They're saying it's my problem.
Actually, I consider that I have been fairly well served through the Walmart store. In my community, there aren't many shopping options, and I won't say I'll stop going there. But I will say I won't order from walmart.com.
UGH! been there done that. Not with Walmart but other CC & company.
ReplyDeleteDon't often use CC at all, instead have VISA/debit through Credit Union and have not had trouble since we switched.
I rarely frequent Walmart as I don't like their business practices and their claims of low prices are often not true. They have a very bad habit of using loss leaders to get people in there and they do not recognize that much of the 'regular' stuff they buy is higher.
And the quality of much of their merchendise is poor. One can find better quality at equal or close to equal prices elsewhere if one searches. Plus I have a real problem with money folks spend there not staying in the community.
Don't get me wrong, I understand completely that often one has no choice but to go for the less expensive item, but wise shopping can make one's choices have better outcomes.
OK, enough preaching, LOL. Can you tell I am a "somewhat" opinionated lady????
Oh yes, your blog has the "anti robot code." I, too, have to ask for a different code because the things I see are nonsensical.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to know about that troublesome "prove you aren't a robot" thing. I took care of it all by myself.
ReplyDeleteMike is home now. He came in while the FedEx man was delivering my new sewing table. Nellie showed more interest in the FedEx man.
The topic of shopping is always controversial. Like every other facet of life, we aren't shaped by the same needs and experiences. But I wanted to post about this "identity theft" because it was helpful to me to read that others had had this problem.
Here is something that might help you and others affected by this Walmart hacker.
ReplyDeleteI just got the records from Walmart after filling out their form. The hacker is in Jacksinville, Florida and his ISP is AT&T. I was not able to get the physical address but law enforcement can subpoena records from AT&T by e-maling ipoperations@bellsouth.net and putting "SUBPOENA" in the subject line. As many of us as possible need to sick law enforcement detectives on the guy and pursue it as far as possible. AT&T can be compelled to release the name and address of the owner of the account. Then maybe he can be hunted down, caught, and prosecuted to the full extent of the law! It's about time!
Also these incidents should be reported to abuse@att.net
I wonder whether this is also an AT&T e-mail security problem. If so they need to fix it!
We should also demand that Walmart put an alert about this on their site. o far they have been treating this as though it's not a wide-spread problem I guess to avoid bad publicity, but nevertheless they need to wake up and smell the coffee and stop sticking their head in the sand. I can't help but think they don't want to do anything really because they're getting paid lots of money via these unauthorized charges. They shoud be more afraid of how THAT looks than about coming clean and making the admission that their internet security is allowing these fraudulent charges through.
I, too, am disappointed for Walmart's lack of interest. However, as much as I appreciate your tireless efforts, I just don't think it's worth my time. I consider that I learned a lesson in just how much Walmart values my patronage.
ReplyDeleteI even received an email from Walmart asking me to rate that bogus purchase, which shows again that they aren't paying attention or that their people aren't capable of dealing with these weighty issues.